Matt. 25:31-46 : Who are the Least of These?

Here are some insights to pastoral care that I have learned after just two visits. In some cases it's just down right hard and in other cases it is the most wonderful and heart warming experience in the world. There is nothing like the power of God's presence in human interaction. We all know that God is present in every time and in every place. I also know that God is present in ways we may not be aware of until later. I know that we also forget that God is there more times than we may recognize God's presence. It is one thing to learn these things in a classroom setting and yet it is a completely different thing to experience it in the real world, in our lives. Taking my pastoral care class has forced me to open my emotions more so than I ever have because it requires going out and actually visiting the sick, homebound, or healthy. I have faced many of these in my own life, but it is very different doing it from the prospective of a pastor and having those you visit, knowing you are "in training," still in some light view you as a pastor.

I have the most wonderful opportunity to share the life of a young women from the Sudan (name and other specifics left out for confidentially purposes). She will eventually die from cancer and she is not much older than I. Her will to survive is not for herself, but for her younger brother. Her love and openness to share her life with me even though I have only visited with her twice is so humbling. She thinks more about her family in the Sudan and her family her in the states then she does about herself. She has had made a lasting impression on everyone she has met and it's not hard to see why. She is tired and dieing, yet she offers me brownies. She is tired and dieing, yet she offers me something drink. She is tired and dieing, yet she visits with me. She is tired and dieing, yet she takes my plate and proceeds to clean up after I have eaten my brownie. She is tired an dieing yet she worries about my allergies because of the two cats the family has in the house. She tired and dieing yet she teaches me. She has reversed the parable in Matt. 25:31-46. She seems to be taking care of the least of these, US (by us I mean those people in her life, like me, who are not sick, tired, and dieing). She recognizes God's presence in her every day life. She prays and she makes sure I will pray with her and her host mom before I leave. Maybe the least of these encompasses a much broader definition then we tend know. It seems to encompass not only people like herself who are tired, sick, in prison, thirsty, and hungry, but also US. Us who are not humble, us who forget God, us who don't recognize God's presence, us who only think of ourselves. This young woman has certainly taught me what this parable may also mean beside those who are healthy taking care of those who are sick, homeless, hungry, thirsty, tired, and in prison. She has shown me how those who are in need also teach us about God's presence in every day life and how God is in every place and in every time. Something we need to learn and should remember in all situations and interactions of life.