By their fruit. . .

Shall you know them!

Now I grew up on a home that was most definitely not 'religious' yet oddly my Mother used a great many expressions and phrases that were Boblical. Looking at my recent crop of experiences and goings on, I wondered whether we would be known for the right things or seen simply to deny Christ?

Here's a quick quiz for me, but you join in and play if you wish:

1. You meet a woman who had an abortion. She's still raw about it and now, some time on, wracked with guilt and grieving, feeling the pain of that loss.
Do I condemn her because of the abortion?
Comfort her for the loss of her child?
Tell her 'you're forgiven' and that 'it's done now'?
Do I leave, rushing to be free of this sinner?

2. I am approached by a man who informs me that he and his partner are hopefully moving in and wondered whether they'd find a welcoming place within our building. His partner is another man!
Do I tell him that he and his partner are going to burn in hell and leave in case I catch a dose of homosexuality?
Do I tell him he's welcome but 'no communion for you'?
Do I tell him I don't consider homosexuality to be a compatible Christian lifestyle but also explain that he's a brother and that was the place we needed, honestly and in dialogue, to work from?
Do I, looking to avoid conflict, merely smile and say nothing?

3. I am approached by a man who 'has a calling'. He's a member of another church in the area and lives with a woman. They're not married and have no intention of it. He comes to ask my opinion about his domestic situation in the hope that the CofE wouldn't be bothered about it and would train and ordain him.
Do I explain that the CofE is not an 'anything goes' organisation and tell him to go and sin no more?
Do I tell him that he'd be ok as long as he keeps his domestics to himself?
Do I start to outline how we test calling and explain that his home situation presents a problem which needs to be addressed regardless.
Do I tell him to leave his 'other half', and their kids for the sake of his eternal soul?
Do I te hi
To talk to his pastor and contact him to ask him to talk to this bloke and sort him out?

4. A woman comes to the door wanting baptism for one of her kids. She has a few kids, all different fathers, is pregnant (again! Different father from rest). What do you do?
Tell her she needs to do course and attend for six months.
Tell her I can't baptise the child because baptism requires 'true repentance on the part of the candidate'.
Shrug and give her a date to suit her.
Engage and look at building a relationship to
address the many spitiual, moral and practical issues before me - looking to be a friend?

Just a snapshot of a few of January's challenges.
How would you do? Would you be sheep or goat. Saint or sinner? Pastor or prune?

Pax