A New Year's Influence

Over the years of our lives there are many people who influence us. These are individuals who have crossed our paths and shown us the great gifts of God’s love, grace, peace and patience. There are many people I would thank for their loving influence on my life. If I was to make one resolution it would be that God would change my heart, fill it with Himself so that He will shine out of my life. Then those around me would not see Mike, but Jesus and be drawn to Him.

Brennan Manning tells of one such individual in his life.

“Dominique Voillaume has influenced my life as few people ever have. One New Year's morning in Saint-Remy, France, seven of us in the community of the Little Brothers of Jesus were seated at a table in an old stone house. We were living an uncloistered, contemplative life among the poor, with the days devoted to manual labor and the nights wrapped in silence and prayer.

The breakfast table talk grew animated when our discussion turned to our daily employment. A German brother remarked that our wages were substandard (sixty cents per hour). I commented that our employers never were seen in the parish church on Sunday morning. A French brother suggested that this showed hypocrisy A Spanish brother said they were rude and greedy The tone grew more caustic and the salvos got heavier. We concluded that our avaricious bosses were nasty self-centered cretins who slept all day Sunday and never once lifted their minds and hearts in thanksgiving to God.

Dominique sat at the end of the table. Throughout our harangue he never opened his mouth. I glanced down the table and saw tears rolling down his cheeks. "What's the matter, Dominique?" I asked. His voice was barely audible.

All he said was, "Its ne comprennent pas." They don't understand! How many times since that New Year's morning has that single sentence of his turned resentment of mine into compassion? How often have I reread the passion story of Jesus in the Gospels through the eyes of Dominique Voillaume, seen Jesus in the throes of his death agony beaten and bullied, scourged and spat upon, saying, "Father, forgive them, its ne comprennent pas."

The following year, Dominique, a lean, muscular six feet, two inches, always wearing a navy blue beret, learned at age fifty-four that he was dying of inoperable cancer. With the community's permission he moved to a poor neighborhood in Paris and took a job as night watchman at a factory. Returning home every morning at 8:oo A.M. he would go directly to a little park across the street from where he lived and sit down on a wooden bench. Hanging around the park were marginal people-drifters, winos, "has-beens," dirty old men who ogled the girls passing by.

Dominique never criticized, scolded, or reprimanded them. He laughed, told stories, shared his candy and accepted them just as they were. From living so long out of the inner sanctuary he gave off a peace, a serene sense of self-possession and a hospitality of heart that caused cynical young men and defeated old men to gravitate toward him like bacon toward eggs. His simple witness lay in accepting others as they were without questions and allowing them to make themselves at home in his heart.

Dominique was the most nonjudgmental person I have ever known. He loved with the heart of Jesus Christ. One day when the ragtag group of rejects asked him to talk about himself, Dominique gave them a thumbnail description of his life. Then he told them with quiet conviction that God loved them tenderly and stubbornly that Jesus had come for rejects and outcasts just like themselves.

His witness was credible because the Word was enfleshed on his bones. Later one old-timer said, "The dirty jokes, vulgar language, and leering at girls just stopped."

One morning Dominique failed to appear on his park bench. The men grew concerned. A few hours later, he was found dead on the floor of his cold-water flat. He died in the obscurity of a Parisian slum.

Dominique Voillaume never tried to impress anybody, never wondered if his life was useful or his witness meaningful. He never felt he had to do something great for God. He did keep a journal. It was found shortly after his death in the drawer of the nightstand by his bed. His last entry is one of the most astonishing things I have ever read: ‘All that is not the love of God has no meaning for me. I can truthfully say that I have no interest in anything but the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. If God wants it to, my life will be useful through my word and witness. If he wants it to, my life will bear fruit through my prayers and sacrifices. But the usefulness of my life is his concern, not mine. It would be indecent of me to worry about that.’

In Dominique Voillaume I saw the reality of a life lived entirely for God and for others. After an all-night prayer vigil by his friends, he was buried in an unadorned pine box in the backyard of the Little Brothers' house in Saint-Remy. A simple wooden cross over his grave with the inscription: ‘Dominique Voillaume, a witness to Jesus Christ" said it all. More than seven thousand people gathered from all over Europe to attend his funeral.’"

