07/08/2024
There is an invitation to humility that comes each time I take a cooler full of frozen water bottles and cold towels to the homeless population of Harrisburg. I pull up in my car, AC cooling me to comfort on the hot and humid days. As I hand over the cooler or individual bottles I am met with choruses of “bless you”, “God will reward you”, and other such phrases. And I am humbled. Left speechless in face of gratitude.
What could I say? The truth is, what I am doing is so little, a literal drop in the bucket. On the days I take water to my neighbors, I have spent most of the day in my home, avoiding the heat index that is over 100 degrees. The most challenging thing I do on these days is to help entertain three babies who would rather be outside! Internally, I am bemoaning the loss of time to work on the tree house, I am grumpy and frustrated with the infringement on my time, my plans, my way of doing things.
And then I remember the faces, the shouts of “Hey people! Cold water here!” so that everyone gets some of the bottles. One of the men take the cooler and empty it onto a “communal table”, and as people gather to grab a bottle, I think of the table we are all invited to. I may not be sharing the elements I have come to associate with the Body and Blood of Jesus, but here, in the heat and the poverty, I imagine the water bottles, the cold towels, are a worthy substitute. I may not be saying, “take and eat, drink and remember the covenant of love” but I do hear Jesus saying, “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.”
And I am humbled. Not because I have done the good of bringing something to drink to those in need, but because those in need shared what I offered with everyone. I am embarrassed that I wrote on the cooler “please share”. It was not needed, and it was based on my own selfish nature. I needed to say, “please share” because I may not have shared if not reminded to.
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility you should consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
May we humbly seek to continue the work that Christ rewards—not for ourselves, but for the other in our midst.
Pastor Kell
