Only one week to go now! I apologize that today’s update is so long, but it was on my heart. Thank you again for your many prayers and support!
Something came to my mind as I was reading yesterday. I am reading a book called “Sex God – Exploring the Endless Connections Between Sexuality and Spirituality” by Rob Bell (who says Christian books are boring :-) ~ hey, I bought it AT church!).
Chapter two caught my attention in the title alone – God Wears Lipstick. What the heck is this about? I had to read on. The basic theme of the chapter was that we de-humanize and objectify people. Examples were given from the grotesque to the simple, almost un-noticeable ways that we do this in every day life.
Once of my favorite paragraphs in the chapter:
(there are)…”Moments when all of the ways that we divide ourselves and rank each other and convince ourselves of how different, better, and unalike we are disappear, and we are faced with the fact that first and foremost, we are humans. In this together and not that much different from each other.”
I have shared with some that my first reaction to the tea parties that are done on the Uganda trips for the widows, well, I just didn’t get it. I thought…these ladies need FOOD, MEDICINE, BEDS, etc. Seriously -- lipstick, nail polish? How are these things important in their lives? Well, I have changed my mind based on the witness of the people that have been there and experienced it and have seen the hope and dignity that this time with them brings.
In this reading yesterday, it really hit home for me. There was a story about a concentration camp in Germany. There is an excerpt from a British soldier that described the disgusting, tragic conditions that they encountered when they liberated a camp called Bergen-Belsen. The British soldier’s name was Colonel Mercin Willet Gonin DSO. I won’t go into the details of the horror that he saw, but it was definitely, like all concentration camps, designed to strip people of their humanity. I am going to type in the details of something that happened during their stay at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp:
"It was shortly after the British Red Cross arrived, though it may have no connection, that a very large quantity of lipstick arrived. This was not at all what we wanted, we were screaming for hundreds and thousands of other things and I don’t know who asked for lipstick. I wish so much that I could discover who did it, it was the action of a genius, sheer unadulterated brilliance. I believe nothing did more for these internees than the lipstick. Women lay in bed with no sheets and no nightie but with scarlet red lips, you saw them wandering about with nothing but a blanket over their shoulders, but with scarlet red lips. I saw a woman dead on the postmortem table and clutched in her hand was a piece of lipstick. At last someone had done something to make them individuals again, they were someone, no longer merely the number tattooed on the arm. At last they could take an interest in their appearance. That lipstick started to give them back their humanity.
Because sometimes, the difference between heaven and hell, may be a bit of lipstick.”
Something came to my mind as I was reading yesterday. I am reading a book called “Sex God – Exploring the Endless Connections Between Sexuality and Spirituality” by Rob Bell (who says Christian books are boring :-) ~ hey, I bought it AT church!).
Chapter two caught my attention in the title alone – God Wears Lipstick. What the heck is this about? I had to read on. The basic theme of the chapter was that we de-humanize and objectify people. Examples were given from the grotesque to the simple, almost un-noticeable ways that we do this in every day life.
Once of my favorite paragraphs in the chapter:
(there are)…”Moments when all of the ways that we divide ourselves and rank each other and convince ourselves of how different, better, and unalike we are disappear, and we are faced with the fact that first and foremost, we are humans. In this together and not that much different from each other.”
I have shared with some that my first reaction to the tea parties that are done on the Uganda trips for the widows, well, I just didn’t get it. I thought…these ladies need FOOD, MEDICINE, BEDS, etc. Seriously -- lipstick, nail polish? How are these things important in their lives? Well, I have changed my mind based on the witness of the people that have been there and experienced it and have seen the hope and dignity that this time with them brings.
In this reading yesterday, it really hit home for me. There was a story about a concentration camp in Germany. There is an excerpt from a British soldier that described the disgusting, tragic conditions that they encountered when they liberated a camp called Bergen-Belsen. The British soldier’s name was Colonel Mercin Willet Gonin DSO. I won’t go into the details of the horror that he saw, but it was definitely, like all concentration camps, designed to strip people of their humanity. I am going to type in the details of something that happened during their stay at the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp:
"It was shortly after the British Red Cross arrived, though it may have no connection, that a very large quantity of lipstick arrived. This was not at all what we wanted, we were screaming for hundreds and thousands of other things and I don’t know who asked for lipstick. I wish so much that I could discover who did it, it was the action of a genius, sheer unadulterated brilliance. I believe nothing did more for these internees than the lipstick. Women lay in bed with no sheets and no nightie but with scarlet red lips, you saw them wandering about with nothing but a blanket over their shoulders, but with scarlet red lips. I saw a woman dead on the postmortem table and clutched in her hand was a piece of lipstick. At last someone had done something to make them individuals again, they were someone, no longer merely the number tattooed on the arm. At last they could take an interest in their appearance. That lipstick started to give them back their humanity.
Because sometimes, the difference between heaven and hell, may be a bit of lipstick.”
Wow! So, when you see pictures of us loving on these women and putting otherwise frivolous cosmetics on them, just remember that we are a part of this – We will be meeting their needs of food, shelter, etc. but, first and foremost, we will be reminding them that they are HUMAN beings. They are not objects or numbers in the vast expanse of widows in Uganda that appear to be forgotten by the world. They are beautiful, children of God. Created by Him in His image.
“For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)
3 comments:
Wow, that is good stuff. Peace be with you on your trip and I look forward to hearing about it in this blog.
Totally awesome! You don't know what that story did to and for me! We had no idea what we were doing when we brought lipstick and nail polish--we just did it! I'm going to use this stuff in my book about the women of Uganda!
What an incredible post. I look forward to following your trip. My your service bring you joy.
Post a Comment