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234 ˜ A Work of Hospitality, 1982–2002
pentance—a turning away from our old selves. It is not enough to feel sorry for
the times when we have ignored, injured, or killed Jesus; we must realize that we
have done these things, and then we must change.
At the end of the Passion season, we experience not only death, but resurrection.
That resurrection gives us the strength to change. When we have come
through repentance, we must feed the hungry, give homes to the homeless, care
for the sick and injured, visit those in prison, and bring life to those condemned
to death; otherwise, the resurrection has no meaning. We may as well leave Jesus
dead and buried if we are not willing to respond to the living Christ among us.
Even now, may the risen Jesus fill us with love and peace so that we all can know
our sin, act in a new way, and hold up our heads in resurrection glory and bliss.
Easter Comes Even When We’re
Shut Outside in the Storm, by Murphy Davis
M a r c h / A p r i l 1 9 8 6
For the past ten years our lives have been lived in increasing solidarity with
women and men in prison. For the past six years our love and solidarity with
homeless people has grown.
Part of the cost of discipleship is to know the painful tension that exists between
faithfulness and failure. Even as we try to set our sights on Easter morning,
our vision is often blocked by the darkness of Golgotha, and the pain of displacement
often seems more prominent than the hope of resurrection. The road
to Jerusalem mocks our attempts to proclaim the resurrection: that it is time for
the blind to see, for the lame to walk, for the prisoners to be released, for the
homeless poor to be recognized as citizens of the Kingdom of God.
As we serve, we struggle to say, “Our little crumbs of service are not enough.
What the poor and downtrodden need is not our piecemeal charity, but justice.”
Not that we will close the soup kitchen or shower line or shelters. Not that we
will stop visiting in the prisons and jails, or stop writing letters. Indeed, the lines
at the door are longer each month. The number of prisoners grows faster than
we can count. And so we will pray for the grace to continue in service. But this
is not an answer. An answer would only come in the form of justice. Wholeness.
Enough for all God’s children.
There is no need for homelessness, or hunger, or the quick tendency to cage
other people. There is sickening overabundance in the world for the privileged
class. The world’s rich struggle constantly with being overweight while billions