A Real Person (7/03/2023)

Recently I have had to make several calls to businesses and institutions. If you haven’t done that lately, brace yourself. The hoops you must go through to get a real person and not an AI responder are mind boggling. And when I finally got to speak to a person after lengthy “hold” times (up to an hour), I found that they were on another continent. They don’t even really work for the organization I am calling about but rather they are a generic “call center.” I know I am old. I remember when our phone was on a party line and only had four digits. But I ask myself what have we come to in this world that a person with a real problem can’t get a real person to help. So, I’m warning you, if you need help with anything that can’t be handled by a member of your immediate household, you’re going to need to pack a lunch and be prepared to spend time in the call queue.

On the other hand, we have our LORD, Jesus Christ, a real person as well as the Son of God. He came to us because we had a problem, and His desire was to help us come to a resolution. He was willing to lay down his life for us so that we might have life in abundance. He promises us that if we love Him and keep His commandments, He and the Father will come to us and dwell among us. That’s real. That’s present.

Those of us who seek to follow in His footsteps recognize the importance of being present to one another, of being companions to one another on the journey, of supporting one another in our Savior’s name. We aren’t part of an idea or a business, we’re members of the living Body of Christ in the world. And as the world becomes more and more impersonal, we are called to be personal, to be the real presence of Christ in the world, to be there for one another in our Savior’s name.

As we continue our journeys in faith, buoyed by hope and fueled by transformative love, let us seek to be present to those around us, to see them as they are and to love them as our Savior loves them. Let us work to serve one another as our LORD calls us to recognize that whatever we do for even the “least” of our sisters and brothers, we do for our LORD. And let us comprehend the importance of simply being with another, accompanying them, supporting them. Sometimes, in this scary and challenging life, we simply just need to speak to a real person – to someone who sees us as real and loveable.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.