Last year for my colleague Peter's birthday Jenny, Mary and I concocted a cunning plan: we told him we were going to do an assembly - planned and practised it - then actually went to London for the day! Took about an hour driving up the motorway for him to figure it out!
We spent the day hanging round London and then went to see Les Miserables in the evening. Such a good day!
I love Les Miserables. I love how it shows the redemptive power of God. My Dad advised me not to watch it - 'it's really depressing. Everyone dies!'. I just love it though - hope, dreams, love, passion, forgiveness, self sacrifice.
There's an interesting line in 'At The End Of Day'. The workers are ganging up on one of the characters, Fantine, to get her kicked out. She has a secret child, and they're saying that she is immoral.
They sing:
At the end of the day
She'll be nothing but trouble
And there's trouble for all
When there's trouble for one!
Joshua 'followed the Lord wholeheartedly', and yet he wandered the wilderness for 40 years because of the actions of the community he was part of.
The people on the boat with Jonah weren't trying to avoid God like he was, but they would still be in the boat if it went down.
Is trouble for one trouble for all?
Are the consequences of sin ever individual?
Who do my mistakes affect, and to what extent?
Is the opposite true too - there's blessings for all when there's blessings for one?
'Halakhah' is the word for the collection of Jewish laws. There are 613 mitzvot - biblical laws - and I've heard that it was physically impossible for any one person to fulfil all of these laws. It was only possible as a community.
Man was not made to be alone.
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God, remind me of the responsibility my life carries. I'm glad you are into community. Help me to be into it too.
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