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Island
of Irrelvancy
by Commissioner Wesley
Harris
We may be
sentenced by a sentence or arrested by a phrase! Certainly, I
was challenged by a writer who spoke of ‘islands of
irrelevancy in a sea of need’.
I wondered whether some of our corps might fairly be
described as irrelevant in their local community.
If the corps is turned in on itself, only pre-occupied
with domestic issues and oblivious to the concerns of its
neighbours then the charge of culpable irrelevance might
fairly be laid.
Of course, in a
secular society the widely held view might be that religion is
at best an optional extra with nothing of value to contribute
to individuals or families in the twenty first century. That
mistaken perception may make the practice of religion
appear to some as
irrelevant for modern life when in reality it could well prove
to be the answer to some fundamental. needs.
One of my
favorite holiday locations is an island off the coast of
Australia.
It is separatefrom the mainland but not cut off
A feat of engineering means that it can be reached by
road so that supervision and supplies are available.
So too, while in
some ways our corps should be separate from the world they
should not be remote or removed from it. There is the need for
‘holy worldliness’. William Booth often spoke of the sea of
need which surrounds us.
People need service and, above all else, they need
salvation and so it is important that we do not merely do our
internal ‘Army thing’ but remember that we are called to be
‘people people’ reaching out to those who may be so near and
yet so far from us.
Our former name was, ‘The Christian Mission’ and in a
real sense that is still essentially what we are meant to be.
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