to Luther

A homeless man died in San Antonio this week. Not a huge surprise, I guess, especially given how cold it has been in the last couple of weeks. (Thank goodness spring is coming quickly. Every day in long pants is a day not as good as it should be.)

Luther was an alcoholic. It is a demon he battled throughout his life. He had periods of sobriety, but he could never quite sustain it. That disease had him bad.

I was not there when Luther walked in to Travis Park church; I was still in Florida. He came into the church looking for transformation. He found it in his own life, through fits and starts and horrible struggles. But the bigger transformation took place not in his heart, but in the heart of the church. A process started, or continued, gained momentum that day. And the momentum continues in the heart of Corazon Ministries, aimed at transforming the lives of the homeless in San Antonio. Travis Park church is not so monochromatic anymore; it is filled just with the affluent anymore. Now it looks more like San Antonio, and more like the kingdom of God.

The season of Lent begins on Wednesday and ends with Easter. I am saddened that Luther is not with us anymore; his face was always a bright spot in my day, even when it was painfully obvious he had been drinking again. I am sad that it took death to free Luther from his demons, but I am also profoundly grateful for a God so intimately involved with us that he invaded the world as Jesus so that death itself could be redeemed.

I looked around Corazon Ministries today while at work, and I was reminded that the Holy Spirit does not work through the kings and presidents and people of power and wealth. The Spirit works also through homeless drunks. We will miss you, Luther, but we will never forget you. Rest in the peace that you could never find here.