Sunday 27th October – 30C

LUKE 18:9-14
Two stood in prayer:
one proud
of who he was
and, all the more,
of who he was not;
marking himself up
by marking others down.
The other
ashamed
(perhaps of who he was,
or the circumstance
in which his life was trapped)
and seeking mercy.

Easy and common:
improving one’s self-identity
by disparaging the other –
alien,
conservative,
liberal,
unemployed,
alcoholic,
addict,
asylum seeker …
forgetting that they also,
perhaps even more so,
are recipients
of God’s scandalous grace
and forgiveness.
        © Jeff Shrowder, 2013.
  More for Sunday 30C…