Lunch For Dozer
Our recent Church at Severn Run sermon series was ‘You are Loved’. Between this sermon series and my life experience (I’m a creaky age 57), I’ve found the depth and breadth of Christ’s love expands well beyond this expression. I am a seminarian at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary. Required are two semesters of Christian theology, i.e. the ‘study of God.’ Yes, God is love. And yes, as Christians we know we are loved, but it is much deeper than that. For me, the expression is like listening to Karen Carpenter sing “Superstar” or Whitney Houston sing “One Moment in Time” and calling them simply ‘great singers.’ There is so much more going on than just ‘great singing.’ Their lyrical delivery isn’t just tonal, their voices contain a texture, a depth, a richness, a color palette, a character, and meaning much beyond simply ‘singing.’ When I listen to them sing, I am moved somewhere else emotionally. Comparatively, the Christian expression ‘You are Loved’ contains an entire rainbow of meaning and implication for me. Permit me to explain further with an example.
I work part-time as a field pastor, assisting homeless people in drug recovery and need. One of the homeless women I’m working with we will call ‘Hannah,’ a 30-year old woman with permanently debilitated hands from a head-on automobile accident in the early-2000s. When I first approached Hannah, it was a suffocating 100-plus degree July day and there she was, sitting under a little ornamental cherry tree in the landscaped area in front of a drug store, in one of two tattered his and hers folding chairs, in mismatched clothes, and apparently in great head pain of some kind. Her dog, muscular mixed-breed of some sort, was dutifully sitting next to her. I approached her, introduced myself and asked if she needed anything. She told me what she really needed was pain reliever because she had terrible toothaches. Yes, multiple toothaches. I wandered up the hill to the drug store and returned with the largest bottle of pain reliever they had shelved there. I watched Hannah immediately pop the bottle cap off with her thumb and gulp down more than the recommended dosage. While she was taking the pain reliever, I noticed an odd patten in her white cotton top formed by many successive days of perspiration in the thick Maryland heat. I am not making light of her situation but rather painting the portrait of abject desperation she was.
Hannah asked if I’d take her food shopping in the nearest box store and I agreed. It was visually and immediately apparent to store patrons that Hannah was a homeless person in need. Undaunted, she and I pushed through the aisles. I followed behind her and noticed that she was so rail thin that her pants were sliding down her waist to her mid-thigh. Because of her debilitated hands, with embarrassment she turned and asked me if I would pull her pants back up for her which I did. This elicited puzzled stares from some and chuckles from others standing nearby. While at the store, I got her a belt and helped her put it on. When assisting the homeless, I’ve learned there is a fine line between assisting and doing too much. Many homeless were just like you and I at one time, and I always keep that in mind. Bad things happen to good people. People can have a great life and then one day something can go wrong…very wrong. And yes, even the homeless have a degree of pride to be observed. The more I work with people in need, the more I try to see things from their perspective. Most live in what I call ‘survival mode.’ They’re not thinking about politics, popular music, fashion trends, or what is playing in theaters. They’re thinking about ‘making it’ and surviving to the next day without being arrested, murdered or robbed (the homeless commonly prey on each other).
One day I went to visit Hannah in her ‘camp,’ basically a tiny, mass-produced tent in the wooded brambles behind a convenience store. She was ‘not herself’ in a quiet, depressed sort of way, and I asked her what was wrong. She told me, “There is a woman who has been driving by us for weeks waving. I always waved back. Today, she decided to stop. She bought lunch for Dozer…but nothing for me.” I proceeded with the confident belief that she was referring to her boyfriend whom I’d seen her with on several occasions. Nicknames are common among the homeless. Attempting to offer some degree of solace, I explained that maybe this lady knew Dozer from somewhere else ‘on the street’ and they were helping each other out. Maybe she and Dozer were friends. She and I discussed Dozer for a while until she later ‘clued me in’ that ‘Dozer’ was her dog. Then, I admit it, it was then that I understood why Hannah was depressed. The woman passing by thought to bring Dozer the dog food but nothing for Hannah. It was truly saddened as Hannah was…I sat and listened…sort of melting in puddle of emotional goo. I felt utterly useless to help Hannah at that moment.
Hannah and decided to discuss it…we even counseled each other over it. Life is replete with people, events, situations, and evil spirits that seek to rob us of our life joy, our confidence, our self-esteem, our dignity, and any self-worth that we might have. But in Christ we are loved. But what is the entire rainbow of meaning and implication in the Christian expression ‘You are Loved?’ Yes, we are loved (1 John 3:3), but there is much more. We are forgiven (Col 3:13). We are accepted (Ephesians 1:6). We are adopted children of God (John 1:12; Rom 8:15). We are Jesus’ friend (John 15:14). We are joint heirs with Jesus, sharing His inheritance with Him (Rom 8:17). We are united with God and are one spirit with Him (1 Corinthians 6:17). Each of us is a temple of God; the Holy Spirit lives in us (1 Corinthians 6:19). We are members of Christ’s body (1 Corinthians 12:27). We are redeemed, purchased by Christ’s blood (Col 1:14). We are complete in Jesus Christ (Col 2:10). We are free from condemnation (Rom 8:1). We are new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are chosen of God, holy and dearly loved (Col 3:12). We are established, anointed, and sealed by God (2 Corinthians 1:21). We are God’s co-workers (2 Corinthians 6:1). We are seated in heavenly places with Christ (Ephesians 2:6). We are light and salt (Matt 5:13-16). We are chosen to bear fruit (John 15:16). We are always in the presence of God because He never leaves us (Hebrews 13:5). Yes, God is love, and we are loved.
“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.” (1 John 4:7-9)
JG