"He raises the poor from the dust And lifts the beggar from the ash heap, To set them among princes And make them inherit the throne of glory."

God's economy is not like the world. He raises the weak and forgotten people. He expects His Church to act so too. Often, we are more ready to honour people who are rich, powerful, well qualified, able to pay back our kindness, able to do this or that. But God expects us to act like Him, to reach out to those who can't pay back.

Actually, they do pay back. They teach us God's grace. They let us experience the reality of God's grace as we serve them. AS we serve as God's vessel and medium of grace, we too encounter His grace and power. We become aware that we too are unworthy beggar, the poor from the dust and He adopted us to be His children.

Perhaps Henri Nouwen http://www.henrinouwen.org/ said it best:
The word became flesh so as to wash my tired feet. He touches me precisely where I touch the soil, where earth connects with my body that reaches out to heaven. He kneels and takes my feet in his hands and washes them. Then he looks up at me and, as his eyes and mine meet, he says: "Do you understand what I have done for you? If I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you must wash your brothers' and sisters' feet" (John 13:13-14). As I walk the long, painful journey toward the cross, I must pause on the way to wash my neighbors' feet. As I kneel before my brothers and sisters, wash their feet, and look into their eyes, I discover that it is because of my brothers and sisters who walk with me that I can make the journey at all.

Lord, thank you for being gracious to me. May I too be the vessel of your grace. Amen