These three remain Faith, Politics and Community
In the place where you are born, you are raised in the way of those who cared for you and the community in which you live.
You are given a name, a language, an accent and a place, “You are the child of …….”
When you grow older you may find yourself in unfamiliar places. For me, it is in those unfamiliar places that the real me shows up.
Without expectations, for no one expects of you, you become what you are.
In the Isle of Man in, Summer of 1987, I was open to receiving kindness from unexpected people as I was homeless.
Galway 1989 to 1991 I drank tea with whoever was happy to drink with me and usually pay for it.
In Birmingham, in 1989 I was given a place to stay
In Banbridge from 1991 to 1993, I went wherever people were happy to feed me.
In Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire over the last 29 years, I have been given countless opportunities. One of the first was to be a student representative on the Academic Board of my course and then President of a Student Society. In work, I was to hold various posts within the Trade Union up to the National Executive. In my community to be a director of the residents’ Company, and in churches and faith communities to hold various roles.
Because of what?
Because others saw me, ‘the me’ that originated and is of God. Not my culture, language, or identity but above all that …. the God bit of me. And maybe I allowed it to show up.
That said the more I look at the present the more I see the reflection of home. A community that provided activities for me as a child when there were few on offer. A community that provided a faith that although it got distorted was to flower in the end. A community that encouraged political expression yet it was for me to find the strength of it to work it in the end for good.
So perhaps these three have always been and will be, Faith, Politics and Community.
( if you wish to listen click the link below)
https://linksharing.samsungcloud.com/st1tJU0aN46G
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