One of the most well-known indictments of Jesus was that he ate with the social rejects of this day: "The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, 'Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and "sinners."" (Matthew 11:19)

Even to this day, many people are offended by this Jesus!

One day Jesus told a story about a man who threw a big banquet and the invited guests didn't show up. So the man sent his servants out to highways and alleys to bring the poor, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the oppressed to the banquet. Jesus said that his way was like this banquet giver! (Luke 14) More significant - those who followed the Jesus' way would be like this man who threw this banquet.

Many people want to put a limit on God's welcoming love - either for themselves or others.

If Timothy McVeigh had been alive in the first century, would Jesus have eaten with him? What about Hani Hanjour? Adolf Hitler?

Here is the problem, if you say, "Jesus would never have sat down and broken bread with a McVeigh or an Hanjor or a Hilter!" then what guarantee do you have that Jesus would sit down with anyone who is imperfect.

The scandal of Jesus is that he would sit with any of these men and eat a meal with them.

And because he would have - he would also sit down with you and me on our worst day!

So if the welcoming love of Jesus would welcome the worst of the worst among us - then here is the Good News - then he would welcome you and me!

And if Jesus is going to welcome you and me to the banquet table, who should we be to decide who else is welcome?

So whatever your state of life - come and receive the banquet invitation!

2006 (C) Ronald Friesen

One day Jesus encountered a blind man. He asked the man if he wanted to be well. The man said, 'Of course!' Jesus touched the man's eyes and asked him what he saw. "I see people walking around looking like trees." So Jesus touched his eyes again. "Now I see people!"

Many of us are like this half-healed blind man. Some of us are happy with a little bit of healing. I just want to get 'a little bit better.' Being half blind is better than being totally blind. We settle for half the loaf when we can really have the full loaf.

Part of the problem is impatience. I have met people who don't have the patience to do the full range of physical therapy treatments. Then they complain about the therapist!

Remember, no pain, no gain. The discipline required to get the healing - to stick around and receive all the benefit - is too trying, to arduous, too taxing. So we settle for a little bit of healing

A bigger problem is that we think we are only worthy of a little bit of healing. Lost in our self-pity, we talk ourselves into being open to a reduced portion of the healing available to us.

So today, remember - Don't settle for just a little of healing to get a little bit of comfort - go for all that God has for you!

Rejection is hard to take!

Have you ever gone into a store, wanted some help, not found any and gone home empty-handed?

I was about 80 miles from my home when a hose broke on my car. It was a Saturday. I was in a small town with one garage and one auto parts store. The garage did not have the part I needed. I was directed to the auto parts store. It was 11:55 AM when I walked into the auto parts store. I had hardly started explaining to the man behind the desk my predicament when he said, "I am closing in 3 minutes. I am going hunting. Goodbye!" With that he turned and walked away. I stood there with my mouth open. He could have charged me $100 for a $15 hose - I was completely at his mercy. He decided that his own personal plans were more important than serving me - his customer!

Sadly, I must say that I have met churches and followers of Jesus who act like this storekeeper.

How different the life of Jesus! First, he decided to leave the comfort of a heavenly palace and take up residence in a smelly stable as an infant. Then he lived in a non-descript town called Nazareth. When he walked the landscape of Palestine he did so with little assurance of being welcomed or accepted in any home. In fact, he spend nights sleeping in the hills of Galillee.

His simple life was marked by welcoming the seeking soul. It could be a filthy rich, crooked tax collector like Zaccheus or a woman of unknown repute who shared with him some water from Jacob's well. Or it was a woman of known ill-repute who broke into a party who poured perfume worth several days' wages on his feet. Or it was another woman who apparently was caught in the act of adultery who was told, "Your sins are forgiven you. Go and sin no more." Or it was a rich young ruler who sincerely wanted to know the secret of getting into heaven, who was challenged by Jesus' words to sell what he had and come follow Jesus.

You will notice Jesus didn't invite people to attend the local synagogue (Jewish place of worship in Jesus' day) when they were looking for hope, faith and forgiveness. He simply invited them to come and be with him.

And so it is today. Followers of Jesus invite seekers to come to follow Jesus with them. This may be over a cup of latte at Starbucks, in helping building a home for Habitat for Humanity, to provide a meal to some homeless people.

If you are reading this and wondering how come your experience of followers of Jesus has been a lot like my experience at the auto parts store in a little town in the middle of Arizona, I want to ask you to forgive my sloppy friends who say they are followers of Jesus who didn't heed your heartfelt cry for help. On behalf of them, I ask you forgive us.

