Journeys
10-27-13
Today is the fourth in a series of sermons using the book, "The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers," by Amy Hollingsworth. The focus today is, "The Least of These.”
"Out of his deep hurt came a longing to soothe the pain of others, and out of the callous disregard of schoolyard bullies came a determination to only lift up- and never demean- his neighbor…At last I had it: Fred's intense devotion to the disenfranchised, to the least of these, arose from the realization that he was one of them." - Amy Hollingsworth, The Simple Faith of Mister Rogers, 2005
As Amy says, Fred Rogers' ability to see and minister to the least of these happened because he saw himself as one of those, "least people." I can relate to that.
I was 12 when my family moved from Albion, NE to Overland Park, KS so my Dad could go to seminary. My new middle school had more kids than the entire population of Albion, NE. My seventh grade year was hell. I was always getting my books knocked out of my hands in the hallways. Then when you got down to pick them up you got kicked and shoved by the masses. Eventually, I made friends through band, choir and football. And thankfully, I grew a foot between seventh and ninth grade. So, by ninth grade, I was one of the big kids in that school.
So that ninth grade year, I remember seeing an eighth grader knock the books out of the arms of some scrawny seventh grader right in the middle of a major bottle-neck between hallways. So I proceeded to throw that eighth grader up against the lockers and made him get down and pick up all those books and give them back to the shivering "sevey." Cause that shivering scrawny kid was me just two years ago.
So don't let me ever see you dump somebodies else’s books around church, or you'll answer to me! I've been there, done that.
Grace & Peace,
Rev. Kelly
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