In one regular feature, a team member would be given a saying or the line of a song. That person then had to tell a far-fetched story with the saying as the punch line.
On one occasion, one contestant was given the line "no man is an island". His involved travel story took him to many places. Finally, in Ireland, he goes into an Irish pub where he orders a salad. When it is served, he complains to the waiter that there is no salad-dressing - no mayonnaise - with the salad. The waiter explains (in a good Irish accent I won't attempt to copy), "I'm awfully sorry, sir. We've tried everywhere, sir. The factory that supplies us was burnt down and the last shipment before that went down in a wild storm in the Irish Sea. I'm afraid, sir, that just now there's no mayonnaise in Ireland."
The saying always got rather twisted along the way. That was part of the fun of the programme, though there were some serious questions for which points were only awarded for correct answers.
"No man is an island." That saying expresses an important truth. Our lives are interrelated. We have tended to place a great deal of emphasis on independence, fulfilling ourselves, doing our own thing, looking after Number One... There are so many choices already in place before we get to make any of our own. Sometimes in the youthful heart there is a desire to throw off the decisions and values of the older generation - to start running my life my way, without reference to anyone else.
No, we aren't islands, and we live in fairyland if we truly believe that we can be!
Today's Bible reading places strong emphasis on this interrelatedness of our lives, seen in two important areas - the nature of marriage and the place of children. In both areas Jesus points us to our relationship with God.
The pastor was visiting the fourth-grade Sunday School class to talk about marriage as part of the lesson. He asked the class, "What does God say about marriage?" Immediately one boy replied, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do"!
Unfortunately, the boy's mistake isn't so funny after all. In Australia at the moment somewhere around 40% of marriages fail.
The figures for domestic violence vary according to definitions and estimates. In an Australian Bureau of Statistics survey of women's safety in 1996, women were asked whether they had experienced violence by a man since the age of 15. 15.7% responded that they had experienced physical violence (actual, attempted and threatened) by their current partner. Of the 42% who experienced physical violence by a previous partner, 34.4% were living with him at the time of the incident. The likelihood of domestic violence, so one study notes, is seven times as high in de facto relationships.
According to a 1992 study of Anglican and Uniting Church women, one in four men and one in three women said they had been victims of abuse at some time in their lives. The study indicated that 22% of the perpetrators attended church regularly and a further 14% were involved in church leadership.
None of us can rest satisfied with that situation. There is a sizeable problem, but the solution is not to reject marriage and men but to understand again God's plan for men and women in marriage.
As we hear it from the lips of Jesus, "It was because your hearts were hard that Moses wrote you this law (that a man had to give his wife a certificate of divorce). But at the beginning of creation, God 'made them male and female.' 'For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.' So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together let man not separate" (Mk 10.5-9).
In marriage there is a bonding of a man and a woman together. This bonding is not to be broken. God's plan is that marriage be for life. God's desire is that he be included in the marriage partnership. This is the nature of all marriage, not just of Christian marriage. Jesus acknowledged the reality of human sin and hard-heartedness. And in the modern situation we must note the reality of domestic violence. But he calls all people to repentance and to a restored relationship with God and with one another.
Catherine Paxton wrote, "A braid appears to contain only two strands of hair. But it is impossible to create a braid with only two strands. If the two could be put together at all, they would quickly unravel. Herein lies the mystery: What looks like two strands requires a third. The third strand, though not immediately evident, keeps the strand tightly woven." Then Paxton concluded, "In a Christian marriage, God's presence, like the third strand in a braid, holds husband and wife together" (Leadership magazine).
Children aren't only the physical product of marriage, but they are formed emotionally and spiritually within the home. When a marriage breaks down, the adults often say, "The children are taking it well." But talk to the children and you get a different story.
Our relationship with God is important for all of our life, but the disciples didn't understand the importance of children in the Kingdom of God. They were sending away the parents who brought their children for Jesus' blessing. But Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these" (v. 14).
Here is a story told by the minister of a church visited years before by well-known evangelist D.L. Moody. The fame of Moody was far and wide and when it was announced that he was coming, thousands came to hear him. One evening a little boy came alone to the door of the large church. The usher at the door stopped the small dirty ragged boy and told him that he should go home and be in bed. When the boy explained that he wanted to see Mr Moody, the usher refused to let him come in. The little boy, downcast and disappointed, walked to the side of the building and began to weep.
Just then a carriage came to the church entrance and Moody moved toward the door. He heard the crying and saw the little boy leaning against the wall. Moody walked over to him and asked his trouble. The boy looked up and explained how he wanted to hear Mr Moody but wasn't allowed inside. Moody smiled and said, "Do you really want to hear Mr Moody?" "Yes, Sir!" was the reply. "Well, I know how to get you in, but you have to do exactly what I tell you to." The little boy said, "I will."
So, putting his coat-tails in the hands of the boy, Moody told him to hold on to them and not let go until he told him to. Moody entered the building and walked to the platform. Reaching the pulpit, he said, "Well done. I told you that if you would only hold on you would get in. Now, my boy, you sit there." Moody put him on the chair reserved for himself and for the evening the boy listened to the great preacher.
The minister who told the story said, "I know the story is true for it happened in my church. Yes, I know it's true because I was that little boy. I heard the great D.L. Moody preach, but little did I know when I clung to his coat-tails that some day I would become the minister of that same church."
Marriage and children... "Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these."
The children have a lesson to teach us - a simple uncluttered trust which leads us into the Kingdom of God.
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