麻豆约拍

From Reverend Rob Gillion, Rector of Holy Trinity Church and St Saviours:<?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

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Following the local elections last week our councillors will be seeking the best ways to serve their communities

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When I first arrived in London I asked our MP Malcolm Rifkind what he thought the main challenge was in serving the community and parish in Chelsea. He said 'loneliness'. At first I thought that was unlikely in such a vibrant city like London, but I soon discovered how easy it is to be lonely in a crowd. My task then was to encourage a community of care and compassion where people can meet and through various activities make friends.

听As I prepare to leave for the Australian outback I think I will face the same challenge of loneliness and isolation but perhaps it might seem more obvious.

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It has been something of a recurring theme in my ministry for a long time.

In Hong Kong for ten years听 I served as a Prison chaplain to a high security prison and on one visit a prisoner in solitary thrust a piece of paper through the bars of his prison cell. On it he had drawn a pair of shoes overshadowed by bars and underneath he wrote ' Why don't you step into my shoes and find out how much it hurts'.听 Acknowledging that he may well have deserved his sentence, I took up the challenge and was given permission to spend a week with him in prison and it transformed my ministry. I also spent some time in solitary and discovered what real loneliness is like.

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听This week those memories have flooded back as we stage a new play at our Theatre Church in Knightsbridge where we work with vulnerable young people. The play is written by an ex offender entitled 'Prison Wings' in which a prisoner in solitary is visited by an Angel on a mission! It is both hilarious and deeply moving.

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We as human beings are not created to be alone, but to live in a community of love. Jesus reminds his disciples that 'When two or three are gathered together in my name there I am in their midst'.

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I am determined to continue to encourage community down under in Australia and if a Pommy is an acronym for Prisoner of Her Majesty, then perhaps making friends there will surely set me free!