Monday Post: Where is your Calcutta?

If you could meet and talk with any 3 people from anytime in history who would it be & why?   

I'd probably have to go with Bono from U2, Martin Luther King Jr, and possibly King Solomon or one of those guys on the near-fated Apollo 13.   The one person I really would have loved to have met is Mother Teresa.  Living and working these almost 20 years in ministry I've had the opportunity to study and witness her work from other side of the world.  Thanks to internet technology and the many biographies written about her life, I almost feel like I did meet her.  I feel like I know her and there is probably little I would be able to ask her that I don't already know from what I've read.  Nonetheless it would have been great to hear her speak to a group of young college students and to hear her say that famous phrase of hers, "find your  Calcutta".  

Mark 9:30-36

30 They left that place and passed through Galilee. Jesus did not want anyone to know where they were, 31 because he was teaching his disciples. He said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise.” 32 But they did not understand what he meant and were afraid to ask him about it.  33 They came to Capernaum. When he was in the house, he asked them, “What were you arguing about on the road?” 34 But they kept quiet because on the way they had argued about who was the greatest.

35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.”  36 He took a little child whom he placed among them. Taking the child in his arms, he said to them, 37 “Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me.

”Finding your "Calcutta" is not always an easy things to do.  It's almost as difficult as figuring out what it means to give humans their due as created by God.  The writer of Mark's Gospel gives a bit of insight that reminds me of how complicated we make the Christian life.  We complicate it by always thinking that the "real" Christian thing is to do some huge mission and make huge sacrifices when it might be as simple as loving a child, helping a neighbor or praying with a friend.  As simple as walking and living the Gospel everyday in your very own Calcutta.  Where is that you ask?  It is where you sleep, where you live, where you work, and where you play.  Mother Teresa said, your Calcutta is to seek and find in your daily life, the sick, the suffering and the lonely right there where you are . . . You can find Calcutta all over the world, if you have the eyes to see.  

What would the world look like if we set out to love every person in our own Calcutta.  What is we all did our part, sharing with the needy.  I'm not just talking material possessions.  We can share our smiles, laughs, the Scripture, our time, our belongings, and our expertise in life.  I truly believe the more would come to faith in Christ and the world would be a better picture of restoration to God's image.  

SO WHERE IS YOUR CALCUTTA?  Spend some time this week asking God directly to show you right where you live, work and play what your "Calcutta" looks like.  Ask him to reveal things in your that are keeping you from being the missionary to your circle of influence you need to be.  SPend some time this week reading the Scriptures provided below and meditating on their meanings for your life.  Before you know it, you'll be living and working and ministering to others, and your office won't look like the daily grind, you'll picture it as a hospice center in Calcutta, India.  After all that is the one thing we have in common all over the world - we are all dyeing.  It is so vitally important that we all do our part and follow Jesus in faith into our very own "Calcutta".    

Reflections for Prayer

Who is the one person or group of persons you can serve this week?  Pray earnestly and then intentionally seek them out and serve them.  Serve them big!  Go big or go home as they say!  

What is the one major thing about your job that keeps you from being what Christ is calling you to be? 

Ask God to show you what it would look like to live the Gospel out better at - Home, Work, Church, Community? 

Further Study
Psalm 35
1 Cor 14:1-19
Mark 9:30-41   

Philippians 1:1-30      

                                                                               

No Greater Love, Mother Teresa & Thomas Moore

Generous Justice, Tim Keller