I have much to be grateful for: an amazing husband who loves me dearly, two healthy, bright children who bring me great joy, a supportive family, an amazing ministry community, a charming home, good health, and the list goes on…

So, yea I like to think of myself as the 1 leper who after being healed came back and gave thanks to Jesus. Luke 17:15

But oh, the many, many occasions in which I am the 9 who never came.

What keeps us from giving thanks? What stands in our way of giving all out glory to God for what he has done?

Our we afraid to admit we ever had a disease that needed healing? Are we too busy enjoying the new found life of freedom and cleanliness that we neglect the source from which it came?

I want the heart of the 1.

“Praise God, I’m healed!” He fell face down on the ground at Jesus’ feet, thanking him for what he had done.” Luke 10:16

The following clip is best viewed full screen in HD

You know that you have met people that have truly suffered when their life’s endurance is so clearly reflected in a simple portrait photograph. It is not a question of having the skill to capture a fleeting moment when they betray their horrific memories, but it is permanently engrained on their wind-swept, sun-gnarled, often grossly disfigured faces. Faces devoid of joy, where survival doesn’t seem important.

I travelled to the Terai region of Nepal for 6 weeks in February 2009 to photograph at Lalgadh Leprosy Services Centre (LLSC) on behalf of the Nepal Leprosy Trust. By the end of my six weeks there I decided to start a photographic project about leprosy across the world.

Leprosy is a curable air-borne (in water droplets) bacterial disease that affects the peripheral nervous system and the skin. The loss of sensation can lead to severe disability, including the loss of digits and limbs, blindness and drop-foot.  Equally as devastating for those affected is the stigma that surrounds the disease. Discovery that a person has leprosy can lead to complete social exclusion.

Leprosy is not a new disease; it is an ancient one. So old that most of the world, certainly the developed world, has forgotten it exists. Indeed, the World Health Organisation sets the point at which elimination officially occurs at 1 case in 10,000 people, and according to official statistics, all countries – except Nepal, Brazil and Timor-Leste – have this status. The assumption of the public in the West that it is practically non-existent is therefore understandable. Yet leprosy remains a huge problem in countries all over the globe today.

In 2007, the WHO counted 17 countries that had over a thousand new cases of Leprosy. However, these figures are likely to be – in some cases large – underestimates. These countries have been under a great deal of pressure to reach the target of ‘elimination’. Official figures are often tampered with in order to meet criteria; for example, immigrants with the disease may not be registered. In cases like in Nigeria, doctors I have met say that the numbers of cases they have seen simply don’t match up to figures that have been recorded.

 Soon Nepal will reach the official elimination figure, joining all the other countries that have supposedly conquered the problem. But even if the figures were correct, there still remains in these countries a humanitarian crisis. “Elimination” does not mean “no leprosy”; rather, it means that it is no longer a “public health problem”.

The definition of “leprosy” is confined to those in whom the bacteria are active. Once treatment is completed, they are not – officially – leprosy sufferers anymore. This is true from a medical perspective, yet the ulcers continue to develop and disabilities and deformities remain. And so the sufferer is still very much a ‘leper’, still vulnerable to intense stigma from the unsophisticated societies whose margins they inhabit.

 It’s a crisis because people affected by leprosy stand at risk of isolation. It’s a crisis because the unaffected world now believes there is no longer a problem of leprosy – it has been “eliminated”. It’s a crisis because people don’t perceive any need to put money into a problem they have been led to believe no longer exists – no need to support places like Lalgadh. Future funding in Nepal is being cut as it nears “elimination” status, just as it has been in other countries around the world.

The situation for charities like The Leprosy Mission (TLM) and the Nepal Leprosy Trust (NLT) has got even worse in recent times due to the recession. I was in Nigeria for 5 weeks from July 2009 and in that time TLM Nigeria had to sack 6 (of their 50-odd) full-time staff because of budget cuts due to lack of donations.

Part of the reason leprosy does not get the attention it deserves is because it does not affect western society – actually that’s not quite true; there are currently around 5000 cases of leprosy in the United States. Still, leprosy is only present in very poor societies where a poor diet and lack of sanitation mean a poor immune system; allowing the leprosy to infiltrate the body. As it (generally) doesn’t affect the west very little money has been put into it compared with what it needs to stamp out the bacteria, marginalisation and to care for current disabilities.

Khokana, a Leprosy colony outside Kathmandu is an example of the inhuman segregation that the leprosy stigma causes. There are around 250 people living on the colony, 160 of which have a disability caused by leprosy. The rest are family who have no choice but be brought up on the colony. It’s only funding comes from the government. Each ‘leper’ gets 400 rupees (about £3.40) per month to live off. Even in Nepal this is nowhere near enough to live on. The fact that a government funds (very poorly) a society to prevent reintegration (which supports the public notion that leprosy is incurable and very contagious) is as far as I can see totally inhumane.

