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Maar een ding: ek vergeet die dinge wat agter is en strek my uit na wat voor is,
en jaag na die doel om die prys te verkry van die hoë roeping van God in Christus Jesus.
--Paulus in Filipense 3:14
Dink 'n bietjie hieroor:
<21>Waters van RusWaters van rus soos wat Dawid dit in Ps. 23 beskryf, kan ‘n paar dinge vir ons beteken:
Die volgende beskrywing van die verhaal van die verlore seun soos Dominee Sara-Jane Wessels dit skilder, het weereens vir my nuwe betekenis gekry. Ek hoop jy sal ook die drie hoof figure opnuut ontmoet.
Verlore Seun Keer Terug
Green pastures and still waters as described by David in psalm 23 may have different meanings to different people. :
Deuterocanonical (apocrypha) books are those books that were included in the Greek Septuagint (LXX) but not included in the Hebrew Bible
How Great is our God
by
Rev. Noel O. Fernández
Jesús discapacitado
© WCC
"Surely He has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases"- (Isaiah 53:4)
For us Christians the mystery of the incarnation is more than a doctrine; it is the symbol of God’s love for human beings, the God who leaves his divine abode to become flesh and blood, part of our daily life, in the person of Jesus Christ. No other religious expression apart from Christianity knows this divine will which extends even to sharing in our day-to-day circumstances,
"rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep" (Rom 12:15), as the God made flesh was to do. This is the highest proof of God’s transcending love, demonstrated in this sharing of human understanding and feeling unique to the Christian God. This is the "Word who became flesh and lived among us..." (Jn 1:14)
What hope and happiness it gives the Christian believer to know that He is living among us! A God who, in making His dwelling place among us, takes to Himself the troubles, wounds, sorrows and disabilities that afflict us. This is a God of love who does not abandon His children alone and defeated, but takes upon Himself the difficulties, the pain and disability of others.
Genesis tells us of a God who made man and woman in his own image (Gen. 1:27). the image of this God is of the one who takes upon Himself the problems of human beings: blind, deaf, physically and mentally handicapped. This is the God who is reflected in every man and woman and who at the same time is wounded and afflicted for us (Isa. 53:5).
the words of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself to his disciples
"I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (Jn 10:10) clearly reflect His compassionate, loving, inclusive way of thinking, by which, in spite of sorrows, difficulties and disabilities, He offers life, the possibility of quality and fullness of life, to all creatures.
The life which Jesus comes to offer us inevitably entails the sacrifice of His own existence for the benefit of humankind, taking upon Himself all our burdens:
"Come to Me, all you that are weary and are carrying Heavy burdens, and I will give you rest" (Matt. 11:28).
The rest He gives us, the life He offers are possible only because, by His supreme action, He took our disabilities upon Himself, making Himself another disabled person.
According to the mass media, the start of the 21st century finds us in a situation where those sections of the population who are unable to compete or reach the level of efficiency demanded by society are rejected and marginalised. As in the times before the Christian era, they are avoided like the plague, looked on with contempt or, in more contemporary terms, treated as disposable.
Among them are a great many people with sensory, motor or mental disabilities. You will find them of all types, ages and colour in any of the mega-cities of Latin America - Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Caracas or Bogotá; but you will also find them, enduring still greater suffering and rejection, in the Heights of the Andes, the pampas of Argentina, the coasts of Central America and the forests of Amazonia. Men and women with a disability who, instead of living, simply survive between poverty, degrading dependence, preventable diseases, infections, hunger and abuse by the able. This is a wretched reality in a continent which calls itself Christian and where, according to statistics, a large percentage of the population claim to be followers of Jesus Christ. More than five hundred years after colonisation, the image of the suffering Christ, of the disabled Jesus who took all our disabilities upon Himself, is still not a reality in the lives of our disabled brothers and sisters. In this new century, the church has to face up to the reality of an image of God that may not be beautiful but which has to be taken into consideration. This image of a disabled Jesus in the situation of those who have not enjoyed the necessary effects of solidarity.
While the church authorities in the continent discuss and try to find concrete ways of tackling the tasks of the 21st century, it is distressing to note that they have not included on their agendas the marginalisation, poverty and suffering of the blind, deaf, physically and mentally handicapped people in Latin America who, as the image of God, do not need sympathy or pity but spaces offering understanding and the opportunity for fulfilment and fullness of life where they can develop their vocations, potential and abilities.
Jesus, who took our disability upon Himself in His death for us on the cross, never ceases in His effort to bring abundant life to each and every man and woman. It is sinful that there are those who prevent Him from doing so by their immoral and selfish actions and their lack of love.
He bears our pain, insults, afflictions and humiliations; this is what the Prophet Isaiah means when He describes the One who was to be the Word of God Incarnate in our world as making Himself blind with the blind, deaf with the deaf, physically handicapped with the physically handicapped... Jesus of Nazareth, human and eternal; loving and compassionate; just and simple; disabled.
Speaking as a disabled person, we hope that the efforts made by the churches and Christian individuals in this 21st century to further peace, conservation of the environment, equality of women, the rights of children and care of the elderly will also include on the agenda the struggle for the full self-realisation of people with disabilities.
"And the king will answer them,’ Truly, I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me" (Matt. 25:40)
Rev. Noel Osvaldo Fernández Collot is a Baptist Pastor of the churches "Enmanuel" of Ciego de Ávila, and "La Vida Verdadera" in Corojo, Ciego de Ávila, Cuba.
He is Director of the Ministry with Differently Abled Persons of the National Council of Churches in Cuba and EDAN coordinator for the Latin American region.
God Wants to Talk to You - either by renewal or for the First time! Don't wait until tomorrow to meet Him - You are Important to God
Deuterocanonical (apocrypha) books are those books that were included in the Greek Septuagint (LXX) but not included in the Hebrew Bible
How Great is our God