GREETINGS TO THE HOLY PEOPLE OF GOD,
“Brew coffee or tea, sit with a friend and ask them questions – questions just one step riskier than the last time you talked. As you listen, observe the flickers of sadness or hope that cross their face. Try to imagine what it must be like to live their story, suffer their losses, dream their dreams. Pray with them and dare to put into words their heart’s desires and dare to ask God to grant them.” - Andy Crouch
I didn’t have the opportunity to sit and share a beverage with one of our college students, but I did have the opportunity to have a quick conversation in the fellowship area at church and I was richly blessed. Lauren Frank will be starting her sophomore year at Marquette University in Milwaukee. In our conversation, I learned that one of her favorite books is ”Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion” by Gregory Boyle, priest and founder of Homeboy Industries in LA.. The book is a reflection on his time serving in one of LA’s poorest parishes and walking alongside gang members, offering them another way. The stories are told to help us recognize our own wounds in the broken lives and daunting struggles of these young men and women.
I’m listening to the book, enjoying the storytelling as Boyle reads. I’ve been collecting phrases from his stories. One of the gang members tells Father G that he is going to marinate on that – to let it soak in. Some of the poetic phrases from our prophets this summer have also made it on my marinating list.
From Hosea 11:3-4
I took them up in my arms
Led us by cords of human kindness
With bands of love.
Who lifts infants to their cheeks.
From Isaiah 1:18
Come now, let's argue it out.
From Jeremiah 1:4
Before I formed you in the womb
I knew you,
And before you were born I consecrated you;
Marinate on those words. Marinate on the relationships God has brought together and what soaks in and how God weaves us together. Sit for a while with another and be seasoned and influenced, trusting God’s love for us.
Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,
Pastor Connie Spitzack