I invite you to again reach out to Jesus. Even a simple, "Help me, Jesus" is a prayer that he welcomes and wants to answer.

And if you are a follower of Jesus, I urge you - for the sake of Jesus and his name - welcome the seeking who come into your sphere of influence!

Amazing grace and other things

By Kathleen Parker
Wednesday, November 22, 2006

WASHINGTON -- As Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, they might add to the list of things for which they are grateful: Christian evangelicals.

No, I'm not kidding.

It has become fashionable and amusing these days to ridicule conservative Christians who believe in the Bible, even if they fail to live by the Word every waking moment. One fallen preacher comes along and the secular world rejoices in the triumph of hypocrisy.

Yet, anyone familiar with the history of social justice knows that evangelicals, as well as others of different faiths, have led many of the causes that progressives today claim as their turf.

It was, in fact, an evangelical Christian who led the movement to end slavery in the civilized world. His name was William Wilberforce, a British statesman who got himself elected to Parliament in 1780 at age 21, and soon began his crusade.

Wilberforce's name and spirit are back in circulation with the opening in February of the movie ``Amazing Grace: The William Wilberforce Story,'' timed to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Britain's abolition of slavery.

The film is another project from billionaire Phil Anschutz's Bristol Bay Productions, sister company to Walden Media (``The Chronicles of Narnia''). While Walden produces family-friendly movies suitable for all ages, Bristol Bay produces historical dramas such as ``Ray'' -- about Ray Charles.

Anschutz, invariably described as a ``conservative Christian,'' implying some questionable agenda, personally financed ``Ray'' when Hollywood told him he was crazy. Some say the unassuming media mogul is misguided again in hoping to draw audiences to a biopic bereft of sex or violence.

I attended a screening recently and was alternately horrified by what we know about slavery and moved by what was truly amazing grace.

Action-movie fans may not find themselves chewing their nails, but the story is riveting. Watching educated men try to justify slavery is unavoidably mesmerizing. Considering the fragile thread by which civilization hangs -- a fray away from barbarity -- is implicitly cliff-hanging.

The movie tracks Wilberforce's almost single-handed battle to change the hearts and minds of his colleagues in Parliament, many of whom were invested in America's plantations and the slave trade necessary to their prosperity.

A reluctant politician, Wilberforce had been considering entering the clergy when his friend, William Pitt, (Britain's youngest prime minister at age 24) urged him to run for office. Wilberforce sought advice from his childhood pastor, John Newton, the former slave ship captain who wrote the lyrics to the hymn ``Amazing Grace.''

Suffering his own demons from having participated in the slave trade, Newton convinced Wilberforce that he could best serve his God by ending slavery. Twenty years after he began, Wilberforce prevailed.

Although Wilberforce won the battle against slavery in his time, the war continues in ours. Today, there are an estimated 27 million slaves throughout the world, according to various sources, including Amnesty International and the United Nations.

They don't wear ankle and wrist shackles, as we envision the African slaves. But they are, nonetheless, bartered, smuggled, beaten, threatened and forced to work. Many are women and children forced into serving the bustling sex trades.

An independent documentary highlighting the sex trades -- ``Let My People Go'' -- is scheduled for release next spring. In that film, Jody Hassett Sanchez follows modern-day Wilberforces working around the world to end human trafficking.

As with many Anschutz projects, ``Wilberforce'' isn't just a movie; it's an educational opportunity and is being called a movement. Walden has produced educational materials for classroom discussions. During the year following the film's release, dozens of companion projects will be launched, including ``The Amazing Change'' campaign -- a grass-roots effort to continue Wilberforce's vision (www.amazingchange.com).

The campaign's immediate goal is to gather 390,000 signatures -- the same number obtained by Wilberforce -- on a ``Petition to End Modern Day Slavery,'' which then will be presented to the U.S. House and Senate, as well as other global leaders, asking them to commit to abolition.

At last, an issue on which all can agree: Slavery is bad.

Whatever one believes -- or doesn't -- it's impossible to ignore that the world would be a lesser place without those who have been divinely inspired. What Wilberforce did with his own considerable resources and a talent for oratory, Anschutz -- and others who are motivated by their faith -- are attempting to do through the medium of their day.

Those crazy Christians. What will they think of next?

Kathleen Parker is a popular syndicated columnist and director of the School of Written Expression at the Buckley School of Public Speaking and Persuasion in Camden, South Carolina.

Network Inc and Fox announced today that the OJ Simpson book and interview were cancelled. There was an overwhelming outcry that could not be ignored!! For all who called and said 'NO' - thank you!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving!