Loving the Overlooked and Ignored

“Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.”

• Matthew 25:40, The Message

Kay Angel is an orphanage located in the Haitian coastal city of Jacmel. The name Kay Angel means “Angel House” in Haitian Creole. When you get to know the children who live there, you know that the name is very fitting. Truly, the children are little angels; they are God's little angels (though they can be little devils at times, too!).

Our church learned of Kay Angel through my father, who has gone to Haiti more than 50 times to offer medical assistance and to teach and train doctors. Kay Angel is run by an office of one, its Director, Gala Calisto. The orphanage is specialized in its focus: The children are HIV positive, which makes them ineligible for virtually any other orphanage. One child, Martin, has severe cerebral palsy and autism. You can learn more about Kay Angel and support them by visiting their website, kayangel.org

In November of 2014 and 2015, our church sent some of our members to visit Kay Angel, to do a couple of minor projects for the orphanage, and to love on the children. We could've just sent money for the projects, but sometimes love needs to be expressed in person.

As I think about my church's Lenten emphasis on what Jesus declared to be most important – to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as ourselves – I can't help but also be reminded that unless we are loving our neighbor, we are not, in fact, loving God with our whole being.

Especially, Jesus calls us to love those who have been forgotten or pushed aside. And surely the children of Haiti have been forgotten and pushed aside, as have countless others around the world.

The love of God and love of neighbor is not complete if we are not seeking justice for the poor, the oppressed, the stranger, the hungry, the sick.

You may not ever have the opportunity to travel to Haiti, or outside the United States, for that matter. But you don't have to go far to extend love to those who are, as Eugene Peterson so bluntly describes them in his translation of Matthew, “overlooked or ignored.” You can say a kind word to the immigrant worker standing in front of you in the line at Walmart. You can put a few extra cans of food in your shopping cart to give to your local food pantry. You can help a young child from the projects learn to read. You can become a foster parent or guardian ad litem for at-risk children... Need I continue?

You get the idea.

So, love God with your whole being, and love your neighbor as yourself.

And don't forget the overlooked and ignored.