130-06-02-2009

Be the Change
By W. Owen Thornton

A woman lays in a hospital room her life slowly seeping out her body..  Cancer is a sad and drawn out end for anyone. In this case, it feels completely unjust.  This woman lived by Mahatma Gandhi’s words, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” This woman lives as an example of human kindness.

Carolyn (a name selected to protect our real-life heroine) saw a need in her local church. It needed a church library. The rest of the congregation was a mix of average folk. The church meets its financial obligations.  It is a place where wonderful human relationships can be found. It is not a crystal palace paved with gold, however, as any church with dedicated and joyful givers could create. But it is a nice place to call your Christian home.  

Carolyn knew she had to make a difference … but how to do it? Using gifts given to her by God – she was a home economics teacher her entire life – she and her loving husband cleared out the rooms on the main floor of her home, filled it full of card tables and chairs and she opened a tea room. The food was donated. All revenue generated went to create a library. For several weeks each year, one period during the summer, another near Christmas-time people would flock to her home for top-notch scones, wonderful soups and salads, lovely quiches and sandwiches and scrumptious desserts. 

Her tea room was a place of joy and merriment. It was definitely a place of great hospitality. And it was a place of a true Christian miracle.  People helped willingly and joyfully. There were assistant chefs, servers, dishwashers, even an amiable doorman (her charming husband) to lead people to their reserved tables. Everyone received a visit from the Head Chef, Carolyn over the course of their meal. She spoke with joy in her heart and thanks upon her lips for all those who came and made the vision of her beloved library become a reality.

She bought and catalogued the books … with assistants coordinated by … you guessed it Carolyn. The donations raised from one tea-room event bought wheeled library carts so the library could be brought out into the hall between the sanctuary and the hall where after-worship coffee was served. Then, when the tea room idea waned, a weekly Wednesday morning coffee hour at the church was arranged. Books pour in. People read about God. Her wishes have been fulfilled.

Her project is not quite the success she had hoped. People read more Christian fiction than anything else, and she had hoped that people would read non-fiction books about God so that their relationship with Him would grow and mature. But, still, on the whole, her dream, her work, her vision was fulfilled and the church was much improved by a woman who knew she had to become a changed person in order to change others.

Her kitchen work didn’t stop there, either. Convinced that Jesus the Christ is the Son of God and that life with Them in it is much better than any other, she along with another devoted woman began the Alpha program at her church. The Alpha program is one created for seekers of the Christian faith and it incorporates a meal: something Carolyn knew how to do very, very well. This time, finding the crew to help her work in the church kitchen she created meals to stick to your ribs for guests of the program along with all of the support volunteers required to make an Alpha evening work well.

While that program couldn’t be sustained by the rest of the congregation, Carolyn was undaunted in her efforts to help people build relationships with God. She lived the way she thought God wanted her to, giving of the gifts that she had inside of her (given to her by God) and sacrificing her home, food for hundreds of people … whatever it took to bring people closer to God … sometimes, I think in spite of themselves.

I look at her life and tremble. I tremble because I do not give as sacrificially as she does … or has. I tremble, because even if I did give as sacrificially as she did, I … well … I’m not as certain as she was about what my gifts even are. Even if I knew what they were, I’m not sure that I would know how to give my gifts in such a meaningful and effective way. I do not know how to be the change … though sometimes I think it is clearer and easier than I make it out to be – it’s just too freaking scary to be the change … and so my Christian heart lies buried in a sea of ordinary, when I know that everything God made, including me, is meant to be extraordinary.

But thank God I have her to look up to. Thank God I have seen someone Be The Change! Thank God I have at least a clue what it means to be a human being filled with kindness and love and motivation and drive and giftedness.  I thank God for Carolyn. I thank God for introducing her to me. I thank God that he worked so miraculously in her so that by her example, God could work in me, even if the results in me are a mere echo of what she has done. 

She lived the gift of hospitality. She gave of herself beyond measure. She set an example for everyone. If every single member of every church could Be the Change as Carolyn lived it … even though they were sharing and unveiling their own unique gifts, the Christian church would be alive and vibrant and vital as it truly should be. There’d be no more lights hidden under bushel baskets.  People would point to the church and say, “There!  There the spirit of God is alive and wondrous. Praise be to God.”

The irony of seeing such a woman suffering towards a mysterious ending … a reunion with God … that makes me sad. Sad because I am losing her.  I do not want to lose her. I need her. Her church needs her. Her husband needs her. The world needs her. And in this, she teaches me one last thing: the Lord’s time. Not mine. There are few souls I would wish could be immortal. Were I God, and it is a good thing I am not, Carolyn would be one of my special immortals because she is a conduit of love and Godliness that the entire world needs and which it will soon be without.

Carolyn: I love you as a brother in Christ. Be well. Be at peace.  I will deeply, deeply miss you. But I also know that life here on earth is not so very long.  I will see you soon. And maybe, between now and that time, I too will learn to Be the Change. Thank you for being in my life.

God Bless

Owen