June Week 3 — Mission Cleveland Parish

Virtue: Intentionality
Resolution: I choose to be mindful and responsive to God’s presence and the needs of others.

Human Story: Bob Goff (1959 - )

Bob Goff’s story played out as many do: go to college, choose a successful career, make money and try to make the most of it. Bob is no ordinary person though. Perhaps the thing that makes Bob stand out is his unabashed tenacity (i.e., intentionality). An example of this comes from Bob getting into law school. Bob didn’t have the required grades, so he sat outside the dean’s office for 7 days, each day telling the dean he had the power to admit him if he wanted. Bob’s persistence paid off, as the dean eventually succumbed to Bob’s persistence. The dean’s words to “Go get your books” had a profound impact on Bob, filling him with awe and hope that we have the power to launch someone into a new future with nothing more than a verbal expression. Bob was a successful lawyer for 25 years.

Eventually, Bob was ready for another adventure, and as he takes his faith very seriously, he wanted to do something that exemplified a true, active, and intentional love. And so, after quitting his job, he founded the organization that is now known as “Love Does”, an international non-profit committed to fighting for justice for children in conflict zones (e.g. Iraq, Somalia, Uganda). To Bob, a life of faith and love involves risk, adventure, and a rejection of the cultural obsession of one’s own self gain.

According to Bob, being mindful to both God’s presence and the needs of others requires availability. To be intentional, he would say, is to be present and available to others. Don’t let the phone call go to voicemail; don’t let the text message go unanswered; don’t let the Saturday night be spent alone watching a television show; don’t make appointments for the future that could be handled in the present; live your faith a little more like Jesus and with a little more freedom. In doing this we mimic the Master of all intentionality.

Lesson: John 4:4 (NRSV)

But he had to go through Samaria.

Sculpture above the entrance to The Church of St. Elizabeth in Basel, Switzerland

This verse begins the story of Jesus’s encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus and the disciples were on their way to Galilee from Jerusalem, but the gospel writer emphasized that Jesus “had” to go through Samaria. Going through Samaria is the most direct route from Jerusalem to Galilee, so why wouldn’t Jesus and the disciples want to go that way anyway? Most Jews would ordinarily avoid Samaria and extend their travel several days to go around Samaria because of a racial prejudice. The Samaritans were the mixed race of northern kingdom Jews and the conquering Assyrians. They held only to the Torah (first 5 books of the Old Testament) and were considered heretical by the pureblood Jews. The Samaritans were so disliked by the Jews that Jesus used them as the farthest fetched example of who the Jews should love as their neighbor.

In the story, when Jesus asked the Samaritan woman for a drink, the Bible states he was weary, yet His weariness did not keep him from engaging with the woman. In fact, Jesus was energized by sharing the good news, such that He was no longer hungry when the disciples returned with food.
Throughout his ministry, it was to the outsider that Jesus ministered most. Whether it was the Samaritan woman, the leper, the tax collector, the lame and blind, the poor, or the woman with the bleeding disorder. These people were not considered “blessed” by their culture. These were people rejected by their culture, but who were sought out and blessed by Jesus. Perhaps it was Jesus’s own intentionality that he “had” to go through Samaria. Even in Jesus’s last words to His disciples, He specifically included Samaria as a place for the disciples to go be a witness. And of course, in Acts 8, they did just that.

Remembrance

Anointed by your morning light I lift my spirit to receive the gift of this new day. Open my eyes to the beauty that surrounds me that I may walk through this day with the kind of awareness that calls forth grateful living. In all of creation let me see the brightness of your face. Shine in my heart and in my life, filling me with joy, creativity, hope, and laughter. Draw me into the radiant glory of your presence and into the small lights of those with whom I live and work. Inspire me to take time for those who are discouraged. May I live with the kind of presence that enables others to feel at home. Great Dawn of God, hear my prayer. - Macrina Weiderkehr (in Seven Sacred Pauses, p.59)

Challenge

Pick one person this week you might consider an outsider (e.g. widow, elderly, disabled, etc.). Perform an intentional act which demonstrates the love of Jesus for all peoples.

Why do we segregate ourselves into groups? Our tendency is to like those who are “similar” to us and to not like (even hate) those who are “different.” These feelings are rooted in fear – a fear of the unknown. How can you move beyond this fear and embrace relationship with those who you perceive to be different than yourself?

Reflection

Who are the outsiders in our culture that Jesus is calling us to minister to and share the good news? Brainstorm and discuss this with others.

Further Growth

Virtue: IntentionalityResolution: I choose to be mindful and responsive to God’s presence and the needs of others.