"So today I ate a
mango like a savage. I bet if anyone saw me they would have thought there was a
zombie in disguise living across the street" - from the web
In a few weeks, I’ll return to serve in parish ministry.
There are amazing wondrous things about parish ministry and serving God’s
people. It is sweet and ripe with compassion
and love. It often flourishes with people sharing tender care for each other,
and seeking service first. Genuine generosity blossoms from many hearts with
unmatched fragrant grace.
And occasionally there is that pit. People are people and
ministry can be tough and hard-hearted. Ministers pray for their people to be
tender-hearted, but sometimes the pastor herself has a heart of stone. Human frailty
deceives wearing the skin of beauty. It is peeled back to reveal a less than
appealing core. No fruit bearing there.
“Don’t be [hardhearted] as your
ancestors were. Clasp God’s outstretched hand. Come to his Temple of holy worship, consecrated for
all time. Serve God, your God.” 2 Chronicles 30:8
Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ V3
Jesus calls us in, sends us out
bearing fruit in a world of
doubt,
gives us love to tell,
bread to share:
God (Immanuel) ev'rywhere!
Jesus lives again, earth can breathe again
pass the word around; loaves abound.
Jesus lives again, earth can breathe again
pass the Word around; loaves abound!
Incidentally, in Eastern religions, the mango is a symbol of
love. The mango leaves and blossoms are used in the worship of Saraswati, the
goddess of knowledge, arts (music of love), creativity, eloquence and power. The
symbol of the mango is in many eastern arts – a paisley shape. Mangos are
mostly self-perpetuating. Only 15% are male and the rest both.
For our wedding shower, my husband and I got a mango slicer.
One of the best inventions since blogs. I love the sweet fruity taste and the
piney smell of a ripe mango. They are amazing and heavenly. Prior to this great
gift, I would drool over mango from afar. They were too tough to figure out how
to slice on my own to remove that huge stone pit, and too costly to buy the
sliced up ones with any regularity from the store.
Now it is regularly Mango
Mondays at our house, and other days to boot. On those days, I actually sing a
little song as I am preparing the mango for our enjoyment. First, I use the
fantastic slicer to remove the big pit, then I lovingly cultivate the fruit. (Oh, actually something to thank George Bush
for - The nuclear deal Bush signed
with India
allowed for the US to import mangoes and develop a love for them that showed
imports triple in ten years! Mangos were imported more scarcely prior.)
The dark side of this fruit. Incredibly, mangos are related
to poison ivy and you can get a rash from their skin and sap resin. The mango
pits{Endocarp – a gross word in itself] are large, and sometimes the fruit does
not yield that much.
Contemplating mangos, that is how I sometimes feel. A hopeful depiction of beauty and goodness with
this large pit of anger and madness inside. The love and compassion one needs
for God’s service gives way to reveal a hardhearted core. Maybe there is only a
zombie in disguise.
The hardness I fear that can be in my heart feels like it leaves
little room for the extraordinary love and kindness required in ministry. God, send me a mango-type slicer to prune away
the hardness in my heart so as to get to the tender, juicy loving-kindness of
servant mango magic ministry.
Joshua Kadison, musician and author of “17 Ways To Eat A Mango: A Discovered
Journal of Life on an Island of Miracles”, Hyperion, 1999
Thank you God for answered prayer and helping me to see more magic and the Spirit of a Mango Ministry.
