Essential
When John, who was in prison, heard about the deeds of the Messiah, he sent his disciples to ask Jesus, “Are you the one who is to come, or are we to wait for another?” – Matthew 11:2-3 (NRSV)
Last year, my Corona-induced “prison stay” shifted the day I saw the Sunday NYT headline, “An Awakening in America is Prying at Racism’s Grip.” We opened our church building to be a sanctuary for protesters on the south side of Washington Square Park. We couldn’t not offer bathrooms and water bottles and support for the protesters. My job as an elder was to stay inside and clean the bathrooms, while all masked up. Protesters took their sanctuary turn outside, standing six feet apart.
During the virus’ initial months, I often felt that I was not an essential worker. The solidarity of the protests broke the solitude of self-protection. Maybe that is what John wanted to see too. He wanted solidarity with Jesus or someone or something that broke the human logjam of one against the other.
My little jail was a kind of hyper self-consciousness. Being a pastor who didn’t have an audience, a counselor who didn’t see body language, a zoom officiant who didn’t bury. All my hatching, matching and dispatchings were disrupted.
My little bout feeling like a non-essential worker might have been one John and Jesus faced too. What is essential? The rag and the bathroom and the sanctuary? The open door, even with danger lurking? I think so.
“Is it you, Jesus, or shall we wait for another?” Jesus answers both, as he shows up again and again. He appears in solidarity, the kind that challenges solitude. He appears in rags, bathrooms and water bottles. He draws near, one Advent after another.
Prayer
Wake us up again and again, O God, and don’t make us wait so long between visits. Amen.
About the AuthorDonna Schaper is Pastor at the Orient Congregational Church on the far end of Long Island, New York. Her newest book is Remove the Pews: Spiritual Possibilities for Sacred Spaces, from The Pilgrim Press.