April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
OUR NEIGHBORS' FAITH
Let us be gratitude
The story: Two brothers shared a fear. They also grew their crops together. Each night after having winnowed the grain on the harvest floor, they shared evenly the grain they had harvested. One brother was a bachelor and lived alone; the other had a wife and large family.
The single brother thought to himself one day, "It really isn't fair that we divide the grain evenly, because I only have myself to care for, while my brother has a wife and many children to feed." So each night, he secretly would take some of his grain in a sack over to pour into his brother's granary to see that his brother and family were never without.
At about the same time, the other brother said to himself, "It really isn't fair that we divide the grain evenly, because I have children to take care of me in my old age, and here my brother has no one to look after him. He needs to provide for the future." So secretly he took some of his grain every night over to his brother's granary to make sure his brother was provided for.
Both of them always found their grain supply miraculously replenished the next morning. Then, one night, they met each other in the field halfway between their two houses - each with a bag of grain on his shoulders.
Suddenly, they realized what had been happening. They reached out and embraced each other in love.
As the legend goes, God saw them, and was so pleased that God said, "This is a holy place, a place of love. Here it is that I want my temple built." So the Temple, the place where God is made known to God's people, is the place where human beings discover, cherish and provide for each other.
I met a man in the hospital early in my ministry. We talked for no more than 15 minutes. I have never seen him again, but I will never forget him. I received far more from him than I offered. He had polio and muscular dystrophy. He had to be carried everywhere.
He had the use of one hand and partial use of both arms. Other than that, he was a heap of flesh and bone, as he said to me. But his heart and mind and spirit were alive, keen, confident, generous, engaged - and gratefully so.
This time, they'd been able to restart his heart. After several days, he was getting back to what was his normal. Soon he would be going home.
"Going home to what?" I asked with empathy and compassion.
"I've got so much to be thankful for," he replied. "I know the day will come when I will have to give up my daily work as an accountant with New York State," he continued. "But the last thing I want to give up is my participation in my congregation."
"Why?" asked I, who likes to ask "why" because it opens the way for people to share what they really are, deep inside.
"In my worship with others, I receive my greatest strength from God," he responded.
I was struck by the sincerity of his faith, the integrity of his gratitude and the genuineness of his life. I had to ask: "How do you make yourself useful in your congregation?"
"I make myself available to visit in their homes - and to assist - persons who are facing great difficulties," he said. "That is the ministry to which God has called me and strengthened me to do well."
There was a contagious gladness in his voice, as if Jesus Himself were there speaking to me.
May Thanksgiving be more than a day, a time of year, an article of faith or a word from our lips. May thankfulness and gratitude be who we are - a gift to all creation, called, inspired, equipped and energized by the present spirit of life and love to which our varied faiths direct us.
Salaam, Shalom, Om Shanti-Shanti-Shanti, Namaste, the peace which passes understanding.
(Rev. Long is a retired United Methodist pastor and president of the Interfaith Community of Schenectady.)[[In-content Ad]]
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