Brothers and Sisters
In my pre-ordained ministry days, I was a church organist. I was in my early twenties and like many free-lance performers, taking on more work than I really had time to do for fear that next month there would be nothing and so I ended up not arranging for the pianos to be tuned as early as I should have. There was a rehearsal where the piano in the choir vestry was really rather bad. Two days later, one of my altos rang me. “I know you will be on top of this,” she said, “But I am seeing my piano tuner tomorrow and I wondered if it would be helpful if I asked if he had time to do the pianos at the church? I’m sure you have planned it, but if you haven’t had the time to ring anyone, I could take that job off you.” It was the kindest, most loving offer of help, while at the same time reminding me of my obligations, that I have ever had. I took her up on the offer with great thanks, but she never had to make it again.
During our lives, we meet many of these every-day saints. They are not going to win “Britain’s got talent”, they would cringe if they were in the newspapers, and they take pride in living restrained and orderly lives. Yet the impact they have on the people around them is significant. Here I am, telling you a story that is 30 years old and yet it affected not just the quality of the day or the week in which it happened, but my whole approach to reminding, nagging or otherwise giving people what for!
None of us will have the impact on the lives of those around us that Jesus did. Perhaps this is one of the proofs of his divinity. But all of us can seek to be a force for good in the lives of those whom we live, work and socialise with. As we come towards what we all hope will be the end of the final lockdown, it is tempting to want to tell people off when we see them disobeying the rules, and yet we know that the harsh word will only send our adrenaline levels up and may have little or no effect on the person we are speaking to. Ultimately, God’s love is not about letting people walk all over us, but it is about removing the plank from our own eyes, so that we can see to help our brother or sister with the speck that is in theirs, it is about judging not that we be not judged, it is about loving our neighbour as ourselves. And so I pray for all of us patience with ourselves and with each other and a safe journey on the path laid out on the road map with which we have been presented.
God bless
Vicci
‘One solitary life’
(This is an anonymous writing that some of you may know. It is thoughtfully written and especially so to people who don’t know, as we do, how amazing and wonderful our Lord is!)
‘Here is a young man who was born in an obscure village, the child of a peasant woman. He worked in a carpenter’s shop until he was thirty and then for three years he was an itinerant preacher.
He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never owned a home. He never had a family. He did none of those things we normally associate with greatness. He had no credentials but himself.
While he was still a young man, the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. He was turned over to his enemies. He went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners gambled for the only piece of property he had on earth, and that was his coat. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed tomb, through the pity of a friend.
Twenty centuries have come and gone, and today he is the central figure of the human race, and the leader of the column of progress. All the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings (and queens) that ever reigned put together have not affected the life of man upon this earth as has that …………. One solitary life!