Tuesday

Tuesday saw us do more biblical study with Fr. Bill. We spent 90 minutes discussing the parable of the Good Samaritan. The participants are really starting to integrate what they are learning! One memorable quote/story from the morning class:

Fr. Bill retold the story by setting it in the Toronto neighbourhood of Jane & Finch - an area known for violence and racial tension. Picture it this way he said, "A member of the Ku Klux Klan is walking though this neighbourhood and he is beaten up and robbed and left for dead (no surprises here) and then a little, old, black lady comes up to this beaten man and takes him home, binds his wounds, feeds him, hires a nurse to take care of him for 10 days and is willing to do more to ensure that this man is returned to health."

Upon hearing this one of the participants, a girl from Toronto, was heard to exclaim, "Okay! Now, I'm astonished!" And that is what this parable is all about... removing the limits of our obligations to each other and seeing not what we are but that we are children of God.

My exploratory group listend to a very powerful song by rap artist Shad K entitled "I'll Never Understand". This work takes us through the power of true forgiveness and how hate can often lead us to become the exact thing we despise. We also read and discussed as story from Beyond Homelessness that discussed how justice is so much more than simply treating a symptom and must go beyond that to address the root causes of the problem.

In the afternoon, after my group very ably made pies for supper, I took a nap. A glorious, wonderful, happy, 90 minute nap... I needed it badly.

After supper the whole group met together to discuss how our community is functioning and what crisises we are addressing on our way to becoming a True Community. This was followed by small group time.

My small group began to engage the very powerful topic of the nature of heaven. Heady stuff to be sure but we had a wonderful discussion. In our small group we ended the evening with Compline to wrap it all up.

The leadership team met in my room, now lovingly being called "Iceland" because it is the coldest room in the place - thank God! We shared the things we celebrate about today and we giggled throughout.

All in all a good day, a full day, a powerful day.

Wednesday sees us heading out for "Faith in Action Day". I am headed to the launch of a special Addiction Services program for rural high schools and am looking forward to the experience.

Until then...
Elliott+

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Sermon for this week

I guess someone IS reading this blog after all...