beautiful stranger
My friend Alexis and I poured milk for about a hundred people last night, at a dinner down on Drouillard... and if you know Windsor, you know that's not exactly high society. New Song Church serves dinner for anyone who will come on Friday nights, so we're talking homeless people and a lot of folks on welfare; anyone who needs it.
I didn't want to go, and I didn't especially enjoy it. I'm an introvert, and I'm going through one of my particularly introverted phrases, so the idea of going out and interacting with people I don't know wasn't too appealing. And I'll be honest with you: it isn't comfortable to cross class lines like that, to look a lot of people in their worn and weary faces and know that your life and theirs exist on what feels like two different sides of a chasm. I mean, most of these people look like life has been trampling them down from day one.
But I went, because I knew I should, and I served milk, cringing inwardly because I REALLY didn't feel like being around people (some of you know what I'm talking about), and I did it with the best attitude I could drum up... feeling guilty for not loving these people like Jesus does, because I know He does, and I know that chasm doesn't present any problem for Him.
Toward the end of the evening I really started asking the Lord how I could connect with Him in a place like this, and I heard that still small voice... saying that I didn't need to be out there serving those people with a good attitude, I just needed to be out there serving HIM in love. "Whatsoever you've done to the least of these, you've done to me." It's not about drumming up love for a lot of strangers, it's about loving the Lord my God, my Jesus who gave His all for me and daily awes me with His holiness and love, with all my heart. I wish I'd gotten that earlier.
It reminds me of a song Rebecca St. James wrote recently called "Beautiful Stranger." The chorus goes:
Won’t You tell me now when did I see
You in need of water?
Oh, and tell me now, when did I see You
Hungry on the street?
God, I hear You calling out to me
In the voices of the least of these
Calling me to reach beyond my world
To the beautiful stranger
Beautiful Stranger
Looking for Him,
Rachel
* * *
I wrote a book. I'd be much obliged if you'd check it out... there's a preview chapter available; just click on the link.
I didn't want to go, and I didn't especially enjoy it. I'm an introvert, and I'm going through one of my particularly introverted phrases, so the idea of going out and interacting with people I don't know wasn't too appealing. And I'll be honest with you: it isn't comfortable to cross class lines like that, to look a lot of people in their worn and weary faces and know that your life and theirs exist on what feels like two different sides of a chasm. I mean, most of these people look like life has been trampling them down from day one.
But I went, because I knew I should, and I served milk, cringing inwardly because I REALLY didn't feel like being around people (some of you know what I'm talking about), and I did it with the best attitude I could drum up... feeling guilty for not loving these people like Jesus does, because I know He does, and I know that chasm doesn't present any problem for Him.
Toward the end of the evening I really started asking the Lord how I could connect with Him in a place like this, and I heard that still small voice... saying that I didn't need to be out there serving those people with a good attitude, I just needed to be out there serving HIM in love. "Whatsoever you've done to the least of these, you've done to me." It's not about drumming up love for a lot of strangers, it's about loving the Lord my God, my Jesus who gave His all for me and daily awes me with His holiness and love, with all my heart. I wish I'd gotten that earlier.
It reminds me of a song Rebecca St. James wrote recently called "Beautiful Stranger." The chorus goes:
Won’t You tell me now when did I see
You in need of water?
Oh, and tell me now, when did I see You
Hungry on the street?
God, I hear You calling out to me
In the voices of the least of these
Calling me to reach beyond my world
To the beautiful stranger
Beautiful Stranger
Looking for Him,
Rachel
* * *
I wrote a book. I'd be much obliged if you'd check it out... there's a preview chapter available; just click on the link.
posted by Rachel Starr Thomson at 4:02 p.m.
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