If Jesus gets into your boat, as he got into Gregory’s boat, into the Late Congressman John Lewis’ boat, he will cause trouble, good trouble, in your life.
Gregory the Great wanted nothing more than to be a humble monk. But Jesus got into his boat and made him pope in 590. He modeled pastoral ministry in his Liber Regulae Pastoralis that outlined the criteria, qualities, activities, choices for good bishops and pastors that lasted a thousand years. He called himself “Servant of the Servants of God.” He is called the Great because of his charity, his justice, his protection of Jewish rights, his love of music, called Gregorian chant, which still occupies a preferred place in Latin Church music.
July 17, 2020, John R. Lewis died at age 80. He believed in Jesus as his Lord and Savior. He was the son of poor African Americans from Troy, Alabama. Jesus got into his boat and caused trouble for the rest of his life. Good Trouble.
“When I was growing up, my mother and father and family members said, 'Don't get in trouble. Don't get in the way.'
“I got in trouble. I got in the way. It was necessary trouble.” It was good trouble. When you see something wrong say something, do something. He was one of 6 leaders who organized the March on Washington in 1963 and he was the youngest person to speak at that historic event in which Martin Luther King, Jr. offered what is among the most inspiring sermons ever in this country about judging people “not by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.”
Quarantined for several days waiting for the results of a test for Corona Virus, I got to watch the entire 3 plus hours of the funeral from Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia for the seventeen-term congressman who represented Atlanta for 33 plus years. Presidents Carter, Clinton, Bush and Obama eulogized this good man for his character, his faith in Jesus, his unconditional commitment to non-violence and his love of justice leading to peace.
As children of God, as Americans, as Christians and especially as Catholics, we all belong to each other as members of one great family, all belong to you, and you to Christ and Christ to God.
Let Christ into your boat and he brings trouble, good trouble, and he brings so many family members, brothers and sisters, black, white, brown and yellow and red along with Him. Let Christ into your boat and you and I can be like Gregory the Great, Servants of the Servants of God! Amen!
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