Kiva - http://www.kiva.org/

One morning I awoke to NPR and heard former president Bill Clinton talking about his book. I was very interested in what he said about micro-loans. When he said there was a web-site that would allow ME to be a micro lender, I jumped out of bed and logged on. That day I made my first $25 loans to two women in Africa.

I had been excited about the concept of micro-loans since I saw a segment about them on one of the news magazines years ago. I remember clearly seeing a woman being lent just enough money to buy a tea pot and a cup. With that, we was able to provide - very minimally of course - for her family. While I still shutter at the hygiene of everyone using the same cup, I was excited to see how little someone might need to move up the economic ladder a bit.

This week I attended a church development program and we watched a movie entitled Power of Vision by Joel Barker. In the film, he told a story originally told by Loren Eisley. In the story, Eisley was walking down the beach in the early morning and witnessed someone dancing on the shore. As he approached, he found a young man who was throwing starfish back into the water. Eisley correctly pointed out to the fellow that this was a pointless activity for there were starfish for miles up this piece of coastland. The young guy kept up his work, agreed that he couldn't help them all, but as he threw in the next one he said; "I made a difference for that one." http://www.rawfoodinfo.com/action/activist_starthrower.html

What Eisley recognized is that we can be observers of life or participants. With Kiva I think we have the opportunity to act on poverty. Each of us can help to meet the United Nations Development Goals. We can expand our vision of what Jesus might look like when he says,

'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family,1 you did it to me.' Matthew 25:40

Because I can get carried away with things, I made a decision to make one new loan each month, and to reinvest loans when they are repaid. So far I have made nine loans and one was repaid early. Each month I am so excited to see these entrepreneurs make their regular payments. I pray that the money they have received will really make a positive change in their lives and that they will help others in their communities.

I can get truly overwhelmed if I think about POVERTY and DEBT and STARVATION. I can't possibly do anything about these big problems. But I can make a difference to that one.

John 4:1-15

In this morning's readings we encounter Jesus at a well talking to a Samaritan woman about water. He asks her for something simple, "Give me a drink." She challenges him, "How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of m, a woman of Samaria?"

I wonder what the tone of voices might have been. Was Jesus just starting a conversation with anything that might have been handy to say? Did he start with the idea of telling her about ultimate realities? Or was he just thirsty? For those of us who focus solely on Jesus' divinity, then it was an intended conversation. He planned it that way. But for those of us who think of Jesus as fully human, with all that we have experienced, it answer is less sure.

If Jesus was more like us than we sometimes think, maybe he was really asking for a drink of water because he wanted one. However, when he was answered not with a personal response to him as an individual, but instead with one that echoed racist and tribal overtones, he changed his direction.

I do not pretend to be a scholar who can give an adequate discourse on the relationships between Jews and Samaritans. However, it seems clear from this story and others, that it was a conflicted relationship. Somebody felt superior to somebody else and it damaged them both.

In this exchange, the woman at the well is not afforded the honor of a name. She is not single nor married. She is only a Samaritan. When she responds to Jesus, he is only a Jew.

But then Jesus changes that. He offers her the truth. He tells her about her life and then she spreads the word. She becomes one of the best evangelists, not by her understanding about Jesus, but by her questions and experiences freely shared.

How I wish I could be more like her!

Throughts on John 1:29-42

This Sunday we will be reflecting on this reading. More than perhaps any other story, this selection shows the power of a witness. Jesus walks on the scene, but hardly speaks and then only in response to being followed. Isn't that amazing? These future disciples began to follow Jesus BEFORE he called them in response to the witness of John the Baptist.

Every day, each of us is influencing the world in ways that we might not even be aware of. In our conversations, in our driving, in our work and our eating dinner with friends we are bearing witness to what we think is important. Already, people may be following our lead and changing the direction of their lives.

So the question is, do you like the way you are going and do you want to lead others in that same direction?