Dr. and Rev. Willy Gaspar is a Lutheran Pastor and a Dentist. Across from his church in Santo Domingo he has established a clinic and a dentists office. He cares for the people in the community and he is also the Pastor of the church across the street. He did this with a clear eyed appreciation for what it would entail. New believers who come to the clinic because he is a Pastor who cares for their soul and therefore will care for their bodies even if they can’t pay the bills or non believers who will hold the church in contempt if he turns them down for service. Unencumbered by Obamacare he still has to deal with Government regulations and payroll for other Doctors and nurses and secretaries and bangs at the door of his house in the middle of the night because everyone knows where the Pastor/Doctor lives.
Christians enter into these types of mission/human care situations because they are freed to help their neighbor in body and soul because they have been freed from the need to justify themselves. Pastor Gaspar entered into this part of his work with a clear eyed vision of what it would entail.
“A Christian does not keep one eye on the work of Christ and another on his good works. Such a slant eyed glance is alien to him. This divided vision contradicts the nature of faith. The Christian fixes both eyes on his crucified and resurrected Christ. He is thus free from the aching anxiety about his salvation. He is thus free from the concern for “meritorious” works…In this freedom he is liberated for a service to God and liberated for a God sanctioned service to the neighbor”. Peter Brunner quoted in “MIssion from the Cross’, by Detlev Schultz page 253
