Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus.

There is a beautiful, haunting and dark film called Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus which I saw some years ago.  It's a documentary featuring a country singer called Jim White as he drives around Texas looking for evidence of Jesus in this most Christian of US states. In his boot is a statue of Jesus.  It is a bizarre but wonderful series of scenes, characters and songs.  While it leaves you with a sense that  "the Jesus that I know is no-where here" you also get a sense that Jesus is somehow in all of it.  You start off looking for the archetypal  blue-eyed Jesus but you find Him in the cross-eyed, toothless addicts instead.

I thought about this film again today as I came across a whole host of stuff: the church which will be burning the Koran, responses to Dawkins and Hawkins, some blogs which are critical of the Salvation Army in the US, etc, etc.  I felt the same kind of confusion - expecting to see the Jesus that I know writ large in the various questions and responses but instead struggling to see him anywhere.

How is it that centuries of Christian thinking has taken us so far away from the basic teachings of the person who its all about? Take the Koran burning episode.  Of course the guy is wrong - burning the Koran sends completely the wrong message to the world about faith in Christ!  But why do we not think the same thing about invading other countries, the plight of the Palestinian people, the floods in Pakistan, etc.  Why is it at Pakistan cricketers push the dying and displaced from the headlines.  Why is Pacifism not a hot topic in Christian circles? Why does the simple message of Jesus, to look after each other, get so ignored in the pursuit of deep, doctrinal dogma?

Is it them or am I searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus?

Ironically, when Jim White takes the statue of Jesus out of the boot of the car and the camera zooms in, Jesus has his eyes shut. I know how he feels.

You can view trailers for the film at http://www.searchingforthewrongeyedjesus.com/

Hiram, King of Tyre, is dead.

He was known as 'Paddy' because he had a thick Irish accent and, for many people, there was an assumption that this was his actual name. But it was a label placed on a homeless man who would drink, berate passers-by, intimidate, sing and commit worse acts in public.But there was sympathy for him too. People would offer him cigarettes, drinks and blankets. We were able to give him a regular meal, a tent and sleeping bags, and we saw him on a regular occasions at the hall including at Sunday worship.

It was during one of our conversations that he told me that his real name wasn't Paddy but that he had the name of a biblical King. After going through the obvious ones of David, Saul, Solomon (he did look like a Solomon) I began to fear that it might be Jehoahaz or similar. It turned out to be that of a gentile king - Hiram, King of Tyre. It was King Hiram who supplied the materials and skilled workers to build Solomon's temple and there was a gentle irony in that our Hiram came to England from Ireland to "dig holes in the road", not quite the construction of a temple but part of the building industry. Everytime I saw him I would say "Hail Hiram - King of Tyre". There were days when he would look at me glumly and days he would laugh his big, toothless laugh. His full name was Hiram Herbert Lendrum. Let's acknowledge his humanity.

Hiram was a big man. Tall, broad, loud with a vice-like handshake. When we would meet he would pull me towards him as a show of strength. He rarely talked about himself, certainly about his past, and we are struggling to contact next of kin. But he has had a profound effect on me. He appreciated much of what we did for him and, despite his demeanour, never gave us an ounce of trouble. He treated us as friends "Captain Ian, Lady Woman, Lady Cooking Woman and Aaaaashhhh" were greeted with respect and courtesy. He was one of very few people in my life who told me "Ian - you are a Good Man. You are my friend." We once talked about faith and he told me that he had been raised a protestant and that he still had a tiny bit of faith left. I told him that was all he needed and he looked at me and said "Yes - you can move mountains with a tiny bit of faith." And then he added "You and me. We are just the same". He was right and we both knew that.

He was as tough as old boots but the years of neglect caught up with him last week and he died quietly in York hospital. We will miss him for reasons which I can't fully understand. God calls us to serve and take care of the poor and we do so because we need to see what they can teach us. I think we learn more about ourselves than we do about them. The motivation of Love is always better than that if blind obedience.

I will leave Hiram to the grayscales of God's grace and not the Black and White of human judgment, glad that he wanted to call me 'friend'. God bless you Hiram, King of Tyre.

Happy Easter! Happy Day! - I think this works....

