We are clay in the potter’s hands

God’s mercy holds us, and we are his own.

At all moments we are right where we need to be.

Sometimes that timing will be of harmony, happiness, or joy…

But there will also be times where we feel like we are swimming upstream,

There will be times of suffering, times that are not so pleasant.

 

But we hold this treasure in earthen vessels, that the surpassing power may be of God and not from us. We are afflicted in every way, but not constrained; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.

            So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since, then, we have the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, “I believed, therefore I spoke,” we too believe and therefore speak, knowing that the one who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and place us with you in his presence. Everything indeed is for you, so that the grace bestowed in abundance on more and more people may cause the thanksgiving to overflow for the glory of God.

-       2 Corinthians 4:7-15

 

 

Take nothing for granted – for that is the gravest of temptations - the lack of gratitude for what we have and the perplexity of desires for what we do not.  It’s what led Eve to eat of the tree when she had multitudes of luscious and desirable fruits in the garden. The garden was full of things Eve could have, but she focused on the one fruit she could not have instead of being thankful for the many good fruits she had freely available.

 

So i’ve surpassed my halfway point of my stay here in BlackTom Town (been here for 56 days– 44 left), and yea, it will be good to see my friends and family again…but i’m really going to miss this place…there’s something about it that’s unexplainably comforting and filing…a different kind of life, a different kind of love than i’ve ever felt.

 

i’m going to miss the children.

 

being silly...drawing water for bath

i’m going to miss walking the corridors and hearing that voice of song in the prayer room that goes past the marrow and bites at your soul…

… “The children love to sing, but then their voices slowly fade away – People always take a step away from what is true, that’s why i like you around.”…

The voices don’t fade here. The song in the hearts of these children is an eerily beautiful, breathtaking harmony that has a timeless sensation. It flows with passion. The song is chilling, and is something i’d compare to what i imagine might be playing at the gates of heaven.

 

 

i’m going to miss working in the field.

 

i’m going to miss the lessons i learn walking through Redlight.

 

i’m going to miss listening to the wisdom of our priest, Monsignor Tikpor. If the story of life was for some reason based on the Lion King, Monsignor Tikpor would definitely be Rafiki. He is 82 years old and full of life. He has to be; after all, his audience is a bunch of children. He always has a wonderfully comparative way to get his point across, which usually involves hand movements and dramatic voicing. Haha. I absolutely love the man.

 

…i’ve still got plenty of time here so lets get off what i’m going to miss…haha…

 

This Sunday, Palm Sunday, when Monsignor Tikpor was reading the gospel – i heard something i had never caught before and it struck me. During the gospel (a reading about Jesus’ passion) Jesus said something to Peter, the man he would later tell he’d become the rock on which His church would be built….

Palm Sunday Mass

“Simon! Simon! Be careful…for Satan will try to get you to sift the weeds from the wheat.”

 

At first i just thought it was interesting i’d never heard anything like that before…

 

…Then i started thinking about what got Jesus arrested. i started thinking about the cause of wars. i started thinking about the reasoning behind the actions of those who caused this country detrimental poverty and oppression. i started thinking about the desires behind a lot of hate…

 

…Attempts to conform everything to what, in our own perspectives, is right or correct…

 

We want everyone to think like us, to act like us, to see it OUR way. It’s our way or the high way right?

 

He proposed another parable to them. “The kingdom of heaven may be likened to a man who sowed good seed in his field. While everyone was asleep his enemy came and sowed weeds all through the wheat, and then went off. When the crop grew and bore fruit, the weeds appeared as well. The slaves of the householder came to him and said, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where have the weeds come from?’ He answered. ‘An enemy has done this.’ His slaves said to him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’ He replied, ‘No, if you pull up the weeds you might uproot the wheat along with them. Let them grow together until harvest; then at harvest time I will say to the harvesters, “First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into my barn.”