Dr. Hugh Cross (of ALM) told me once of a woman he met in Nepal. He mentions her in the introduction to a collection of stories he gathered from a number of interviews with leprosy-affected individuals from Nepal:

“A character who was not included is one who probably had the most profound influence on the conception [of this compilation of interviews]. It was through her that I began to see beyond my own interpretation of suffering. She is a small woman called Thamini Majhini. She is an illiterate hill woman, shrivelled by hardship.  Her amputated foot is obvious to the onlooker, but was not mentioned by her as being disabling so I asked her about it. It transpired that she had leprosy for many years and was not treated. The leprosy left her with an anaesthetised foot which developed an ulcer. Because of the ulcer the villagers ostracised her, leaving her to catch fish and range through the jungle for food.  She will tell you that hunger and pain are not real hardships, they are a way of life for everybody (in her world at least) as is the rain that causes her shack to fall in year after year. Hardship is being excluded from the quarrels and intimacies of family; it is being snagged out from the flimsy fabric of village society. These she could not tolerate.  Such was her sense of desolation that one day she accosted two men on their way to cut bamboo. Having cunningly convinced them to lend her a khukri (a heavy, curved multi-purpose metal knife) to cut a branch she walked over to a fallen tree trunk, put her foot on the tree and hacked it off with the borrowed blade.”

I’ve seen begging many times before. In Kathmandu I saw beggars that had deformities from diseases like polio, TB and leprosy. I do not condone begging, though I had to admit that the only begging I’d seen until Nigeria was in touristy cities like London, Prague and Kathmandu.

One of the last places I visited in Nigeria was a town called Kuta. There I met an old man called Mohammed Damargo; he has one arm with half a hand with no fingers, no toes, and worn away palette and lips so he can’t speak clearly. Each day his son takes him to market in a wheelbarrow to beg. He has little control over his mouth and lips, and finds it nigh on impossible to eat anything else other than dried maize corn. His life is begging to fellow Nigerians barely better-off than he, in a very poor town at the wrong end of a country with alarmingly unfair wealth distribution. Yet because of his poor uneducated background and severe disabilities, Mohammed has no other way of finding money to live on.

I do not wish this documentary to be just a record for the future. It must be used to change the present situation in these countries and making the extent and seriousness of a disease that can cause complete social exclusion known to the western world is the first step in truly fighting it.  Perhaps it is naive to think that photographs can have a positive effect on the situation, but I always remind myself of what the humanitarian documentary photographer W. Eugene Smith said: “Photo is a small voice, at best, but sometimes – just sometimes – one photograph or a group of them can lure our senses into awareness. Much depends upon the viewer; in some, photographs can summon enough emotion to be a catalyst to thought.”

I have photographed leprosy in Nepal and Nigeria so far, but I want to visit another 6 countries over the next few years to show how leprosy affects individuals in a variety of societies. Leprosy is curable, and there is no reason why it should still be present today.

For more on Tom Bradley’s photography and his leprosy project please visit www.tom-bradley.com.

Luke 4: 14-30

I know I missed about 4 days. I got very busy which is no excuse. So I need to either learn how to organize my time better or become better disciplined. Probably a little bit of both. When you sidetracked the only thing you can do is find your back and continue where you left off. So that is what I am doing.

24 And he said, “Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet’s hometown. 25 But the truth is, there were many widows in Israel in the time of Elijah, when the heaven was shut up three years and six months, and there was a severe famine over all the land; 26 yet Elijah was sent to none of them except to a widow at Zarephath in Sidon. 27 There were also many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed except Naaman the Syrian.” 28 When they heard this, all in the synagogue were filled with rage. 29 They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff. 30 But he passed through the midst of them and went on his way.

After reading Wesley’s commentary on these verses it said that God goes to the Israelites, his chosen people first. If they choose not to listen and reject him then he will go to the gentiles, non-Israelites, and see if they will accept him. I learned two things from this. 1. If you are witnessing to someone and they are rejecting your witness leave them alone for a bit and come back another time to try again. Much like God did with Israel in the Old Testament. Second, even though Israel is God’s chosen people God did not forget the rest of world and that we are included in the big picture. Just like Jesus was telling the Samaritan woman how he came not only to the Jews but to the whole world.

If you choose, you can make me clean.

+ Mark 1:40

I am tired of being treated like a leper.  I am tired of not being asked how I am or how my day went.  I am tired of being made to feel like I am not permitted to speak or make any noise in your presence, except in order to answer your questions or support your arguments.  I am tired of being told to be quiet and stop singing during the day, only to have to listen to the sounds of you fighting in the night.  I am tired of of being made to feel uncomfortable in the midst of your baggage.  I am tired of being accused of never listening to you, when you bombard me with so much speech that I finally have to tune out your voice in order to save my sanity.  I am tired of being made to feel that I should be neither seen nor heard, and only trotted out on an occasion when you need to feel proud of yourselves that you raised a son like me.  I am tired of being asked to move from one room to another because “I don’t belong there”, when in reality I don’t belong anywhere at all according to you, and you only want to displace me that little bit extra to make me feel more insecure.  I am tired of being misunderstood or misdiagnosed, which just proves how little you know me, love me and care about who I truly am rather than the version of who you think I am.  I am tired of being punished for having my own opinion.  I am tired of being made the scapegoat when I dare to disagree with your views which you present as gospel or unshakeable fact.  I am tired of biting my tongue.  I am tired of feeling miserable and worthless.  I am tired of wondering why I am never good enough for you, when I am more than good enough for absolutely everyone else.  I am tired of being made to feel like I am the problem.  I am tired of being on the verge of tears only to never cry.

