Where am I in the picture?

Last Saturday S and I did a workshop on our experience in youth work in M'sia and the differences we encountered in UK.

Now, before you say anything, I also feel we are not in the authority to comment and therefore lead a workshop but it was merely a stage for us to share our experiences and to share our experiences working with young ppl in UK.

I don't know how the participants felt about the session, but for S and I, we were encouraged. And based on the comments and discussions we had after the session, we think they were encouraged as well.

At some point in our presentation, I discussed about 5 major points that I felt have helped us in our ministry which essentially can be summarised by 1 simple phrase - Be a Friend. I think we all agreed it was important as that is precisely what young people are seeking for. But at the opening speech, we were challenged by the keynote speaker - Rt Revd Stephen Cottrell, to ask ourselves if we wanted to be a blessing to others and how would we go about doing that. It did seem rather odd because S and I planned that at the end of the session, we would encourage the participants in our workshop to ask ourselves how are we sharing our faith with the younger generation. Are we giving them a positive example or negative? Maybe this was all God's intervention.

And what does it have to do with the picture? Well I received a daily reading today that really puts a lot of things into perspective esp in our current world. We are so busy and caught up in our own worlds and lives, I wonder do we ever stop to ask ourselves if that is what sharing our faith means.

I have to be totally honest, since taking time out from work, I have been more giving of my time to people and consciously and unconsciously been making time for people. Like last night... I was suppose to be working on my service for Sunday (as the week is going to be extremely tight for me) but instead I spent almost 2 hours talking to my hosts grandson about his life and making decisions and so forth. Something I think he appreciated and I do too. And today, students from 3 of my reading groups were away on a school trip which gave me time to think and plan instead. God's intervention perhaps?

Whatever it is, hope you will be encouraged and challenged by the message below.

Listening for the silent scream (by John Fischer)

In a counseling session, I inadvertently lean on a pillow that emits a faint electronic warble. I only hear it subconsciously, as I am deeply engaged in the conversation. Then it happens again and I look down and discover my pillow is screaming at me. An electronic chip inside is responding to the pressure of my elbow. On the face of the pillow is a rendering of Edvard Munch’s famous 19th century expressionism painting, “The Scream” – that wavy image of a wide-open mouth and gaunt, skeletal face cradled in the hands of its own desperation. It has become a universal depiction of the cry of the human heart.

In the painting, the screaming victim is standing on a bridge with a red, swirling sky behind him and two figures in the background. In the artist’s own words, the inspiration for this painting came when an unexplainable sense of dread overcame him while out walking with two of his friends. “My friends walked on – I stood there, trembling with fear. And I sensed a great, infinite scream pass through nature.

"Until I read this description, I saw the figures as approaching and for some reason coming after the screaming victim (too many chase scenes, I guess), but according to the artist, the two figures have passed on ahead, seemingly oblivious to whatever it was that gripped him with fear. This underlines even more the loneliness expressed. His companions have their backs turned on his desperation. They are no help to him. Only he can hear the scream; and their apparent disinterest makes you feel the scream is silent.

This is not a painting of a human being on a bridge surrounded by landscape; it is an abstract capturing of the human soul. It is a painting of the state of mind that many people are in today. We live in a time of momentous fear. Terrorism and economic hardship grip many people, but their screams are mostly silent. Those who could help are walking away. Where are you in this picture?

Lord, make us sensitive to those around us who may be screaming inside. May we not walk on by. And may we face as well the cry of our own soul and not try and distract ourselves. May our need lead us to you, the one for whom we were made – the only one who can dispel our fear.

^__^