January 9, 2007

• tc&s

  Last week, my mom wanted me to accompany her to LA to make some purchases.  I wasn't sure where we were going when I got into the car with her but soon found myself one of many walking around an 'alley' of open air markets.  There was a great deal of items being sold in the small shops and stalls.  Some shop keepers were very shrewd business-owners, unwilling to budge on their prices, while others standing right up front, waved their hands and shouted deals, eager to draw in customers. 

  We walked around for a long time without making any purchases - until we came across a girl selling some DVDs.  Five DVDs for $20.  What a deal!  I thought.  So as we were sifting through the DVDs, with four DVDs in our hands, another girl suddenly swooped in and took the whole selection away.  I guess I should've been clued into the impropriety of the dealings when I saw that she was selling her wares out of a big black bag but due to some strange naivete on my part, I had been blinded until this point when I heard it said, "Maybe they're afraid of getting caught (by police)."  Doh!  Me, 'Searchingfortreasures', a conspirator in illegal dealings?!! 

  With that dawning realization, I was able to walk around that alley with new eyes.  No longer a suburbanite looking for good deals, I remembered that I was a child of the Creator and Lover of all souls.  Here, in the flesh and right before my eyes, were dozens of immigrants doing the best they knew how in order to create a means to survive.  These were some of  "the poor" that Sam & I have been talking passionately about for the last few months.  And what can we do to help them?  Do we buy into their 'knockoff' brand-name items?  Or do we boycott in order to help them out of this corruption?  As we drove home that afternoon, the questions continued to hang in the air.

  Meanwhile, Sam spent that same afternoon talking to the Vice President of  Smilecare Dental.  A few weeks ago, we had two horrible experiences at one of the offices in this chain.  They treated us terribly.  Sam, being absolutely my hero, wrote a scathing letter of complaint and submitted it repeatedly until we at last heard from them.  The VP allowed Sam to voice our complaints, apologized for the ill-treatment we received, and gave us an alternate dental office.

  That night, as we shared our separate experiences, we found that God had one message for us.  Sam said that it was such a great feeling to be able to have a voice and to be heard.  I was among people all day who did not have a voice and who could not be heard.  Who would speak for them?  It was clear to us that we need to be a voice for the voiceless.  But how?  That's the question.

  The tc&s ("tax collectors & sinners") have been heavy on our hearts for these last few weeks.   The poor, the widows, the orphans, the homeless, the prostitutes, the marginalized... these are whom Jesus came for, these are whom we have affectionatedly and collectively called the tc&s, these are whom we seek to love.  We're not sure how, but we are seeking.  (all the while knowing with humility that in the poverty of our hearts, we too are among the 'sinners' that Jesus came for, being in no way 'better' than the tc&s.)

  • 8:06 pm
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