Dr. Clare Amos, WCC Programme Executive for Interreligious Dialogue and Cooperation, led an outstanding Bible study in the Ecumenical Centre yesterday morning reflecting on the situation of the “stranger”.
I was a bit late as I could hardly cut the morning conversation with my friend who is actually thinking about giving up her apartment in Zürich and becoming sort of “homeless” for the sake of freedom.
As I arrived and caught up with the discourse of Dr. Amos, she mentioned a remarkable feature of the Israelite God: he did not have a home. He travelled with his people, was prepared to go into exile, while other gods usually had houses, dwelling places in the ancient Middle East.
Coincidence. Similar issues have been my concern for quite a while. Some months ago I started to get rid of a lot of my things as a result of feeling too bound, chained, anchored to this world by cherishing my belongings – lovely books, handicrafts, pieces of clothing, etc. It is quite a difficult thing, to be honest, but once one thing is gone, it is such an uplifting sense of freedom. My friend agrees.
I came to Switzerland with a twenty kilogram bag and left some rooms full of my stuff in different cities in Hungary. While packing, I was hysterical about putting all that I consider necessary for life into that small suitcase, but apparently I am leading a life from that twenty kg now and do not seem to need much more. The books… you would say, but well, maybe I can compromise with an e-book reader one day.
“And Jesus saith unto him, the foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head.” (Matthew 8.20)
Great blog, I am struggling a lot with the security that I need from material things. Thanks for the thoughts Viktoria