Crutches & Loving Kindness

Loving Kindness

Some of you may know that I've had an injury to my knee. Entirely self inflicted, in that I went to a different exercise class than my normal Pilates, and mistook my body's ability to cope with lots of bending at a 'barre class'. I then compounded the error by not resting and continuing to cycle. This nearly resulted in my first Harvest festival service at Bishop's Stortford being memorable for all the wrong reasons, as not being able to weight bear on my left leg I stumbled in front of the harvest display and ended up clinging onto the microphone stand!
Thankfully a lovely physio named Julie (recommended via church members) has taken me in hand, used all her skills to reduce the swelling and insisted that I use a crutch for walking to prevent further injury.
Those of you who know me well, will realise that I'm not very good at sitting still, nor am I great at patience. However I have had to learn a bit over the last 4 weeks. I also know that I am quite proud, and accepting that I might have to request mobility assistance for our short break in Croatia was , for me a hard thing to do. Those who advised that I should have a wheelchair were absolutely right as Stansted airport has long distances to be covered between security and departures.
What struck me though, has been the amount of loving kindness shown to me by complete strangers. The staff at Stansted and at Split airport were incredibly thoughtful, the apartment owner where we were staying for the first night took one look at my crutch and re-arranged our accommodation so we were on the ground floor. And an incident in the old town of Split has really stayed with me. We were exploring (slowly) around the narrow ancient alleyways when our path was blocked by a tour group. As I couldn't easily get past we listened to the blurb, and the guide said we were outside St Michael's the narrowest church in Europe. So when the crowds had departed we went to see this little church. Many narrow steps later I was wishing we hadn't and wondering how I was going to get back down! The church itself was amazing and we gave the nun on duty the required donation of 10 kuna. Because of my crutch she tried to give it back, and then said 'wait a moment'. She locked her little study and led us through a side door into the convent where - joy of joys, she shepherded  us into a lift. The small convent of Dominican nuns had just 7 residents, and the nun gave us a blessing as we departed. But she had already blessed us greatly by her loving kindness.
Back home, a cafe owner waived the price of my coffee, and yesterday some of the church flowers were delivered to the manse. Small actions in themselves but ones that have touched me greatly. This Sunday's bible reading is on the greatest commandment - love God and love your neighbour. This love for one another, this loving kindness, can be shown in so many ways, and I am so grateful to have received it.

Celebration?

Harvest Celebrations take many forms, but almost all involve wonderfully decorated churches. In many fruit and veg take center stage (one of my previous churches used to have an amazing display of pumpkins donated by a local allotment holder). But if donations of fresh fruit and veg are brought in, there is the problem of what to do with it all. Elderly church members can only eat so much!
Bishop's Stortford church was far more pragmatic in terms of gifts- tinned and dry goods were requested to be split between Whitechapel Mission and the local food bank that meets on our premises. Flowers went to cheer those who were sick or lonely, and knitted blankets to elderly patients in our local hospital.
As someone new to Bishop's Stortford I admit that I was surprised that a foodbank was necessary in what seems a very affluent area. I was even more surprised when at the local clergy meeting I was told about the cold winter night shelter run by a church a few hundred yards away, with help from all the local churches. But first appearances can be deceptive, and cutting through a local park on my bike, I found myself in the area of the town that you don't normally drive through, which is apparently one of the most socially deprived housing estates in Hertfordshire.Yet less than a mile away the pretty high street is full of coffee shops, restaurants and expensive boutique shops.
And I started to wonder, how do we celebrate harvest and all the good things around us, which includes creativity, science, innovation as well as the food we eat, when so many of our neighbours are struggling to get through to the next benefit payment, and having to rely on charity.
Perhaps our harvest celebrations should include giving thanks for those who challenge the injustices, as well as those who help in direct ways by volunteering in Food Banks and CABs. I believe that as Christians we need not just to be thankful, to be generous with what we have been given both in terms of time, talents and money, but we also need to campaign to bring about a more just world, where food banks are no longer necessary, and where the world's resources are shared equitably. Its a tall order - but Jesus didn't say it would be easy, but rather that His Spirit would give us the strength to carry on.

Coming home, guest and host!

Coming home, guest and host!

Well we've settled into the new manse..... some boxes still remain upstairs but we have committed ourselves to an Open House at the manse on Saturday, so this should galvanize us into more action this week,  (not to mention getting the baking sorted)
It is beginning to feel more like home because:
- books are up on the shelves in the study (if not yet fully sorted into categories)
- most of our pictures are up and on the walls
- the wonderful array of kitchen cabinets are getting filled
- the dogs are ecstatic about their new garden

However, a lot still needs to be done, with the boxes remaining upstairs, Graham's desk is yet to be sorted and a small corner cabinet is defying attempts to get it placed straight on the wall. The garage is still refusing to yield up the tools we need for certain jobs, and somehow the seed potatoes lovingly cared for by a friend so they wouldn't have to go into store appear to have walked, but these, at the end of the day  are minor considerations. We have been made so welcome by church and circuit members.
I was thinking about what makes a house a home, and for me, it was installing our two dogs and finding the right space for their baskets, getting the pictures that give colour and lift my spirits up onto the wall, like Ric Stott's amazing prints

Then there is also starting to cook in the lovely double oven, and once we have managed to cook for others then it will truly feel that we have not just arrived, but are at home.
At a Synod workshop I attended on Saturday, Revd Hannah Bucke challenged us to think about the church as a guest as well as a host, in just the same way that Jesus' ministry had both elements in it.
Over the past few weeks we have been blessed by being guests - a longer stay with our daughter and son-in-law in Scotland than was originally planned the most obvious one during August, but also we have been guests in church member's homes in Stortford too, and the welcome I have received on pastoral visits has been so generous.  Now we are getting ready to be hosts for the Open House, but I think that  to put guests at ease, we have to remember not simply to be a hospitable host, but also to bear in mind what it is like to receive, as well as give.