The young man who doesn’t want to engage with school and is heading towards a life of crime, the young woman being drawn in to sex working through bad friendships, the man who is in A&E as it is there where people listen to him, the older person who is isolated and only sees another human being once a week…
We all know that they are there but how much time to we give to them?
Jesus healed the lepers and the man who was paralysed for 38 years. He ate supper with tax collectors and prostitutes. Jesus loved the unloved and he calls us to do the same.
In the 21st century what does that mean?
There are no outcasts living on the edge of Reading and there are no camps of people who have been ostracised by their family due to disease. But they are around us and as Christians, we can be their voice and meet them where they are, as Jesus meets us where we are.
John 4:4-30 tells the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus, a Jew, was socialising with a Samaritan woman – even more – a woman of disrepute. He reached out to the unloved and offered them hope; he reached out to those on the edge of society, the difficult to reach and those who all hope was lost and showed them his love for them.
At The Mustard Tree, we are passionate that everyone has the opportunity to thrive. We do this by meeting people where they are at, inspired by the example of Jesus.
The young man who didn’t want to engage at school joined our Starting Point programme and is now heading for training, the young woman who was sex working is trying to turn her life around. The man in A&E met one of our team and is now in employment and the older person has a befriender who plays dominoes with her once a week.
‘Carry each other’s burdens, and in this way you will fulfil the law of Christ.’ Galatians 6:2
Katherine Shepherd, CEO of The Mustard Tree, writing on behalf of Churches Together in Reading.
