This was sent to me by the mother of a daughter with severe intellectual disabilities.
`The daughter is the sibling of three others - Two brothers and one sister.
The two sons are gay and in long term committed relationships. One a member of the Methodist Church in the UK and the other a member of the UCA in SA. The daughter is also in a long term committed relationship and is a member of the UCA in SA. And in each case the members of their respective congregations don't give the proverbial!
The following story relates to ALL marginalised people in our community and yet our church, the Uniting Church in Australia, is wasting valuable time and money and resources debating same-sex relationships and ministry. The SA Synod voted for one presbytery in the hope that this would tamp down the debate. Get a life! EMU and the RA will not be satisfied until they feel that they have won. And that is what they want to do. Here is SA they refused to talk with Friends of Unity, the overarching support group for Unity. Unity is the support group for GLBT people within the UCA in SA. Their reason for not wanting to talk with us - well one of them - was that they objected to the "villification"[their words] that appeared on the FoU website criticising Mary Hawkes for her comments about "Blood on the floor of the Assembly." Go to their website and read what they have to say about GLBT people!
So? What would you do?
And don't act the "good" Christian, because how many people do you have in your congregations who are disabled, homeless, abused, indigenous, refugees, GLBT, single parent, - the marginalised of our society; no thanks to the Prime Miniature and his policies -and constitute the majority of your congregation? Sorry! one of each does not count!
So, again, for what it is worth. What would you do?
Malcolm.
Subject: What would you do? Forward or Delete
What would you do?
You make the choice! Don't look for a punch line; there isn't one. Read
it anyway. My question to all of you is: Would you have made the same
choice?
At a fundraising dinner for a school that serves learning disabled children, the father of one of the students delivered a speech that would never be forgotten by all who attended.
After extolling the school and its dedicated staff, he offered a
question:
"When not interfered with by outside influences, everything nature does
is done with perfection. Yet my son, Shay, cannot learn things as other
children do. He cannot understand things as other children do. Where is
the natural order of things in my son?"
The audience was stilled by the query. The father continued. "I
believe, that when a child like Shay comes into the world, an
opportunity to realize true human nature presents itself, and it comes,
in the way other people treat that child."
Then he told the following story: Shay and his father had walked past a
park where some boys Shay knew were playing baseball. Shay asked, "Do
you think they'll let me play?"
Shay's father knew that most of the boys would not want someone like
Shay on their team, but the father also understood that if his son were
allowed to play, it would give him a much-needed sense of belonging.
Shay's father approached one of the boys on the field and asked if Shay
could play. The boy looked around for guidance and, getting none, he
took matters into his own hands and said, "We're losing by six runs and
the game is in the eighth inning. I guess he can be on our team and
we'll try to put him in to bat in the ninth inning." In the bottom of
the eighth inning, Shay's team scored a few runs but was still behind
by three. In the top of the ninth inning, Shay put on a glove and
played in the outfield. Even though no hits came his way, he was
obviously ecstatic just to be in the game and on the field, grinning
from ear to ear as his father waved to him from the stands.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Shay's team scored again. Now, with
two outs and the bases loaded, the potential winning run was on base
and Shay was scheduled to be next at bat.
At this juncture, do they let Shay bat and give away their chance to
win the game? Surprisingly, Shay was given the bat. Everyone knew that
a hit was all but impossible 'cause Shay didn't even know how to hold
the bat properly, much less connect with the ball.
However, as Shay stepped up to the plate, the pitcher moved in a few
steps to lob the ball in softly so Shay could at least be able to make
contact. The first pitch came and Shay swung clumsily and missed. The
pitcher again took a few steps forward to toss the ball softly towards
Shay. As the pitch came in, Shay swung at the ball and hit a slow
ground ball right back to the pitcher.
The pitcher picked up the soft grounder and could have easily thrown
the ball to the first baseman. Shay would have been out and that would
have been the end of the game. Instead, the pitcher took the ball and
turned and threw the ball on a high arc to right field, far beyond the
reach of the first baseman.
Everyone started yelling, "Shay, run to first! Run to first!" Never in
his life had Shay ever made it to first base. He scampered down the
baseline, wide-eyed and startled. Everyone yelled, "Run to second, run
to second!" By the time Shay rounded first base, the right fielder had
the
ball. He could have thrown the ball to the second-baseman for the tag,
but he understood the pitcher's intentions and intentionally threw the
ball high and far over the third-baseman's head.
Shay ran toward second base as the runners ahead of him deliriously
circled the bases toward home. Shay reached second base, the opposing
shortstop ran to him, turned him in the direction of third base, and
shouted, "Run to third!" As Shay rounded third, the boys from both
teams were screaming, "Shay, run home!"
Shay ran to home, stepped on the plate, and was cheered as the hero who
hit the "grand slam" and won the game for his team.
"That day," said the father softly with tears now rolling down his
face, "the boys from both teams helped bring a piece of true love and
humanity into this world." AND, NOW A LITTLE FOOTNOTE TO THIS STORY: We
all send thousands of jokes through the e-mail without a second
thought, but when it comes to sending messages about life choices,
people think twice about sharing. The crude, vulgar, and often obscene
pass freely through cyberspace, but public discussion about decency is
too often suppressed in our schools and workplaces.
If you're thinking about forwarding this message, chances are that
you're probably sorting out the people on your address list that aren't
the "appropriate" ones to receive this type of message.
Well, the person who sent you this believes that we all can make a
difference. We all have thousands of opportunities every single day to
help realize the "natural order of things." So many seemingly trivial
interactions between two people present us with a choice: Do we pass
along a little spark of love and humanity or do we pass up that
opportunity, and leave the world a little bit colder in the process?
You now have two choices: 1. Delete
2. Forward
God grant me the senility to forget the people I never liked anyway,
The good fortune to run into the ones I do,
And the eyesight to tell the difference
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