My dad and mom did a lot right, but one of the best things they did is not the sort of thing that gets much attention. They both spent as much time with the “least important” or difficult members of the congregation as they did with the elders or the big donors. I am not even sure my dad ever had a very good idea who the big donors were!
This turns out not always to be the case. I once called a church asking for a pastoral recommendation of a student and they could only identify the family by the giving records. This is a family that had been attending this large church for years and had attended hundreds of events, but the “pastoral” staff had no real idea who this young adult was.
These were not pastors. Dad started a Christian school and prioritized benefits for all the faculty and workers. The least of these got the same excellent health care as he did. When I headed off to college, Mom and Dad (in different ways) pointed out the people in the cafeteria, the secretary behind the desk, the janitor, were not people who just got in the way of my getting what I want.
This was made obvious to me in my first job in education: cleaning bathrooms in the school where I graduated. Some folks saw me as “the cleaning robot,” but my boss in maintenance turned out to be one of the most interesting people in the school. We had a great time and it was an interesting way to see the school.
One measure of the morality of my life, one way of knowing I am not kidding myself about being a Christ follower is how I treat the woman who takes my order of a living Diet Coke (so much better than the stale bottled Diet Coke) at the Burger King. Do I wish her well? Do I look her in the eyes? When I must complain do I treat her as a human being doing my best? Do I have company manners for the donors and act like a demanding crab with the “help?”
For me, the test is often when I call the help line for a technology project. My First World frustrations with my amazing device can boil up into snark and anger when I face a struggling low level employee who has only been taught to follow the instructions on the computer screen. The fault is in their bosses, not in their vain attempts to help me, but the support person is there to receive my snark. Do I do to the poor wage slave telemarketer what I would have done to me if that was the only job I could get to feed my family?
As I look at life or any organization I have learned the wisdom of my Dad’s words which really were just another way of channeling the wisdom of the Bible writer James:
1My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. 2For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, 3and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” 4have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? 5Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom, which he has promised to those who love him? 6But you have dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court? 7Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?
8If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well.9But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. 11For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. 12So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty. 13For judgment is without mercy to one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
This is a measure of the morality of our mission. Does the least worker get the honor of the “man with the gold ring and fine clothing?” Do I give them the attention and respect that they deserve? Are the best treats and prizes always reserved for those who already have so much?
Dad and Mom would spend hours with people they loved, but who could never benefit them. The blue collar worker was as likely to be honored as the white collar, the high school dropout as the college graduate. My goal must be that the “least” person I do business with is given the same dignity as the person I need.
My success in mercy triumphing over judgment will come when the janitor who cleans our bathrooms knows the mission and feels honored in the dignity of his honest toil My failure will be seen when I have “company manners” only for those who can help me, get me something, or advance my career. I was never so invisible to people as when I was cleaning their bathrooms . . . often learning things about folks they did not know I was learning. Emptying a waste can is like looking at the hidden life of a community! Do I segregate my “cool friends” from my “lesser friends” in my event planning?
The world will look in wonder at us, Christians, if we simply follow this message from James consistently and we will receive the mercy we have given when we leave this world and go to God’s Paradise where all the redeemed have fine clothes, gold rings, and sit at the same table.
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