One day, I will never warn you, but I am going to find somewhere else to live and to be.  I’m already working on it.  Then I will pack my shit, change my number, and vanish. Y0u will never see me or hear from me again.  I deserve to be free, and I finally will be. And I will not miss you.

Mark 10:17-27

As Jesus was setting out on a journey, a man ran up, knelt down before him, and asked him, ”Good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

Jesus answered him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: You shall not kill; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; you shall not defraud; honor your father and your mother.”

He replied and said to him, ”Teacher, all of these I have observed from my youth.”

Jesus, looking at him, loved him and said to him, ”You are lacking in one thing. Go, sell what you have, and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” At that statement his face fell,and he went away sad, for he had many possessions.

Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, ”How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” The disciples were amazed at his words. So Jesus again said to them in reply, ”Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for one who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

They were exceedingly astonished and said among themselves, ”Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, ”For human beings it is impossible, but not for God. All things are possible for God.”

The Daily Path: There are other teachings in this passage, but one that leaps of the page for me is this: “Jesus, looking at him, loved him…” Here’s yet another human who is so attached to his possessions that even when the Savior himself invites the man give these things up him and follow Him… the man can’t. But even in the moment of human failing Jesus still loves him!

Imagine walking into your boss and having him explain the exact process through which you will succeed. But you shake your head, say “No, I can’t do that”, and walk out.” 99.99% of the time, this person is NOT going to love you. But Jesus overlooked this shortfall and loved the man anyway. WOW! Another example of Christ’s perfect love for us, no matter how we fail every day.

Room to Chat: Friends, I have missed a few days with you. On Thursday past, my mom (Claire) was rushed to hospital with what was believed to be a heart episode. It turns out she has blood clots in her lungs that were causing symptoms very similar to a heart attack. She is undergoing treatment from a fine medical staff who are taking every precaution due to complications related to the four tumors that exist in her head. Prayers have been flowing in from an amazing network of friends and family from around the country.

On the night she was to receive The Fr. Damien Award for a life of service to her parish, she was in a hospital bed. She has never been one to savor the limelight, instead choosing to work quietly behind the scenes. In fact, it was reluctantly that she even agreed to accept this year’s award. She’s touched many lives over the years. Never saying no to someone who needed a shoulder to help them bear their burden. Today, the Catholic Church will canonize Fr. Damien as a Saint. Damien did not run away from the lepers he ministered, instead he embraced them. Mom never ran away from anyone in need, from her family to those in the parish and beyond. In my mind, she is very worthy of the honor.

Please keep Mom in your thoughts and in your prayers, ask Our Lord for her healing. Thank you!

Strange things seem to be happening to my kids lately. Strange as in:

1. Possibly being possessed by ADD alter-egos
2. Morphing into a skeleton-free mass of squishy flesh and falling to the floor in front of perfect strangers [we'll re-visit this]
3. Running through public places as though their skivvies are filled with miniature fire-breathing dragons
4. Listening and obeying with the acuteness and precision of Helen Keller in her pre-Miss Sullivan years

Oh, Holy Holy Holy.

What am I to do but lose my everloving mind?  I should consider consuming mass quantities of chocolate-based desserts in the dark.  While chain-smoking and rocking back-and-forth, humming Danny Boy.

Tonight I about came unglued.  Luckily, I have perfected the art of disciplining my children with a fake smile on my face so the store video cameras don’t see some crazy lady in aisle ten who needs to be turned over to CPS.  This proved to come in handy…

We went to Target to get a prescription filled and had roughly fifteen minutes to kill while the pharmacists added watermelon flavoring to the magic elixir.   We trolled the floor for a bit finding things we never knew we needed, but now want desperately for Christmas.  As we approached the sporting goods area, however, I realized that M, my nearly-four-year-old, was no longer in our caravan.  Great.  I thought.  The store was packed and there I was walking up and down each aisle calling his name.  People looked at me like I was just a delinquent or quite possibly a leper, but I plodded on.  After a few minutes and no sign of WonderBoy, I asked my two other children to look in the next aisle over to see if they’d have better luck.  This proved to be a mistake, as they seemingly wandered into the next zip code, disregarding my appeal to stay in the neighboring aisle.  At the same time, thankfully, I located M, sweatshirt hood on, running away from me in the other direction.

What a little angel, that child.

I caught up to him, squatted down to his level and squeezed his hand while telling him how scared he had me, and how his brother and sister were now out on their own mini-search-party-gone-wrong.  I could see that my speech was really hitting home.  Just really–really impacting his heart.

