Glimpses of Glory
Listen to me, O coastlands, pay attention! … And God said to me, “You are my servant, Israel, in whom I will be glorified.” But I said, “I have labored in vain; I have spent my strength for nothing and vanity.” – Isaiah 49:1 & 3-4 (NRSV)
Jean Montrevil was deported to Haiti three years ago this month. A member of our congregation and proud father of three in our Sunday school, a successful businessman and entrepreneur, even across the distance he has kept his sense of humor and his childcare payments going. He started a restaurant in Haiti called Donna’s where the squash soup is the best anywhere in either hemisphere. Soup Joumou joins pumpkin or squash, coconut milk, spicy spices. Haitians weren’t allowed to eat it on New Year’s Day until they achieved independence from the French in 1804.
We are trying to get Jean a pardon. (If you want to join this campaign, just come on to www.judson.org to find out what you can do for the final 11 days of the month. Yes, it is a long story.)
But listen first to the scripture. It is addressed to those who feel as though they have worked in vain. Jean works harder than anyone I know and fears that his work is in vain. But then he listens with the coastlands, with Rockaway in NYC, and with the shores of Haiti. And he hears God guarantee that God will be glorified through him.
God’s glory is often most visible in the kidnapped and the oppressed, those picked up outside their home on their way home from their day job to go to their night job.
How to glimpse that glory? We help people like Jean come home.
Prayer
Whenever we get self-obsessed, O God, remind us of your people like Jean. Let us join all the bring-Jean-home campaigns. Amen.
About the AuthorDonna Schaper is Senior Minister at Judson Memorial Church in New York City. Her most recent book is I Heart Francis: Letters to the Pope from an Unlikely Admirer.