Sunday sillies...

First - A selfish grump... Ministers are people too!

I often enjoy this time of year to catch up on planning type stuff, do some housekeeping in and around my office and just blob out or have some quieter home life in the evenings. I should learn not to expect such luxury in my job. Let me resort to selfish grumpiness for a while...

• My wife's brother is quite ill in Christchurch hospital. (5 hours drive away) I have a brother-in-law who has been given a sad prognosis living in Christchurch. A son, we have not seen since we were in London also lives there. We had planned to leave church today (Sunday 9th) and drive to Christchurch, arriving back in Dunedin early on Tuesday morning so that we could catch up on all three people. I arrived home on Wednesday night from work and began to prepare for a night in. The phone rang and it was a funeral director who said a lady had died in her 90's. Early in her life she had Church of Christ connections, her funeral was on Monday and would I lead it? I hesitated. The funeral director talked some more about the lady's early Church of Christ connections, and asked again. I hesitated again. "Are you on holiday?" the funeral director asked. "Well no!" I replied honestly. "They have it pretty well worked out, so it won't be too hard for you?" she insisted. I remembered one of my elders telling me once that I should not be driving to Christchurch on a Sunday afternoon, that it was still one of my working days, that I should be available in Dunedin for it.(Though I hasten to say that is not the majority view) ... I got guilted out and agreed to stay home and take the funeral. Then I got grumpy about it for a while. I knock off work, am at home trying to relax and they ring me, stuff up my evening, (I had to break the news to my wife when she got home) and stuff up my plans... What right have they to do that? They don't pay my wages? Even if they pay me for the funeral the going rate for ministers is about $130... I was talking to a nephew-in-law who charges that for one hour's consultancy work! - Funerals take six to eight hours at least. It is a pretty low charge out rate..... I could feel under valued. They planned it for Monday before they asked me... Monday is my day off! It would have been fairer to check with me first... I will have no day off in this next week. I preached a sermon on being a servant today so I am being inconsistent. I am doing the funeral and will feel OK, but I am allowed a moment of selfish grumpiness.
• On Friday night we were at home enjoying an evening of comedy on the TV. The Drop-in hasn't started so we were in relaxed mode, enjoying our freedom. My wife had been on the phone and after that we checked the messages. One of our drop-in guys left a message, saying he wanted to talk to me about something that happened at drop-in a couple of months ago, and demanded that I ring him back. I had just talked with him that day? Again it stuffed up part of our night. He would not do that to his social worker. He would not do it to his Doctor. Why is it OK to disturb my night about something that is not urgent?

Now I am being selfish and selfishness leads to grumpiness. Very often though, I have cause to feel that ministers, because they have to be nice, are treated with less consideration and respect than would be given to others. I could give heaps of examples but I'll stop now. Yesterday I was under the Church's borer ridden floor making some repairs with my wife handing me tools. The Pastor and wife of the Korean congregation which meets in our buildings arrived, dug out the vacuum cleaners and began to clean the building. The Korean congregation have said they will do this, in a sense it is part of their rent. But I have noticed it is the Pastor who is left with the task. Perhaps he too could get grumpy... but maybe he is more Christian than I?

Nice to be active again..

I have had a sore knee, so while my running friend has been away in Aussie, I have not been exercising, hoping the knee will heal. The weather too has been grey or wet, and not conducive to outdoor adventures. Yesterday, however, I climbed my mountain. While on top I encountered a couple with an older woman I took to be one of their mothers. They initiated conversation. At one point I said, "I think they should make a decent road up here, not that corrugated dusty one, so that more tourists could enjoy that view." They looked stunned. "That road is OK!" said the man emphatically. His wife grinned and said, "We live in Uganda, and for us that road is luxury." It is all relative isn't it? With clear skies the view was stunning. Today in warm but very windy weather I went for a 9k jog (I could not call it running) My knee suffered a little, but it is nice to be active again, I get kind of stir crazy when I can't get out and about.

Ding's piano..

We have this delightful Chinese lady coming to Church who had bought an old piano. Her room in the place she lives is upstairs, and she asked if there was a group of us who could move the piano for her. It was a significant stairway with a U-turn in it. After Church this morning a group of us went around and moved this heavy monster up the stairs. We skinned our hands, grunted a lot and raised a sweat, but we did it. I was quite pleased that I could still carry one end of a piano, by myself when there was not room for two of us. Ding was so grateful she handed out beers to us. John is an older guy who has been coming to church since coming to the 2009 Christmas dinner. He climbed into our car as we dropped him back at the library. He laughed as he polished off his stubby of beer. "Someone is gonna ask me what I have been up to. I'll tell them - 'moving a piano and drinking beer with the minister' - they won't believe me!" Ding thanked us profusely, but it was simply good fun being in a group of friends doing something for someone else.

Photos:

1. "Through the eye of a needle"... A big cruise ship leaves Otago Harbour. It is a surprisingly narrow channel for such a big ship to go through.

2. Lying in the grass I took a photo of the tower on top of the mountain. In 1969 (I think) I was working as a plumber on the adjacent building and watched the tower being built. My guess is that they would never have guessed it would have so much attached to it and play such an important role in communications as it does now. Cell phones were not around then!

3. Blueskin Bay North of Dunedin, from the top of the mountain. There is a shellfish industry based there. Warrington beach is the white strip to the right. It is apparently called Blueskin Bay because there was once a Maori Chief there whose face was extensively tattooed, his skin was seen as being blue.