NO ONE IS INSIGNIFICANT

If anyone was insignificant, it was Ross.  He lived several blocks from the church I led for over a decade.  Due to an accident many years earlier, Ross couldn’t speak clearly.  He was always dirty and unkempt.  He smelled really badly.  Very few attempted to engage him for the obvious reasons.  Yet, he was a regular attender.  His hair looked like it hadn’t met with a comb in ages.  Yet there he was week after week.  I tried so hard, time after time, to understand him, but with very little success.  Occasionally he’d stop by the church when he saw my car there and try to have a conversation with me. 

Even as the church grew, Ross continued to come.  He did have one friend in the church.  Harvey was a fellow that came real early on Sundays to distribute Sunday School materials.  He didn’t particularly care for the ways I was leading the church.  I had known him for many years because of our district camp meeting. As a kid, I had helped him ‘white-wash’ the trees at the campground.  I had respected him as a godly man because he was often blessed and would let out a loud melodic “Woo Hoo!” when he felt the moving of the Holy Spirit. 

But when I became his pastor, he seemed to see me as a threat to the homeostasis of the church.  He singlehandedly made ministry hard for me. Even when the church doubled in size, he could only see me as a threat. 

Yet, Harvey – unbeknownst to anyone but me – would periodically take Ross into the church’s furnace room and completely bathe him.  He would wash out Ross’ clothes and dry them.  He was Ross’ best friend!  Harvey seemed to be able to understand Ross better than the rest of us.  He exhibited genuine, tangible love for Ross, while most of us did our best to ignore him. 

In spite of the adversarial relationship I had to endure with Harvey, I always admired him for the love and attention that he doled out to Ross. Somehow, Ross had risen above insignificant to Harvey. 

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There is no one that is insignificant to God!  He made us all and He cares for us all! 

I look back and wonder why we didn’t at least try to do more for Ross.  If we had focused our efforts, it seems that we could have helped him.  Was there a medical procedure or speech intervention that could have given him back his ability to communicate?  Could we have helped him learn to be more approachable?  How did so many of us manage to just ignore him Sunday after Sunday?  Where was the love of Christ in me when I was so systematically confronted by one of the least of these? 

Forgive us Lord!  Forgive me, Lord!  

No one is insignificant to You!  No one!

Be aware of that as you move through this day, this week, this Christmas season!  Be alert to those who might be invisible to the crowd.  Speak to them.  Recognize them as a gift of God!  Lift their day!  You have the power to change their life!  Don't let them continue to be invisible!