Showing

Spiritual reflection to start the day with Bryan Kerr, a Church of Scotland Minister in Kilmacolm, Inverclyde.
Script:
Good morning. A few years ago I remember being involved in the early days of a a food bank. People were hungry, others could help. It seemed obvious, but not everyone agreed. I remember one Sunday, after the service, a member of the congregation took me aside, quite sincerely, and asked why we were giving food away. Surely these folk just needed to learn to budget. Surely they'd brought it on themselves. She'd had to manage. Why couldn't they?

It was a struggle not to respond too directly. I let it go, but in the weeks that followed, looking at who handed in food was quite revealing. Some were church people, of course, and they were brilliant. But many weren't. The pub down the road did a collection. The school helped. A local couple who stated they had no interest in religion dropped off bags every week without ever wanting to be thanked. A young woman who'd never been near a church in her life delivered food parcels. They didn't ask why we were doing it. They just got on with the doing.

There's a line, often attributed to St Francis, though probably he never said it. “Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary, use words.” Whoever said it first, they were onto something. Words are easy, but lives are harder; and lives are what people actually lead.

For Christians, showing Jesus has too often been confused with talking about him. The deepest showing has always happened quietly, in how one human being treats another. In the bag of food, or the lift to the appointment. The refusal to ask whether someone deserves the help.

And if you don't share my faith, none of this excludes you. Call it showing humanity. Call it being a decent neighbour. Some of the people who taught me most about the gospel didn't believe a word of it. They just lived it.

God who is shown to us by people who may not even know they are showing you, help us all today to live in ways that show you. Amen.