Kenny Borthwick met a man on the streets of Edinburgh who asked him for money. He realised he knew him – he had previously met him in Aberdeen, flat on the floor of his parents' house in the power of the Holy Spirit. The story was that this man had later fallen into cross-dressing, and his Christian family couldn't cope with that, so they threw him out. The man rolled up his sleeve and showed Kenny needle puncture marks. Kenny gave him some money, and the man ran off like a frightened rabbit back to his drug addicts' den. The encounter provoked Kenny to write a poem, using a play on words for the marks. The man was going to get more marks – needle marks, yes, but also more marks-out-of-ten from those in his drug addicts den, more marks than he found in the Christian Church.
What is your reaction to those whose lives are out of control? Maybe you cannot cope with them, and it could be true that the best course of action is not to see them if they are causing you severe physical or emotional harm. But it is a pity that we don't see more of those people in our 'den'. It would be good if they knew that they could find love and acceptance in church.
Maybe it is only as we identify our own addictions, and realise our own need of God that we can truly welcome those with addictions like drug and alcohol problems, and get alongside them as fellow addicts. The Gospel is a great leveller.
Jon Seaton
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