He stared at me, smiling and stomping his left foot.

I spun on my heels and went to look for the other two, carrying my shopping basket in one hand and M’s hand in a deathgrip with the other.  I returned to pacing the aisles, this time calling different names but getting the same steely-eyed glare from other, much more gifted parents.   This one guy seemed to fling his gaze my way as if to say, “Great parenting, lady.  Ever heard of Jo Frost?  Supernanny?  Yeah–get her on speed dial.  NOW.”

We abandoned the housewares section with no trace of J or A, and headed toward the toy department still shamelessly calling their names in high volume.  [Such a picture of control and ease, isn't it?].  I saw a flash turning the corner ahead of me and thought for sure it was my son’s jacket!  We hightailed it toward the toothbrushes, M dragging like a rag doll striving to keep up with my pace.

I called their names again.

The man at the electronics counter turned to meet me.  “Can I help you find something, Ma’am?”

“Yeah–my kids.” [Again--control and ease]

Finally I caught up with them and knelt down to hug them both.  Yes, it had only been 5 or 10 minutes, but have you seen the cover of People Magazine this week?  The kidnapping stories have been flying around like monarchs in Mexico, and I’d be lying if I said the corners of fear hadn’t started to wrap around my heart.

~~Fast forward to our Exit~~

With watermelon prescription safely paid for and in a bag with three new glass picture frames and some Pull-ups, our crew headed for the door with fresh promises to “get a grip” and “listen to mom” still hovering in the air.

Apparently I need to define get a grip.  I’m sure there must be a Bible verse for that somewhere.

M, my aforementioned little angel, went running ahead of me, flying past the refrigerated section and stopping to violently open and slam each door.  I was ready to chuck my picture frames on the floor and let the glass shatter like the screams I wanted to unleash, when I looked up to see the Jo Frost guy.  Awesome.  What classic, perfect timing.

Instead of screaming, I calmly affixed my fake smile for the cameras, set down the bags, and reached out to grab his sweatshirt.  He fell to the ground like a slug, twisting to release himself, and it just pissed me off strengthened my resolve to be a loving, yet stern parent who is not controlled by emotion–but rather, by rational thought processes.

So what did I do?

I told him that he was not obeying and that he was acting like a baby.  And so, I would happily treat him like a baby by making him revert to diapers at bedtime instead of his new pull-ups.   And let me tell you, it’s amazing how much “big boys” want to be treated like “big boys” instead of babies.

I hope he sleeps soundly tonight.  Those size 4’s are a tight fit…

You know what really gives me the shits these days: the blanket dismissal by calling someone or something ‘essentialist’. You know the scene. You are at a conference and someone is giving a really interesting paper, but then some bourgie idiot stands up and says, ‘I enjoyed your paper, but it’s soooo essentialist‘. Or someone lets slip in the conversation over coffee, ‘I feel like a pizza’, or ‘Shit, I feel like a smoke’, and someone will mutter, ‘essentialist’.

All mouths in the room drop and there is a collective holding of the breath as they wait for the police to turn up and march the offender away.

Calling someone essentialist is worse than ‘fascist’, ‘bedwetter’, or ’serial killer’. Maybe the closest is the old cry of ‘leper! leper!!’

Once labelled, it’s as though you have permanently crapped your pants and no-one wants to come close.

Now, I can see the argument that some types of essentialism may not help us, but to apply the term without specifying what it means is the worst form of thought-policing. After all, there are some damned good forms of essentialism and I’m the last one to let them go.

A series of Kalaupapa family workshops begins this week to help people find information about ancestors that were forcibly relocated to the remote Molokai community.  There were an estimated 8,000 individuals who were sent to the Kalaupapa Peninsula between 1866 and 1969 because of government policies regarding Hansens disease.

File Image.

The meeting times are as follows:

• The first meeting is on Oahu at the Kaumakapili Church, located at 766 North King Street in Honolulu.  The family workshopbegins at 6 p.m. Friday, September 18, 2009 followed by a public scoping session regarding the Kalaupapa Memorial from 7 to 9 p.m.
• The Lanai meeting begins at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, September 19, 2009 at Hale Kupuna O Lanai at the Hale Mahaolu Senior Complex.  That will be followed by a memorial public meeting from 2 to 4 p.m. at the same location.
• The Maui meeting will be held from 6-9 p.m. Monday, September 21^st at the Paukukalo Hawaiian Homes Community Center.  The family Workshop begins at 6 p.m. and the Memorial Public Scoping Session runs from 7-9 p.m.
• The Molokai meeting is on Wednesday, September 23, 2009 at the Kulana O’iwi Conference Center in Kaunakakai.  The family workshop begins at 6 p.m. and the Memorial Public Scoping Session runs from 7-9 p.m.
• The Kalaupapa meeting is on Saturday, September 26^th at McVeigh hall.  The Family Workshop begins at 9 a.m. and the memorial Public Scoping session runs from 10 a.m. to noon.

Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa and Kalaupapa National Historical Park welcome the public to learn about and share their thoughts about the Kalaupapa Memorial.  The public meetings are being held in conjunction with the preparation of an Environmental Assessment to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act.  Before each meeting is an hour-long family workshop to help anyone find information about ancestors who were sent to Kalaupapa.

Earlier this year, President Barack Obama signed into law the legislation that included the Kalaupapa Memorial Act.  The law states that “The Secretary of the Interior shall authorize Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa, a non-profit organization consisting of patient residents at Kalaupapa National Historical Park, and their family members and friends, to establish a memorial at a suitable location or locations approved by the Secretary at Kalawao or Kalaupapa within the boundaries of Kalaupapa National Historical Park…to honor and perpetuate the memory of those individuals who were forcibly relocated to the Kalaupapa Peninsula from 1866 to 1969.”

Kaumakapili Church was chosen as the site for the first meeting since this was the home church of Kahauliko, who was sent to Kalaupapa on January 6, 1866, and is listed as No. 1 on the Admission Register of persons sent to Kalaupapa.  Consequently, Kahauliko’s name will be listed first on the Kalaupapa Memorial, which will contain the names of the estimated 8,000 individuals sent to the Kalaupapa peninsula because of government policies regarding leprocy.

Comments in writing from individuals on the Big Island and Kauai or anywhere else, can be mailed to:  Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa, P.O. Box 1111, Kalaupapa, HI 96742.

Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa is a non-profit organization that was organized in 2003 and is made up of Kalaupapa residents, their family members, descendants and longtime friends.  Kalaupapa National Historical Park was established in 1980 at the request of the Kalaupapa community.

(Posted by Wendy Osher, Information provided by Valerie Monson, Secretary/Coordinator for Ka ‘Ohana O Kalaupapa)

Luke 17:16, “And he fell on his face at His feet, giving thanks to Him. And he was a Samaritan.”

As I was reading through Luke 17, I became somewhat infatuated with this passage. There were ten lepers who came to Jesus to be healed. Presumably, nine of them were Jewish and certainly, one was a Samaritan.They were all considered unclean because of their leprosy, so scripture says that they stood at a distance when they asked Jesus for mercy. An unclean person would never approach or touch a Rabbi. That would have been an ultimate taboo. Yet Jesus extends mercy to heal the unclean.

The lepers were sent to the temple to show themselves to the priests. The priests would examine each individual to verify that they were clean. Then each person would present an offering (pay a temple tax) for the service of the priest. When an unclean individual was declared clean, he was restored back to the community. Restoration meant freedom to worship God and participate in the community . It also meant acceptance by others and freedom from shame.

The ten lepers did as they were instructed, but they did not all respond the same way. Nine of the men simply went to the temple to take care of their duty. They never directed their hearts toward Christ to extend gratitude and praise. Scripture records that there was one of the ten who, when he saw that he was healed, turned back and praised God with a loud voice. He was a Samaritan who was considered an outcast and object of shame both because of his disease and his heritage as a Samaritan. This man had everything going against him, but he responded appropriately.

Jesus said that the Samaritan’s faith made him well. It brought him salvation. While the other nine were clueless about the magnitude of mercy that Christ extended to them in their misery, the Samaritan abased himself before Christ. Bowing down with the face to the ground was done before before kings, military figures and especially deity and was considered an ultimate demonstration of submission and humility. Miracles of mercy are given so that we would humble our hearts before Christ and bring him praise.

The Samaritan leper, like the woman who wet Jesus feet with her tears, was forgiven much, and he loved much. That is why he praised God with a loud voice. I can almost picture him hysterically unable to keep himself together. When considering his situation, it is no wonder that he could not contain himself. I think that the reason why I became so infatuated with this story is because I often fail to realize how much mercy has been given to me. God is constantly forgiving me for my shortcomings. There are hurts, habits, and hang-ups that corrode my life. They come to surface every once in a while. But it is precisely at my moments of weakness where I have the greatest opportunities to honor God and praise Him as His sacrifice on the cross overwhelms my inadequacy. We all have been extended mercy. All of us. Yet not everyone who has been given mercy will find mercy when they die. The Samaritan found salvation when he humbled himself before Christ and gave Him praise.

We all have to ask who we are being like. Are we like the nine who received mercy and then disappear without giving thought about the One who extends such mercy? If we find ourselves just “going on our way” without humbling our hearts and giving God praise, we are in trouble. Life is not all well. But if we see ourself as the one who is unclean, if we truly understood just how immense our depravity is and the shame that we carry, then our hearts, like the Samaritan’s, will not be contained when we find mercy, and we will find salvation.

So, my title is borrowed from a late night television program from the early 1980’s.  The host was Count Gore De Vol and he would present horror classics as well as those cheesey horror films late night on Saturdays.  The broadcast ran for about 11 years.

This little introduction is supposed to segway into m

y next makeup practice installment from this weekend.  I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do.  I had just recently read a passage in the bible about Jesus healing a the leper and I saw some clips an independent film about zombies that must have been made for retards.   Here is the results of that inspiration:

The eyes look fake, I know.  I had to do them in photoshop and I didn’t do them quite right.   But I could not just leave my brown eyes; they would have detracted from the effect.

