Jackie Pullinger: "Ministry with the Poor"

Wow, went for this conference today & it was amazing!
It was a simple message and the speaker Jackie Pullinger spoke from the heart and about exercising GOD's love in giving to the poor.

I was greatly humbled coz it was going down to the basics - ministry to the poor is not about giving money and such (the least of all worries), but it must be coming from your heart. It is something you've got to do yourself, just as Jesus did when He came to earth Himself; it is an attitude of the heart. You've got to be a part of their life. It is not "ministry" but rather a way of life. She gave a very apt reference to a scene in Peanuts where Snoopy was all cold & shivering in the cold during winter when Charlie Brown, all muffled & wrapped in warm clothes walked past. Charlie said to Snoopy "be of good cheer" and goes off, thinking he has blessed Snoopy, while Snoopy was still cold & shivering with a big question mark.
I guess we should all know this in our hearts, but we have forgotten the basics of GOD's ministry in our society & habits of ministry.

Not that it was not known before, but during the conference, I was deeply stricken by how privileged & pampered we were, and ashamed at how commercialised our society was, such that we too have been influenced. How are we to see through His eyes, love as He loved and give as He gave, so unconditionally?

ok, side-track. Today we sang Thank You for the Cross which is my fave song. It has a special place in my heart, a song which GOD put in me at the beginning of my Christian life. I had nearly forgotten it. Have not sung it for a while but it touched me again tonight.