Stained Glass Windows!

Today I was very blessed to have the opportunity to go an inner city 'mission' house I would label the place. The daughters of charity have reached out to the need, to our brothers and sisters at the margins and given them a safe haven where they can gain access to services to help them on their journey, move them from a position of homelessness into one of hope. Access to a meal, shower, laundry, art and garden opportunities and much more. 

Today I went to visit to see if I would be any help to them. Reflecting on my visit I realize that this time last year I would had been a lot more judgmental and questioning every aspect of the situation. Instead now I just have an inner sadness that grabs at my heart like a dirty tea towel, twisting and ringing out leaving exposed on the ground my guilt, my disgrace, lack of trust in society, my small responsibility for these beauty lives that have been pushed to the margins. 

The culture present, that doing the soup ran with St. Vincent de Paul has made me very aware of is the hidden silence, and a culture that have made stained-glass windows! 

This is tragedy brought upon us by us.

I hurt and weep when I listen to the media proclaim the country 'politicians' are going to send innocent refugees back to 'prison' off shore - like they are not still in prison even in this land of plenty!!??! How can anyone be blind to not see the human face, see the children that cry themselves in fear, fear of future, fear of where they have been, fear of present moment. Not even to mention those in detention centers who can not see, feel grass weather think of a future beyond ever minute that is presented to them… ENOUGH, please I cry ENOUGH!! How can some people feel so much pain and hurt while others are like ice bricks, cold deep and unbreakable. 

Walking away from St Mary House of Welcome I was back onto a tram and taken away… into a world that leaves me heavy with my stain glass window theory.

A picturesque moment of a young mum holding her young daughters hand as they go to ballet practice in full custom, a suit attired gentleman talking business numbers, deals and walking the business stereotype well; an older man sitting drifting off as his mind is more youthful than his tied body. All this so different from the lively conversations of small talk, the gratitude you sense in the small yet meaningful smiles as individuals are on the other side of the stain glass, the beautiful free side. The side where they are joyous just to be them, to be in unity, in community whatever that form is. 

It is strange how joy pains. In the burn of the ache, there is this unexpected sensation of immense shadow shrinking and Lord expanding, widening, deepening my inner spaces. Is that why joy hurts? As the Lord has to stretch us open to receive more of Himself? 

I am still torn in two when I stand on the tram recalling the shelter and then what Im in, I gaze on bits and blades of creation and all things created sort of fade, diminish and only see the features of the Creator that shimmer and magnify in its beauty. My eyes see through the man made ness of it all, to get a small insight of what is beneath all, what is tailored in just the right way by the Creator. 

Apart of me fears this culture of living behind the stain glass window has a high cost that can only but leave me grieving for our brothers and sisters. 

Dear I be so bold to say that the bible has been used as a convenient barrier blinding some from suffering; creating a refuge from the cost of confronting injustice. We have used worship bands (in broad meaning not just christian) to drown out the cries of the oppressed, using our robes as a cloak for our guilty hearts. We have used our stained glass to distort the image of the reality known by the poor and imprisoned. 

It is time to admit that the windows are indeed stained!! 

Stained with innocent blood of those running from man made war, those seeking just a small taste of safety. The grieving tears of mothers watching their sons imprisoned for profit, or worst still mothers grieving for their sons and daughters lost to curable diseases, hunger and forced labour. Stained with the guilt of those who turn their back to the blind man, the lame, the hungry, the home-less! 

To be human means you have a heart!! Use it people I cry… on top of this to be Christian we take on a title of 'ministers of the gospel' its time the gospel comes away from the stained glass buildings that are filled only on Sunday in some sitations and do as we are told - GO SHARE THE GOOD NEWS!!

"The Spirit of the Lord is on me, 

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor. 

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners

and recovery of sight for the blind, 

to set the oppressed free, 

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor"

Jesus said this is why he came! If we are not going to be able of this, then the gospels are no relevance or meaning!! Until we start to move and preach in our actions and words this kind of gospel, our glass will remain stained!!