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January 2012
SURPRISING MEETINGS
During my time ministering
in the London area many years ago I lived and served in a parish on the western
end of the River Thames.
It was quite a wealthy
area and some parishioner`s yachts were moored on the river next to the church.
Sometimes I was invited to go sailing up and down the river on sleepy Sunday
afternoons and plied with gin as I gazed at the west London scenery drifting
by. In the middle of the river within the parish was a small island where a
number of well known actors and their agents lived and frequented away from the
public eye. From time to time I was called upon to conduct the funerals of some
fairly well known people in the world of entertainment and attend the funeral
wakes afterwards.
One can imagine how
fascinating it was to mix with the rich and famous – especially for a young
curate like myself – and see for real the folk I`d only usually seen on the TV
or in films! In some ways I suppose I became a sort of unofficial chaplain to
these people and spent a lot of time talking to them about bereavement and many
other issues to do with life generally.
At first one often
encountered the public image of some of these folk but in time one learned
about what they were really like underneath the public facade. I quickly
realised that the rich and famous were really just like anybody else –
possessing the same fears and insecurities as you and I. They all struggled
with relationships in life, had family issues and covered things up in the same
way that most people do. Like you and me they had all been let down at times
during their life and wondered where God was in it all. Sometimes they shook
their fist at God puzzling over why God allowed bad things to happen to them
and the world.
They were normal people in
so many ways and struggled with various issues in life. Sometimes I wasn`t sure
how to answer their questions and I still wonder twenty or so years later
whether I said the right thing and whether I`d give them the same responses to
their questions today.
What is interesting is how
the ordinary parishioner from the church I was at often possessed a greater
wisdom than myself or the rich and famous. Such parishioners were unknown in
the media world and lived alone or struggled with problems of their own but yet
they had perceived the activity of God in their lives in a way that the famous
had not.
The `ordinary` parishioners
were the hidden pearls of great price that some of the rich and famous really
needed to meet. I realised that the people who were wise were the people that
the world overlooks. The people I learned so much from were the widows who
lived alone who were often housebound. They were also the parishioners who
struggled with terrible illnesses that led to their death who knew more about
this world and the next than the TV stars we see every day on our screens.
I learned from the people
who struggled with life, stayed kind and were not afraid of admitting their own
weaknesses. I lived alone at the time and they took me into their homes, fed me
and built up my ministry within the parish. They knew when I was down and when
to give an ear or sage advice.
Not often does God speak
with a booming voice from the sky. Not often does he communicate in flashes of
revelation. Yes I have seen miracles and wonders wrought by God`s hand but nine
times out of ten God speaks through the ordinary person – through their love
and help. God uses your hands and voice to minister to the world.
As God became a person to
minister to us so He speaks through all sorts of unknown people to comfort and
teach us all about His care and love.
There are those of you God
speaks through regularly in this parish. You may not be famous or even know
that God speaks through you – but He often does. Know too that you are infinitely
precious in God`s eyes whether you are a famous film star or not. God crops up
in the most unknown and surprising of people.
Nick Evans/Vicar
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