JC's helper: Grandchildren

Tuesday, February 2, 2021

Grandchildren

Mokopuna (Maori for "Grandchildren")

Last Friday we left home and travelled part way toward Christchurch, a city way North of Dunedin, where our son, Simon lives with his wife and three children. Google tells me it is 364 Kilometres from our house. We arrived on Saturday morning and spent some time with them. Then on the Sunday we went around to their place and just relaxed with them for the day.

I enjoyed playing Jenga with my Grandson. I enjoyed sitting in the sun just chatting with him... he turns 8 in a few days time. I enjoyed Jenga with our grand daughter who is 5 years old, and getting to know the youngest in the family. We simply had a good time relaxing on a sunny Sunday with these children. Then on Monday we packed up and drove home, calling at my brother's for lunch at about the half-way mark.

We had our Grandchildren from Wellington staying over Christmas, and we regularly Skype with three grandchildren in Edinburgh. So in all we have eight grandchildren all living at a distance from us - Christchurch, Wellington and Edinburgh. Because of Covid 19 and the mixed up 2020 year we did not really catch up with them last year as much as we would normally. As I drove home I could not help but think about how very different they are and yet we love and enjoy each one. I get jealous of people we know who have grandchildren living close by, but that is the way it is. I just thought I'd share some photos.

Edinburgh three. Maori-Samoan/Polish children with a Scottish accent. Full of life!

Wellington Sister and brother... creative... energetic.... enjoy NZ bush. (With their mother)

Christchurch three....

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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.