For this look I used:

**Liquid latex
**Facial tissue (2 sheets)
**Kryolan Professional Wound and Injury Wheel
**Generic grease paint palette from Spirit Halloween Store
**Stipple sponge

I hope you enjoyed the look.  Thanks for visiting!

]]> http://txevangelist.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/right-where-you-are/ Tue, 08 Sep 2009 20:29:11 +0000 txevangelist http://txevangelist.wordpress.com/2009/09/08/right-where-you-are/ http://pauperireland.org/2009/07/31/irish-pauper-flu-is-here-in-2009/ Fri, 31 Jul 2009 11:03:22 +0000 ahuba http://pauperireland.org/2009/07/31/irish-pauper-flu-is-here-in-2009/

Irish Pauper Flu has been confirmed in Ireland. It is much more aggressive than Swine flu and has extremely consequences for the Irish Nation.

Symptoms include: Panic attacks, diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting, hot flushes, depressive episodes, suicidal thoughts, migraine level headaches, loss of appetite, Serious loss of Libido, life threatening bouts of colic. (All age groups are vunerable)
Long term symptoms include: Loss of vision, manic depression, chronic pain, immobility, leper syndrome, Pauper lifestyle if you happen to survive.
Irish Government has commissioned NAMA to deliver vaccine but have warned the Irish people that costs will reach to approx 50 Billion Euro and cure for virus not guaranteed. Government assured Irish taxpayers that NAMA in everyone’s best interest and should be paid for by 3010. Govt further stated that Developers and Banks delighted to assist and co-operate with NAMA.

Experts divided on NAMA but other experts have concluded that this particular strain of Irish Pauper Flu has not been recorded sine the 1850s/60’s Famine periods in Ireland during which estimated 1,0000000 (million) Irish people lost their lives while millions more Paupered. More information can be got from http://gov.ie on just log in from http://twitter.com look up “Irish Pauper flu”

God’s Attribute: liker of people

Verse: Mark 1:21-45

Key Verse: But he went and began to proclaim it [the testimony of Jesus] freely, and to spread the word, so that Jesus could no longer go into a town openly, but stayed out in the country; and people came to him from every quarter.

Passage Summary

Jesus has 3 miracle events in this particular passage. First, he casts out a demon in Capernaum, one who tries to identify him as the Holy One of God. After that, he heals Simon Peter’s mother-in-law and other sick people. He goes all around Galilee, leaving Capernaum in favour of other towns, and cleanses a leper.

Personal Applications

The thing I admire the most about my colleagues (if they have it) is that a lot of them just genuinely like people. They like to find the good things about other people and build that up. Isn’t it nice that there are teachers like that in the world? Well, this never struck me before, but it’s true that Jesus just genuinely likes people. When I read the passage about the leper, I always remember that my Luke professor told me that the Gospel of Luke is partially about breaking down social barriers. For example, when the people in Galilee heard about what Jesus could do and saw with their own eyes, they were so

happy because that would mean they should be brought into the inner circle. But when Jesus indicated that he would have none of this (Luke 4:18-29), they tried to throw him off a cliff. He didn’t come to bring people into his circle, you see, but to break them all apart. Anyways, so the leper is an outcast (not even in a circle) and people wouldn’t touch them or look at them or talk to

A theoretical model

them. But Jesus looked at the man, touched him, and let him be clean. He didn’t need to do any touching, of course, since he could even heal the centurion’s servant without even going close to the house (this is immediately after the leper in Matthew 8, btw). Jesus, people will tell you, heals the leper in physically but also emotionally and socially just by touching him, including him, noticing him… liking him. The man’s faith is rewarded, it’s true. But I think … Jesus is just… so great. haha… [Ed note: You know, wordpress could really use emoticons.]

I think the same prof told me that the gospel of Mark starts with a mystery. This part of Mark is totally dedicated to the mystery of Jesus’ identity. Who is he? What is he doing? Under what authority does he do it? And he is always trying to suppress the news, but it breaks out uncontrollably anyways. People like the leper can’t help but share the wonderful things they have seen. I think that – more than anything else – blows me away about this passage. If I was the leper I don’t think I would have been so gloriously disobedient. I’m very much a law-abiding citizen (a Pharisee, if you will). Jesus just healed the dude from a lifelong debilitating disease and he said “Hush up about it though, eh?” and here goes the guy just “Woo! Guess what just happened?!?!” How great it is that the good news of Jesus just breaks out like that, and that God – despite his intentions – would let it happen. He just lets the good news happen.

GET TO THE POINT!

