October 18, 2021

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)

Walking back home after a day of tailgating and UVA football, I encountered a young scholar on the opposite side of Rugby Road. Toting a case of Natty Lite, he called out, “Sir! Sir! Would you like a beer?” Had he proffered a nice IPA I might have agreed, but I decided to pass on the Natty Lite. “Why, that’s very kind of you, but no thank you.” Our scholar persisted. “I thought that you might be visiting your son or your daughter and that you might like a beer.” He seemed a little dejected at my refusal.

Undoubtedly, the young man’s kind action bore some relation to the amount of Natty Lite he had already consumed, but still I was touched by the encounter. Kindness is a fruit of the Spirit and it sure helps the world go round.

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand;
to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.” (A Prayer Attributed to St. Francis – BCP p. 833)