The Journey 146

Read: Luke 7:36-50

This week as we meditated on the theme “Transformation in my Parish” we were able to come across  different local church’s who were very distinct. They had an identity of their own, and they also tried to witness to the message of the gospel in their own unique ways. Yesterday  I came across another local church through the news report, who devised a unique ministry of helping cancer patients. The church is The Church of Nativity in Kansas City. This news item was reported by the Kansas City Star. What is unique about the church is the programmes that they organized a few Sunday’s back. The outreach ministry was called “Wig– Out”. What the members of the parish especially youngsters did was cutting their hair and giving the lockhead to the people who are suffering from cancer. For this unique project they not only enlisted the support of the members of the church, but also the members of the local community. As a result of this unique ministry programme, four hair stylist in the area also volunteered to snip hair as a part of their commitment to this cause of helping the cancer patients. People who willingly gave up lockhead of hair, which were precious to them included young girls, mothers, grandmothers. More unique was certain men who also came to donate their hair. What they did on purpose, was to grow their hair, when they knew about this project, and came last Sunday to donate their hair. What is unique about this “Wig– Out” project of the church of nativity was that the members tried to do something meaningful for the people who were suffering from cancer. As everyone knows, when radiation and chemo therapy is undertaken by the cancer patients especially woman, they loose their hair on the head, and often this become distressing for them.  Thus providing hair to make wigs was very heartening thing to do, so that in the process you bring healing and peace to untold people who are going through misery because of cancer. This model of the church of nativity is a fantastic model for mission because the members of the church seemed to do something that is painful and also costly to bring about healing and change in the suffering community around.  As written earlier this week we were meditating on the theme “ Transformation in my Parish” based on Luke 7: 36-50. This is an incident which shows two contrasting attitude of people. One group of people represented by Pharisees who only sees certain outward signs or do certain rituals without any sincerity or meaning, but only to show that they are holy and religious people, while there are certain people like the woman in this passage, who shows certain outwardly signs and action but the difference is that the action shown outwardly is preceded by a change of heart and a confession of one’s sin. When the woman wets the feet of Jesus with her tears and perfumes his feet, this was an outward sign that was very costly for her and it showed the inward change that she experienced and the remorse that she had about her wrongdoing in life. What Jesus saw was the change that she experienced or the pain that she went through to do thing right for the Lord. For many of us we do ministry, by doing only certain thing that are very easy to do. These activities that some of the local church and its members do are routine. What is important here is that when we involve ourselves in the needs of the community or do God’s ministry, let us be made aware, that we need to do this as a mark of the transformation that God has brought about in our life and also do in such a way that it is painful and costly for us. Anything that we do for the Lord, which is not “costly” will not be meaningful to the community. The church of nativity did just that. We are also called to do the same.