Feast
Saturday, 27 May, 2006
Last night was PEC Women's Fellowship. One of the missionaries who had been with us on the weekend away (the wife) came to speak to us about her experiences. (Turns out I was right: I shouldn't say where she's from otherwise she could get into trouble. It's one of those countries.) We had a feast of food from her country—soup to start with, then salad and pastries, then cheesecake for dessert. She shared with her us all the stuff that God had been teaching her over her life (in Australia and on the mission field) and then we got to ask her questions.
I asked her if she had any advice for us who live in a society where everything is always so busy. She said that sometimes it was a matter of putting relationships first instead of tending to other things. And sometimes it's a matter of cutting down the number of people you're relating too—which, she agreed, sounds really horrible, but surely it's better to be a better friend to 10 people than 20? That made me think.
She gave us some showbags to say thank you for supporting her and her family. They had recipes, bookmarks, cookies and beautiful beaded necklaces in them (made be a friend of hers who is hoping to go overseas to do mission work).
I also had a lovely time chatting to girls from my church who I don't get to talk to that often. It always amazes me to find out how God is working in their lives to transform them to become more like Jesus. Great stuff.
In September I'll be speaking at PEC Women's Fellowship on the subject of “Mental Illness and Depression”. If you're female and you live in Sydney and you're keen to come (it will be in Marrickville), let me know.
Blinks:
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Place where you can hire play equipment for parties, etc.
How to recalibrate the home button on your iPhone.
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Thought Balloon is a group blog in which the writers tackle a new theme every week? month? with one-page scripts. This URL is for their Phonogram ones.
How to sew a zipper on a knitted garment.
Issues organised by tale.
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“And sometimes it’s a matter of cutting down the number of people you’re relating too—which, she agreed, sounds really horrible, but surely it’s better to be a better friend to 10 people than 20”
It sounds harsh, but it has to be true…
We don’t do anyone favours when we either a) burn ourselves out in relating, or b) spread ourselves out in relating, because the consequence is that either friendships end from burn-out, or friendships lack depth from superficiality.
It’s a parody of true Christian love to think that Christians should be available to do anything for anyone anytime. Jesus certainly didn’t function that way; he heals those who come to him, but then he goes off and spends time in lonely places. It’s this weird dynamic where Jesus seems to be on the run from the crowds, but when someone comes to him in need, he deals with them pro-actively on his own terms, not theirs.
I’m not exactly sure what the cash-value of that is for us, but I do know that it means that whatever Christian love looks like, it’s not ‘always available, everyone’s friend, any task, any time’, because that’s not the actual shape of Jesus’ love.
Seumas