I have decided to stick with love

Since I was about 14 and my mother gave me a book of speeches for Christmas (I know I was an odd child) I have loved the words of Martin Luther King Jnr. Written down his words are moving, demanding attention and action. It was a few years later that I heard a recording of that famous ‘I have a dream’ speech. I’d marvelled at the power of it on paper but to hear it – it blew me away – and still does every time I listen to it. The rhythm, the pace, the delivery is as close to perfect as any speech I have every heard but far more than that is the passion and the content. How anyone cannot be moved when they it is beyond me.
(Here’s a link to a short version of it in case you want to hear it.)

Over the years I have read more and more of the words of MLK. Some of his lesser known speeches are every bit as powerful as the ones that the world knows so well.

Yesterday I stumbled upon my “Speeches of Martin Luther King Jnr” book again and start to browse it. It is a sort of yearly ritual – I re-find the book on one of my shelves and dip into it and then get hooked and read it through again. Every year some new words or phrases jump out at me. So far this year it is the words from a speech called “Where do we go from here?” delivered in August 1967 to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta. The words in brackets are the audience responses.

“And I say to you, I have also decided to stick with love, for I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind’s problems. (Yes) And I’m going to talk about it everywhere I go. I know it isn’t popular to talk about it in some circles today. (No) And I’m not talking about emotional bosh when I talk about love; I’m talking about a strong, demanding love. (Yes) For I have seen too much hate. (Yes) I’ve seen too much hate on the faces of sheriffs in the South. (Yeah) I’ve seen hate on the faces of too many Klansmen and too many White Citizens Councilors in the South to want to hate, myself, because every time I see it, I know that it does something to their faces and their personalities, and I say to myself that hate is too great a burden to bear. (Yes, That’s right) I have decided to love. [applause] If you are seeking the highest good, I think you can find it through love.”

(The full speech, including the vocal responses from those in attendance, is available at: http://www.stanford.edu/group/King/publications/speeches/Where_do_we_go_from_here.html) and © the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. are copyrighted by the King Estate.

The words that are so often pulled from this speech (and the ones for our sign this week) are “I have decided to stick with love, hate is too great a burden to bear.”

Now I want to write a wonderful blog on those words but I can’t measure up to the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jnr. If I try to commentate on them I feel I will just detract from their impact. Instead I want you to read that passage again and I’ve bolded the bits I want you to take notice of…

“And I say to you, I have also decided to stick with love, for I know that love is ultimately the only answer to mankind’s problems. And I’m going to talk about it everywhere I go. I know it isn’t popular to talk about it in some circles today. And I’m not talking about emotional bosh when I talk about love; I’m talking about a strong, demanding love. For I have seen too much hate. I’ve seen too much hate on the faces of sheriffs in the South. I’ve seen hate on the faces of too many Klansmen and too many White Citizens Councilors in the South to want to hate, myself, because every time I see it, I know that it does something to their faces and their personalities, and I say to myself that hate is too great a burden to bear. I have decided to love. If you are seeking the highest good, I think you can find it through love.”

Achievement has no colour

“Achievement has no colour.”

So said Abraham Lincoln about 150 years ago. Great words if only the world would heed them. But it doesn’t, this blog is inspired by a 13 year old Collingwood fan and her racial taunts to Adam Goodes.

Those of you who know me will know that I don’t take a huge interest in A.F.L. Football. I watch it and I now know (after 13 years I might add) roughly what’s going on. I have played and watched enough sport though to know that to make it to the top requires dedication and skill. Week in, week out through training and preparation and through sacrifice and hard work players earn their places at the top. If you can make it into an A.F.L. team you’re obviously no dud (even the Melbourne Demons players have great skills, and that’s saying something seeing how they have played this year).

And as Abe said, those achievements have no colour. The blood, sweat and tears of every player are the same no matter what colour their skin is. The dedication and sacrifices involved in reaching the elite level in any sport are massive and well done to those who make it.

We all have our favourite teams, even our favourite players but our desire to see our ‘boys’ (or ‘girls’) play well shouldn’t blind us to the fact that the opposition have also worked hard to get where they are.

