No Time For The Humans? Well make some time!

Welcome to today’s sermon.

Hopefully everyone has had a wonderful week and weekend and is ready and rearing to go for another round. Okay, so that’s probably not true, I know we could all do with a few more days off from work. That’s life unfortunately, everyone could always do with a few days off… especially if they were paid days off. I'm sure we'll all need a few moments wishful thinking and peaceful daydreaming bliss here so continue reading whenever you're ready after staring out into space and thinking of a nice long holiday somewhere...

So the sermon today is about humanity and business. What a jolt back into reality, and not two words you see together too often are they. I mean, look out there in that big wide world, and you’ll see all sorts of things that don’t even taken one whip of notice about humanity. There are homeless people who are walked by on a daily basis. There are business people who would rather jump out of windows than stay in their office, or who never have the opportunity to leave their office. There are people sitting at home reading this wishing they had some sort of work, and people who wish that they didn’t have to work at all. There are people not reading this because they don't have a home to sit in so how could they possibly have a computer. That’s humanity.

In the world today it becomes more and more the norm to sit back with the daily grind and not take notice or ignore what is going on (ignoring probably more than actually not noticing. It’s so easy to ignore.). Hey, most of the time a little ignorance is a good safety mechanism. Being out of the loop, not understanding… being ignorant is easy. Most of the time people are so busy with the report for the week, or the assignment that is due, or the lesson to write, or the burger to flip, or the billion other things associated with work-life to notice anything else going on around them.

This week though, and here’s the catch, try to do something nice for someone. It can be as simple as giving a co-worker a cup of coffee on Monday morning and saying “you look like you need this.” Or helping some random tourist who is trying frantically and unsuccessfully to read a street map and find a location on your way home from work. You might not know where they’re looking for either, but at least you’ve stopped and tried. Do something you’ve been dying to do, go to that movie you wanted to see and invite a friend it won't kill you to stay up late one time on a "school night", take your partner out for a nice dinner (hey it’s Valentine’s Day Monday after all).

Help someone lacking what you take for granted on a daily basis. Buy a copy of a Street Newspaper or a copy of The Big Issue (Don’t know what they are? They’re newspapers that discuss homelessness and all the issues surrounding it. They are sold by homeless people who have been given a chance at having a job, and a way to move their station of life with some dignity. Check it out.).

Rene Descartes said “The passionate are the only advocates who always persuade. The simplest man with passion will be more persuasive than the most eloquent without.” Saw that in the midst of some reading yesterday evening and it struck me as a powerful quote. Lots of times here in Third Church you’ll see something about “war mongers” and how awful they are, or about “family” and how it’s what you make it. You’ll hear some AMENs, but you won’t see anyone saying “repent and thou shalt be saved.” AMEN just has fewer letters than “The End” and takes less time to type! All this stuff is said with passion, sometimes it might seem like nothing, sometimes it’s joking, sometimes silly, sometimes funny… always passionate.

It’s time people started being passionate about people, (not with… though that’s good too…) but about. It's easy to continue with business as usual, and oh so easy to sit back and say “that’s not my problem” or “I don’t know them” or to simply ignore it and not say anything at all. It’s also easy to notice. It doesn’t take much to help someone, or to support or to listen to a friend or co-worker who needs someone to talk to, or to befriend someone new who needs it. You don’t have to change your life to make a difference, but you’d be surprised how much you can change someone else’s with a simple gesture of humanity. Heck, just think about it, if you take time out for yourself even, how much better does allowing yourself to be human make YOU feel?

This week take time out for the humans.

AMEN 

the word was delivered at:
¶ 2:11 PM