I can't believe I said that

One would have to be living under a rock this week not to have heard foul words used by a candidate running for president of the United States in an interview in 2005. Whether one likes the candidate or not, and whether one was going to vote for him or not, the fact that he used such language has become a huge campaign issue. Undoubtedly, the results of the election will be affected somewhat by his poor choice of words. Some undecideds will now have made up their mind on the basis of those tapes. Some lukewarm supporters, as has been demonstrated already, will say enough is enough and change their voting preferences. Will it be enough to turn the election one way or the other- we will see come November 9th.

I don't like people who use language which denigrates someone else. Whether it is by race, creed, economic class, nationality, gender, what have you- I have come to learn in my 53 years on earth that words which slander are powerful weapons. How many dreams have been quashed, how many miracles have gone undiscovered, because some people have told other people that they are not good enough, not worthy enough, and not valuable enough to count. People who bully and intimidate prevent many people from living up to their potential. And because of that, the whole world suffers.

In saying this though, I realise that I have to be ever diligent in my use of words so as not to harm others. I have a vocation where I get to preach messages each week in front of people. My role as preacher is to share faith, to interpret, to get people to think, to challenge and to encourage. Sometimes I manage this, other times I don't. However, my role as preacher is never to harm others, never belittle, and to never bully. Hopefully, each person feels respected when they hear my messages whether they agree with me or not.

The same is true with my blog and my on line presence. I share my thoughts in order to encourage, to challenge, to provoke, and to hopefully bring some understanding to a chaotic world. On Facebook, I try to put up posts that describe who I am: a minister, a man, someone with a sense of humour, someone who is concerned with justice. I don't post foul language, because really I don't use that much foul language in my day to day life. I try to respect others because I have come to know that we get a lot more done when we treat each other fairly well rather than when we point fingers and say he did she did. I try to look for beauty in the world because when the days get cold and others seem cruel, its those bright sparks which will lead me out of darkness. I try to be respectful in my on line conversations and in posting responses because I know such things live forever and once said, you cannot put it back in the box.

Human beings have been given a wonderful gift- the gift of being able to communicate with each other.  But I think that politicians, teachers, preachers, parents, siblings, co-workers, and friends need to know is that the gift of communication is a powerful one. Communication and what's said has the power to change the outcome of everything. Our words also live on much longer than we do. So speak well to one another and let us change the future of our world. Blessings.

A moment of thinking, a moment for thanking

How often do we go through things just following the motions? I take for granted that my phone and my computer will work when I turn them on. I trust that my food will be cold in the refrigerator and cooked when I take it out of the over. I trust that when my traffic light turns green, yours will turn red, and I will be able to safely get out of the intersection.

But what if things didn't work out like that. Chaos ensues. We flush the toilet and instead of eliminating our waste, it overflows from the top. Traffic lights malfunction and there is bedlam on the streets. A switch doesn't work on the train tracks and thousands of lives are thrown out of kilter.

This means we should be thankful that 99% of the time these things work perfectly. I should offer thanksgiving that my morning orange juice is cold when I open up the fridge almost all of the time. But human beings are funny. We only remember the one day in six months when something doesn't work. That day becomes a disaster. We ignore the hundreds of other times when all was great.

Giving thanks. I think it is really hard when everything goes well for a very long time. When life is going along perfectly, quite quickly we become accustomed to that perfection. We assume that life should always be smooth. If I have never worried about whether the water I drink is free from dangerous pathogens, if I have never worried about where my next meal is coming from, if I have never had to be concerned about where I will sleep tonight, then it becomes easy for us to think that there will always be food, water, and shelter. We just assume that those things are a given.

But if one has been starving for a long time, imagine how grateful they must feel when they get a decent meal. If one has been unemployed for many years, imagine how wonderful it must feel to get a secure job. People who have been born with everything, lose it for whatever reason, then get rich again, also have a greater appreciation for what they have. But I think as soon as one begins to expect again that their plates will be full every night and that they will be in their own king size bed in their own place each night, we begin to forget to say thank you.

