18th December 2012

The gas cylinder is still there. It’s been sitting on a footpath in our suburb for weeks. I first noticed it when the yellow sticker attached to it caught my attention. “Illegally Dumped” it read. And there it remains, still on the footpath, to this day. A helpful statement of naughtiness! A strong deterrent to the community! The problem clearly written in letters large and bold! But the problem remains, and is yet to be solved.

I understand that gas cylinders can’t just be put in the general waste because of the chemicals they retain even after the gas has been removed from the bottle, but couldn’t the time that the Council Officer spent in attaching the sticker, have been used to pick the cylinder up and take it to the dump?

This Christmas time we remember that Jesus did not come to attach a big yellow sinner-sticker to our foreheads, but to actually deal with the problem. The Ten Commandments have long pointed out our sins and exposed the nature of our condition. And Jesus could have had a ministry of “sticking”, but instead, chose a ministry of saving. And so he did, by peeling the labels off our foreheads and attaching them to his own – receiving extra adhesive in the form of a thorny crown. But that was not the full extent of his love. He then attached by his own authority, to the foreheads of all who would receive him, a new label, with permanent glue and with words conveying unmistakable love: “Children of God”. And so we say again in this Christmas season: “How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God.” (1 John 3:1)

DM 18^th December 2012