I’m no Sydney Swans fan and I don’t know enough to have any real feelings about Adam Goodes as a player. He’s won a premiership so he’s obviously no slouch but I can’t tell you if he’s a super star or Mr. Mediocre but I must say I’m impressed with the dignity, courage and humility he’s displayed over the last few days, in the wake of the incident and in how he’s handled the apology. I just think back to Eric Cantona in 1995 and how he reacted to see how bad it could have been. (Goggle it, it’s a very famous incident.)

No one should have to endure racial abuse at work (or anywhere else for that matter), if you are a cleaner, a teacher or a footballer it’s just not acceptable, and Adam Goodes was just doing his job. That his job has him working in front of 80,000 people makes no difference – racism has no place in sport and no place in society. Well done Adam Goodes, not for playing well but for doing well in handling a situation you should never have been put into.

Back in the 1990′s I was involved with the U.K.’s “Let’s kick racism out of football” campaign. A movement that is still working hard for racial equality on the pitch and in the stands. It’s sad that its still needed but it does great work in raising awareness and changing peoples’ attitudes. Another, less well known campaign, but one that is gaining momentum, especially in the United States, is one that is summed up by this tweet from my friends the monks at the Unvirtuous Abbey – “For those who think Jesus was an English-speaking white man with blue eyes, Lord, in your brown-skinned, Aramaic-speaking, brown-eyed mercy forgive.”

It’s not just sport where racism is rife. Unfortunately it is also alive and kicking in some churches and as mentioned in a previous blog on one of Steve Taylor’s songs, “Racism in the name of Christianity cannot be tolerated.” For just as achievement has no colour neither does the love of God.

As disciples of Jesus we should be completely colour blind – to the point where all we see is a child of God, another human being. Enough said – let’s act…

Racism – it stops with me!

7 billion

Seven billion on earth. Most live in poverty. Make a difference.

I’ve just read Dan Brown’s new book ‘Inferno’. Enjoyable – if you like that sort of thing. This blog is not a book review and I will not reveal the plot but it does deal with the very theme of this week’s sign.

The population of the world.

Seven billion is a huge number – inconceivable to most people. The MCG holds close to 100,000 people for the Grand Final or the Boxing Day Test and that’s a big crowd – now imagine 100 MCG’s, 1000 MCG’s. It’s not a number we can easily imagine – well try 70,000 MCG’s. That’s roughly the population of our planet.

Now take 56,000 of those stadia (5.6 billion people) and tell them that they have to live on less than $10 a day.

15,680 of those MCG’s worth of people (over 1.5 billion humans) live in absolute poverty, that is below US$1.25 a day.

The numbers are mind boggling – we cannot possibly fathom them. To make it easier let us imagine the world’s population as 10 people.

Of those 10 people – 8 of them would live in poverty.
Of those 10 people – 5 of them would live on under $2.50
Of those 10 people – 2 (and a bit) of them would live on under $1.25 a day.
Of those 10 people – 5 live in cities and 3 of those 5 live in slums.
Of those 10 people – 2.5 of them live without electricity.
Of those 10 people – 3 of them have enough food to eat each day, 7 of them don’t.
Of those 10 people – 1 of them (actually less than 1 of them) has more than $300 in a bank account.

The figures are terrifying. Look at these facts –

In 2008 the population of Europe spent US$11 billion on ice cream. Experts estimate to supply safe water to all the people of the world would cost US$9 billion. Less than what one continent spends on ice cream!

It would be around US$19 billion to give everyone a basic education and access to basic health care and nutrition. Only slightly more than what Europe and North America spend on pet food (US$17 billion).

In 1998 (last reliable figures) the world spent approximately US$800 billion on military acquisitions. One tenth of that would eradicate the need for foreign aid spending and give EVERYONE on the planet access to basic healthcare, water, food AND education with billions of dollars to spare.

Now I know that I cannot change the world – neither can you (unless you happen to be Barak Obama or someone like that, in which case ring me, we NEED to talk) but you can change your world – the little sphere you live in.

If we all changed a little then those changes would reverberate across our planet. Imagine the change if one of those 10 people (or 10% of the world’s population) decided to make a difference. Not only would they change but the lives of millions of others would too.

What can we do? What difference can you or I make?

Take a look at the Global Poverty Project’s website for some simple ideas. Here’s link to their blog on what everyday people can do…

http://www.globalpovertyproject.com/blog/view/281

Make a difference!

You cannot change the world but you can change you and if enough ‘yous’ change then so does the world.

