Tuesday June 23rd Reflection

Ephesians 4:32 New International Version (NIV)

³²Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

This was my reading this morning, as I reflected, I thought of all the acts of kindness that are happening all over the world in every moment. They don’t make the news but sometimes they make Facebook or twitter or Instagram as people share their stories of kind acts and I rejoice when I read such stories. At the moment bad news seems to be dominating our screen – it sells papers and attracts viewers but Jesus turns this on its head in the story of the good Samaritan – His focus is on the act of kindness not brutality. Jesus highlights the poor widow who gives all she has and through her story encourages us to keep our generous acts in secret, the left hand not knowing what the right is doing, the only person who needs to know is God. God who planted the seed of an idea in our hearts and who will watch over us as we plant a seed in the life of another when they least expect it.

I think that every time we share a good news story, a story of love or kindness then we are re addressing the balance between good and evil. We are actively making sure that we don’t become so consumed by the effects of evil in the world that we miss the opportunity to notice how simple acts of kindness out number acts of evil by the thousands, because in so doing we claim our victory over evil.

Being generous is like planting a seed of love, adding something unexpected to another’s story through an act of kindness. It is sharing a little bit of God’s love with another and bringing a little more of His light into the world.

Nadia Bolz Webber, one of my favourite theologians said:

‘Lets remember and celebrate that in the same 24 hour news of headlines that only speak of evil –

babies were born

and people fell in love

and someone put an old lady’s shopping trolley back for her

and food was distributed to the hungry from food banks

and prayers were said for the broken and the lost

and someone took flowers to a friend

and people made up and forgave each other

because every second of every day our God arrives unannounced in acts of loving kindness by the faithful and in life although we weep at the violence we must not allow the actions of the robbers consume us but let the kindness of the Samaritan inspire us.