How can we give ourselves to God’s service, fully, without thought for
ourselves and our wants? How do we stand before God and say we were true
servants, true in heart, always serving Him by serving each other? How can we
be the people of God when injustice stares us in the face day by day?
In the west we have become very used to a certain life style, we have become
used to comfort and as time passes we find that we are given more and more
comfort for our money; and so as time goes by we expect more and more comfort.
As a child I remember the metal window frames in my bedroom, they were wonderful
in summer for they allowed in lots of fresh air even when the windows were
closed. But in the winter, even with thick heavy curtains, the biting wind
would find me under my bed covers. Today the vast majority have double glazing
which keeps away draughts, of course now we are told we now need triple grazing
which is environmentally friendly and saves us money, all a far cry from my
council house bedroom.
This week Birmingham Train station, in the UK, has its grand opening,
those that have been involved seemed so proud to speak about the £600 million
pounds spent to upgrade the station, to make it a much more comfortable
experience for its customers. In sport the Rugby world cup tickets are selling
for over £500 to well in excess of £2,000. Also in sport we read that Chelsea
football club in London are considering spending £100m on two footballers. Whilst
writing this missive I had a quick look using Google at what the rich have been
spending their money on well one young lady spent a staggering £1.3,m. ($2,m) collecting
Birkin bags (by Hermes). She was had a Gold iPhone 24-Karat which cost £1,286.($2,200).
Then I read about another celebrity couple who reportedly paid £493,000 ($767,000)
on four gold-plated toilets; of course the couple are supposed to be worth
between themselves in the region of $155 million.
Now I do not know if any of these fine people believe in God, or Christ,
but if they do I would have to ask them how they manage to live the lives they
do and balance this against the Gospel. Because to be gifted with such great
wealth and to do so little with it is, well, it is such a great shame. I know
that these people do do great things for charity, I am not ignorant of that
fact at all, I would also argue that perhaps their money making brand is the
fact they are who they are; and by raising money they can give more to charity.
But let us never forget Christ said to the young man; to follow me you must
sell everything. So such waste is perhaps more than we can bear in a world that
suffers so much poverty.
But this brings me very much to this particular essays point, one I
cannot, and must not sidestep. How can any of us avoid that which is taking
place in the east of Western Europe. We are seeing not migrants; people who
have chosen to leave their countries of birth for somewhere they feel may be
better. Not better because it will give them greater wealth, they are not
walking west to live the dream; they are walking west to escape the nightmare. We
are witnessing something much more terrible, we are seeing refugees, people
displaced through fear of death. What they want is safety. All they are asking
for is safety, a roof, some food, clothing, and medical care. They are the
person on the other side of the road, beaten and in distress.
How are we responding? With razor wire and new fences that say you are
not welcome, you are not our problem, you do not matter, we do not care. Now if
I know just one thing about the Goodnews of Christ is this; He cared, loved,
and was always welcoming. We have no choice here, no choice, No choice!
We must act, our little island of Britain will never sink, and it will
never become overcrowded like the small minded would have us think. If we care,
then we must care!! We have no Choice. Those who are in the East are not them;
they are us, we are the same, created by one God, saved by one God.
So now if our sisters and brothers from the east are lying beaten and in
distress we have to decide who are we to be. Do we walk on by and say yes to the
razor wire? Or, do we do as we were called to do and stop and give love and
support; be the Samaritan.
I appeal to you be the Samaritan!
No comments:
Post a Comment