For the Will & Grace to know all people are equal

For those who read this blog regularly I’m quite sure I’m starting to sound like a broken record, but there are A LOT of people who haven’t grasped this simple principle yet –

GOD LOVES EVERYONE

I can’t say it often enough, or loud enough, or strongly enough – God loves you.

Not for what you will be, or what you can be but he loves you for what you are. Listen to Lady Gaga’s ‘Born this way’. She understands the idea.

Whether you’re broke or evergreen
You’re black, white, beige, chola descent
You’re Lebanese, you’re orient

Whether life’s disabilities
Left you outcast, bullied or teased
Rejoice and love yourself today
‘Cause baby, you were born this way

No matter gay, straight or bi
Lesbian, transgendered life
I’m on the right track, baby
I was born to survive

No matter black, white or beige
Chola or orient made
I’m on the right track, baby
I was born to be brave

I’m beautiful in my way
‘Cause God makes no mistakes
I’m on the right track, baby
I was born this way

What’s so hard to grasp? Why do I have to repeat it again and again and again?

God loves you as you are, each one of you. And, here’s the problem for us, he calls us to do the same.

In this, and I shudder to say it but, there is so much we can learn from cheesy American sit coms. Take Will & Grace or Friends or the Big Bang Theory, some funny shows with some funny lines but like them or not they go out of their way to show the equality of their characters, no matter what their differences.

In Friends we saw how strong women characters can compete in a male dominated world. Monica, Rachel and Phoebe proved it to us every week.

Big Bang makes intelligent geeks cool but also shows that being intelligent or geeky doesn’t make you better than anyone else. How often do we see Sheldon knock on Penny’s door for help?knock, knock, knock Penny,
knock, knock, knock Penny,
knock, knock, knock Penny.

Will & Grace remind us, every week, that there are gay people living in our world, yes even in Melbourne, maybe even coming to the Melbourne Welsh Church, and that shouldn’t be an issue.

Yes we laugh with them (sometimes), or at least at them, but we also learn from them. The things that make us different, our skin colour, our gender, our wealth, our geek factor, our sexual orientations are all seen in these shows and are shown not as failures of character or bad things but as positive differences.

We, who try to follow Jesus, are called to a life of love and service. Not a life of weakness but one of strength. It takes a lot of will & grace to love people – especially people who you don’t like, or don’t get on with. (Fortunately we’re not called to like everybody, only to love them, but that’s hard enough.) We are not blind to who or what people are – we are commanded to love them despite their differences, perhaps because of them. God does….

I’m sure that when he looks at me and he sees past the short, handsome, funny, brilliant, deluded Welshman – and sees his child with huge possibilities, amazing potential – someone he loves. And that is what God sees in everyone. Why can’t we?

So our prayer for this Pentecost week is that we are given the Will (power) and Grace (of God) to remember that God does not look at the differences, he looks at the heart. So let us love as he loves, unconditionally; not counting the cost but seeing all people as just that – people – with hopes, and dreams, with hurts and worries. People with a God that loves them whether they know it or not.

We strive for excellense

We strive for excellense.

We never quite make it – but we strive. (And to all those who have let us know our sign is misspelled – thank you. It was quite deliberate.)

People outside the church have this strange view that all of us church goers think we’re perfect and that we’re better than everyone else. It is the case that there are vocal elements in (what we we broadly call) the church who do this. They are the definite minority. For those who truly follow Jesus the opposite is usually more of the problem. We actually know how imperfect we are and that we are in no way better than others, far too often church people undersell their gifts and don’t live up to their massive, God given potential.

There are no perfect churches either, just as there are no perfect people. We see the church as a hospital for sinners not an escape zone for saints. We, at the Melbourne Welsh Church, are well aware of of lot of our faults (I’m sure there are some we haven’t noticed) but we are also conscious of what we can do. We are continually striving for excellense – always aiming higher – in churchy language – all wanting to be more Christ-like. Our doors are open to ANYONE – no matter who you are. We make a conscious and definite effort to be a radically inclusive church. If you make that first step and walk in, we will endeavour to make you feel welcome. We know that how we do things doesn’t suit everyone (we have an organ not a band) but, even if you choose not to come back, it will not be because you were not made welcome and we try to make sure that welcome is universal no matter what your race / back ground / gender / sexual orientation / insert other discriminational phrase here. Yes, we are proud to say we are Christians but we are not bigots!

