Hello,
I witnessed the Lord at work this week. She had scissors in her hand.
As my hair lessens, I feel a need to get it cut more often, and that is
why I was at my barber’s this week.
I think that she would be ok with me calling her a barber. She has a one chair shop, with metal
legged chairs to sit in as you wait your turn, an old cash register, and she
offers you a hot neck shave when she’s done cutting your hair…a cut whose cost
is less than $10.00.
I go to her because when I came to town I asked one of my parishoners
whose head held more hair than mine and it was always well kept if he could
suggest someone to cut my hair. He
recommended the gal who I now call my barber, and interestingly enough, his
recommendation was not based upon her hair cutting ability, but “if you want to
be around regular people, she’s the one to go to.”
So, I went to her and found out right away that she is a busy
barber. Of all the times that I
have had her cut my hair, only once did I walk in to find an empty barber’s
chair. There is always a shop full
of people. College kids with
flowing hair. Retired guys with
far less hair than I who get it cut every week. State policemen and army guys who like their hair cut short and tight. Middle aged guys of all shapes and
sizes. Attorneys and factory
workers. It is quite a crew. I think that I am one of her newer
customers.
This week as I walked into her shop there was a younger guy in the chair
and two older guys waiting on the “comfortable” steel legged chairs. Sometimes when it is that busy, I stick
my nose in the door and say that I’ll come back another time. But this time, I wasn’t in a huge
hurry, so I took my place on a metal legged chair. A conversation was going on between the barber and the young
man in the chair, a conversation in which the other two guys were also
participating. These conversations
go on all the time in her barber shop, but as new-be, I tend to just listen and
smile every once in a while.
Like I said, as I sat there listening to the conversation and the
clicking of the scissors, I witnessed the Lord at work….at work through my
barber. Every time that I have
been there I have witnessed her ability to strike up a conversation with her
clients….always asking about their lives, their families, their vacations,
their hobbies… It is amazing. It is always supportive and caring….but
this time it seemed even more so.
As she talked with the young man and one of the older guys, the
conversation turned toward difficulties that they were having in their
lives. The difficulties were magnified
by phrases that I don’t hear in my church. When they left the shop, she invited the oldest guy onto her
chair and talked with him about his aging life and the bumps and bruises he was
undergoing. With all three, she
listened intently while snipping her scissors, and offered gentle
encouragement, words of care, and positive approaches to life.
It was amazing.
So, when she offered me a seat in her chair, her shop had emptied and so
I said to her, “You have quite a counseling office here.”
She humbly snickered and told me how these guys had been coming to her
shop for years, and she filled me in on her worries and concerns for these
guys.
“Well,” I, who knows a little about counseling, said to her, “you did a
great job in helping those guys out!
They are lucky to have you as their barber.” It was obvious that those guys were not just some heads of
hair to her.
I told her that she, like everyone who is not a pastor, actually is able
to reach more people than I can with God’s grace. As a matter of fact, in my Christian tradition the Christian
faith is meant to be lived out in love and service to the neighbor (Sunday
morning is meant to fuel daily life.).
So, if you are not a pastor, and I don’t think that many of you are, I
hope that you know how much of a difference that you can make in your daily
life as you care about people with the grace and care that God has shown
you. I saw the difference that my
barber made in the life of those three guys…I saw the Lord at work. She had scissors in her hand.
Have a great week.
God’s grace and peace,
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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