to belong

a verse or two

"For only a penny you can buy two sparrows, yet not one sparrow falls to the ground without your Father's consent. As for you, even the hairs of your head have all been counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth much more than many sparrows!" Matthew 10: 29 - 31

Spiritual Walk and Musings: Oh to belong.

Well, the smouldering tensions have finally erupted. It was timely for Dr Donna Swift to publish her research on violence among girls – although scarily that violence is within our community here in Nelson. I hope and pray that that research and seeing what has happened in London and Norway will help the shakers and movers get real with some of the issues and not play a blame game. Rather may we all help the alienated belong!

In other parts of Europe a similar time bomb is waiting to go off with a lot of youth being disillusioned with who they are; with what the haves have and the have not’s don’t; and the never ending question of “where do I belong...who am I”. An example of this is in Germany where third and fourth generation German born Turks are feeling displaced with nowhere to belong. Due to satellite TV they speak Turkish and identify with Turkish culture and so are not really considered part of Germany, but because their parents were born in Germany they are not wanted back in Turkey either – and so where do they belong? Similar issues are happening in the Pacific Island and Korean communities here in NZ.

To belong is so important. To be connected is vital. I wonder if sometimes people text in public not to say anything to the person they are texting but so people walking past will see they are connected, have friends and belong.

For me, one of the best things about God is I belong. God knows the number of hairs (or not) on my head, I am his child, belong to his family and when I allow God to commune with me – it is deep, it is satisfying, it is sweet, it fills within me something that even the best food or U2 music can never fill. With God one knows they belong. And at St. David’s we belong, we are God’s sons and daughters; we are part of a family that is not only worldwide but one that transcends time.

The context of the Bible reading above is for Christ’s disciples to not worry when being given a hard time for their faith. It would seem to me faith in God is a very belonging thing – yet often we are too frightened to share that good news, and yet, that very good news helps the alienated belong and in the act of us sharing it we then too belong at a deeper level.

Something to do: Help people belong.

At St. David's we ARE helping people belong – but we still should ask – is there more we can do? If we are to help the alienated belong, we have to accept them as they are – their dress, their mannerisms, their language, their music, their smoking...... we are to love and we are the ones that should make the changes.

To Ponder and Pray: Pray for restorative justice and not retribution or punitive justice....

One concern I have is for just justice to those involved in the riots. Why is it bankers who caused a different kind of violence a few years ago get a golden handshake ("The best way to rob a bank is to own one.") but going by the tone of words from the British PM and London Mayor it would seem the young looters (who stole a lot less) will be strung up – why don’t they get a golden handshake for pointing out societal problems. Surely the crimes by the banking / commercial sector were worse than the youths. Pray to the God of justice, that the justice will be fair – because at the moment it looks like politics and power plays will prevail and only alienate a group of people who already feel as if they don’t belong.