The Belt Off My Waist

I never answer the doorbell at the place where I'm staying. Living in the Catholic rectory has meant I don't get any visitors. But it was Ash Wednesday and I assumed that since none of the priests were in the house, I should probably answer the door and tell the person where to find them.

To my surprise, it was Tom, the homeless man who has been coming by. He was surprised to see me, as he was apparently looking for the priest. He had also come by my office that morning, looking to tell me that he didn't steal keys from the church, which apparently one of our members accused him of, but must have found them, as he didn't say anything to me. Well, he told me the story and asked if I had any work for him. It was almost 9 at night, to which the obvious answer was no. But as I stood there talking with him, I noticed something which I never had before about Tom. He was using a legnth of rope (one of those stringy but very tough pieces of rope you might find at a construction site) as a belt. While he was telling me his story about the keys, I quickly took off my belt (I'm glad he wasn't paying attention, because it might have looked a bit suspect) and gave it to him. He said he hadn't had a new belt in a long time. More years than he could remember.

I only own one belt, so I went out and bought a new one this morning. It took me an hour to get to the department store and back. And I was perfectly content to just let this story go untold. No one needs to know that I gave my belt to this guy, but yesterday, I felt that Ash Wednesday was just some silly holiday which we celebrate to show everyone else we are followers of Christ. I figured it had no biblical basis, and therefore, shouldn't be celebrated.

Then I remembered this prayer which I'm just going to assume most other Christians say every so often in corporate prayer. "We confess to you and to one another, and to the whole communion of saints in heaven and on earth, that we have sinned by our own fault in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart, mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others as we have been forgiven."

Then when I got back to the office after buying a new belt, I told the story to Mary and another person in the office. Afterwards, she warned me about not getting scammed. Ugh. What person reads the gospels and worries about getting scammed? I think when we focus on not being scammed, we take our minds off of what we have left undone.

Maybe I would have given my belt anyway. I don't know if that prayer helped me remember or not, but I wish life were as simple as praying or preaching it and just having other people do it. That way, I wouldn't be the only one who does it because I'm paid to do so.