6 GROUNDCOVER NEWS CHRIST IN CHRISTMAS Graci, Maralita! wandering off to some relatives in another town, who oddly accepted her. Maralita was young and fair; yet she wondered, could she ever build a LIFE for herself, after this? With her own "City Shelter," Kathy Kallowicz AMANDA GALE Groundcover vendor No. 573 Warning: This article contains explicitly Christian content. If you prefer not to read such articles, don’t! The holiday season can be a time both of great charity and benevolence, though also great scorn and injustice. Or perhaps it is just that the observable divide is just that much greater because “The Holidays” are supposed to be an occasion for our consciences to be even more understanding and giving than we’re already supposed to be doing 365 days/year. The starkest contrast is when Christians are celebrating holidays with the themes of GOD’s great mercy, love and grace to humanity, exemplified by a GOD WHO HIMSELF became the evil within us (2 Corinthians 5:21), to suffer on our behalf the punishment we inherited and merited (Romans 5:12, Romans 3:23-24). The proclamation and model for responsibility and privilege to charity, peace, mercy and benevolence for each other is exemplified by this GOD WHO would make HIMSELF HOMELESS at our rejection of HIM, and then nonetheless allow HIMSELF to SUFFER an also CRUEL and PAINFUL physical torture and death — all to redeem us. However, how do “churchy” people live this out day to day — for the “least of these” (Matt 25.40) among us — the homeless, the unborn, children with cancer, people with diseases equivalent to the leprosy of JESUS’ time, for the marginalized, the behavior challenged, the hurting, the afraid and the just plain “worn out?” Maralita found herself a pregnant teenager one year during the holidays. What had she done? The “churchy” people around her gacked and glared; she knew the corner conversations she’d pass by were about her when the people quickly turned away. The ”churchy” people did NOTHING to find out her needs or come to her aid. Her situation got worse; her “boyfriend” dumped her — the child surely wasn’t his! Maralita then became homeless, traveling within her community, finally “church” community scorning her, and very little previous employment experience, how would she ever get a reference for a job? She was heartbroken for her guy and where was GOD in all this? She knew in her heart from HIM and from the traditional teachings of her community, that she MUST have this child. And soon the child inside her would become all she had. The church people could do something to help if they wanted to. Why didn't they? With no place to go, no job, no friends, no family and no means — Maralita found herself one night giving birth in a dirty, old shed that thankfully someone or some family had long ago abandoned — just like she’d been abandoned. It hurt. Was everyone around her so perfect? Why is there NO UNDERSTANDING, COMPASSION or AID, for a wayfaring young woman branded a transgressor because of The Gift she carried within her? Why is Maralita left to uncertainty for her and her child in the cold, “holiday” weather? Aren’t the churches the ones who are talking about warmth, love, joy, giving and forgiving? Where is it? Why don’t they ask, “What can we do that would be helpful?” Why is everywhere shut to those who most need it on “The Holidays” — the homeless and the alone? Where do they go for “The Holidays?” Maralita was quite fortunate for being from the strict culture that she came from. Her boyfriend did return to her, to take care of her and her child. Though she and her family never completely regained the respect of that rigid, rulesbased community, they were allowed to work and live in a fair amount of peace to themselves for years to come. What bothered Maralita and her family though, was realizing that there are so many homeless outcasts who experience shunning, rejection, no family and no means as she and her child had. Her child had to do something about that and grew up to be — among other things — a human rights advocate. And yet there's still need in this world. At this point we must ask: What if GOD did this — for us? What if GOD decided to suffer the scorn and ridicule and rejection that Maralita and her son did? What if GOD suffers with us, for us, and really CARES about us? Will that make a difference in how we approach LIFE and what we invest in it for and how we view others? Do we not see CHRIST and Mary in Maralita and her son? (Surely “Maralita'' is the name for Mary in some language.) If we realize that GOD loves us this much, how can we not actively SEEK how we can help others in the myriad of needs in our lost, fallen world. Are we “too good”? Do we care? Do we see CHRIST and Mary’s face, in the face of countless others around us — those in need whom we can help or those blessing our needs and talents? And when we realize ourselves as the stranded people whom GOD reached out to spare — dare we not have compassion on our fellow humans, and even animals? What if we each decided to be selfless as Mary and Joseph were, greet and accept the unplanned child, sacrifice for each other in love, not forsaking each other and like the Child who grew up to offer HIMSELF for our redemption — made sure to LIVE on mission with HIM, in gratitude to HIM and identifying care with our fellow humans? How could we do this? Receive HIM. Believe HIM. Always be on mission with HIM. Maybe exactly the real problem is that we regard ourselves as if we are not ourselves in need and outcasts (Revelation 3:17) before a HOLY GOD and in our relationships with others. We’re all too self-sufficient to be a part of JESUS’ group and doings. If we partook, it might just expose our self-reliance and towers of achievement. However, JESUS identifies it is also exactly HIM to whom we are empowering, refusing relating or rejecting. And dare we complain about all that is “wrong with” our world, while we do nothing that is actually bettering it? Is mercy and grace spreading everywhere we go? If not, what is? As long as we live on this Earth — it's NEVER TOO LATE to receive the grace we need, so that we can then give it to others (John 6:37). Really, we need fresh grace immersions daily for ourselves, so that our refreshing can then also bless others; we are and can only be as merciful to others to the extent we realize we are being shown mercy by a PERFECT GOD, WHO LOVES us, PERFECTLY. DECEMBER 15, 2023 Will more churches open up for “The Homeless” this winter? (Only a few in the WHOLE County have thus far; is this acceptable to JESUS?) Is there still no room for HIM at “The Inn” of our hearts and our churches and our country? Why aren’t more Christians actively involved for PRO-LIFE for EVERY LIFE in need of protection and mercy — from the womb to the tomb? Why are Christians not actively reaching out and being the connection — to a job (such as the gracious job wage giver in Matthew 10:1-15), a place of shelter, affordable housing, a warm cup of coffee with a friend, a caring, prayerful supportive network — to bring about victory at long last, from external oppositions or tough inner struggles. Meanwhile, real people are SUFFERING and DYING on the street corners in the most financially wealthy and most opportunity-blessed countries on this earth, while those with means and spiritual light content themselves by saying — “there's an agency for that!” One time when a woman was being scorned for anointing the adult JESUS with expensive perfume, (so seeking to preserve HIS body, after HIS crucifixion — possibly understanding HE would rise after HIS death and so to seek to preserve HIS body, for that) HE asked a very powerful question to her critics, “Do you see this woman”? As we observe the Holy Family and their sacrificial giving, their identification with human poverty, their investment for the greatest good, and especially Mary’s special surrender to a really difficult life of social rejection, scorn, being misunderstood, outcast and not believed — for her and her son and family — shall we not feel a tug within us? Graci, Maralita! For your great, humble acceptance to have your unplanned Child, who gave HIMSELF for us, and seeks to restore us and our world. And if Maralita with GOD’s help in her day could succeed for LIFE-GIVING in the midst of such great opposition and obstacles; will not we?
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