Spurning generosity

"The people on the king's A-list refused his extravagant generosity. They spurned an invitation to the most prestigious party in town.

           There's historical precedent for such erratic behavior. On October 30, 1918, King George V and Queen Mary summoned Colonel Thomas Edward Lawrence to Buckingham Palace. Lawrence was only thirty years old. He thought the meeting was to map out the new boundaries for the Arabs whom he had helped to liberate from the Ottoman Empire.

           When he entered the palace ballroom, Lawrence saw the royal dignitaries, the costumed courtiers of medieval traditions, a small stool at the foot of the king's throne, and a velvet pillow on which there rested numerous medals. This was a rite of investiture.

           Lawrence was to kneel on the stool while the king draped him with a sash, decorated him with medals, tapped him on the shoulder with a sword, and recited an ancient oath. All to make Lawrence a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

           But instead of kneeling, Lawrence refused the honor. In almost 1,000 years of knighthood, nothing like this had ever happened. What should everyone do? A stunned King George and a furious Queen Mary watched as "Lawrence of Arabia" turned and walked out of Buckingham Palace. You could have pushed them over with a feather.

           It's hard to believe, and it doesn't make any sense, but some people refuse royal generosity."

https://www.journeywithjesus.net/Essays/20141006JJ.shtml

Children are not the future

“The children are not the future. The living truth is the future. Time and people do not make the future… Fifty million children growing up purposeless, with no purpose save the attainment of their own individual desires, these are not the future, they are only a disintegration of the past. The future is in living, growing truth.” D. H. Lawrence

All Saints day

Saints are different from people in the world, not because they

do more, but because of whose they are, who they love, and what

it is they strive to do .

Anthony De Mello, the author of several books of meditations - 

tells the story of a family of five that was enjoying a day at

the beach.  The children were swimming and making castles in the

sand when in the distance a little old lady appeared.

     Her grey hair was blowing in the wind and her clothes

     were dirty and ragged.  She was muttering something to

     herself as she picked up things from the beach and put

     them into a bag.

     The parents called the children to their side and told

     them to stay away from the strange looking old lady. 

     As she passed by were they were sitting, bending down

     every now and then and picking up things, she smiled at

     the family.  Her greeting was not returned.

     Some weeks later, while complaining about the weirdos

     to be found on the beaches, the father family learned

     that the little old lady had made it her lifelong

     crusade to pick up bits of glass from the beach so

     children wouldn't cut their feet.

What makes a saint different?

Well saints pick up the glass that others toss down,

they believe in people no one else believes in,

they help others that no one else cares for,

And that, finally, my friends, is what this Sunday is about -

     it is about the one who called to the poor and the hungry,

          to those who wept and mourned,

               to those who were rejected and cursed,

                    and gave to them God's blessing,

the blessing of food, of comfort, laughter, and finally the

blessing of an eternal home with the Father - in that place where

there is no more tears  or sorrow or pain or death anymore.

(source unknown)

A different sort of King

Here in Colossians is a crucified man wearing a crown of thorns.

King Jesus. The wounded healer. The bloodied reconciler. The one who lays down his life for others. This is Jesus our king, the one who turns all other ideas of kingship inside out.

Here is the humble son of Mary.

The apprentice of his earthly father, Joseph the carpenter.

A village man who become an itinerant preacher and healer.

The fellow who listened to women with an unusual respect in what was a man’s world

Here is a young physician actually touching untouchable lepers.

A blesser of street kids (not the same thing as kissing babies before an election!!)

A dinner guest among the equivalent of bikies and beach bums.

The saviour trusted by prostitutes and tax collectors.

Friend of foreigners and fishermen.

A servant washing the feet of guests.

The wanted man slipping through city streets by night.

A soul in agony, praying  in an Olive grove.

The young rabbi betrayed by a disciple.

Prisoner in kangaroo court, abused by the police guards.

Condemned man, mocked, flogged and spat upon.

A victim carrying his own cross to the Place of the Skull.

The crucified man, speaking forgiveness on his foes.

A corpse hastily buried in a borrowed tomb,

The stranger walking with men on the road to Emmaus.

A host with wounded hands, cooking a fish breakfast for his friends on the shores of Galilee

The everliving One, The Alpha and Omega, separated by a cloud from his disciples, so that he might incognito be with them always.

 http://www.bruceprewer.com/DocC/C64king.htm

Sacred beauty, flower power and a different sort of courage

“During the Vietnam War days, at the height of the protest movement against it, a rally was held  [in Australia] to discuss strategies. The hall was packed with people who regarded themselves as the leading social activists of their day. Grim analyses were delivered of the situation in Vietnam, several leaders proposed tough action to challenge the Australian government amid murmurs of approval. Then a brave man rose and suggested that we buy hundreds of baskets of flowers and hand them out in the streets as a sign of a peace which had not yet come. There was a stunned silence. This is not what peace activists did – hand out flowers? Come on! The money for flowers would be better used to help people in Vietnam. As a minor member of the movement there, I felt deep in my heart that flowers would be a great sign of a sort of grace, something beyond grim activism. I didn’t say so be-cause I lacked the courage. Many years on, I associate those flowers with a Christ who invites the spreading of perfume over the world, the entry into and the connec-tion with a sacred beauty as well as money for the poor.”   Ian Price from Words for Worship 2001,