22/4/1976,
I am now in my second year in Naleba and I am becoming more at home with Hindi. Preaching in Hindi still takes preparation but I am not so nervous now.
I have been reading about Transactional Psychology recently. My book explains that there is a ‘child’, an ‘adult’ and a ‘parent’ inside each of us. The child within us likes to joke and play, the adult within us makes plans and decisions based on reason, and the parent in us acts as a conscience and judges behavior. We need all three aspects of the self but the adult is the more mature of the three.
Last Sunday I decided to introduce some of these ideas to my Naleba congregation. I briefly explained the outline of the theory. I then said, pointing to one of the youths, that there was a child in him. This statement was met with some puzzlement. I pressed on regardless. “There is even a child in Nani (grandmother).” The elderly lady in question looked startled. Now well into my stride there was no stopping me. “There is even a child in Dur Sami,” I said, naming a rather portly but highly respected elder of the community.
By this time the young men in the congregation were holding their sides and putting their hands over their mouths to prevent themselves from laughing out loud. It was time to move onto the story that Jesus had told in the gospel of the day!
by Fr. Frank Hoare
