Sunday thoughts

Behind closed doors

I went across to St John Ambulance on Friday. They seemed pleased that I had visited and I got invited to go out on the ambulance. I attended two jobs. Whenever I go out in the ambulance or, for that matter in my work as a chaplain, I am aware that behind the doors of houses in suburbia there can be desperate situations. We often think when we are driving around the streets that there is a happy home, mum and dad and two children behind each door. But often if you open doors people can be in a mess and there can be much unhappiness within those walls. I guess it would be true to say that even in the best of homes there are down times when the tension, stress and unhappiness can block out the good. We ALL need support from time to time. We are often too individualistic and wrapt up in our own world, leaving many of us isolated and sometimes struggling. It is true, “No man is an island” – we need others and are often too isolated in today’s world.

Communicating

I led a service around the theme of Jesus parable in Matthew 20:1 – 16. It is the story about the landowner who hires people at different times of the day, but pays them all the same. It seems unfair, the same pay, but different hours worked. The parable gives us an insight into the ethos of the Kingdom of God.  It is about the generosity of God and says that in the flow of the Kingdom, people are accepted, people are valued cared for with an unconditional, generous love. It is about a different way of valuing people. The trouble is that it cuts at the heart of the assumed foundations we run our world on. My trouble was “How do I communicate this to people so that they can see it, grasp it and respond to it?” I find this very difficult. Our society runs on different paths! Indeed the Church has so distorted the way of Jesus that it too runs on values and perspectives polluted by the values of the world about us. It is so frustrating trying to communicate it. You sometimes look at the faces and hear the comments and wonder if they just think you a raving eccentric. I sometimes hate this job.

I love New Zealand.

I try to be a citizen of the world but I do love NZ. I enjoy this song.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w4shrCg1b7E