JC's helper: One of those days...

Thursday, April 22, 2010

One of those days...

I had one of those days today. No I am not going to grump again. It was a very busy day, not enough hours or energy in it, but with a good measure of success in it.

Because our log burner had not been performing lately I got up, had breakfast and before I went into the office I swept the chimney. The roof was a bit slippery with the dew, but the log burner is functioning well tonight.
After a quick shower, I ventured into the office, checked emails etc. had a cup of coffee (beautifully brewed I must say) then went to my latest chaplaincy, the one I have been struggling to feel at home in. I had a good couple of hours. Had meaningful conversations with a number of people I had not shared with before and ventured into the television station area. I explained to the manager there that someone had told me not to call there in my afternoon visits, but he reassured me, telling me to call any time, "You are one of the family, feel welcome to come in." I got to stand in a studio as they prepared for a programme. It was a heart warming visit.
Over lunch in Space 2B something good happened. It is my dream for Space2B to be a centre where all sorts of things happen. We have a Settlement Resource program running and making great strides, centred on Wednesday lunch times. New settlers are being assisted. My dream is for different groups, positive life enhancing movements and community projects to attach themselves to Space2B and operate from our church community base. Or that Space2B will facilitate the formation of groups doing life enhancing stuff in the community. A woman we have got to know and appreciate runs sustainability programs for the city council, using our church building. We have used her for a Space2B workshop and I had floated the idea of a Sustainability centre based at Space2B. Her and I had emailed back and forth about this around Christmas/New Year, but neither of us had moved on about it. I felt I did not want to push her into something she may not want to do. Well while I was eating my lunch she came in and in her lilting Irish voice said, "Now David, we have to talk about an environment centre." I said "Yes, let's!" and we began to plan for a beginning in September, focusing on Thursday lunch times, building in other workshops and resources. My dream is evolving as I had hoped! Watch this space! "Sustainable Living Hub @ Space2B" is emerging!
We lost a pianist last year with the young Korean lady who used to play for us moving overseas. Today I think I have finalised things with a replacement.
I finished the day with a 5.5k run. It was a nice night for running. I have to admit that it was harder than I thought and every other runner was faster than me, (I am sure they were half my age though) but it is good to get a mid week run in.

I came home feeling that life wasn't too bad after all. :-)

Photo: The log burner operating as it should... the first success of the day.

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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.