Set Your Course:There's a Difference

There's a difference between

 a hazy and a sunny day
a sense of duty and loving service
obligated relationships and enjoying people
a handshake and a hearty embrace
enduring an adventure and enjoying an adventure 

Hey, there’s a difference between

a trudge and a walk
gritting one’s teeth to face a challenge and positively embracing it
hanging onto the past and learning from the past
wishing time away and savouring the moment 

Yes, there’s a difference between

treading water and swimming
existing in and living in the present
choosing what is good and what is best
acknowledging God and adoring worship
recalling others’ past sins and keeping no account of them
recognizing others’ help and gratefully appreciating 

Yes, there’s all the difference in the world between 

a dreary  sky and an inky sky arched by a rainbow
sticking to ‘safe boundaries’ and climbing over ‘our fences’ to love and serve
saying ‘I will’ and doing the thing
Christian service and a life of love lived all for Jesus’ sake!

Which one of these is ‘us’ does not firstly depend on our genetic make-up or our background, who or what we happen to be as people. It largely depends on the mindset we choose to adopt: we set our minds, our hearts, like the wheel of a ship, on the course we choose to follow. Yes, it’s no easy task, for like a ship, we face squalls, buffeting and storms of the utmost severity. Yet, it makes the difference, the difference, let’s say, between death and life. As Paul says, “the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace”. (Romans 8:6 NASB.)

Mother Teresa in Soho: summer 2012

 An unlikely place, Soho, to house an exhibition about Mother Teresa or .. mmmm ... perhaps not. Like Jesus, she specialised in the sort of people that most people prefer to bypass. Second thoughts, a likely place to find an exhibition about her.
 
There was her room, a replica of it anyway. A tiny hospital bed, two old telephones (I mean old), a primitive filing system and a cardboard box under her bed with ‘AWARDS’ written in thick black pen. Perhaps, most telling, was what she had on her wall: a photo of Theresa of Lisieux, (whose name MT adopted at her first vows) with the saint’s words, ‘My vocation is love.’ 

I think those words could be a summary, actually, of MT’s life.
 
Walking around the exhibition reminded me of my university days. I was studying Theology and finding much of it tedious and dry: reading books written in seminaries or theology departments by academics. Not that I’m against academia or theological study but theology springing from real life, actually life in the gutter, takes on a new and exciting dimension. I remember, in my third year, walking round a reservoir with a book of MT’s sayings in my pocket and finding it, well, a reservoir of life to me at that time, water in a largely desert place. I felt as if I had found ‘the real thing’.

It was fascinating to see her simple blue and white habit, her cardigan, the worn cloth she darned, her handwritten notes and letters  asking for this and that. It made her a little more tangible and gave  insight into her humanity. ( I hate the iconizing of even the most saintly of people.)

Born Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu in Albania, Mother Teresa felt the call of God to become a missionary nun when she was eighteen. She joined an Irish order - the Loreto Sisters - and in 1929 arrived in Calcutta where she took her final vows.

Mother Teresa taught for many years. It was not until she was recovering from a serious illness in 1946 (aged 36) that she received what she called her 'second calling'. The voice of God was clear: she was to leave her convent and work with the poorest of the poor.

The exhibition displayed her conversation with Jesus at this time:
“To leave that which I loved and expose myself to new labours and sufferings which will be great. These thoughts were a cause of much suffering – but His voice kept on saying, ‘WILT THOU REFUSE?’

Jesus said to MT, “Come, carry Me into the holes of the poor. Come be My light, I cannot go alone, go among them, Carry Me with you into them.”

Mother Teresa's life had many similarities with St Francis of Assisi. Like Francis, strict poverty, abandonment of every personal possession and celibacy were all integral parts of her calling. Like Francis she formed her own order - known as the Missionaries of Charity - whilst remaining firmly within the structure of the Catholic Church. Whilst the number of monks and nuns has been steadily declining the brothers and sisters in the Missionaries of Charity has been growing and growing, numbering about 4000 today.
 
The exhibition revealed MT's inner crisis of faith (what a relief to find people like her had crises like you and me). ‘For nearly 50 years MT clung to Jesus in blind faith, not feeling His presence yet profoundly united to Him, radiating His joy and love to each person she met.’
 
MT wrote: “Within me everything is icy cold. It is only that blind faith that carries me through. The smile is a big cloak that covers a multitude of pains.”
 
Mother Teresa referred to herself as 'Christ's spouse', as do all the sisters. She commented that being ‘Christ’s spouse’ is similar to the love of a wife for a husband. “We are all women who have the ability to make use of this love. We should not be ashamed of loving Jesus with our emotions.”

Speaking of her celibacy once, Mother Teresa said, "I cannot in conscience love a creature with the love of a woman for a man, I no longer have the right to give that affection to any other creature but God."

For Mother Teresa, the love she would have given to a spouse was first directed to God. To her it was marriage of a different kind. Commenting on this 'marriage relationship' she found with God she once dryly said, "But sometimes I find it difficult to smile at Him because He can be so demanding!" 

MT's achievements are formidable in their international scope and she has become a byword of sanctity. The exhibition, however, showed us not only the depth of a love born out of suffering and obedience but a woman who was a human, like you and me. 

‘My vocation is love.’ MT got it right and I guess, if we have those four words emblazoned on our hearts, we can’t go too far wrong either.

A kind of evangelism – Trafalgar Square

Recently I took some time off work to go on EDP which stands for 'Eat, Drink and Pray. ‘Our church (Jesus Army) takes a double-decker with basic kitchen facilities into central London once a month for three consecutive evenings. Why? To love people by offering food, drink, prayer and friendship and bringing the good news that Jesus offers new life to all. It's an early hours job, starting around 9pm and finishing around 2-3am. Worth it? Most definitely yes. 


Trafalgar Square, 10.30pm, Friday 14 September.. I’m armed with an entire box of Snicker bars (48 in total), slightly out-of-date but thoroughly edible (I can vouch for that.) We're just giving them out with a simple message, 'This is our way of saying, ‘God loves you.' It sounds a bit trite, maybe, but it's touching hearts and isn't it good to just give things with no strings attached. We don't want anything; we're not selling anything. People are surprised, guards are dropped and some are genuinely thankful. 

The Olympic crowds have gone now and the square feels very large and rather empty; I notice a shadowy figure on the top of St Martin's steps, his sleeping bag spread out for the night across the top step. I introduce myself and find his name is Mark (it's in the Bible, you know, he proudly points out to me.) We get chatting and he tells me he's an agnostic with an open mind. 

I ask him, “What would convince you that God is real?” Quick comes his reply: “People being nice to each other, that would convince me. Here, in Trafalgar Square, you see it all, pickpockets stealing from tourists and other bad goings on but every now and again you see the opposite. It's not hard to be kind. If people are lost, I sometimes take them to their destinations – after all, I've got nothing else to do.” 

 “Scuse me,” says Mark after a few minutes, “I’d like to sleep now.” 

“Of course,” I say, “I’ll move on. Will you sleep? I mean, with the noise in Trafalgar Square, the sirens and endless traffic ...” 

“Depends what’s going on,” says Mark. “Not if someone kicks me or pees on me.” 

I tell Mark about the London Jesus Centre – he'd not heard about it and is very keen to go. He may even see what he's looking for there. “By this all men will know ...” (John 13:35) 

“See you then, Mark, here's a Snickers bar for you, no, let's make it two … and hope you sleep well ...”