Of Small Things

When I arrived at the office this morning there was an older African American woman in the lobby in conversation with Mary R. and the volunteer. I assumed like so many of poor Blacks in our neighborhood, folks we see on a daily basis, she was another who was here seeking financial assistance. The volunteer informed me that she was here in fact to give us money. I was taken aback. Over a year ago, she told us, her daughter had come to All Saints needing financial help with a prescription. We were able on that day to help her, and bought the medicine she needed. This woman, the mother, had been instructed by her daughter, now that she had a job, to give to All Saints ten per cent of her latest paycheck in gratitude for what we did for her. It seemed such a small thing this bit of grace we were able to share; but for this woman and her daughter it was huge, so much so that their lives had been touched in a profound way.

Such is the way of ministry, the way of scattering seeds...small things that bear a sonorous resonance within the very fabric of the universe...lives changed; dignity brought to bear; a new creation at hand; things are changed profoundly with every small act of God, the potential of which we bear in our very hands and hearts... I think we all need to hear it; I know I certainly do: that God comes mostly in small and unexpected ways; that the seemingly small things we do for our neighbor, for the stranger, for the sick, the compromised; in every act of dignifying the shamed, small things mostly.....in these small things the heavens are brought near and God's gracious commonweal is made alive. Such is the way of things in God's economy...a collaborative, mutual caring for each other in ways no matter how small that divine grace is made real; for in God's alchemical economy these small things become profound and transformative...the mundane becomes shining gold. Every act of love no matter how small a quantity, bears the quality of God's reign here and now. Love defies quantity...Love is love, no matter how small...and I saw this morning what gratitude and praise love brings.

We are to scatter the seeds of love, no matter how small...It is quite enough for us to sow...for our God, through our hands and hearts, will redeem all in all...one small thing unto another.