The Kitchen Sink
An occasional piece of paper
January 16, 2000
Vol. 3 no. 3

Everything But...
      I have lived in a lot of "Nazareths" - when other people find out you're from there they look skeptically at you and are amazed you can read and write and speak with some minimal intelligence. It is hard to convince these people that "anything good can come out of Nazareth."
      Usually, that is just big city sophisticated arrogance, but there are some small towns which earn such a negative reputation through lack of attention to education, no vision of the future, a rampant lack of moral integrity, and a fear of strangers. Most of these towns spend most of their time getting smaller.
      It is no wonder, therefore, that God had it figured out that Jesus would grow up in, and soak up the values of a promiseless place like Nazareth. God seems to choose the least likely locations to carry out the will of God. That's because power is not located in a place or institution, but in the life of a person inspired by God.
      So is it possible for us who live in the big city of Regina, in the downtown 'cathedral' of Knox-Metropolitan, to have any good come out of us? Or are we too spoiled and corrupted by the trappings of power to be able to hear the still small voice of God?
      Don't worry. If God can summon a messiah from the backwaters and outbacks, the slums and ghettoes, God can make someone emerge out of our privilege. But something has to budge.
      Simply, you and I have to forget that we are from Regina and Knox-Metropolitan. We don't have to be ashamed of our associations, but we should never expect them to be the proof of our faithfulness to God's will for us. We have to forget our origins and be concerned about where we are going.
      As long as you remember that your calling is to serve, you can come from anywhere at anytime.