Emerging

We'd heard the rain battering down in quiet bits of the service, but still a surprise to see the state of it, and the wind, as we all tried to leave. Like many, we didn't have umbrellas, so the ones who did ferried folk to their cars, generally quite a fun time - everyone is grateful that the rains have come at last.

The first reading (which will have been the same all over the world) was Exodus 22: 20-26; here is the first part which I have deliberately taken from the Complete Jewish Bible:
You must neither wrong nor oppress a foreigner living among you, for you yourselves were foreigners in the land of Egypt.
 You are not to abuse any widow or orphan.  If you do abuse them in any way, and they cry to me, I will certainly heed their cry. My anger will burn, and I will kill you with the sword — your own wives will be widows and your own children fatherless.

As Padre Abraão rightly said, it's not a case of siding with A or B, for we are all brothers and sisters, and we must all love each other, which means forgiving the wrongs done us, and that includes each of us, wherever we are, and however small the wrong.


Gratefuls:
- watching Deb and Donald doing the Livestream from our church in England
- Valente being back in the Adega, and the men singing Cante (again, you can see a sample if I'm on your WhatsApp, in my status update)
- hoping that we can visit Margreth, and that seven of us make it to Sem Fim, if the rain lets up a bit