Page 49 - Eggs and Ashes pages

48 Eggs and Ashes

The parable of the churchgoer and the asylum-seeker

Jesus told this parable to people who were sure of their own lifestyle and despised
everyone else:

‘Once there were two men who went to the corner shop to buy a newspaper – one
was a churchgoer, the other an asylum-seeker. The churchgoer stood apart by
himself and thought: I thank you, God, that I am not idle, sponging off the benefit
system and the health service. I thank you that I am not like that asylum-seeker over
there. I have provided for myself financially, I buy organic vegetables, I live in an
energy-efficient house, and I tithe my income.

The asylum-seeker stood at a distance with his head down and thought: God, have
mercy on me.

‘I tell you,’ said Jesus, ‘the asylum-seeker, and not the churchgoer, was in the right
with God when he went home.’

John Polhill

To be … satisfied

I’ve got no energy
because I’ve got too much energy,
rushing to and fro for things I don’t need.

There’s no cure but nothing.

I’ll do nothing to save energy:
Sit, like a lily of the field,
and sway in the breeze.

Nothing to save myself:
I’II lose myself,
like a bird turning in turbulence.

All my life’s work:
to achieve nothing and be satisfied.

Gary Polhill