-       Matthew 13: 24-30

 

 

 

Hitler was trying to make a world of Aryans (“the perfect race”)...we all know the death and destruction that followed…

The Jews arrested and crucified Jesus for blaspheming their laws.

Gangs kill other Gangs because they aren’t their own.

The KKK, the white race, not wholly – but as a whole, throughout the entirety of the civil rights movements, showed more hate, violence, and intolerance than should have ever been thought.

The war in Iraq is killing ridiculous amounts of innocent Iraqi families…over what?

 - (this is coming from someone, who until a couple months ago – until actually seeing the effects of war on people, was completely pro “the war on terror” or whatever our efforts in Middle East are going by these days… and i still have friends that are in Baghdad fighting this moment)

 

The majority of our conflicts come from the correcting of what in our own perspective is wrong, or whatever is not in accordance with what we feel is correct…  Now what i’d heard came to make sense… Maybe Jesus was giving us a little insight?  “Hey the devil is a sneaky S. O. B. – he might try to trick you against what I’m teaching by trying to get you to weed the garden (take out what YOU feel are the weeds)” 

 

 

“When questions of decision, reason, or choice of action arise, human science is at a loss.”

-       Noam Chomsky

 

 

It’s natural to want to weed our garden.  We want to make it pretty.  We want to make it perfect.  The issue is this garden isn’t just ours, It belongs to everyone – and everyone has a different point of view, a new perspective, a different understanding. So we might feel like we are the wheat, and want to clean up “our” garden, when actually to everyone else we are the weeds…

 

We are all weeds and we are all wheat.  We all give off good and bad to others.  But hopefully, by coexisting and not attempting to “sift” through each other we can gain from one another – learn new perspectives, gain more understanding – instead of trying to eliminate one another.

 

The Man was just elaborating on what He lived…Love one Another, do not hate one another…

Maybe, just maybe, He was saying “Hey listen, you don’t get everything, nor do you have the capacity to do so with the little wisdom of the universe you have. So just love one another, tolerate those who aren’t exactly like you… and if they are really weeds, I’ll toss them in the fire when the time comes – but that is my job, not yours…All you need is love”

just some of the family ... :)

“I warned you

what could happen if you should decide to live your life from the 9 to 5

and I mourned you

for that detail that is left unsaid is a reminder of the time you bled

 

return to days when you knew

you still felt alive

reveal the way you felt when you could look inside

 

they sold you

everything you need to fix you up

and you feel good now but you can’t wake up

they found a way to reassure you (that everything would be ok)

reach out today, now I implore you to remember who you are

 

return to days when you knew

you still felt alive

reveal the way you felt when you could look inside

 

so you felt it, but you don’t know

why you can’t explain at all

why you felt it

‘cause you don’t know, no you don’t know

 

Break the walls between building atrophy

Causing all your problems to recede

Break the walls between…

Causing all your pain…

 

You’ll never learn…

 

return to days when you knew

you still felt alive

reveal the way you felt when you could look inside

 

Take back the beat in your heart (break the walls between building atrophy)

Why fight, when you could be bought(causing all your problems to recede)

Take back the beat in your heart (break the walls between – causing all your pain)

Why fight when you can be bought”

 

                                    - “Atrophy” The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

 

 

 

So today i pray we can look past our differences. i pray we find hope in the purpose of Christ’s coming to save ALL of us – not just the Aryans, or the Sons of Aaron, or The Crips or the Bloods, or the white supremacists, or the Americans –  ALL. i hope we can learn to accept, to tolerate…to learn from our mistakes and stop the repeating of history.

 

"An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth leaves everyone blind and toothless."

                                    - a saying from Ghandi and MLK

 

i hope all is well for everyone as always! Thank you so much for all the prayers and the support. They mean so much and we definitely feel them. Pray for patience, understanding, hope, generosity, tolerance, joy and Love...for all of us!

Life, Love, and Peace

uncle matthew