If you choose to stay we promise to try and ensure that you are part of a loving and welcoming community that worships God and works like Jesus (well tries to). We will encourage you to be part of that welcome you received and aim to help you fulfil your potential in the church and outside. We see Christianity as a way of life not an hour long activity on a Sunday.

We are not perfect – far from it – even our sign writer gets it wrong – but we will strive to make ourselves better, more Christ-like and to us that means being welcoming, loving, caring, serving, working. We see the radical Jesus as our role model. The one who welcomed the outcasts of his time, the ones the world and religious folk said were worthless and we’re trying to be like him.

Scotland’s national animal

Goggle “Scotland’s national animal.” Go on. Do it.

Thanks to @rev_david for tweeting this.

Now I was going to do a long blog on the mystical person of God and how we see him and understand him. I have even been given a great quote from the play Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead to illustrate this.

But why? Why do we have to be serious all the time? – let’s relax for a while, goggle Scotland’s national animal and have a little laugh.

After all God has a sense of humour (he ordained me, what more proof do you need?) so why shouldn’t we enjoy a little giggle now and again?

So off you go, google Scotland’s national animal and smile for a while. It’ll bring you a little closer to God, for he smiles on you all the time, whether you know or not.

Tin roof, rusted!

Verily, verily I say unto thee, Tin roof, rusted!

Ok, I admit it, this week’s sign is a little obscure – but if you are of a certain age and listened to the radio you will know what it’s all about, if you have no idea I suggest you watch this (or look up b52s Love Shack on google) before reading any more.

So you’re back – that’s 4:19 secs of your life you’ll never see again but you’ve come out of it as a wiser person. (In one of two ways; either you’ll never click on another link I offer you or you now know what this blog is all about!) But if this blog does nothing else, it has put a happy tune in your head that will be going round there for quite a while – admit it, go on, your singing it to yourself right now.

So for the big news – I’m going to rename the church – THE LOVE SHACK.

Cool isn’t it? I’m so hip, trendy and with it, and the first person to point out to me that the song was released over 20 years ago will be subject to my version of excommunication. (I have literally no idea how I will back up that threat.)

THE LOVE SHACK – will be open for worship on Sunday.

But seriously, think about it – parts of the song could be written about what the church should be.

“The love shack is a little old place where we can get together.” It’s the church – read the line again… it’s what we should be all about – relationships, love, community. The church should be a place where people can get together, it should be a place packed with love – for God, for others – whoever they are.

“Love rules at the love shack,” Again, isn’t that the most spot on line to describe the church – and if we’re not a community where love rules then we are doing the most basic things wrong. Remember what Jesus said, (strategically placed Bible quote ahead), “Love The Lord your God and your neighbour as yourself.” The rule of love is, and should be, at the very heart of the church. It is central to the work, the message and the life of the church and if it isn’t we should seriously re-examine what we think the Church should be.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that not all the lyrics of Love Shack fit the Church –

“Folks lining up outside just to get down” is not a line that sums up most church buildings or church communities, but we can hope and pray that the love we spread around reaps results, and that others will see Jesus in what we do and follow in his footsteps (or should that be dance steps).

“Glitter on the highway, glitter on the front porch.” We had confetti canons at Christmas and the care taker went nuts cleaning up the mess – glitter may be going too far, even for me!

“Huggin’ and a kissin’, dancin’ and a lovin’; wearing next to nothing ’cause it’s as hot as an oven.” Is wrong on so many levels as an analogy of the church and yet (like that terrible Batman and Robin film with George Clooney ) it’s so wrong it’s almost right. Notice the word ‘almost’ there. It’s terribly important – that line is almost right. Without wishing to offend most people within our church community,Ii would like to (strongly) point out that if it gets that hot that you want to wear “next to nothing” please go and stand under the air conditioners before undressing and I promise to grant you the same courtesy. I do like the “dancin’ and a lovin’” bit though. The Church could do with more dancing and since love is what we are about, you can never have enough!

The Love Shack is a little old place where we can get together…. Welcome to Church. A place of love, acceptance, tolerance and not enough dancing.

Oh and be careful where you stand…why?

Three words…

Tin roof, rusted!

Faith and actions

Faith and actions….

“Your beliefs don’t make you a better person, your behaviour does.”