What I am trying to say is that all of us have much to be thankful for each day. During the average day, my heart beats over 100,000 times. Over 24 hours, I breathe thousands of times. It is impossible to say thank you for each of these miracles. During the average day, I will consume 8700 kilojoules of food. It is next to impossible to offer gratitude for each morsel. We need to take moments to say thank you. We need to recognise that so many times we forget to say thanks for that unfortunately is part of human nature. But we need to try ever harder to express appreciation for all that we have. Blessings

Incidental Steps giant leaps

On one hand, life is very important and sacred. Life is a gift and one which should be valued. It is amazing that out of the remnants of the big bang, some cosmic dust got together, and life began. For me each life has eternal significance. Yet on the other hand, we know that each of the individual twist and turn in our lives are relatively unimportant. Not being one who keeps a diary, I can't tell you if September 10th, 2001 was a good day or a bad day for me. I do know that many things changed in the world September 11th, 2001. Some days are important, but many get forgotten.

Decisions are the same. Each and every day I make hundreds of decisions which have little lasting impact- what to wear, when to eat, what time to go to bed. Other decisions though have life changing impact- deciding to buy a house, run for office, or getting married. Sometimes we don't know that seemingly simple decisions will be wonderful decisions like deciding to go to a dance where one meets their spouse. 

I guess what I am saying is that we don't the impact of the things that we do. Sometimes a kind act that we do will have little lasting impact. Other times though it can make a real difference in life. We just don't know.

And because we don't know whether a day or an event will have lasting impact or not, doesn't it mean we should try to make a difference. Whether or not we can change the world, shouldn't we try to offer something positive into the mix. It might get lost in the midst of one of those thousands of days that are just a blur. It might seem quite insignificant in the midst of the myriad of things we do each day. But maybe, just maybe a little bit of good thrown into the mix might be a game changer. One simple word of encouragement to someone might be all they need to take on a massive project. A smile at the right time might be all the time it takes to change the world. Our efforts are never in vain. Blessings.

A little bit of equality

I enjoy travelling. I like seeing new cities, exploring new paths, and coming in contact with different cultures. But one thing I don't really like are the flights to get there. Oh I don't mind flying per se. I trust the airlines and the pilots to get me to my destination safely.  But I hate the cramped seats, people who try to cram everything they can into overfilled storage bins, and the fewer and fewer services that one gets while flying in economy class.

I saw a video recently of someone travelling first class on Emirates Airlines. They had their own compartment. They had their own bar in case the flight attendants could not get there quick enough to fill their orders. Their seat folded down into a bed with duvet covers. When they awoke they even got to use the shower on the plane.

Flying teaches us that there is a difference to class. Those who can afford it are treated to great luxury. Those who can't afford it are treated like cargo.

I grew up being taught by my father that all people were created equal. Everyone was the same no matter what their background. I hold strongly to this belief. No one deserves a place higher up in the queue than someone else. Everyone should be treated the same.

Not everyone thinks that way. They believe that if you are born in a certain place, or to a certain station in life, or have the right skin colour, or were male,  then you deserved better treatment then others. Thankfully not everyone is as extreme as Pauline Hanson but I think everyone in someway still separates the world into us and them. Even I, who have always been taught that everyone should be treated equally- I still secretly feel that dog people are better then cat people. There I've said it.

But this week something happened where everyone is treated the same. The equinox happened and suddenly for one day at least, everyone shared in equal amounts of daylight and darkness. It happens twice a year. For us in Australia it means longer days and warmer weather lies ahead. For those in Canada it means the long dark winter is getting ever near. But for one day, everybody around the world is treated exactly the same.

Maybe that is a lesson for us. We spend too much time differentiating ourselves one from another. Maybe we can be like the sun on the equinox giving equal light and dark to everyone. We don't need to view the world in terms of us and them. Maybe cat people are ok.  Blessings.

