Saturday, June 06, 2009

How do you like my house

I found this blog with some very interesting ideas I thought I would share. The post is actually titled"how do you like my house? and meditates on how we see hospitality and how welcoming we are of others. It put me in mind of my time in Tonga where no matter how little you had, you shared . For instance shoud you be sitting down to your meal and someone were to be walking by you would call out"ha'u kai "(come and eat). It didn't matter if you were only eating dobai (dough pie: a liquidy broth made of white flour,sugar and coconut) the expectation that you had something to share with others was inherent and done with joy.
"we often assume people a
re completely hopeless just because they don't have the material wealth that we deem necessary for a quality life. But sometimes those who are in the most difficult circumstances know best of all where to find hope....

...The Scriptures are too profound just to read in isolation of the real world. They must be read and lived. To be interpreted correctly, they must be performed. The gospel of Jesus Christ is too big, too cataclysmic, to be left on the page. They should burst forth from our reality.

“Poverty, in a sense, exposes the truth of the human situation in its need of God. It dispels the illusion of being self-sufficient and secure, with no need of God. The poor are those whose material condition enables them to see more clearly than most the human need to be wholly reliant on God. It is in this sense that the biblical poor are understood as paradigmatic in their faith.” Richard Bauckham"

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hmmm - would be rather draughty and wet at the moment!
Blessings,
Jillian
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Aliadelaide said...

I know what you mean Jillian. On nights like this I often send up a prayer or two for those poor homeless people who camp at night in our inner city parks. I remember one wintery night after we had sat warm and cosey in Elder Hall listening to a music recital we saw a man trying to 'bed down' for the night in a doorway. Dh went and fetched him our woollen picnic rug to help repel some of the damp.The chn still remember it.

Mary said...

Thanks for the lovely post = a timely reminder that we all can do something for someone no matter how poor we think we are. Fantastic catching up yesterday - stop waiting so long before you come on in for a cuppa.