JC's helper: Happy New Year.

Wednesday, January 1, 2020

Happy New Year.

"Happy" New Year?
I am never sure of this greeting. "Happy" seems somehow flippant. Does "New Year" refer to just New Year's Eve celebrations or the whole new year - 2020?
As we enter 2020 there is much uncertainty. We in NZ will havre an election later in the year. I think there has been progress as a country in a lot of areas with the present coalition Government, but they have also made mistakes. I fear there might be a change and would be discouraged if the National Party came in with more right wing policies. In the USA of course there is the continuing saga with Donald Trump. What will happen in the Senate? What uncertainties/dramas will face the country there and indeed the world? What will happen in their election? We are facing continuing climate change issues with many in leadership denying human contribution. Today in Dunedin NZ we had an orange hue that is the result of massive fires all over our neighbouring country, Australia. (We are quite a distance away) This is happening now and has started earlier than their usual "fire season". Some say it and the droughts they battle are the result of climate change. So as we enter the New Year, 2020 we can say with the hymn writer "change and decay in all around I see".

So dear reader, whoever you are, where ever you are, I wish you a wholesome, healthy, love filled 2020. May we all recognise we belong together in this journey in life. May we be free to "live fully, love wastefully, and dare to be all that each of us has the capacity to be.” Bishop Spong.

"God's" future?
Today, New Years Day, we were invited to have lunch with friends from our local wee (Scottish for "little" - Dunedin was founded by Scots.) Church. It was a warm friendly event. We belong to a mostly elderly fragile congregation, and the three families at lunch were the younger members. Conversation and discussion got on to how we best build up the Church and work to "be the Church". Amongst the three families represented there was diversity of opinion and perspective. One big issue that faces our societies is the place and nature of "religion" or "God" in life? What an interesting journey life is. I hope your journey in 2020 is fulfilling and meaningful.

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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.