I saved a man's life for £8. What had been the price on his head?

A few weeks ago I blogged about how I saved Jay's life for £8 (here). I recently heard a bit more of his story about how he ended up living on the streets.

Jay is bright and articulate, but does have a major drugs issue and also mental health problems. When his benefits failed to materialise one week he had no money to pay the rent. This prompted a computer to spew out a letter demanding that action would be taken if his arrears were not paid. Jay, not being able to comprehend what was going on, simply walked out of the flat fearful that he would end up in jail. And there he remained for 2 years, living in a tent, eating when he could, hiding from those chasing him for the money. Haunted by his current predicament, hunted by his fears.

And how much did Jay owe? £37.

Apparently I, like every citizen of this country, paid £40,000 to bail out the banks. Jay had two years taken from his life. Two years living in misery and sight of death - just for a lousy £37.

Unbelievable.

The Hardy Scots

50F(10C) degrees
· People in southern England turn on the central heating
· People in Edinburgh plant out bedding plants

40F (4C)degrees
· Southerners shiver uncontrollably
· Glaswegians sunbathe on the beach at Largs

35F(2C} degrees
· Cars in the south of England refuse to start
· People in Falkirk drive with their windows down

20F(-6C) degrees
· Southerners wear overcoats, gloves and woolly hats
· Aberdonian men throw on a T-shirt and girls start wearing mini-skirts

15F(-9.4C) degrees
· Southerners begin to evacuate to the continent
· People from Dundee swim in the North Sea at Broughton Ferry

0F (-17 7C) degrees
· Life in the south grinds to a halt
· Inverness folk have the last BBQ before it gets cold

Minus 10F (-23 3C) degrees
· Life in the south ceases to exist
· People in Dunfermline throw on a light jacket

Minus 80F (-62.2C) degrees
· Polar bears wonder if it's worth carrying on
· Boy Scouts in Oban start wearing their long trousers

Minus 100F (-73 3C degrees)
· Santa Claus abandons North Pole
· People in Stirling put on their 'long Johns'

Minus 173F (-139C) degrees
· Alcohol freezes
· Glaswegians get upset because all the pubs are shut

Minus 297F (-182 7C) degrees
· Microbial life starts to disappear
· The cows in Dumfriesshire complain about farmers with cold hands

Minus 460F (-273 3C) degrees
· All atomic motion stops
· Shetlanders stamp their feet and blow on their hands

Minus 500F (-295.5C) degrees. 0 degrees Kelvin. Absolute Zero!
· Hell freezes over
· Scotland win the World Cup

Always one of my favourite lists.

I saved a man's life for £8.

Jay came to our Tuesday Kitchen some 6 months ago. He had been referred to us by Compass, the local community drugs agency, and he showed the classic symptoms of heroin addiction. He was living in one of the local woods under a tarpaulin for cover. The only tent at our local camping shop was a cheap one but I thought it would do, so we bought it for him and also gave him a few things such vests, hat and gloves. We also gave him one of our Army surplus sleeping bags which had cost us £8 when I bought them from a contact I had made in our local market place. These sleeping bags are brilliant - very warm and robust. We may have seen Jay twice since then, but that is often the way it is with these guys. They don't keep diaries.

So it was nice to see Jay turn up on Tuesday braving the last few weeks of sub zero temperatures. He was still living in the same tent (which he complained about! "Its only a single layer so the condensation makes you wet at the start of the day"). But he tucked into his meal, read my copy of The Officer (he was very impressed that we had risen to the rank of Captain so quickly) and he managed to warm up a little. He was articulate, funny and good company.

We gave him a better tent and some other stuff and then he told me "That sleeping bag you gave me - it's brilliant. It saved my life. I hope that you understand how grateful I am for everything - without that sleeping bag I would be dead!"

I am constantly grateful for our Tuesday Kitchen where we can meet guys like Jay. They show me why I am a follower of Jesus who asks us to serve mankind not only for the sake of those in need but, and I am more convinced than ever of this, for us to find out what it means to be human. It seems to me that Salvation is a process of becoming truly human which begins on earth and has its completion in eternity.

Perhaps that is two lives saved for the price of £8.