Tuesday 23 December 2008
Look out for Each Other
Christmas Eve. This morning I heard Paul Kelly singing his heart out about missing Christmas with his family. What was so gut wrenching was it was like a letter to his family with names and details, like sorry etc, don’t talk about me. Christmas is a raw time of mixed emotions. I worry about estranged partners and single parents who are ripped about by the event. Reminds me of Paul (crowded House) found in St Kilda. Christians have to be mindful to pray for the lonely and lost when the world celebrates it can be like rubbing salt into the wound. We mourn with those who mourn, laugh with those who laugh.
Tuesday 2 December 2008
Quality Person?
I’ve been thinking on a theme again. This time the theme is about quality people. Many years ago I heard this statement, ‘They’re quality people’ from a pulpit. Hearing this really angered me. And I couldn’t help thinking it also annoyed our guest speaker Bill Wilson from New York. He works with the children/refugees etc in the high rise round Queens etc. Bill Wilson was abandoned by his mother as a child. I was also abandoned by my mother however she did come back (she was found two months later as a waitress on the other side of town)
Who is a quality person? The man from Gadarene? This was a demon possessed man who was held in spiritual/physical captivity not by his own will and Jesus freed him. Yes he was delivered from thousands of demons that called themselves ‘legion’ who went into a batch of pigs.
I met an important little person I’ll call Joseph this year. He doesn’t fit into the classroom well, he talks to himself and has ostracized himself a bit though has one friend and when they get together they become a bit of a nuisance. He doesn’t listen and rolls on the floor. Teachers would be exasperated by Joseph. But God has his address. I was driving down a street one day and there he was. This happened a few times. As his religion teacher I have a soft spot for him. We can all relate to some dysfunction. I don’t know what goes on at Joseph’s but he has a brother and sister possibly step some eight years older. As I drive past his place on my way home I see an old grandma. I pray for Joseph. God is concerned. I am concerned. He is a quality person by God’s standards. ‘God has chosen the weak things of this world to confound the wise.’ He goes to the park by himself. He’s only eight. God knows these things. He sends people.
Who is a quality person? The man from Gadarene? This was a demon possessed man who was held in spiritual/physical captivity not by his own will and Jesus freed him. Yes he was delivered from thousands of demons that called themselves ‘legion’ who went into a batch of pigs.
I met an important little person I’ll call Joseph this year. He doesn’t fit into the classroom well, he talks to himself and has ostracized himself a bit though has one friend and when they get together they become a bit of a nuisance. He doesn’t listen and rolls on the floor. Teachers would be exasperated by Joseph. But God has his address. I was driving down a street one day and there he was. This happened a few times. As his religion teacher I have a soft spot for him. We can all relate to some dysfunction. I don’t know what goes on at Joseph’s but he has a brother and sister possibly step some eight years older. As I drive past his place on my way home I see an old grandma. I pray for Joseph. God is concerned. I am concerned. He is a quality person by God’s standards. ‘God has chosen the weak things of this world to confound the wise.’ He goes to the park by himself. He’s only eight. God knows these things. He sends people.
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