“Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.”
– Philippians 4:8-9
Dearly Beloved,
It all started with an older gentleman who pulled up to the Dairy Queen drive-through in Brainerd, Minnesota, at the height of the lunch hour. “I’d also like to pay for the car behind me,” he told the cashier. “Whatever they’ve ordered, I’ll cover it.” Darla Anderson rang up the two orders and thought that would be the end of it. But two days and hundreds of cars later, she and the rest of the crew were still ringing up “pay it forward” orders as each person who came to the drive-through offered to pay for the car behind them. “I’ve seen ‘pay it forward’ chains that went on for about 20 cars, but never anything like this,” said store manager Tina Jensen. In the end, the chain spanned more than 900 cars over 2½ days. [1]
After a year filled with news assaulting us at every turn with stories of selfishness, injustice, violence, and the ever widening effects of the pandemic, reading this story in the paper was balm for my soul. Nothing earth shattering. Nothing that will turn the tide on the coronavirus or wipe away systemic racism. Yet, a sign that it is still possible to choose to “pay it forward” in the best sense of the phrase, rather than to choose revenge or “pay back.” The fact that 900+ cars over multiple days participated in what one single man initiated says something about how hungry we are for acts generosity and simple signs of hope and caring. As far as I know, the gentleman who started it all didn’t check with the occupants of the car behind him to see whether they shared the same politics as himself before he paid for their meal; he didn’t quiz them about their faith stance, where they came from, or other features of their biography, in order to ascertain whether they DESERVED a free lunch or not. He simply gave freely, graciously—gratis. And his so doing, inspired others to do the same. Generosity became contagious on that day.
The words with which Paul closes his letter to the Philippians (above) seem an appropriate way for us to begin this new year. Instead of dwelling on what is incomplete in ourselves and wrong in the world, Paul says, train your thoughts on the higher virtues, higher goals. And don’t just go there with your mind—let your feet, your hands, your hearts come along, too. “Keep on doing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.”
In his reflection for January 1st, Father Richard Rohr wrote something that gives me great hope.[2] “Even after fifty years of practicing contemplation,” he writes, “my immediate response to most situations includes attachment, defensiveness, judgment, control, and analysis. I am better at calculating than contemplating. A good New Year’s practice for us would be to admit that that most of us start there.” I find his utter transparency inspiring. When he goes on to talk about his “hour-by-hour battle” to embrace the True Self, which is always controlled and blinded by “the defensive needs of the separate self,” I nod my head in recognition. Then he goes on: “I cannot risk losing touch with either my angels or my demons. They are both good teachers… The gaze of compassion, looking out at life from the place of divine intimacy is really all I have, and all I have to give, even though I don’t always do it.” In this second gaze, which God ever invites us into, “critical thinking and compassion are finally coming together,” allowing us to see the other “with God’s own eyes, the eyes of compassion.”
When Rohr, a fellow Christian I admire, speaks freely about his own limitations and God’s constant invitation to taste and see God’s goodness and compassion, then there is hope for me!
I expect no miracle cures for myself or the world in 2021. But I hold fast to the promise that the One who chose to pitch his tent among us in Jesus will continue to companion us along the way, inviting us to “pay forward” with no small measure of delight the undeserved favor we have received from his hand.
With you on the Way,
Pastor Erik
[1] See the article by Cathy Free in the 12/14/20 edition of the Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/12/14/dairy-queen-drive-thru-chain/
[2] You can find his full reflection here: https://cac.org/the-second-gaze-2021-01-01/?utm_source=cm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dm&utm_content=summary
What does this mean?