Take a snapshot from the media over the past few days and you will see that there are terrible things happening in our world – around 30 people were killed when an American aircraft mistakenly bombed a wedding in Afghanistan; 3 killed and hundreds injured in the bombing in Boston; an earthquake effecting areas of Iran and Pakistan. These are just some of the stories to have hit the news – dig a little deeper and we find stories of Afghan troops being killed by members of the Taliban; 3 teenagers sentenced to jail for killing a homeless man in the U.K.; estimates showing that up to 50% of asylum seekers in Australia are hospitalised, with 25% of that number being for ‘preventable mental health reasons.’

Terrible stories that have affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. Yet they are still shocking enough to make the news and in some bizarre way that is a good thing. It is good that we, as humans, still have the capacity to be shocked by what we can do to each other, that we haven’t become so used to all the killing and suffering that we are prepared to ignore it. We can still be moved by the suffering of others – we are not all hard-hearted monsters.

Yet there is so much that goes on that we choose to ignore or don’t even know is happening –

47% of Swedish women have been the victims of domestic violence and that figure is probably mirrored in most of Western society.

Somewhere in the world someone starves to death every 3.6 seconds, and 75 percent of those are children under the age of five.

Private security contractors (mercenaries) have become the fastest-growing sector of the global economy during the last decade.

Major international companies like Starbucks and Amazon are (allegedly) avoiding paying massive tax bills by clever accounting.

And these are just four provable facts, out of hundreds that most of us are unaware of.

We as individual Christians and together as the Church have a duty to stand up against these things. If we follow Christ we are supposed to be the radical people of our age, as he was in his. We are quick to cry out against bombs and to send help for earthquakes yet we say and do very little about the massive poverty in our world, or the safety of nearly half our population in their homes or the amassing of huge wealth by a microscopic percentage of the people (according to the U.N. about 40% of the world’s wealth is held by about 1% of its population).

Regular readers of this blog will know that I don’t tend to throw around Bible quotes – too many ‘church leaders’ use Bible quotes to justify all sorts of bigotry and evil by taking Scripture quotes out of context. (My personal favourite is the great theological thinker who had the whole of Leviticus 18 v 22 tattooed on his arm. He obviously hasn’t read Leviticus 19 v 28 which says, “Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the LORD.” You can’t pick and choose the verses you use, but obviously nobody has told him that.)

As I was saying I don’t bandy Bible verses about, but today I want to give you a couple to read -
James chapter 2 v 17 – 18 ( the whole of the chapter is a good one, about not showing favouritism and showing your faith by what you do. You can read it here.) These two verses go a long way to explain what I think faith should mean –

‘In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.” Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.’

Faith is shown by the actions we take. Christ didn’t just tell nice stories and feed a few thousand people with a couple of fish and some stuff from Baker’s Delight – he went and got his hands dirty – healing lepers, talking to the poor and the marginalised, hanging out with those who society had rejected. His faith was so visible in what he did. Follow his disciples through the New Testament and we see a very similar pattern – faith being lived as well as being preached.

Somewhere through history this pattern has slued – yes the Church still does great work and individual Christians are still living faith out by what they do but it seems that action centred faith is not at the heart of what Church is about anymore. We are more worried about bums on seats, notes in the collection and making sure that we are condemning and hating the people we should than we are about the poor on our streets, the welfare of the marginalised and the needs of those around us.

THIS MUST CHANGE AND IT MUST START WITH ME AND YOU!

How often do we see ‘Christian’ people who don’t live what they believe and then again how often do we see ‘Non – Christian’ people who live what they don’t believe?

During the horrors of the Boston bombings this week the thing that struck me most was the way that runners, tired and horrified though they were, ran (after already running 46km) to the the four major Boston hospitals to give blood because the roads were blocked and there was no other way through- Christianity in action – faith lived out by many who wouldn’t claim any faith at all!

So let us remember that our beliefs do not make us better people – our behaviour does.

Our faith may be enough to move whole mountain ranges but of what value is it if it isn’t showing others the grace of Jesus in what we do. Let us live our faith so that others can see Jesus at work in what we do. Let us demonstrate the love we have been so freely given by the love that we freely give – to ALL people, everyone, no matter WHO they are or WHERE they come from.

