Yesterday was a memorable day on the job which I have said I think of as a mission field. I also think of it as my embassy where I do my most important work as an ambassador for the Kingdom of God.
Yesterday was also Thursday during what some people think of as Holy Week.
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I'm terrible at recognizing faces. And, because my mind is programmed on denying self and being a disciple every moment, especially when I am working, I forget people and things I've said and done with/for them, even in the recent past. (This certainly doesn't enhance my effectiveness as ambassador.)
So, yesterday afternoon I was running a solitary register by myself at the far end of the store, away from everyone else at the front end.
And a woman with three or four items came bouncing up to my register. She was smiling in a way that is out of phase for anyone shopping in any grocery store.
She gleamed, "Hello," and I tried, but failed, to equal her enthusiasm with my hello.
Then she said, "This is good. Now I get to repay the 75 cents you gave me last week."
And, my head started to spin through memories to recall what she was talking about and I vaguely remembered a woman who, last week, was 71 cents short of her total while I was giving a break to a bagger.
I always have spare change so I dug some out of my pocket and handed it to the cashier.
As I recall, the woman was thankful and, as most people do, promised to pay me back. Most people don't and, as in this case, I immediately forget about it.
What impressed me about this woman is how brightly she smiled at me when she saw that it was I who was running the register she was going to use.
71 cents is nothing to me, and that amount of money, based on how well she dresses and coifs her hair, means little to her.
It is my act of love (Love is patient, love is kind...) that caused her to remember me.
And, after serving as a parish priest in the CGGC for more than 35 years, until four years ago, last week, I was present to show that, to me--but not to her--forgettable, act of kindness.
I'm sure big wigs in my denomination such as Kevin Richardson or Dave Williams or George Jensen or Lance Finley would have gladly done the same and, perhaps, they do, from time to time, when the opportunity presents itself.
I am juiced about my life as a disciple because, unlike the four guys I just listed, I don't have an office to be cloistered in. And, I never attend a board or Council or Commission or Conference meeting.
Ever...
Not these days, at least.
I, even if I do it poorly, incarnate the Kingdom in the world. And, I give thanks for the opportunity.
I honestly grieve that the best and brightest of the Kingdom in the CGGC spend so large a chunk of their time away from the world that God loved so much that He gave His Son for it.
John Winebrenner lived in the world.
Is it any wonder that the Lord blessed the Church of God in his day?
Is it any wonder that it's dying today?
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Then...
Yesterday evening, I was the Front End manager who closed the store and, because it's Easter Sale, it was a very busy evening.
Somehow, a woman squeezed into the store after the doors were locked at closing time. We don't know how. Probably, she walked in when another late customer went out.
One of our customer service people told the woman that the store was already closed when she walked in. She didn't leave but promised to shop quickly. However, she wasn't quick by my definition of the term.
About 20 minutes after closing, I kept one cashier on duty and we were waiting for her to check out.
When she came to the register, it seemed to me that she was either a total head case or drunk/high or extremely distracted. Her groceries came to a little more than $30 and she started to scrounge through her pocket book to find her money...without success.
After some time, I pulled out my wallet and took out my debit card.
She looked up and said, with a trace of sarcasm, "So, you're going to pay it for me?!" And, the cashier, who'd seen this before said, "Yeah. He is."
As I swiped my card, she said, "No, you're not. Oh, I'm going to cry." And, she did cry.
After bawling for a moment, she thanked me and asked if she could hug me, and she did. I told her, using the Steve Sjogren line, "I just want to show you God's love in a practical way."
Then she told us that her that her father, who lived 900 miles away, had died suddenly and that she'd had to travel there and back...
...and that she just knows now that God really does love her and is watching over her.
I was amazed!
For her, in that moment, I had disappeared and only the Lord was present and, in that moment, the Lord was, as far as she was concerned, pure grace and mercy and love.
All because of 30 stinkin' dollars.
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Now, this happened on Holy, or Maundy, Thursday, a church Holy Day that early disciples never, as far as we know, observed.
My educated guess is that the guys I listed above all spent the evening somewhere in a church.
Because of my obligation to the job, it was impossible for me to go to church yesterday.
However, it feels to me as if I actually did Feet Washing in the real world.
I'll take that.
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My guess is that Maundy Thursday 2017 will be more memorable for me than any I ever spent away from the world and in a church building.
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