Fringe dwellers

As I walk our dog in the morning (often between 5.30and 6) I am intrigued by the number of fringe dwellers who are in our midst. There is a sheltered work environment near here and so we have a stream of people who work there. One man seems to be at the bus stop from 5.30 and just sits there waiting for the bus to come...he is there till at least 7.30 and often 8. Why? I don't really know. I say "Hello" to him and his introverted nature obviously means this causes him some pain. It is awful to encounter. There are occasionally others there, "What time is it?" they shout unaware that they are speaking at a level that I consider too loud, typical of so much of the behaviour of these innocents...unaware of what polite society considers extreme.
Then there is dear Annie, a Downes syndrome adult member of our congregation, who does the church rounds on Sunday mornings coming to us last on her way home. Her speech is really difficult to understand, unaware of all this she often stands at the lectern and offers a series of intercessions which seem jumbled and bizarre...Jesus was born in a manger, Mary and Joseph, Jesus died on the cross, I'm getting married, I love Andrew, getting engaged. Amen.. In a conversation with a Uniting Church colleague we decided that for a number of years we had been praying for Annie's Teddy Bear! I simply join my Amen to hers confident that God knows what this is all about.
Another of Annie's housemates was well-known in the area. A giant of a man who loped around the district. he used to knock at the door at all hours and ask for water...he seemed to have a genuine thirst!!(very scriptural). Last year on a boating holiday he drowned, his carer grabbed hold of his hand as he fell from a houseboat but could not hang on. His hand slipped from her grasp and he was lost in the depth of the Murray. We were all devastated by the loss of this "character", and by the exposing of the vulnerability of these fringe-dwellers.

There have always been people like this in every ministry setting in which I have found myself and I find myself drawn to these people who God has given us as a gift.

Tonight, as we gather at the Convention Centre to commission the servant of the servants: May we remember that we are not to be so seduced by the glitz, glamour and opulence that we forget that outside that place in the city of Adelaide there will be many hundreds of fringe dwellers who are the ones we are called to serve.