Brennan Manning in the Signature of Jesus, pages97-99

UnChristian

I am currently reading a book entitled, UnChristian. It is a book put out by the Barna Institute about why a vast majority of those between the ages of 18 and 35 see Christianity in such a negative light and how can we as Christians connect with them.

It would appear from this research that Christians have become known for what they oppose rather than what they stand for. We are seen as being anti-homosexual, judgmental and hypocritical. Christians are seen as being arrogant and filled with self-importance. Christians are seen as really being uncaring about the individual. At the best they feel like they are only seen as a possible convert. The majority of this generation see Christianity as being old fashioned, too involved in politics, out of touch with reality, insensitive toward others, boring and confusing. (From the book UnChristian) These feelings toward Christians come from what this age group has encountered in their contacts with Christians.

How do we engage this culture? We must learn to see everyone as an individual with individual needs, struggles and desires. We need to learn to listen. We listen to their story without being quick with answers or judgmental. We must learn to dialogue with them and respect their opinions and feelings. We need to become involved in their lives. We GO into the world and not just SIT in our pews. We live out the grace that our Lord has given us. We do not water down nor candy coat the truths of Jesus, yet we discern how, when and where the Spirit wants us to share those truths.

I think this is an important area that we need to consider. There are 24 million individuals between the ages of 18 and 35. These are people who Jesus loves and cares about. Yet, only about 1 million of them are involved in a personal walk with Jesus. What is He calling us to do and be?

Where's Jesus?

I remember reading about a nursing student who was taking her final exam for becoming a nurse. One of the questions on her final exam was, “What is the name of the woman who cleans the floors in this building where you have taken your classes?” The lady was upset by the question. It seemed to have nothing to do with her chosen profession. She went up to her professor and asked, “Is this a real question?”

“Oh yes,” He replied. “You will meet many people in your profession. People with real needs and who serve selflessly. You need to learn to call them by name, for they are important too.”

Jesus said this in Mathew 25:40, “What you have done unto the least of these you have done unto me.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes: “With that we are faced with the shocking reality: Jesus stand at the door and knocks, in complete reality. He asks you for help in the form of a beggar, in the form of a ruined human in torn clothing. He confronts you in every person that you meet. Christ walks on the earth as your neighbor as long as there are people…Christ stand at the door. He lives in the form of the person in our midst. Will you keep the door locked or open it?” (From: A Year with Dietrich Bonhoeffer; page 382)

Christmas is a time when we are confronted with the reality of Jesus being here in our midst. That is what Immanuel means: “God with us.” Those who look for Jesus want to see him in the miraculous and the supernatural. Too often they miss him in the plain and ordinary. For that is where he appears the most. In Hebrews 13:2 we are told: “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.” NIV

Jesus is there in that harried and worried single mother who cuts you off on her way home to see her children after a hard day at work. Jesus is there in that co-worker who has an attitude that grates on your nerves. Jesus is there in that man who stands on the corner with the sign that reads: “Will work for food.” Jesus is there in that traffic snarl that will make you and hour and a half late for work.

A pastor writes: “On an icy winter night two weeks before Christmas, I was at O’Hare Airport. All flights had been canceled due to fog and freezing rain. The airport terminal was in bedlam. Thousands of people were clustered at ticket counters demanding a projected departure time, others were wrapped in stoic silence. Children were crying, the public address system was blaring and the defeated were bellying up to the bar. I was tense and apprehensive. I had to get to Texas to start a retreat the next day. How can the Gospel be preached in Dallas if the weather won’t shape up in Chicago?

Across from the plastic chair I had slumped in was a middle-aged black woman with a child cradled in her arms. She was laughing. The world was collapsing, thousands were stranded, O’Hare was a shrieking snake pit and she was laughing! Irritated but intrigued, I started watching her. She was rubbing her fingers across the child’s lips, and he was blowing mightily: ‘Brhh, Brhh, Brhh.”

She looked up and saw me staring. ‘Ma’am,’ I said, ‘every other person here tonight is rattled and miserable. Would you mind telling me why you’re so happy?’

‘Sho’,’ she said, ‘Christmas is coming and dat baby Jesus—he make me laugh.’” (Brannan Manning, Lion and Lamb, pages 156-157)