They saw me coming...

The lounge in the Night Shelter. 

The Dunedin Night Shelter. (we so want to buy these buildings)

Phoenix Lodge - medium term accommodation. 

An old steam train ran excursions over Labour Weekend locally. 

I treated myself to a nostalgic visit to take some pics.

I love the sight and sounds of a steam train... a big pollutant though.

To ensure I do not burn up too much fossil fuel and to keep some retirement time for me, I have been trying to make a rule that I do not go into town on Mondays and Wednesdays. It has been a dismal failure and my diary for the week ahead informs me that I will not succeed this week either. Last Wednesday we wanted to spend a big part of the day in the garden. We wanted to make a trip to town though, to buy some plants and I needed to take some photographs at the Night Shelter.  It was to be a quick visit to town, and then back into our garden. It did not work out that way.
Just as we were preparing to leave, my brother visiting town from Melbourne, Australia, phoned me.  After a short conversation we arranged to have lunch with him and his wife, no other day suited.  Then as we began to drive down the street, Keith, a Night Shelter Trust colleague rang. He had completed his part of a project and we made a plan to meet at the shelter so he could pass it on.  All was well, with these two positive extras our visit to town would be only slightly longer than we had planned.
"Can you help us?" times two.
I arrived at the shelter and proceeded to take the photographs I needed. One of the guys from Phoenix lodge, (the medium term accommodation place out the back of the shelter) came home, leaving a friend of his sitting opposite. I saw that this friend was taking a real interest in what I was doing and was coming closer. The Phoenix guy, who I had met twice before, reappeared and I noticed them on the other side of the road conversing together and looking at my van. Eventually he came over and knocked on the shelter door. We greeted each other and then he questioned me. "You work here don't you?" he said. "Well I spend a lot of time here." I replied. "Is that your van out there?"he continued.  "Yes that is my beat up van." I responded. "Well it is like this." ... and I love this part, "I just paid for two bookcases for my sister at the hospice shop, but we need to pick them up and move them to her new flat in Caversham. You wouldn't know anyone who could do that for us would you?" By this time his sister, who looked like a man, had joined him. "Well I couldn't do it today." I said - I can take a hint. "But we need to pick them up today?" they pleaded. I looked at these two. Both had tattoos all over their faces and arms, and I felt sorry for them.  I knew he was recently released from prison. They were both "the forgotten people" of our society and our economic system. Most people would not give them the time of day, though every contact I had with him had been pleasant. "Ok" I said, "I have to go to lunch with my brother in a few minutes, but after lunch, at 2:30 we will come back, pick you up and we will go and get them." When I got into the van, my wife who had been watching from the van, rolled her eyes and said, "You are going to move something for them aren't you?"  She knows that I am the softest touch in town. We went to lunch and talked too long, so that it was past 2:30 by the time I picked them up. I took them to the hospice shop, we loaded up the bookcases and I delivered them to the sister's new lodgings. I have seldom heard so many expressions of "thank you."  They even offered "$5 next benefit day." I refused that, but knew that they were really appreciative.
On our way to buy our plants, we were stopped outside a second hand shop while waiting for the lights at an intersection. My wife looking at the furniture on display, decided we needed to come back and look at a certain chair. So after buying our plants we returned to the shop and negotiated the purchase of the chair. While loading it into the van, I recognised a couple walking along the footpath. I knew them because of past contact and I knew that they were poor.  I greeted them as they walked by and the wife came up to me and pretty soon got to the point of her visit. They were running late for a bus to go to a certain place where they had a cleaning job to do.  Would we, by any chance, "be going in that direction?"  - It was not really where we were headed but I said, "OK, hop in, we'll give you a lift." Once again, my wife rolled her eyes and cleared the stuff off the back seat of the van.
There is a saying in NZ often used when somebody takes advantage of another. "Well, they saw you coming, didn't they?" Why did I mess up my day helping these two couples? At the fire station I was part of a conversation where firefighters were laughing about the characteristics of some of their colleagues. "We are all different!" I commented wanting to bring some balance, "We can't all be perfect."  "You know what happened to the last perfect man!" somebody chided, "He got crucified!"  The man sitting next to me said, "There's a lesson in that for you Dave. - If you spend your time helping others they are still going to crucify you. Why do it?"  
Why do I help such as these? Why do I spend my time helping the homeless, when one of their number kicks the shelter door in, and another abuses our manager?  My fire fighters and others often chide me saying I need to be more selfish. "They saw you coming!" is a phrase I often hear from them, with the implication that I am too easily taken for a ride. They have said this about such things as the Christmas Day dinner we hosted for 25 years; or Habitat for Humanity projects; the drop in centre; the Night Shelter and other things I have done.  Why do I do it? 
Connection, community and solidarity.
There is a massive and growing gap between the rich and the poor in our country. (and other countries) I am not that rich, but these people are poorer than I am. They are at the bottom end, with little hope of climbing any further up. Life is so difficult for them that they often adopt unacceptable coping mechanisms just to survive. They are treated not just as poor, but often it is assumed they are bad, or weak. They see themselves as inferior, even though they may come across as bombastic and tough.  I reach out to them when I can, and when I deem it wise, so that for a time the gap is bridged.  These people who cannot afford the transport I have, can have for a short time the benefit of having a vehicle. I go out of my way because it reminds them that they are not totally forgotten, that somebody, at least for a short time, shares their journey in life. It is a way of linking arms and saying, "We are in this journey of life together. You are my brother or sister." - I happen to think these sorts of actions make a difference in our community. I might get "crucified", or used and abused, but at least I tried to express the essential unity of humanity.

