More than a Kingdom Ambassador...but What?

I've been working more hours than a geezer probably should work. But, it's the life I've chosen.

I love my job, even if I'm not crazy about the work I do and I consider what I do to be a calling.

I've repeated many times that, while I'm paid to be the manager of the Front End of a Super Market, I consider my calling to be to live as an ambassador of the Kingdom of God, first to my coworkers at the store and, second, to the customers of the store.

I've come to believe that there is inexplicable power in a life in which righteousness is hungered for and thirsted after, even if righteousness is not always achieved.

I know my heart well enough to accept the fact that I don't actually live righteously to the degree I want to in the way Jesus taught and lived righteousness.

But, I really do, moment by moment, seek to be righteous, no matter how pitifully I fall short.

I don't know what I appear to be to others, but what appears must be closer to what I seek than what I struggle against in my heart.

Because,.....

...Saturday something happened like other things that have happened in the past. I'm humbled and, I don't know, gratifed?, certainly mystified.

Saturday is, of course, the big day of the week at the store. Too many Front Enders were given the day off last Saturday. We were understaffed and I was assigned a long and difficult shift.

I was on the job, doing my thing, when a 40ish year old woman walked up to me and said, "Bill. I guess you don't remember me. I'm Cathy ________. I'm Nathan's mother." (Nathan's 17 years old, and one of the people who had off.)

She proceeded to tell me that they were returning from a college visit and she'd stopped by to pick up a few thing and that Nathan was asleep out in the car.

She filled me in on the visit. The visit went well but Nathan's still undecided about the school, or program, he'll choose.

We chatted at length while business was taking place around us.

Nice lady.

I was struck by my sense that she was certain that I'd want to know all the details of what happened that day and that it mattered to her that I should know.

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I'm beginning to realize how powerful a life sincerely lived for Jesus...IN THE WORLD...is, even by someone like me.

I like Nathan. From my perspective, we're comfortable coworkers. He's reasonably conscientious and he's fairly dependable. But, I'm no closer to him than the other, of about 20, kids on the Front End team.

I've noticed that Nathan's dad has sought me out in the past in the way the mother did on Saturday. And, as I say, I'm gratified, but also mystified at the connections I have with my young coworkers...and, often, with their families.

Two thoughts about this.

1. There is power in incarnating the gospel.

As the institutional church increases the size and the power of its hierarchy and as it expands the number of its committees and commissions and conferences, it, at the same time, increases the distance between many of its most gifted people and the people of the world.

The essence of Christian teaching is that God became flesh and lived in the world experiencing human existence.

And, I know I'm not much. In fact, that's the point. Because, it seems to me that much of what I accomplish for the Kingdom is unintentional, and, merely a function of the reality that I'm where people are, doing what they do.

2. As far as Nathan is concerned, we both struggle with vertigo. Big deal, eh? Except, it's a point of commonality. It's a point at which the possibilities of incarnation are strengthened. We share a struggle. And, I think, there is power in that connection. I don't need to have achieved victory. It's enough that I share the struggle, and that I do it transparently, in Nathan's world.

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Anyway,...

Christianity, as we know, is declining in this culture and, I suspect that that's due to the fact, in part, that too many of us are not "there," where people are.

So. What?

The Kingdom ambassador picture is accurate to who I am and what I do, but it's not the whole picture.

That salt and light thing also is important.