beautiful?
though i must admit i don't often listen to christina aguilera i do like this song, and the video to me speaks volumes about some of the injustices of our world. as i try to figure out how to preach this sunday regarding the leprosy text i began to think about this video. all of these different snapshots of modern day "lepers" in this video really made me stop and think about how we humans are so cruel one to another. now i realize aguilera is taking a stab at perhaps some controversial issues here, but good for her. i think so often the oppression that takes place this day and age is much more silent at times than what the leper had to go through in crying out that he was unclean and drawying attention to himself- but still silent oppression kills. kills the spirit, kills the person. all people deserve to be loved with the love of Christ- right? how do we begin to stand up against the injustices right outside our own doors?
okay, enough of that thought- just what is going on in my head at the moment.
life continues to be great with the addition of payton- man, i am blessed to have such a wonderful family - 2 kids and a beautiful wife that i love dearly.
peace
jg
ps- if you are sick of the video you can stop it :-)
okay, enough of that thought- just what is going on in my head at the moment.
life continues to be great with the addition of payton- man, i am blessed to have such a wonderful family - 2 kids and a beautiful wife that i love dearly.
peace
jg
ps- if you are sick of the video you can stop it :-)
Yes, this week's texts do give us an opportunity to challenge our parishioners, and ourselves, to take a good look at how we treat the "lepers" in the 21st century. I was not able to see the video, but I have seen it before, and it does do a good job of challenging the viewer to take a good look at ourselves in light of how we treat
each other.
There is a fairly big election coming up locally here in June where we will be voting on a proposition to build a new prison. I sense that the general pulse among people is that they believe we don't need it. Yet, I have heard from so many people that the conditions of the current facility are absolutely deplorable. I am planning on taking a tour of it some time. But for this Sunday, the example that I will use most consistently of those who could be thought of as today's "lepers" will most likely be prison inmates. I pray that it will at least challenge some of them to give some serious thought as to how our call to the "lepers" of scoiety might influence their voting decision.
Posted by
Steve |
3:48 PM
last week i preached about meeting people where they are at - whether that means the neighbor who only waves to you and has no other interaction or the family that needs to move out of substandard housing that needs help. i touched very briefly on who is it that is called to be part of our faith community. i have always wondered at the churches that proclaim they are open to all, in fact one church in town has on their sign 'you are welcome here' - but it amazes me how uniform their membership looks. i was humbled in az by the fact that there were homeless people, seriously handicaped folks (mental and physical) , and a couple of very poor people who were regular members of the church i served. these people were welcomed into that community and had true friends that were members of the church - i never once saw them treated any differently or spoken about when they were not around. in thinking of the lepers this week - and your choice of video (great choice by the way, although i do wonder if christina knows her ethnicity) - i have been struck a lot by the way people pre-judge when it comes to inviting people to church. do we ask the people who intimidate us? do we invite the people who don't look like us? do we share the good news with the people who aren't scandanavian (big deal here)?
who is a leper in our world today? who is our neighbor?
Posted by
Leland |
11:31 AM