bringing back the old

This article was republished by http://www.msainfo.org/clop.asp in their journal. thought i would share with you all.

Seed Share: A Return to the Garden

by Sarah Lance

This article originally appeared in The Cry: The Advocacy Journal of Word Made Flesh vol. 8, no. 1 (Spring 2002) http://www.wordmadeflesh.com/learn/spring2002.pdf

I cut nails for a living. I take the hands and feet of the sweet women of Kolkata, India into my hands and cut their nails. It is simple and seemingly not so profound an act, but it is the beginning of a return to the Garden. By a return to the Garden, I mean the place where we as humans are safe, secure, and unashamed before one another and God. Cutting fingernails for my dear sisters in Kolkata is the beginning of breaking down the wall that separates and isolates one human from another. It is the beginning of intimacy.

The process begins simply. She offers me her hand. Really, she is not just offering me her hand she is offering me her heart, so I receive it as a gift. I take her hand and examine her fingernails. Her hands are rather dirty one finger does not even have a fingernail. Looking at my hands, I see that they are also rather dirty; in Kolkata the dirt clings and finds a happy home in nail beds. Actually, I think my fingernails need cutting more than hers. I have discovered that fingernail cutting is not really the main reason for our contact. Really, our hands are meeting in friendship, four hands meeting together to engage in the grand act of fingernail cutting so that we can begin our relationship and begin to break down the walls that separate us. I am learning that intimacy can begin in small acts of service. Continue reading this article.


Sarah is currently joining hands with women from Kolkatas red-light districts in a Word Made Flesh business initiative called Sari Bari. Her hearts deep desire is to walk with these women as their lives are made new in the spiritual, emotional and physical. For more information see http://saribari.blogspot.com

Word Made Flesh

Word Made Flesh (WMF) is a US international community that seeks to establish justice with the poorest of the poor. WMF has over 230 members living in mega-cities of the majority world. They seek to transform people through the proclamation of the powerful love of Jesus, through communities, through advocacy for the poor and through compassion. WMF staffers might be found in garbage heaps in Romania seeking out abandoned children or amongst women and children used for the sex trade in Asia or amongst the homeless youth sniffing paint to cure hunger pains in South America. Their unique and incarnational desire to serve people exemplifies Jesus life on earth. The previous story is taken from a compilation of journals focusing on various attributes that help us live as examples of Christ. Take a look at the work and vision of Word Made Flesh at www.wordmadeflesh.com.