What we call the ‘circle of inclusion’, rooted in a deep understanding of the christian story, holds us to this ongoing task – to work for a more just and inclusive world, because we believe that the god of the universe, who is love, has made each one of us – in all our differentness and diversity – divine image bearers.
I was fourteen. I’d fallen in love. Her name was Mary. She went to the local posh school. I had a place at the other one! As I was often reminded: ‘You’re the kind of kid who’ll work with your hands, not your head.’
However, I discovered that every Friday night, Mary went to a youth club in the local church hall. So – using my head – I joined up too. I attended for months before my hopes were crushed. Mary, I learned, wasn’t interested!
Walking home that sad night, I was faced with a huge decision; the kind that jilted fourteen-year-olds often face. Rejected by the girl who gave my future meaning, ‘Was there any point in the rest of my life?’ From my school I already felt like the answer was ‘No’, but as I’d got to know the leaders of that Friday night club, I’d somehow absorbed their message. It was very different. ‘You are created by God’, they said. ‘Your life has huge potential – don’t waste it.’
My mind was made up! Even if Mary didn’t want me, I was going to keep going to that youth group. I liked their message, and even more their attitude. So, not only was I going to take up their challenge to follow Jesus – who they told me showed us how to live God’s way – but when I was old enough, I knew what I should do. If all this was true, it seemed to me that the only response I could make was to become a church leader. And more than that, one day, to open a school that taught young people their lives counted, and a house – a place of safety for those who’d never been shown that they’d mattered to anyone – and a hospital. Only this, I somehow felt, would be a fitting response to the fact that, on this night, the view I had of myself as an irrelevance had been swept away and my life had been supplied with the God given gift of purpose.