Everyone is fighting...

Church dogma...
As I listened to the two funerals I attended last week (and they were quite well run) I could not help but think of how people view the Church. It is easy to see that people would view the Church as that agency who says who gets into heaven or not, and that the purpose of Christianity is to get people to heaven. I suspect there is "life-after-life" but that is not what Christianity is about for me. I don't believe in a God who will allow somebody in, or disallow somebody because they happen to have been or not have been, through the right ritual when they were a baby or even later in life - or because they belonged to the right institution. "The sacred" is bigger than our various religious interpretations. Our religions are "gropings" to try explain the experiences of the depth in life. Good religion helps us to live well here, and to "be present" to our fellow humans, creatures and the world of nature - to live in sympathy with, or in harmony with (The Jewish concept of "shalom") people and the world about us. I happen to find Jesus' teaching helps me to do this, but also discover that same essence in other places too. The frustration I have is that traditional emphases in Christianity, in hymns, ceremonies and in Church expectations and priorities seem to be a distortion of this. At the most recent funeral I was standing with firefighters in the family room of the funeral home listening to the funeral - we could not see what was going on. The hymn "How Great Thou Art" was announced. It was interesting. My guess is that all the firefighters knew the hymn (it was popularised by Howard Morrison in NZ) but nobody wanted to sing, and all but one in this packed room did not sing. Guys around me jokingly said, "Go to it Dave! Come on sing up." (We in Church inflict singing on people for whom it is completely foreign!) The words of the song assumed a certain view of God, of the atonement, the second coming and of heaven that I was not that comfortable with! It simplistically praised God for creation and we were attending a funeral for a guy who died relatively young of cancer? What went wrong with creation? 
Living in a small world...
My wife and I were driving through a locality today and talking about a man we knew there.  My wife commented that he "lived in a small world, physically and mentally." His conversation is always about himself and "small" things. He has sometimes dropped into Space2B and seems to have no empathy for the poor, the mentally ill or vulnerable people. His attitude is almost one of contempt. He cannot understand our priorities. Life is simple for him, "look after yourself."  I said to my wife, "Maybe he's got it right? Maybe we should not care about the people we worry about? Our life would be easier." "If we all did that life would be even more of a mess than it is!" my wife said. "There would be more misery everywhere." .. and I knew that she was right.
"Be present with.."
The Dalai Lama said essentially that compassion could rest on a basis beyond religion. "We are all born the same way - out of our mother. We will all die. We are essentially the same whoever we are and whoever we think we are. Therefore we should care for one another." I keep saying we are, whether we like it or not, on the same journey of life. We are called to help each other make that journey, and journey well. I like the concept of living life being "present with" others. Being present means that as I live I am aware, sensitive to and responsive to the needs and circumstances of others who journey with me. Some examples. I lusted after a nice big Ford station wagon with a 4 litre engine - Power to burn, a man's car. My wife said, "But what are you doing to the environment?" I talked of investing money in a certain investment group. My daughter says, "How is the money used? Does it treat people well?"  I want to buy certain coffee for the Church, but my daughter says, "What is buying that coffee doing for the producers? Is it fair trading?" I know and admire a lady who would love to fly back to Ireland to visit her family more often, but she chooses not to. She doesn't because she sees herself contributing to climate change by the excess burning of fossil fuel. She says, "If we all used planes less, it would make a big difference to the level of destructive emissions." There are people on Dunedin streets struggling to cope with life. Most do not see them. Nobody would blame me if I too ignored them. But just maybe I can share some thing with them, my time or food, my resources which will help them have a better experience of the journey of life? - I know that I cannot help everyone. I know that I cannot live a pure life, I will inevitably contribute to some of the problems of the world. But if we all lived, as much as we are able, so that we make ourselves "present" to others about us, more of us would live a fuller more happy existence.  Being "present" to others and life about us, ultimately enriches our journey.
True religion..
I came across this quote I had jotted down in my diary from somewhere. "Be kind - for everyone you meet is fighting a great battle." (Philo)  Each week I lead in a pastoral prayer. As I think of the members of my congregation, or people in my chaplaincies, I know that each one is "fighting a battle." "He" struggles with getting older. "She" worries about her daughter and her addictions and illness. "He" has "plumbing" problems and ongoing uncertainties about health and the possibility of cancer. "She" feels trapped in an unhappy marriage. "They" struggle with finances and making ends meet is a real battle. "He" still grieves for his wife, they were still so much in love when she died. .. etc. and I could go on listing challenges.  ALL OF US in life have challenges to face, and we can link arms in compassion and help each other experience life as best we can - or we can live in a dog eat dog world "looking after ourselves!"  It is our choice. 
True religion encourages people to have a breadth of perspective, a depth of wisdom and hearts long on compassion. Too much religion these days narrows people's focus and so contributes to the problems of the world.  Micah said, "What does God require of you but to do justice, love kindness, and to walk humbly with the Lord your God."  Jesus said, I have come that they might have life, and have it abundantly." John Shelby Spong commenting on this passage says, "Those of us who want to constitute ourselves as disciples of this Jesus have a single responsibility and that is to try to build a world in which every person in that world has a better opportunity to live fully, love wastefully and to be all that they can be in the infinite variety of their humanity."