When I was working as a rehabilitation counselor with the Iowa Commission for the Blind, my job included a variety of duties. My main responsibility was to find gainful employment for a caseload of clients, and as a rookie counselor, I drove clients to Iowa City for eye care. One of my favorites was Tom Kazarek. Tom was a young man who with significant mental disabilities in addition to being legally blind. He lived in a group home and had never worked, but he really wanted a job. He wanted a job where he could get out into the world, do something worth doing, and earn a little money. He felt that he could do more than he was doing in his group home, and I agreed. So, I asked my friend, Phil Parks, to give Tom a job and Phil hired Tom as a dishwasher in his restaurant. Well, as it turned out, Tom loved the job, and Phil loved Tom. It was "win-win" in every way, and whenever Tom saw me in the cafe, he would wave and holler out, "Hi, Ken." (I didn't need my second 'n' in those days) and I would holler back, "Hi, Tom. How's it going?" "Oh fine," he'd say, "Everything is fine."
I bet the Kingdom of God is like that- like the thrill of being accepted for who you are, like the joy of having someone embrace your abilities rather than your disabilities? The unexpected joy of having someone open a door for you, or in discovering that, in a world filled with critics, you have a cheerleader? I'm sure that the Kingdom of God is like that. I believe that the Kingdom of God is filled with drop-givers and cheerleaders. When I close my eyes and imagine the Kingdom of God, I see a banquet hall where every single person eats his or her fill. I see a dais where there the least among us are sitting and I see a rainbow of people... who are beautiful in their differences. They are singing the same song in harmony without favor or discrimination, and I hear the joyful sounds of laughter. The place is filled with 2nd-chance people, like me, and they never quit expressing their gratitude and joy.
Oscar Wilde wrote of a beautiful prince who was an exquisite statue, looking down on the city with priceless sapphire eyes. Well, one night a small swallow landed wearily at the prince's feet and he noticed that the prince was crying. "There's a sick child over there," the prince said, "Begging his mother for food. Swallow, give this ruby to the woman to relieve her pain." The next morning the prince saw a young man, freeziing and hungry. "Take one of my eyes," he told the swallow, "to buy firewood and clothing." Then came the unemployed woman, the very old man, and many, many more. The prince kept giving and the swallow kept delivering until the prince was little more than a shell. In time, the prince rusted and the people tore the statue down, scrapping the prince's heart next to a dead sparrow. Looking down at the city, God told an angel to go to the earth and bring back the two most precious things he could find. Soon, the angel returned with a rusted metal heart and a smal dead bird. "You have chosen rightly,"God said. Rightly, in my view, because the Kingdom of God is filled with compassion and sacrificial service.
The Kingdom of God is far-away and hard to explain... but it is also very near and in our hands. The Kingdom of God shows itself whenever someone blesses us with an act of love and/or unconditional acceptance. Whenever we love someone simply because he or she is a child of God, or forgive someone because we know ourselves to be forgiven, or stand and applaud when someone else wins the price... the Kingdom is shining through. It has been 50 years now since I saw Tom Kazarek and Phil has been with God for decades. But there was a moment when the Kingdom of God broke through in the kitchen of a small diner. I suspect that you've also experienced the Kingdom in your own life, but if it's been awhile, take the time to say "hello" to someone who is sitting alone. Visit someone who doesn't see many visitors. Treat the poorest of people as if they are dressed up for a ball and the least important person you know, as if he or she is wearing a crown. Give your server a bigger tip than the rules dictate, Forgive someone whom you have refused to forgive, get to know someone whom you've been afraid to know because they're different from you. Do things like this... and the Kingdom of God will shine forth from you. Amen!
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