Yes!

Last Sunday I had the pleasure of celebrating with several friends from Common Table as they were baptized. This prayer, from Walter Brueggermann, really struck a chord in my heart:

Yes

Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth

You are the God who is simple, direct, clear with us and for us.
You have committed yourself to us.
You have said yes to us in creation
yes to us in birth,
yes to us in baptism,
yes to us in our awakening this day.

But we are of another kind,
more accustomed to "perhaps, maybe, we'll see,"
left in wonderment and ambiguity.

We live our lives not back to your yes,
but out of our endless "perhaps."

So we pray for your mercy this day that we may live yes back to you,
yes with our time,
yes with our money,
yes with our sexuality,
yes with our strength and with our weakness,
yes to our neighbor,
yes and no longer "perhaps."

In the name of your enfleshed yes to us,
even Jesus who is our yes into your future. Amen.

Walter Brueggemann, from Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann

Ghetto Rite Aid

I went to the ghetto Rite Aid drugstore in Arlington this morning. Outside, the building was a bit run down and a few shabbily dressed Hispanic immigrants hung around; inside an imposing figure wearing a badge marked “security” stood in the corner with his arms folded across his chest and a stern face that wouldn’t crack a smile. After returning my item, I left and got into my car to drive away. As I exited the parking lot, I noticed a number of Hispanic men standing around, sitting on crates, waiting for someone to come by and offer them cheap, under the table, day labor. I drove on, feeling uncertain and unable to offer any meaningful help. A few hundred yards away I noticed a church with a huge sign posted in its front yard broadcasting “English Lessons” at a certain time each week. This, I think, is what the gospel is all about. This, I think, is the kind of church activity at which Jesus must smile.

“ The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD."

-Jesus, Luke 4:16-22

Perhaps I should go to the ghetto Rite Aid more often.