JC's helper: Birthdays? They are a worry?

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Birthdays? They are a worry?

I am troubled! I don't really believe it, but I turn 60 in less than a month. 60 is considered a milestone! Like an old person's 21st. Now you really are old! There is no argument. It used to be retirement age so had even more significance. But how do you celebrate it?

Last year my wife turned 60 and we had a small family day together and a special dinner out, just the kids, and she and I got shouted a few days away. It was really nice. Early in the year I had a tramping mate turn 60. He packed up and went away into the hills of the westcoast for a tramp by himself and spent the evening in reflection in the wild by himself... loved it! I thought "That's what I am going to do!" I love wandering around the bush by myself! But just recently I have been rethinking. I have had a few heart warming conversations with people who have been a part of my life for years. This has made me think that may be when I pass a milestone like 60 I would like to somehow thank all the people who have made, and still make my life so full and precious. I would like to thank the people who are sharing the journey with me! May be diving off into the bush would be a really selfish thing to do? Along with that, life is often nose down, bum up working and busyness and there are few occasions when we can really celebrate the good things of life. And just maybe being 60 is a good excuse to get together with friends and acquaintances and celebrate the goodness of life and the preciousness of relationships? Maybe some sort of gathering is what is called for, though I am not really a party sort of person? I am not a good "mixer" and the bush would seem a great option for me. What to do? Why do we have birthdays anyway? Does anyone have ideas?

Last Thursday it was a beautiful sunny day in Dunedin. I knocked off an hour early and me and my dog climbed my mountain. It was sooo nice in the bush! I will give myself a birthday treat sometime and spend a day in the bush! But I need to sort out what to do on the day! Family want to know.

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The Blog's title

I am a Workplace Chaplain to the NZ fireservice.

At the firestation every time one man sees me he yells, "Here comes JC's helper!". I guess I am happy to be called just that... "Jesus' helper". I am a follower of Jesus.
A a quote from Dave Andrews in his book, "Not Religion but Love".
"Being a devotee of Jesus is not a matter of subscribing to a certain set of dogmas, obeying rules and regulations, and getting others to subordinate themselves to them.

The essence of being a devotee of Jesus is to live in sympathy with God as Jesus did; feeling the throb of God's heartbeat, and teaching our hearts to learn to beat in sync with the love that sustains the universe.

It means developing our capacity to sense intuitively what causes love pleasure, and what causes love pain, and doing everything we can to enhance the pleasure, and diminish the pain."

I love this charter.

The Charter for Compassion

The principle of compassion lies at the heart of all religious, ethical and spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be treated ourselves. Compassion impels us to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, to dethrone ourselves from the centre of our world and put another there, and to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating everybody, without exception, with absolute justice, equity and respect.

It is also necessary in both public and private life to refrain consistently and empathically from inflicting pain. To act or speak violently out of spite, chauvinism, or self-interest, to impoverish, exploit or deny basic rights to anybody, and to incite hatred by denigrating others—even our enemies—is a denial of our common humanity. We acknowledge that we have failed to live compassionately and that some have even increased the sum of human misery in the name of religion.

We therefore call upon all men and women ~ to restore compassion to the centre of morality and religion ~ to return to the ancient principle that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate ~ to ensure that youth are given accurate and respectful information about other traditions, religions and cultures ~ to encourage a positive appreciation of cultural and religious diversity ~ to cultivate an informed empathy with the suffering of all human beings—even those regarded as enemies.

We urgently need to make compassion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Rooted in a principled determination to transcend selfishness, compassion can break down political, dogmatic, ideological and religious boundaries. Born of our deep interdependence, compassion is essential to human relationships and to a fulfilled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, and indispensable to the creation of a just economy and a peaceful global community.