This one is mine

Inspirational sources:
Mark 9:33-37
Thomas C. Ettinger's Disciples devotion for today -- "To follow Jesus, we must accept not only little children, but also an outsider, someone we don't know, someone we consider far beyond the bounds of our usual community."

Quotes taken from Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech.

They were arguing over greatness.
Who would be first among them?
He knew, and he asked,
“What were you arguing about on the road?”
They were silent.
Silent in their shame.
Deep down, they knew enough about him,
And from him,
That they knew it had been wrong.
He found it to be an opportunity.
Their sin would be transformed into growth.

He sat among them, and pulled a child onto his lap.
“You welcome this one and you welcome me.
You welcome me, and you welcome God.”

“This one?” they thought. “THIS ONE?”
This one is nothing.
This one is less than a person.
How can it be that welcoming this one,
Would be welcoming God?

Because I AM, and this one is mine.
Just as you are.

The times were troubled.
Riots torched cities.
Battles raged to prove that the color of skin
Said nothing about the person inside.
A great man with a dream
Spoke of “the manacles of segregation
and the chains of discrimination.”
He spoke of a “table of brotherhood.”
He spoke of “transformation into an oasis of freedom”
His dream was that we would all be
Free at last.

Jesus sat among them, and held the hand of a black woman.
“You welcome this one, and you welcome me.
You welcome me, and you welcome God.”

“This one?” they thought. “THIS ONE?”
This one is nothing.
This one is less than a person.
How can it be that welcoming this one,
Would be welcoming God?

Because I AM, and this one is mine.
Just as you are.

They gathered on Thursday nights.
To be fed, to hear a prayer, to hear a message.
They gathered for the same reasons
that countless Christians had always gathered.
Many were poor, homeless, hungry.
Others were addicted, lonely, lost.
They came to a place that offered prayers.
For them. For their concerns.
Only because they asked.
They came to a place that would feed their bodies,
And make no other demands.
They came to a place that offered grace.
In abundance.
Some “upstairs” chose to ignore them.
Didn’t always see them.
Wished that they would stay outside.

Jesus sat among them, and draped his arm across the shoulders of a lost man.
“You welcome this one, and you welcome me.
You welcome me, and you welcome God.”

“This one?” those upstairs thought. “THIS ONE?”
This one is nothing.
This one is less than a person.
How can it be that welcoming this one,
Would be welcoming God?

Because I AM, and this one is mine.
Just as you are.