It is quite amazing how when we take time to look at ourselves, really look at who l am, we soon discover just how wonderfully we are created. Sometimes, when we can, we should stand naked before the mirror and starting from the soles of our feet slowly pause to give God thanks that we are so “fearfully and wonderfully made.” Then to stop and recognise that every part of our human body has a purpose and no one part is obsolete, extraneous or vile.

When we are able to appreciate our bodily selves we can begin to recognise that every person l encounter has not only the same bodily structure but is also totally different because we are more than our bodies and no two persons think or feel in exactly the same way even identical twins who sometimes appear to be exactly similar. And that is part of the mystery contained in every person from the new born baby to the old person gently rocking in the chair. There is such rich diversity in humankind and the joy of seeing all creation as an expression of the creative love of God is to begin to be amazed that every single person matters to God.

Why then, do we ask, are we so eager to focus on what is different and to think of the “other”, often as inferior and a lesser being? Is this not then to reduce God to inferiority because “the other” too is an expression of the same creative love? Then too if one is a Christian one cannot exclude anyone both because we believe that God became human in Jesus Christ, theologians speak of ‘the incarnation’, and also because the Gospel compels me to embrace my neighbour as Christ. Perhaps the question we should ask is why do we humans need to put boundaries around ourselves, put ourselves behind fences and peer through bars at our world. This way of looking at the world is brought out powerfully in the recently released film “Disgrace” based on the book by J.M. Coetzee which won him the Booker Prize. The protagonist David Lurie, played by John Malcovich, is seen in the opening shots gazing through venetian blinds and he spends the rest of the film with this confined narrow view, which prevents him from entering into his own daughter’s pain.

Boundaries have a way of excluding and the walls put around ourselves do not only keep others out but also holds us prisoner. We often create boundaries out of pain, out of insecurity, out of greed or out of anger. The way in which we answer to the question “who are you” could be either by way of informing and inviting communion or defining and excluding. Within African society, and this understanding is not confined to our continent, one says who one is in relation to another “I am the daughter / the son of …” or “My clan is …” The two Evangelists who refer to the ancestors of Jesus include some women, who have a questionable background, almost by way of saying that like every other human, Jesus the incarnate Son of God does not have a pristine heritage. Our very Saviour has a blemished ancestry. We would have gained a great deal if we could but realise that God has no boundaries and Jesus often scandalised the righteous and the religious people because he ignored the boundaries – prostitutes, lepers, women, heathen solders, were all gladly received by him. It would be wonderful if all our churches became visible signs of this amazing grace of God that knows no boundaries. And it is grace indeed to be able to accept that we are all without exception, bonded together in love and so reflect the glory of God in our infinite variety. We cannot claim that the Holy Spirit blows where she wills and then place a boundary around the work of the Spirit. Remember the incident recalled in the Book of Numbers (11 v 26f) where Eldad and Medad were also filled with the spirit even though they were outside of the camp. It is not for nothing that the Spirit is sometimes depicted as wind, and the wind has no form or boundaries. Is it not amazing that God has created you so wonderfully and has no boundaries to his love? Think about that.