Well, there is something so utterly compelling about proclaiming Jesus’ work from the mountaintop like that (so to speak). Actually, I can’t think of a personal application for that. Richard Foster says, “Anyone who imagines he can simply begin meditating without praying for the desire and the grace to do so, will soon give up” (Celebration of Discipline). I guess anything in service of God is the same. Anyone who imagines he (or she!) can simply begin proclaiming the gospel freely without praying for the desire and the grace to do so, will soon give up. What I also get out of this passage is that I should just relax and enjoy other people. They are so interesting, fascinating, weird, different, changing, moving. Maybe I should let go of the rules and just live a little. Jesus certainly didn’t let the secret of his powers stop him from using his powers. He just… used them. It’s so easy to overthink, but sometimes a person just has to do. Right? Even if they don’t know exactly what they’re doing.

Matthew 8:1-4

When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him. And then a leper approached, did him homage, and said, ”Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.” He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, ”I will do it.  Be made clean.” His leprosy was cleansed immediately.

Then Jesus said to him, “See that you tell no one, but go show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them.”

The Daily Path: We all have a little leprosy in our life. Some cases are worse than others. I’m no exception. I also believe that God can provide the healing we need.

When God does heal us, should we buy a bird for sacrifice and then shave our heads as was prescribed by Moses? No, not in this age. But I would guess that offering something up to God in thanks and recognition of His act would be a modern version of the gift that Moses called for. (NOTE: See Leviticus 14:2-32 for gift details)

Jesus Heals the Leper <<<- this link is attached to some great sermon notes, or you could read my notes below to see how the Word was coming alive for me today…

Scripture:  When Jesus came down from the mountain, great crowds followed him.  And then a leper approached, did him homage, and said, “Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean.”  He stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, “I will do it. Be made clean.” His leprosy was cleansed immediately.  (Matthew 8:1-3)

Observation:  After reading the notes from the USCCB scripture page from the New American Bible, I see that the purpose of selecting this particular part of the readings this morning is because God is showing me that the leper came to Jesus to pay him homage and knew that Jesus could make him clean.  By this act of faith, Jesus performed this miracle cleansing of the leper, and then made sure that the leper went on to present himself in the temple, so that he could be reactivated into an active religious life at the time.

Faith:  If you click on this link you will see, the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen.  It is my hope that today I will be able to receive the assurance of things hoped for and be convicted to recognize the things that I may not necessarily see right now in the church.

Prayer:  Lord, as I take the next step forward in my faith walk, let me not lose sight of the things that are important to You, and be humble enough to recognize the wisdom of those around me.  In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Chinese Lepers in Victoria  - A case of Charity and Cultural Clashes

This book was originally planned as a short story about Bendigo’s special leper, Ah Woo, who in 1900’s lived near the White Hills Cemetery at the Ironbark Chinese Camp. We thought he was our last leper but there was so much more to this Victorian story that it was not complete without research on all the lepers in other Victorian communities and the different levels of authorities that controlled their environment. Ah Woo was responsible amongst many other duties of assisting with all the Chinese funerals and burials in the district during his seven years of residence. He would have visited our cemetery on many, many occasions. He probably hoped to be buried near the prominent brick funeral tower and under the beautiful weeping branches of the evergreen peppercorn trees which were then only 20 years old. Much has changed since his time and we must try and preserve the past. We owe it to all the pioneers buried in this beautiful peaceful rural cemetery.

White Hills cemetery is not just a burial ground with a bit of natural bush. It is a repository for a great deal of our history, both known and some yet to be discovered. Many people struggled to assist our thousands of paupers whose stories have not yet been written or celebrated.  We wish to record the trials and tribulations endured by lepers in Victoria, their unrecorded burials, and their unmarked graves. Certainly none have a tombstone but in the White Hills cemetery and the Old Ballarat cemetery over 50 years ago their spirits together with all the other Chinese were remembered with a common memorial stone.

This book has been produced with a grant of $650 from the Victorian Community Foundation – Holsworth Local Heritage Trust. This has enabled us to donate a book to every Historical Society and Library in towns or cities where we have been able to prove that a Victorian leper lived or died. We have only produced 100 copies as we hope that other researchers will stumble over more information on Chinese lepers presently unknown to us in Victoria.  With this assistance we shall then be able to update and present more details in the future.

Copies can be purchased  at $25 plus $2.50 postage  from Helen Bruinier, President, Friends of the Bendigo Cemeteries Inc. 1A Plante Crt, Bendigo, Victoria 3550

Chinese lepers in Victoria -  94 A4 pages    CONTENTS

Introduction                                                                                               

Government Regulation for the Chinese on the Goldfields 1856               

Lepers in Ararat, Beechworth, Mount Alexander and Sandhurst goldfields  1857 – 1869     

Winds of Change in Ballarat Districts 1857 – 1869      

 Map of Ballarat East 1861 & View of Golden Point Chinese camp 1865

Melbourne’s  solutions  to Community pressure  1860 – 1870     

What  happened outside Ballarat between 1870  – 1884  

  1881 Health Notice sent to Bendigo City Council 

Charity and Cultural Clashes  in  Ballarat 1870 – 1884  

 Jayne’s Alternative Medicine Advertisement 

 Hoyle’s Pacific Vegetable Wonder Advertisement 

  Ballarat Leper Group Photograph 1876           

PT NEPEAN QUARANTINE Station 

THE FINAL SOLUTION 1885 – 1900      

 Letters from Sergeant Fahey to Bendigo Council  Jan/Feb 1889 

DESTINY and DEATH – CHINA or CREMATION  1890 – 1899

 Photograph of Leper Cremation 

THE LAST VICTORIAN LEPERS 1900 – 1930  

Photographs of old Ironbark Camp  

Conclusion       

INDICES: 

