What do we see?

As a child at school I remember a boy who had what we call today learning difficulties. His name was Ian and at our break times we would shout and laugh at him. He stood there with his back to the wall, nowhere to go. He just had to endure all that we did as we teased him about his disability. Children can be very cruel indeed.

Recently I was speaking to a group of women at my church and was telling them about the famous Pendle Witches of the 17th century in the part of England from whence I originally come. The witches had numerous nicknames. One of them, called Elizabeth Davies, had a facial deformity whereby one eye looked up and the other looked down. The local people called her Squinting Lizzie. No doubt the Pendle Witches were dubbed thus because they looked strange, had speech difficulties etc. But people did what they still do, they judged them.

We need to judge others less than we do. We need to seek ways in which to help them. Yet the fact is that we don't. They must fend for themselves. Some people are criticised heavily for what to them is a life-long burden. For the past thirty years I have known a man in this position. None of his neighbours believe he has been ill. They just put him down as a shirker. He had a number of significant illnesses which prevented him from working. But no one believed him. Look at him today and you can see that whatever ailed him in the past he is a very sick man. He has a son who seems to have taken over his father's mantle. He too is thought by neighbours to be faking illness. Yet I was once delayed at the doctors' surgery because he collapsed and had to be taken to hospital by ambulance.

So many people have judged both father and son. The mother has soldiered on admirably through all this. She is so glad to own a mobile phone so that she knows her son can call when he is ill. Over the years I listened to people voicing their opinions and was influenced by what they said. This therefore means that I too have judged. Below you will see a prayer entitled "The Servant Church". Pray it with me.

The Servant Church

We look and stare, but what do we see?
A man lame from injury,
A woman with blistered skin,
A boy with eyes that do not respond,
A girl whose face twitches uncontrollably,
That is what we see, all we see.
We do not know, or understand, or look beyond

God, who loves all equally,
Help us to look, and see, and love,
Not the obvious surface view
But the real person underneath.

We see and judge, but what do we think?
A man so nervous that he stammers,
A woman whose body is lifeless,
A boy whose emotions are overwhelming,
A girl whose deformity makes her shy,
That is what we see, we judge with out thinking.
We do not know, or understand, or look beyond.

God, who knows us through and through,
Help us, having seen,
Not to be hasty or shallow in our judgements,
But to seek the potential in all people.

All-loving God, you know us and all our faults.
Forgive us when we do not love
As deeply as we should,
As you love us.

Amen