Serving God on the Ground

So about those disciples who walk through the fields “to pluck heads of grain” on the sabbath, leaving Jesus to endure the rebuke of the religious authorities. We can infer from scripture that Jesus was an observant Jew, educated and versed in the traditions and customs of the faith. And while the core group of apostles was coming together, I suspect that other excited, curious, and hopeful people who didn’t know all the rules also followed Jesus.
My church in New York City does a lot of “urban ministry,” which means people show up at Sunday worship who first connected through the food pantry, tutoring program, our theater, or even our homeless shelter. This phenomenon is common with congregations in larger cities in the United States and even more prevalent at most churches in the Global South, the “majority” world. Holy Communion is not the first meal folks eat at church; they’ve already dined in the soup kitchen. Suppose a man walked into your church on Sunday morning wearing ragged clothing and pushing a shopping cart of belongings up the aisle. Something motivated that person, something drew him to your sanctuary. Maybe the same thing that motivated those grain-plucking field walkers; maybe the same guy, Jesus of Nazareth. If that happens, here’s your to-do list: goodwill, kindness, and, above all, patience.
Years ago, I produced a video about the then-new Common Cathedral movement. The street minister, a priest, told me many of her congregants on the Boston Common preferred outdoor worship and only reluctantly went inside because “buildings have assumptions.” Let’s not be like those buildings.