Day 43 – The “wrong” people
Prayer for the week
Start you day with this prayer
Symbol: Notebook
Prayer
Lord, our Creator, we still find ourselves in liminality. We are realising, more and more, that we can never return to our lives as it were before Covid-19; and at the same time we don’t know what a life without Covid-19 even looks like. It feels as if the pause button has been pressed, while life must carry on in some way or another, and we try to keep some semblance of normality and routine.
Some of us had big dreams and plans for this year and for the immediate future, Lord, and it’s a heavy burden to know that these must be postponed or altered indefinitely. Birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, family gatherings, time with friends, visiting grandparents just aren’t possible at this time. We miss those we love, those we so sorely want to embrace, and whom we want to hold and reassure that we care about them and have not forgotten them.
We are worried about those that are ill and in hospital. And it hurts even more to lose someone in this time, especially as we cannot be surrounded by a caring community. Our hearts are filled with emotion, Lord. The uncertainty makes us feel rebellious, tired, sad, angry and hopeless.
May You, the great Comforter, remind us that You are close to us and that we are your children, that we breathe life through your Holy Spirit, and in doing so can inhale your comforting grace. Show us how we can still dream, still cling to the hope that a time will come when we can experience community again.
Help us, Lord, to reach out to each person who feels alone in this time. May we be representatives of You, the living God, who loves and cares for us with undying, uncomprehending love.
Amen.
Reflection
Read this reflection on the text for the day.
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable: “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent” – Luke 15:1-7.
God has a special love for sinners, the godless, the dead and the powerless (Romans 5). The only thing that believers sometimes do for sinners, is to stone them. But to care for the wrong people, those for whom Jesus also laid down his life, is a completely different story. Jesus spends most of his time in the open seas where thunderstorms rage. He has the names and addresses of all those who are drowning, and the safety nets to save them. This is his passion, his favourite work. Jesus’ life revolves around the lost sheep, the lost coins, the lost children. He leaves everything behind to go out and find them.
There is only one question on God’s heavenly table: “Will people be touched in the right way by this and be changed?”
I wonder how many religious activities we occupy ourselves with come from this question. There are so many “priorities” on our agendas. Spiritual intelligent people align their priorities with the heavenly agenda. Their deepest question (especially for day-to-day planning) is also: “Will people’s lives be touched by this, and will they be changed, to the glory of God?”
If we have the necessary spiritual intelligence, we plan our day-to-day lives and our appointments according to God’s way of time management. Then the emphasis moves away from money, personal success and prosperity to God’s favourite people. Perhaps it will ask of us to resign from some committees that have long forgotten God’s agenda, so that we can begin to serve God’s broken people and safely move them to God’s vineyard.
Lord, teach me to arrange my diary according to your priorities and time management. Give me your heart for the “wrong” people and the awareness that I am one of them. Amen.
Liturgy for life
See the ordinary things you do in and around the house as signs of God’s care.
This week: Think differently about your cell phone charger
I don’t phone my wife often. Not because I don’t want to. I don’t have to. My office and her office are 10 steps apart in our house. We meet each other in the hallway when we want to talk about something. She doesn’t expect me to call her. But every once in a while she has to go to the city for meetings, and then I phone her … if her phone’s battery has not died.
In the last few years it has happened often that she sent me a message that her phone’s battery is about to die and that I should phone her now, otherwise I won’t be able to reach her. I’ve teased her many times about this dead cell phone and then refer to the story Jesus told about the 10 servant girls and their lamps. “Your lamp is going out again …” is a saying in our house that refers to a dead cell phone.
But what was Jesus’ true intention with this parable? Here is an attempt at a modern version.
Imagine you have a teenage girl at home. She and her highschool sweetheart were torn apart by the monster called Lockdown. The boyfriend lives on the edge of the Karoo and they don’t have good cell phone reception there. He lets her know via SMS that he will be phoning her later that day. She will make sure that her phone is charged. She might even arrange for a power bank or a generator, just to make sure her phone is ready for that call. It gets late, and she falls asleep, but when the call comes through around 00:15 she is wide awake and her phone is charged. There is great joy in the house because she could speak to her loved one again.
The point of this story is that we should wait with anticipation and hope.
Currently we must also wait with hope and anticipation for what is to come. It’s the same kind of waiting that Jesus’ parable asks of us as believers. This Covid-19 time can be a very suited metaphor to help us think about the time all believers are waiting for: the end of times, the second coming of our Lord. We should be prepared for this new time, even if we don’t know when it will arrive.
What do we do to prepare? We live according to the Bible. We love one other and ourselves. We take care of other people. We repair what is broken. We practice love in our homes.
Start a new habit this week every time you charge your phone. Remind yourself of the parable of the 10 servant girls that Jesus told and ask yourself if you are living with hope and anticipation today for the time to come. Charge your phone, fill your lamp, because the wonderful day will arrive when the call comes through.
Children’s activity
Play with your children.
Wow! 21 Days of isolation. 21 Days in which we’re only allowed to be in our homes (or gardens) and can only go out for the most essential things like food and medicine. It can be a little rough! All the things we usually do during the day, like school, sport, church … are not happening anymore. It can really confuse you and maybe even bore you a little. These daily readings will help you to spend some time with Jesus every day in a creative and fun way. You can do these readings and activities by yourself, with your siblings, or with your entire family. Ask one of the grownups to post your activity on Facebook so that others can enjoy it with you. Tag it with #solitudecalendar #churchtogether
———————————
Do you have a favourite toy? What would happen if you lost it somewhere in your house? Usually you’d leave everything you are busy with and search for your toy, right? You won’t just leave it and forget about it. You’ll look for it until you find it. This is exactly what God does for us.
The Lord loves everyone on earth very much, and it doesn’t matter who we are or what we’ve done. Sometimes people get lost and separated from God’s love. God doesn’t just leave those people because there are many others who love Him. No, God will find that person and call him or her to remind them that God loves everyone.
– How can you remind other people that God loves them?
– What helps you to remember that God loves you?
Activity
Play hide and seek. Choose a few of your toys and hide them in a room in the house. Make a list of all these toys and then ask someone who lives with you to find them all. Give this person your list of toys hidden away. Time this person to see how long it takes him or her to find all the items. When all the toys have been found, you can change roles and you can be the one who looks for the hidden toys.
Picture this
Look at this week’s illustration.
Talk to the people in your home or with your friends on WhatsApp about the illustration.
– What stands out to you?
– Take note of the things you see, but also of the things that aren’t present in the illustration.
– What would you like to add?
– How does this illustration connect with today’s Scripture, and how not?
Create your own interpretation of the illustration through any medium: dance, photography, videography, music, poetry, drawing, painting or short stories.
Record it and share it with us on social media with the hashtag #countdowndoodles
