Where is Your Calcutta?

On Saturday afternoon a young lady boarded a metro car at New Carrolton bound for the National Mall. She was not alone as she traveled, however she had a different vision of what that day would bring. Her party arrived in DC and met together with an estimated 3000 other like-minded people who were all there for one purpose. Each of these individuals had ‘abducted’ themselves as an act of support in the fight to free the child soldiers being held by Joseph Kony in Northern Uganda. The demonstration was organized by the Invisible Children group (www.invisiblechildren.com).

The plan was simple – 100 cities across the US, and more in Australia, New Zealand, and Europe had gatherings similar to this one in DC where the participants had abducted themselves and were willing to wait at that location until a media mogul, politician or some other celebrity would ‘rescue’ them by showing up with some sort of media outlet and addressing the assembled gatherings.

Our young lady friend, joined by the rest of the DC abductees waited for rescue and after only a few short hours wait the DC camp was rescued by a local politician. Somewhere around 4pm on Saturday afternoon a senator arrived to release the group and allow these abductees to return home. For many people there, this was the end of the event known as ‘The Rescue’. Not so though for our young adventurer. As most people were headed home, our young adventurer (Lindsay Aiello) boarded a bus with a bunch of other ‘Rescue Riders’ and they headed to a nearby city to support those who had not been rescued there. This turned out to be Philadelphia. Once Philly was rescued the Riders were off again. As I write this, on Wednesday evening, Lindsay has been abducted for nearly 5 days – and she is now in the last remaining city to be rescued, Chicago Illinois.

Why did Lindsay drop everything in her life to fight for a cause that for many is completely unheard of? Why would someone give up themselves to fight for a cause that they cannot see? As I have been thinking about and praying for Lindsay this week I was reminded of another adventurous young lady. Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu felt called to ministry as a teenager. She did her ministerial training in Ireland and in India. Her story goes that she approached one of her superiors and said, “I have three pennies and a dream from God to build an orphanage.” Their response was simple, and probably what many of us would have said, “You can’t build an orphanage with three pennies. With three pennies you can’t do anything.” Agnes smiled and said, “I know. But with God and three pennies I can do anything.”

Agnes spent the next 50 years working amongst the world’s poorest people in the city of Calcutta, India. The little lady we know as Mother Theresa had not just built one orphanage, but had built a legacy of orphanages and outreach to the poor. Toward the end of her life she was asked by admirers how they could make a difference with their lives. Her response was simple, yet brilliant. She would always reply, “Find your own Calcutta”.

In the lead up to this weekend and her adventure as a Rescue Rider, Lindsay found her own Calcutta. She has found something that she is so passionate about that she is willing to set her life on hold to achieve a goal that many think is impossible. She has found her Calcutta. Lindsay’s passion should inspire us. Agnes’ passion should inspire us. Mother Theresa’s words should haunt us – “Find your own Calcutta.”

In Matthew 25:31 Jesus tells a story about two groups of people – the story is known as the Sheep and the Goats. Take a moment to read this story where the King is assigning people to his right or his left hand side. As the story progresses we see that these two groups are different – however the two groups are not clear as to what the difference is. On the King’s right hand side are those who saw Him in need and gave generously, those who saw Him hungry and provided food, those who saw Him without clothing and covered Him. Those on the left however are described as those who are cursed. Why were they cursed? What was the difference between these two groups? It simple – the difference was what they did and did not do.

Which group are you in? Has God shown you what your Calcutta is? Is your Calcutta the city that you live in right now? Are you on the King’s right or His left? Are you found among the righteous or the cursed? The way to know the answer is simple – what are you DOING? Not what are you thinking about, or what are you studying, or what had you hoped to do, but what are you DOING?

Are you reaching your Calcutta? The time has come for us to be a people who DO.