It doesn’t take much for us to take a stand – it doesn’t take much for us to make a difference, it doesn’t take much for us to show our faith by our actions. It starts with the decision to live our faith outside of the walls of our church – to do the little things that make such a big difference. We can change the world one life at a time beginning with yours!

Start with a smile and a dollar to the homeless guy down the street; walking that little bit further than Starbucks to get a fair trade coffee or even better two with one suspended (see this link); the phone call to that person you’ve been meaning to phone for weeks; the visit you’ve been putting off; adding a few minutes to your prayers to concentrate on the needs of others; setting time aside to help those who need it; asking your minister what your church is doing and volunteering to help; demanding your church does more and joining in when it does. And these things will grow, you’ll find more to do and more that needs doing – your faith will be seen more and more, lived more and more, used more and more and the benefits will be huge – people will be helped, your faith will be more real and Jesus will be glorified and there is one word to sum all that up – RESULT!

For your beliefs don’t make you a better person, your behaviour does or to put it another way I will show you my faith by what I do.

JC – AOK

JC DOA

JC AWOL

OMG

JC AOK

EASTER in 19 letters. (I cannot claim credit for thinking this up, I saw it on Twitter but it’s so good I had to use it.)

The whole of the Easter story summed up in simple terms. It’s like when the lawyer asked Jesus to sum up the 10 commandments and Jesus did it in two lines -

Love The Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength &
Love your neighbour as yourself.

Going straight to the heart of the issue – and here, in simple terms, this sign is doing the same thing to the story of Easter.

For those of you who have trouble with text speak let me enlighten you…

JC DOA – Jesus Christ Dead on Arrival

JC AWOL – Jesus Christ Absent without leave

OMG – Oh my God

JC AOK – Jesus Christ A-Okay

(I wanted to put JC – BRB at the start (Jesus Christ -be right back) but somehow it doesn’t quite fit in.)

What else does it need? We have the crucifixion and death of Jesus (DOA); we have the loneliness of his scattered followers on that first Easter Saturday (AWOL); we have the absolute wonder of those who went at the empty tomb, those who walked the Emmaus road, the statement of belief from Thomas (OMG); and we have the joy of the disciples and all his followers at the resurrection of Jesus (AOK).

Easter in 19, social media friendly, letters.

Don’t keep it to yourself – share it with everyone you can, for it is indeed Good News.

Jesus Christ IS risen!
He is risen indeed!

Have a blessed Easter.

Is it finished?

Is it Finished?

About 2000 years ago on a Friday morning of a holiday weekend three men were executed by the Roman authorities in Jerusalem. There was nothing unusual about the act of crucifixion, it happened an awful lot. There was something unusual about the one of the victims. Two of them were anonymous thieves who are not even really bit players on the stage of history, the other, well the other was the most influential person who has ever lived.

Born in poverty, raised a Jew, dying like a criminal, he has changed the lives of millions. Through him the world has become what it is today. Many great things have been done in his name and many atrocities have been committed too. His followers have been responsible for some of the greatest discoveries; some of the largest leaps forward in medicine and science; some of the greatest pieces of art. Many of the highest points of human achievement have been done in this man’s name. Others who claimed to follow him have tried to kill whole nations, sunk to the lowest places that humanity can go, because they believed it is what he would have them do. Enslavement, domination, persecution, murder, genocide have all been done ‘for him’.

His actions have inspired some of the greatest acts of love and kindness in recorded history and many of the worst. Whole libraries have been written as scholars have poured over this man’s life and his teachings, even though they aren’t that many of them. Debates still rage over what he would say on the topics of the day. Debates that sometimes get all too heated, debates that have lasted centuries and that still divide thousands.

Some place words of hate on his tongue, condemning entire sections of the population to damnation for not agreeing with their views of what this man said. Others interpret his sayings as a message of love and acceptance. Many of the world’s hypocrites hide behind this man, and twist his sayings to fit the evil they wish to condone. Hate crimes, racism and bigotry of all sorts are committed by his ‘committed’ followers. Many of the great social reformers look to him for guidance.

For he accepted all comers, went where the ‘nice’ folk of his day wouldn’t dream of going. Spoke to the unacceptable, touched the unloveable, ate with the unwanted and forgave the unforgivable. His life, his work was of love and care for anyone, everyone. He tells his followers to do the same.

His name was Jesus.

His last words were, “It is finished.”

Is it?