It’s amazing what one can find on the internet. This week I came across an inspirational short
video. It concerns some young people
living in Cateura, Paraguay, described as a slum area built on top of a
landfill site. Not surprisingly, the
people who live there are desperately poor, and yet the video portrays a
message of great hope.
It shows a group of young people who have formed an
orchestra. That is not unusual in
itself, but the remarkable thing about this orchestra is that all their
instruments have been created out of discarded items which were found on the
landfill site! Items which had been
thrown away as worthless have been reclaimed and transformed into sweet
sounding instruments which are being used by orchestra members. The lives of the young people have also been
transformed through their love of music.
Orchestra Director Favio Chavez made the challenging
comment: “We shouldn’t throw away rubbish
carelessly … and we shouldn’t throw away people either.” It could be said that we live in a
“throw-away” society; sadly, society even seems to consign some people to the
scrap heap.
When one reads the gospels it is clear that Jesus treated
every person with love, compassion and respect.
There were many in that society who were written-off as outcasts, and Jesus
was roundly criticised by some of the religious leaders for associating with
such people. For example, the Message
translation puts Luke 15:1-3 like this: ‘By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were
hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars
were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and
eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.”’
The video reminds us of a message which lies at the heart of
the Christian gospel, namely that no-one is rubbish; every human being is
precious in God’s eyes.
If you would like to watch the video, click here.
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