I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.
REFLECTION: ‘By definition the forgotten people – forgotten around the world and forgotten in your street – are not remembered. As they grow human societies have always run the risk of remembering only the remembered and forgetting the forgotten. The practice ofBe With the Forgotten is a reorientation not just of our thoughts, ideas and priorities (although it includes all of those) but of our presence. It’s not just a call to remember the forgotten but to be with the forgotten. Remembering needs to be touched, it needs to be tasted, it needs to be felt. This is a practice that looks to bring peace to the world by uniting the forgotten with the remembered so that increasingly all are remembered…’
PRACTICE: ‘In almost every area of your life there will be people who have found themselves consigned to (or who have taken themselves to) the edge of memory or beyond it. Every day we have a choice to be part of their forgetting or a part of their remembering. Which path might we choose today? Make it your practice to regularly sit (or stand or walk or run or eat or drink) with the people in your context who everyone else ignores – as well as doing the same with the remembered…’
©Ian Adams 2013 ‘Running Over Rocks: spiritual practices to transform tough times’ (Canterbury Press)
Look out for short daily posts around the week’s theme on Facebook and Twitter. We’ll be doing the practices wherever we are, and we’ll look forward to hearing how you get on – do let us know!
Ian’s new collection of poems Unfurling is out now on Canterbury Press, also via your local bookshop, and all usual online sources including Book Depository with free delivery world-wide.