Can you imagine trying to live without the use of your limbs? No hands or feet. No legs or arms. But your mind and torso are basically fine? There was a recent story on Story Corps about a young man, Collin Smith, who lost the use of his limbs in a car accident when he was a sophomore in high school. When the time came for him to go to college, he would need full-time continuous help each and every day. A man from his church who did not know him heard about the situation. He determined that it would cost the family something like $50,000 to hire that kind of help. The family did not have those resources, so Ernest Greene decided he would help Collin.
Greene, 50 years older than Smith, headed to college. They were together each and every day. Greene helped not only with academics, but with personal care and with Smith’s social life.
At the end of the four years, Greene pushed Smith, the proud graduate, forward to receive his diploma. After the the diploma had been delivered, the college president stopped Greene. There was something for him, too. An honorary degree.
“I don’t think I’ve been any more shocked in my life,” Greene said. “I didn’t think I had done anything more than any other person ought to do.” [http://www.npr.org/2014/04/11/301574558/one-man-becomes-anothers-hands-feet-and-family]
Greene was so humble about the whole thing. The young man needed help and he could do it so he did. That was it. No grand heroics. Just simple human kindness and service.
Our faith tradition teaches us that God has grand hopes and dreams for the world. Yet what about God’s hands and feet? God needs help to accomplish God’s goals. And as the old prayer reminds us, “He has no hands but ours.” Like that steady, faithful church member, Earnest Greene, who was the hands and feet of God serving Collin Smith, so we are all called to be the hands and feet of God. To serve. To see the needs around us and give of ourselves, with no expectation of reward or acclaim.
This Lenten season is a time to consider what our hands and feet are doing. Are they serving God? Are they meeting the needs of those around us? Are they idle? Are they otherwise occupied?
Prayer: We are grateful for faithful souls like Earnest Greene who remind us of our calling as human beings and as people of faith. We pray for ears and eyes open to the needs of those around us, the needs of the world. We are thankful for all that we can do and we pray that we are able to give our lives in service to others without fanfare or fame. May we be simple, humble servants in the spirit of our savior Christ Jesus. Amen.
Lakewood United Church of Christ 