Meeting Jesus

In the first of a new series of meditations, the Rev Dr Richard Frazer says the spirit of the Risen Christ is alive in communities.

IT is an honour to write a column for Life and Work and to share with you some reflections.

This magazine has a venerable history and I am conscious of the immense legacy of Archibald Charteris, its founder.

His innovations have inspired our ministry at Greyfriars. We have developed the Greyfriars Charteris Centre recently in the former Kirk o’ Field Church. There is an inscription on the wall of the Deaconess Hospital next door, also founded by Charteris in 1894. It reads ‘Cristo in Pauperibus’ ‘To Christ amongst his poor’. I love the possessive pronoun, the poor having a special place in Christ’s heart.

I want to use this column to write about what I have learned over the years. It is the persistent presence of Christ’s Spirit, whom we meet as we reach out in ministry. People have said that the Grassmarket Community Project is social work not mission. Yet, we bump into Jesus every day. The Spirit of Christ is alive shaping our work.

It is nearly twenty years since we began to develop the Grassmarket Community Project at Greyfriars. Our inspiration is two sisters, Isobel and Marjory Reid, who began a drop-in meal service in the 1980s and the Franciscan Friars, after whom Greyfriars Kirk takes its name. Both the Reid sisters and the Franciscans walked alongside those on the edge of society.

Their inspiration and many Bible stories have come to shape our work.

I think of Blind Bartimaeus in Jericho (Mark 10: 46 – 52) begging and shouting, embarrassing those who wanted to give Jesus a good impression of their town. Jesus asks Bartimaeus: “What do you want me to do for you?” Jesus did not assume he knew. Sometimes, in caring for people, we address the problem before we see the person. The wonderful healing in Jericho is an affirmation of a recovery of personhood. Asking people what they want before assuming we already know can be empowering. “Your faith has made you well,” declares Jesus.

Sometimes people have a long list of problems they are facing, an addiction, homelessness, mental health issues, selfharm, learning difficulties, or a chaotic or abusive past. I think of Legion in Decapolis (Mark 5). People often end up defined by their problems, which can be ‘Legion’. Jesus asks this man his name, again giving this man the dignity of his personhood. I am sure Legion was not the name his mother gave him. His many problems have obscured his real identity. This approach has inspired us in our work, trying to give people the dignity of their personhood, not focussing only on their problems.

We have learned from Jesus to ask people to help too. Many people can end up the passive recipients of care. At a well in Judea, Jesus encounters a Samaritan woman and asks her to give him a drink. This woman, an outsider, probably imagined that she had nothing to offer, but she could do something Jesus could not do for himself, he had no bucket and the well was deep.

We have learned from this approach too.

People usually have gifts and talents, but these can end up all but forgotten as people face challenges and setbacks. We invite people to roll up their sleeves and get to work and often their problems seem to diminish.

We are meeting Jesus every day in our work. It is energising to see that in spite of all the challenges we face in our church, the life of the Spirt of the risen Christ is alive and at work in our communities. ¤

The Rev Dr Richard Frazer is minister at Edinburgh: Greyfriars.