"Casting the first stone" ( One of my first ever blog posts revisited !)

Matthew 7

Judge not, that ye be not judged.

For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.

Single teenage mothers, the homeless, unruly kids, rebellious adolescents, the long term unemployed in receipt of benefits, asylum seekers, the overweight.... opinion lingers even if only in the heart at times. So often it is those who need faith most who often reject it because they feel themselves rejected by the faithful.

Why the exclusivity when Jesus loved inclusively? Many of the people (celebrities included) who end up on the front covers of daily rags and who wait for ridicule upon the sofas of TV talk and reality shows are, in truth, the most vulnerable members of society, The lost, the lonely the fearful, the desperate and the disturbed .

They are least esteemed by the world, yet most in need of acceptance and support from the world. We hear of the "failures" "losers" and "good for nothings" People, who like it or not are made in the image and likeness of God himself often with stories to tell of pain, suffering, guilt, frustration... Can I simply stop and listen, engage.... love. Instead of Judge. Beneath the the stony grit of life there grows such faint, fragile hope. Not all seeds are sown on lush ground. There are battles that go unseen, unnoticed, battles that are hidden in the soft soil of a breaking heart, a troubled mind. If somebody comes from a place of pain and struggle, being judged, patronised, ridiculed or even worse ignored by average "acceptable" (or even worse Christian) society will only compound their isolation. Isolation in itself forces some to break away even further from conventional society. Those who are marginalised often end up disenfranchised in more ways than economically. 

Acceptance is a reconciling experience. To be offered shelter and security is a humbling one. And to be shown love is to be touched by God.

In a homily I heard a number of years ago, the priest said. "You can do no harm by loving someone. No harm can come from love." It sounds so simple at first. Yet this is the most primary Christian message of all: to Love. Questions of differences, law, legality, ideology can become distracting. Loves washes away all that is superfluous, till all that is left is purity truth. In essence, God.

Love is fluid when it is of God. It moves like water and water seeps through every space, however small. It must reach everyone.

When I write this I recall the times in the past when I was one of the lost and broken. Not that I'm not still a little broken! Aren't we all :0) Broken yes but lost no. I have found my loving father and my dearest friend in my God. Yet I didn't find Him on my own. I found Him through the unconditional love of those who chose not to judge me even though my life was tattered and torn and drenched in sin. Those that chose only to be a friend to me even though I let them down many times at first. Those who gave the gift of a smile and a few kind, accepting words, even when I acted ungratefully and defensively, secretly feeling unworthy and undeserving. Those that lent, gave and offered even though I couldn't repay. Those who showed tolerance of the many awkward mistakes I made. as I stumbled along upon a path so new to me. Those who helped me were followers of the Gospel and the Living God. Who chose to live their faith on the road of hard knocks so they could reach out to some wayward soul who was simply looking for a place to call home. The narrow path is often not a swift ascent to heavenly heights, but a dusty, rubble covered road, much like the way of Calvary. On it I will come across not only sublime choral chants and angels robed with white but the weary and wasted, the difficult and the disrupting. And I must remember that behind all appearances there hides the face of Jesus in all men.