 

Device or "de" vice

Many years back, I watched the movie Apollo 13. And I was shocked to see how primitive the technology looked. As I understand it, the computers on board the spacecraft had much less memory then our average cell phone of today. Down on earth, the "computers" that helped to run the mission had much more in common with electric typewriters then with the average lap top of today. The computers as portrayed in the movie were heavy monstrosities that were very slow and were so expensive that no one ever thought that we would have personal computers, cell phones, iPads everywhere.  So much has changed since 1969.

I have had computers for 30 years now. The changes have been immense. My first computer was an Atari 130XE. It quite amazed me. With its 128 kilobytes of Ram, it seemed so modern. Each time I wanted to make a document, I would have to load the programme in to the 5.25 inch floppy drive (that's 13.3 cm floppy drive), wait 10 minutes as I heard the programme load, then take out that disk, insert a data disk, wait a few minutes more and then finally I would get to work on my document. Then it would take another five to ten minutes to save the file once I was finished. If I wanted to use a different programme, I would have to insert another disk and wait another 10 minutes for it to boot up. Now, I complain that it takes two minutes for my computer to boot up and do everything that I need to do and that 500 billion bytes of information is not quite enough.

I know that I am a technology nerd. No I would not be able to dismantle and reconstruct a computer, but my electronic devices are part of my life. I store my photos on them. I store my music. I keep my appointments on my devices. I hardly remember anybody's telephone number anymore because they are stored in my contacts. I work from my computer. I reach an audience blog from three different continents because of my computer. I play games on my computer. Without my devices, I would feel lost.

But I was quite shocked that a tv report said that the average child spends 21 hours a week glued to their electronics. Considering there are 168 hours a week, that is 1/8 of their life. And if they sleep just 8 hours a night- that means that 21 hours out of their 112 hours of awake time is spend on games and social networking. That is just mind boggling. Parents now threaten children with loss of electronics time whereas in my day it may have been loss of tv privileges or being sent to your room.

I do not want to go back to a world where everything is done with pen and paper. Oh sure thanks to good education, I can still add, subtract, multiply and divide accurately and quickly. But it is so much easier with a machine. My handwriting has always been indecipherable and slow. Using a keyboard is so much easier. The ability to connect with others is so much easier now then it was before. But I don't think it is right to live life tethered to a machine, especially when you are young and have so much of the world to explore. Blessings

Not a game

Parliament opened up this week in Canberra. After the last federal election, this was the first time for the re-elected and newly elected people to meet in the house. It was a rowdy affair. Members of political parties from all political stripes were trying to prove that they were better than the other parties. There was a lot of name calling, a lot of heckling, a lot of jeering. I can't say that much will get done in this first 27 sitting days of parliament, other than trying to outdo each other who can get the best jab in and who gets the most headlines belittling their opponent.

This seems to be the way with politics right now. Too often we vote against someone rather then truly voting for someone because we support their policies. It is more about keeping some people out of office rather than keeping some people in office.

It is sad really. I think most politicians get involved in politics in the first place to make a difference. I know I will disagree with many of them on their views, but I think that each politician really does get into that profession because they believe that they are doing the best thing for their city, their state or province, or their country. They may have diametrically opposed views on what is the best thing- but still they do hold common welfare as their primary goal- at least in the beginning of their careers. Then sadly, very quickly, the primary goal of the politician changes from doing the best for society to being re-elected. In order to be re-elected, they need to prove that they are the best person for the job and not someone else. And so very soon after politicians are elected to office their prime motivation moves from helping others to besting their opponents at all costs. Hence the heckling and name calling that we see in parliament and the like.

 It is not a good way to be motivated. In life, someone who has as their prime motivation making themselves better at the expense of others has a low sense of self worth at best to a horribly vindictive and cruel character at worst. Psychologists would not call this a healthy way to view the world. If I were to apply the golden rule, I would see that I suffer when another suffers. I am built up when others are built up. My self worth is healthy only when it allows the self worth of others to increase. If my sense of self worth is unhealthy, then it will be based upon how much I can put down others.

