JC's helper: Why build another house?

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Why build another house?

Saturday was the first real working day of a new Habitat for Humanity house in Dunedin. It will be the thirteenth house that I have been involved in building. On each of them I have put in hundreds of hours. In Habitat for Humanity we volunteers help a family build a house and then the family pays for the house on an interest-free loan. It is a great step up for a family who would otherwise not be able to get into home ownership. I was a part of starting a Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Dunedin in 1995. Habitat has changed over the years with the affiliates becoming less autonomous and the deal for home owners being less generous than it once was. I do not agree with the changes but still feel it helps families. Why do I do it?

As I have mentioned in previous posts, one of my deeply held values is that we all belong together. As part of the human family we are connected to one another. We are "brothers and sisters". Most of us would willingly assist our natural siblings whenever they call on us for help in the journey of life. By helping to build at a Habitat for Humanity house I am expressing my solidarity with others. I am giving practical expression to this deep value.

We all long to live in healthy communities. We long for our communities to be places of support, trust and togetherness. The atmosphere of any community is set by the people who live in it. If everybody is out for what they can get, then the community "feel" is not there. Isolation, mistrust and lack of sharing abound and the general level of "community" is low. Walls are erected between people. Working on a Habitat for Humanity build, I believe contributes to the overall health of a community. All sorts of links are made, people are joined together in practical ways and the common well being of the community is increased. All volunteer participation breaks down barriers and helps this community health.

I claim to be a follower of Jesus. Jesus promoted a generous, caring and loving lifestyle. By being involved with Habitat for Humanity I am giving practical expression to the faith that I say I practice. Faith without action is dead.

I have been very fortunate in life to be surrounded by supportive people, to have had good health and have never had to starve. Compared to the rest of the world I am rich! This has in a sense been my heritage, and no real achievement of my own. I believe I am called to share this good fortune with others.

Working on a Habitat house I learn heaps and extend my experience, knowledge and appreciation of life.

On every Habitat house I have worked on there have been special moments of togetherness, excitement and shear fun. Even though there are tough moments when you wonder why you get up on a Saturday and do such a thing, it is still essentially a real good buzz to build with others.

You can follow the progress of the house on http://h4hdunedin.blogspot.com/

Be encouraged in whatever you do for the community. The impact that any volunteers service has on the overall well being of life and community, is far greater than we can imagine. Such giving is part of the very essence of life, it is what makes life worthwhile.

Photo: There will be a home housing a family here soon. At least it's a flat section this time, only the second flat section in thirteen houses.

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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.