When our kids were little, we lived in rural Tennessee. I took Danny to a therapy clinic 2 to 3 times a week so he could work with physical, occupational and speech therapists. Because of his muscle tone and other physical issues, Danny did not walk until he was two and a half. One day we were in the large physical therapy gym, and Danny was practicing walking without holding on to someone’s hand, and also beginning working on step climbing. There were several other patients in the gym, most of them adults, working on various physical activities; some had had strokes and were working on gaining strength and others were working on mobility issues after joint replacement surgery. Since our appointment time was the same each week, we saw many of the same patients each time. One day when Dan was practicing, an older gentleman whom I had talked with on other days came over. He was a farmer in one of the neighboring towns, and had recently had a knee replacement. He was working with physical therapy to gain some strength and to learn how to use his new knee so that he could go back to his farm and work. He came over, and as always, smiled at Danny who was concentrating on walking down steps. The farmer took a toy train out of his pocket and he handed it to me. He said it had once belonged to his grandson who was too old to play with it now. He said he had cleaned it up and put a new battery in it, and that he wanted Danny to have it. He said that he knew that with his age and his knee, he had a lot of work to do to get better; but when he looked at Danny and realized all that Danny had to overcome, he knew if Danny could do it, he could too.
The gift of that day was so much more than a train, although that was pretty neat too. This farmer, whom I met by chance entered into our world for a few minutes to offer us a gift of love and of hope. From what he said, it was somewhat mutual; he was inspired by Danny’s spunk and sheer stubborn will to fight; little has changed in the 20 years since then, the kid is still full of attitude and stubbornness… but that day, in a simple conversation and with a simple toy in a crowded gym, love won the day.
“Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.” The first letter of John is a wonderful letter of love that helps us to know both that we are loved and that we are to love others… We are, I believe, closest to God when we love as Jesus loves.
I saw something on facebook that I would normally roll my eyes at and dismiss as bumper sticker theology, but with everything going on in the world around us, it made sense; it was a picture of several children’s arms, all touching, and the children were of different races; the caption read something like, “God created us in different colors, but our souls are all the same color”… that works for me… our souls are the same color; we are all created by the same force of love and beauty in the world; we all love, we all hurt… we all feel joy… relationship is something that I believe we are created to want and to need; and when we take the risk to reach across the boundaries that normally separate us, then we have a chance at connecting, a chance at forming a relationship that might bear the love of Christ.
Jesus was all about relationships, all about simple acts of love. Even the briefest of encounters with him could be life changing in the lives of those who dared to desire an encounter with him… He watched, he noticed those who no one else noticed; he gave them space to have an identity, he gave them dignity; he loved them the way the Father loved them… and beloved our call is the same; if God is in us, if we are all created in the image of God,if our souls are all the same color… then loving each other ought to be simple… it may not necessarily be easy, but it is simple… if we can see Jesus’ reflection in each other, maybe we will have a chance…
We are created to be in relationship with each other… We are created to love in life giving ways that are risky; we are to love in ways that destroy barriers and build relationships…
That dear farmer took a risk that day; he did more than walk across a gym that day; he reached across barriers of age, of disability, of verbal ability and acted in love; he wanted a little boy and his mom to experience the world at least for a few minutes in way that didn’t discriminate, that didn’t stare, that didn’t care about the hard stuff, but in a way that reflected love and hope…
Such a small thing really, and yet it is something I hope I never forget; an experience of God’s love perfected in a gentle conversation and the gift of a toy train. Love won on that first Easter morning, and it won that day in a therapy clinic in rural Tennessee… it wins today, here and now, as Jesus abides in each of us. My prayer for us is that we allow that love to help us to take risks, to love others without fear; to love another’s soul, to connect and be in relationship. We never know how life changing small acts of love can be… we can’t solve everything; we can’t heal all of the incredible hurts in the Middle East, Ukraine, in our city or even here in this church… at least not all at once… but we can live our lives in the knowledge that love will always win. We can be bearers and doers of that message by daring to take risks, by daring to cross the barriers that separate us… how will love win today? What barriers will we cross today?