  Victorian towns with lepers 

     Lepers sent to Point Nepean 

     Leper Deaths  at Pt Nepean from Death registers 

     Victorian Doctors attending lepers  1855 – 1905    

      Chinese interpreters & missionaries assisting lepers   

Sources   page 94

People who met Jesus : 13 :  A Leper

Mt 8:1-4 When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. Then Jesus said to him, “See that you don’t tell anyone. But go, show yourself to the priest and offer the gift Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”

We move on now from looking at the disciples, to consider various men in need who came to Jesus. It has been suggested that despite this being a day of immense communication, many, many people nevertheless feel distinctly isolated from their fellow humans. The need to be loved, accepted and cared for is very strong in us and when that is absent there is a strong sense of loneliness and isolation. People have commented that you can be lonely in a crowded room. For such a person the future as well as the present looks bleak. The cause is psychological and the person in question does not know how to change it. Some even suggest that with the so-called sexual freedom in the West in the twenty first century, the absence and even inability to find love is greater today than ever before. Now we face these things here because this loneliness and isolation is what this leper in our verses today would have faced.

There are disagreements about the nature of leprosy as described in the Bible, but it is probable that it began with pain in certain areas of the body and numbness followed. Soon, the skin in those areas loses its colour and becomes scaly, and then turns into sores and ulcers. The skin around the ears and eyes swells, eye lashes and eyebrows drop out, and fingers and toes can drop off. The throat is affected so the voice can become croaky. The leper also smells badly. It is no wonder that such people were isolated and not allowed to live in the main areas of population. The existence of lepers in both Old and New Testaments is common; Luke records Jesus as commenting, “there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet.” (Lk 4:27) On the way to Judea from Galilee once, we read, “on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him.” (Lk 17:11,12).

The leper would not only have a sense of isolation and loneliness, but also of hopelessness. Such would have been the state of this man who comes to Jesus. He isn’t even given a name; he’s just one of the faceless, nameless rejects of society that we’d rather forget about because they seem beyond us. The fact that he came at all is quite amazing. Somehow the word about Jesus must have spread even to the leper community. Already the word had spread about Jesus’ healing abilities and something in the man rose and he determined to come. His determination is made even more clear when we are told of Jesus that “When he came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him,” and so this man would have to face the revulsion of the crowds to even reach Jesus.

When he comes, he kneels before Jesus and humbly confesses his belief: “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean” The word clean indicates something of the feeling about leprosy. Those who have been raped testify to feeling unclean for a long time afterwards. These people felt unclean and were called unclean. Imagine working in the garden for a day and getting very dirty, dusty and sweaty – and then being required to go straight into a banquet where everyone is in evening dress – and very clean! That is the sort of comparison that we have here in terms of feelings, but he is so desperate that he dares come through the crowds to Jesus. Nothing will put him off.

And then, wonder of wonders, Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. How incredible! Jesus isn’t put off by the man’s state. In the Phantom of the Opera, the heroine, when faced with the phantom’s awful face distortions, kisses him and her willingness to touch him breaks his heart. The need to be touched, accepted and loved is very strong in all of us, and no more so than in the leper. And Jesus touches him! He is accepted. How wonderful. But then Jesus affirms his willingness and simply speaks the words of authority against the disease. What follows is so easily read yet must have been incredible to behold:  Immediately he was cured of his leprosy. The skin changed, the voice changed; everything that had been affected by the disease was changed and restored.

Sometimes I feel the Gospel writers want slapping for their brevity, for surely at this point the leper must have been weeping and all the onlookers must have been weeping. I have been around when God does stuff and you don’t stand there passive, you are moved, deeply!  If you have every watched a film where everything had been going disastrously wrong and then, finally it all works out with a happy-ever-after ending, and found yourself with tears streaming down your face, you’ll know what I mean. If you have never known that experience you are to be pitied!  It is the awareness of the wonder of the goodness that has entered into this situation. This is a staggering miracle, a wonderful life-changing miracle! And it has been brought with love and compassion.

When we looked at the apostles it sometimes seemed a little academic, the wonder of their lives following Jesus and being changed. Yes it is wonderful, but nothing like what we have just witnessed here. This is heart-stirring, tear-jerking stuff and if we don’t see it, it is simply because we don’t think and pray ourselves into the situation.  We are now encountering people who have got to the end of themselves and have then met the wonder and love of heaven in the form of the Son of God. Let your heart be moved, and if it hasn’t, go back and read it all again and pray for revelation. This is the glory of heaven coming to earth and it is wonderful. Appreciate it!