photo by Ryan McGuire at stocksnap.io
Last Sunday I sat outside in the warm morning sun reading “The Soul of Money,” by philanthropist and fundraiser, Lynne Twist.
I constantly rearranged my sit bones on the park bench as I read one particular story. The scene had me squirming (but not for the reason I first thought).
While working with The Hunger Project in India, Lynne had been given the chance to meet Mother Teresa, an opportunity she had dreamed of since she was six. As she paid homage to Mother Teresa in a bare hallway in the Calcutta orphanage, she heard a disturbance down the corridor.
A portly and heavily perfumed Indian couple came crashing down the hall. They were adorned in opulent jewels and flamboyant clothing. The man rushed Mother Teresa and pulled her aggressively from her chair. The woman forced a camera into Lynne's hands and demanded she snap a photo of them with the Reverend Mother. After getting what they wanted, they left as loudly as they came.
My blood boiled hot beneath my skin as I read her detailed account. "How could they be so arrogant? So oblivious? So ridiculous?" I raged.
I found consolation as Lynne described her own "anger and outrage." She could barely carry on her time with Mother Teresa because of it. I ached for her and railed against their audacity.
She described the shame that soon settled in upon realizing she had "reduced herself to hatred and prejudice in the presence of one of the most spiritual beings on the planet." She noticed that Mother Teresa "had no problem with the wealthy couple. That to her, they were children of God, no less, no more, than the orphans in her care."
Lynne wrote a letter to Mother Teresa, asking for her forgiveness and counsel.
Mother Teresa wrote back rebuking her for having "such little compassion for the wealthy" and explained that their suffering was just as significant. She told Lynne "your work is to open your compassion and include them."
My squirming suddenly stopped. I sat immobilized by the shock of what was occurring inside me. Each word Mother Teresa wrote to Lynne about the plight of the powerful and wealthy, spoke to me of my own prejudice toward a Christian stereotype I have recently labeled "unkind, judgmental, hypocritical, narrow-minded, and agenda-driven." With a slight shift in the [wording], Mother Teresa's letter was written for me too-
"You have expressed compassion for the [excluded], the [wounded], and the [lost] all your life, that will always be a place where your self-expression and service will easily flourish. The vicious cycle of [victimization by the church] has been clearly articulated and is widely known. What is less obvious and goes almost completely unacknowledged is the vicious cycle of [piety]. There is no recognition of the trap [piety] so often is, and the suffering of the [pious]: the loneliness, the isolation, the hardening of the heart, the [exclusion] and [lostness] of the soul that can come with [religiosity that knows no relationship]. You have extended little or no compassion to the [zealous], the [certain], and the [law-bound], while they need as much compassion as anyone on earth. You must open your heart to them and become their student and their teacher. Open your compassion and include them. Do not shut them out. They are also your work."
As my own intolerance was tenderly exposed, tears made their way to the outside corner of my eyes. I bowed my head and asked Jesus for forgiveness. My chest expanded as His love flooded me with the light and warmth of awareness.
I realized that my desire is not to further divide those who follow Jesus. My longing is to unite us, to garner grace-filled conversations among all God’s children. My work is to build a bedrock of understanding and acceptance, no matter where our beliefs find their beginning, middle, and end.
All are welcome to engage here in love.
I'm calling this community together to claim "no label but love", and Jesus is teaching me how to lose my own labels in the midst of it.
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