This past week I received a request from, "out of the blue," to call a gentleman who had contacted us through our community's website. The man, whose name was William, wanted to talk about his Mother's terminal illness and how he and she were dealing with it. What made this request so unexpected, and therefore even more, "out of the blue," was that William is Jewish and from New York City. Given the difference in religion and given all the persons he could have no doubt contacted in his immediate area, I was quite beside myself with the surprising nature of this request! When William and I connected via phone, he was struggling with how to deal with the seriousness of this illness and what it meant for him and his mom. He chose to contact a priest because he thought that I'd be much more familiar with how to process such things. In a nutshell, William wanted to make the most of the time that he had left with his mom. He wanted to talk with her about her memories, her hopes, her fears, and the love they had shared. In a word, William wanted to get to the heart of what life should be about and wanted to reach and be reached out to by God.
Given that we came from different religious backgrounds that don't share the same views on Resurrection and eternal life, I couldn't dig deep into my bag of Christian faith and symbols in order to offer counsel or comfort along these lines. However, as William spoke and I listened intently for an "in", what came to me "out of the blue" was the book "Tuesday's with Morrie." This book tells the story of a journalist named Mitch Albom who reconnects with a college professor friend, Morrie Schwartz, after Morrie has contracted Lou Gehrig's disease and is on the last leg of his life's journey. The book chronicles the beautiful, profound, and poignant conversations they have over the course of 13 Tuesday's preceding Morrie's death. In an ironic twist, what made this book such a good recommendation for William is that, like William, Mitch Albom is a journalist, and, like Morrie, William is Jewish. William told me that he hadn't heard of the book but would indeed pick it up and read it. After exchanging well-wishes and assuring William of my prayers, our conversation came to an end.
It occurred to me that what took place between me and William has much to do with Ascension Sunday. On the Feast of the Ascension we celebrate how Jesus was "taken up" into the beautiful blue heavens and how we anticipate his return in the very same way, from "out of the blue." (Acts 1:11). The significance of Jesus ascending to God and being seated "at God's right hand", means that now God the Father and God the Son can come to us from the depths of our lives, world, and relationships from "out of the blue" through the presence of God the Spirit. I believe that what William and I experienced in our very brief conversation was nothing less than Christ visiting us from "out of the blue", inspiring William to contact me and inspiring me with what to share with him. This is what it means for Christ to return to us in the same way that he left us: he comes to us from "out of the blue" to touch our lives with inspiration, depth of connection, and, ultimately, transformation. Pat
