| | | Crossreach - 27 October 2019 |
 Pete Cuthbertson from Crossreach led the
sermon at our service on sunday 27 October. Pete built on the good samaritan readings we had heard earlier in the service.
In Luke 10 verses 25-37, Jesus tells a parable, a story with a message in it, how, on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, the Good Samaritan found a man beaten up,  robbed,
and left for dead. He not only took care of his immediate needs, he
also paid for his longer term care with 2 pieces of silver. Pete then
used a real life story that also has a message in it.
While
there may be some roads that we prefer not to walk down on a dark
night, generally though we wouldn't expect to come across someone
beaten up, robbed and left for dead at the side of the road in
Penicuik. Yet people still exist in our streets, in our towns who have
been beaten up, robbed and left for dead, perhaps by life, by
circumstances, and sometimes literally.
 Pete Cuthbertson has the privilege of working for CrossReach, for nearly 11 years.
He asked the congregation if they knew anything about CrossReach, or had even heard of them?
CrossReach
is the Church of Scotland's charitable arm in Scotland and this
year is their 150th anniversary, so happy birthday CrossReach!
Previously known
as the Board of Social Responsibility, if that helps place them,
CrossReach are the largest of the Church's Councils with about 2000
staff, hundreds of volunteers and had a budget of about £46
million last year. Each year, about 10,000 adults, children, families
or older people are touched by the work done by CrossReach, in Christ's
name.
£46 million is a lot to spend on social care. 63%
or over £28 million, comes from local authorities for the likes
of our homes for older people, those with dementia as well as our work
with people who are homeless or abuse drugs, and so on. The Church of
Scotland contributes £896,000 or 2%. What this means is that for
each £10 you put in the offering, 6 pence goes to CrossReach.
£5.8 million or 13% of the budget comes from voluntary donations, such as legacies,
charitable
trusts and donations from the likes of you and me. Pete works in the
fundraising team where he has the privilege of looking after the
individuals who partner with Crossreach through their donations, so we
were not to be surprised if he mentioned money
 Pete
then took up the true story with a message in it. The true story was
about an 18 year old girl called Stacey (not her real name). Pete
came across Stacey just a couple of weeks ago at one of CrossReach's 70
services in Scotland in Perth Prison, where they have a Visitor's
Centre. It is literally within a 2 minute walk of the main prison
entrance for HMP Perth, but is separate from the prison and is run by
CrossReach.
The Centre focusses on the families of men serving
their prison sentence in HMP Perth. Families of prisoners are so often
the other innocent victims of crime.
Pete came across Stacey
recently in the Visitors Centre at Perth. Like many people who use the
Centre, she comes into the Centre on her way to visit her dad and again
after her visit. These times are to prepare her for the visit, and then
to recover from the visit.
If you've ever visited someone in
prison you will know how emotionally draining the whole experience can
be, so many relatives drop in after their visit to recover emotionally.
Stacey was devastated when her dad went to prison. An hour's visit to
see her Dad every couple of weeks simply wasn't enough for her. She had
been at secondary school and the rest of the school soon found out
about her dad, and she was bullied so much that she left school without
sitting any exams. Stacey put on several stones in weight. She
self-harmed. There wasn't anyone to tell her she was beautiful so she
stopped caring about herself or her appearance. She has no
qualifications and zero self-esteem or confidence and no prospects.
Stacey has done nothing wrong, yet she is suffering hugely.
Stacey
now comes into the visitor centre 2 or 3 times a week, just
to sit. When you first enter the Visitor Centre, there is an amazing
sense of calm, of peace. It is a safe place where Stacey knows she will
be respected and not insulted. Where she will be accepted and not sworn
at. Loved and not condemned.
 In
our other reading in Mark 9:41, Jesus talks about giving a cup of water
to people. That's something simple to do. To Pete, giving Stacey the
space and time she needs to just sit in peace is like giving her a cup
of water. It's refreshing when the recipient is feeling emotionally
dry. At first she only sat for about 5 minutes then she left. She
couldn't handle the acceptance. Gradually, she stayed for longer, and
now she will sit for half an hour, maybe three quarters of an hour. She
doesn't engage in much conversation, she just likes to sit and enjoy
the peace, the calm.
Pete saw Stacey because he was at the Prison Visitor's Centre to talk about this year's
CrossReach
Christmas appeal. One thing CrossReach are looking at doing is giving
the likes of Stacey, and many others with stories that would tear your
heart, something that lets them know that others care about them. In
Stacey's case, the staff team want to give her a hairbrush of her
own and some nice baubles for her hair. From what they know of her,
they are sure that this will be a great way to let her know she is
worth it, as a certain advert says. Cost? Less than 25.
Pete finished with the words of Jesus from Luke verse 36
"Now which of these three would you say was a neighbour to the man who was attacked by bandits?" Jesus asked.
The man replied, "The one who showed him mercy."
Then Jesus said, "Yes, now go and do the same."
|
Published - 28 October 2019
| |
Home
| Services | Church Groups | Events | News
| History| Contact Us 
