Aiming,though often failing 'to become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some'. Join with me in these reflections,discussions, videos and even humour about how we might become truly authentic in mission:Contextual yet Biblical:Passionate, but also Compassionate:In Word, as well as in Deed.The Spirit of Jesus within is calling each of his followers to reach out and fulfil the Missio Dei in a world of pain and need.
Saturday, 12 December 2009
Free Hugs Campaign
'Sometimes, a hug is all what we need. Free hugs is a real life controversial story of Juan Mann, A man whose sole mission was to reach out and hug a stranger to brighten up their lives.
In this age of social disconnectivity and lack of human contact, the effects of the Free Hugs campaign became phenomenal.As this symbol of human hope spread accross the city, police and officials ordered the Free Hugs campaign BANNED. What we then witness is the true spirit of humanity come together in what can only be described as awe inspiring.
In the Spirit of the free hugs campaign, PASS THIS TO A FRIEND and HUG A STRANGER! After all, If you can reach just one person... Fom the youtube site.
I love this video. There seems something very innocent about it.It seems to me to be an acted parable: that of showing love to strangers. I don't think the authors were Christians but they certainly showed some 'milk of human kindness' which is sure to touch anyone who has a heart of flesh. Perhaps the Church could take a leaf out of their book.Many people have no one to hug them, many are so lonely that even a kind word said to them or a smile given would make their day. Should Christians not be at the forefront of showing such love, as the salt and light of the world? John wrote 'we love because he first loved us'.Sadly we are often more apt to condemn those both inside and outside the Church. Did the Master not say: 'freely you have received freely give', and again
'Whatever you do to the least of these my brethren you do it onto me'.Let us be bold and move out of our comfort zones a little bit more, let us take a few more risks. Preaching and sharing the gospel with strangers is also thought foolish by some.But if only one out of every ten or every hundred responds, is it not worth it? AK
"Many people have no one to hug them, many are so lonely that even a kind word said to them or a smile given would make their day."
ReplyDeleteI am no one to gainsay a brother's following of Jesus even to do what many consider foolish, ridiculous or, in the case of "governing authorities", declared illegal. I find it, nonetheless, a distraction to following Christ when anyone makes an example of that following. The churches are full of this stuff—figuring out some systematic good deed doing program, and then through advertising and praising it, offering it to the world—in so doing, they have fallen into the trap, and often the work they do ends up being done for show.
An example of this. At my church the recently resigned "pastor" and his former "wife" (she divorced him to become a full-time mid-wife), neither of whom are ethnic Greek Orthodox, but Baptist/Mennonite converts, started a "ministry" called Cusina (the Greek word for "ccokery" or "kitchen"). They teamed up with a secular-humanist outreach group that was helping "selected" homeless people to transition out of homelessness, and Cusina was the once a week program (running for maybe 6 or 8 weeks) to teach these homeless people how to cook Greek food. A few of our restaurant-owner parishoners volunteered, and the church funded the food, and the whole program made use of our industrial size and grade kitchens. This "ministry" was widely advertised, and everyone who participated amply recognized. Then, it ended.
Meanwhile, other people in the parish who were trying to help homeless people on a one-to-one basis were not supported (who cares about recognition), and they could not, of course, send anyone they were helping to these "classes" because they were not officially accepted in the program.
I've written in my blog many times the idea that we all can do many things on a daily basis for others in need that cost us nothing or nearly nothing, yet doing them can change a person's life at least for that day. You can't tell people to be this way and to do these things. You can't make self-absorbed people, Christians though they be, show kindness to strangers on a permanent basis. It all hinges on where a person's center is, inside themselves, or out in their surroundings.
If we are following Jesus, we are casting our nets, for He has made us fishers of men. We are not out to save them. That's His job. But we are out to love them, to catch their eyes and ears by the kindness that we show them that they never expected. Without costing us a penny, we can give them a pound's worth of Christ's real, right-now love, because in truth, He is among us, Christ is in our midst. That smile or kind word, or even that hug, can show a stranger the Light of the world.
Great story
ReplyDeleteexcellent.
ReplyDeleteFabulous video Andrew.
ReplyDelete