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LECTIONARY

LECTIONARY
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Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Australia's shame. Is there discipleship in this country?


Who are we who live in Australia
that we can not do better than this?
Frank and Mary are not alone
Their case is not even the worst scenario.

They live in a mainstream town
Tennant Creek
where half the population are white.

I used to live there.
This sort of thing happened then.
I had no solution then -
however we have a government now
who professes to be doing something
and is failing.

Without our pestering,
I believe it will continue to fail.

The dominant values of our society
are said to be of Judaeo-Christian tradition.
The Koran, sacred book of Islam,
is connected to that tradition as well.

And this is what the Book of the Prophet Isaiah
says in Chapter 48.
This is a forceful modern paraphrase
and Yahweh is speaking:

This is the kind of fast day I'm after:
to break the chains of injustice,
get rid of exploitation in the workplace,
free the oppressed,
cancel debts.
What I'm interested in seeing you do is:
sharing your food with the hungry,
inviting the homeless poor into your homes,
putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad,
being available to your own families.

Do this and the lights will turn on,
and your lives will turn around at once.
Your righteousness will pave your way.
The God of glory will secure your passage.
Then when you pray, God will answer.
You'll call out for help and I'll say,
'Here I am.'

Australians,
just take a look at yerself

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