I am not naive enough to think that everything will be wonderful if the politicians and the like just stop the name calling and decide to work together. There will always be debates. There will always be people who are forgotten by society. There will still be hundreds whose cries are not heard. There will still be those who are smug enough to believe that they are better than those who disagree with them. But just imagine, if we put less energy into the name calling, the one up man/woman ship, less energy into the game of politics and the keeping ahead of the Joneses. What might happen then? Maybe there would be a bit more assistance for the poor, a bit more working together to finding solution to problems rather than placing blame on those who are on the other side of the house. Maybe things might be just a bit nicer. Blessings.

Safety in numbers

A few weeks ago I was at a book study. A young woman said that they no longer felt safe in our world. What with so much news about crime and extremist violence happening in our world, this woman has begun to fear the world. Oh she is fine with people she knows. But she has observed that she can't always trust strangers so she has begun to fear the world.

In some ways I can understand her fears. Crimes do happen. Acts of extremist violence happen as well. With the television and internet, we can watch stories about crime and violence 24 hours a day if we want to and it does frighten me that such events can happen.

But in other ways, I can't imagine her fears. You see the vast majority of people that I have met, and they have been people from all races, creeds, religions, and countries are quite decent. Oh sure no one is perfect, but most people I would deem as being good people. They are concerned mostly about the well being of their families and their neighbourhoods. They don't consider hurting others to be a good thing to do. Yes there are a few who for some reason commit crimes or do horrible acts of violence. But considering there are 7 billion people in the world, they are a tiny fraction of a percentage of all people. Thank goodness.

However, that doesn't mean that we can become complacent and think that acts of violence and crime can't happen here. Because they do. No I am not advocating spying on and reporting on neighbours like a recent television ad campaign suggested we do in order to prevent terrorism. Doing that strikes me as behaviour that belonged in the Third Reich not the 21st century. But we are foolish to think it can't happen to me.

Take cyber crime for instance. I check my spam folder every few days because occasional emails from Synod or Presbytery end up in that folder. I am not sure why it happens but it does. In amongst the few good emails that I find there, I always have a few messages from people, usually childless African widows who are dying of cancer and want to give me their riches in order that I might share some with charity and benefit my family as well. If I can send them a blank cheque, they will deposit the money right into my account. I always laugh when I receive these emails. Who would be stupid enough to fall for this? No one is going to give me money for nothing. And if a person wants their money to go to charity, then I think they can make such donations themselves. They don't need me to do it.

But cyber criminals are getting smarter each day. Last week several churches and Uniting church ministers, myself included, were victims of some cyber criminals. Our names and contacts as well as the names and contacts of local church treasurers and secretaries had been mistakenly published on to a publicweb site. The crooks used this information to try to extort money by setting up fake email addresses and sending out emails saying a purchase has been made and that immediate payment must be sent. The fact that I have spam filters, my own good personal malarky detector, and internet security did not matter. The cyber criminals were able to find a way.

Such an incident did bother me. How much information is out there about us that could fall into the wrong hands? How could they do this to a church and especially my church? And what if the criminal used this information to take out a credit card or run up bills in my name. I vowed to do whatever I can to be vigilant. But I still trust others. I still believe that people are by far and away very good. I still think there are just a few bad apples out there but I refuse to live by fear.  Blessings.

Interdependence

In June, we held a book study here at the church on Diana Butler Bass' book, Grounded.  This month we are studying the same book in the Lower North Shore Zone of the Uniting Church. In one of the chapters it spends a lot of the time talking about Interdependence. Basically the concept is this, all life on this planet is dependent upon all living creatures and plants working together to make up a healthy ecosystem. If one species is threatened, that could topple the whole food chain. Climate change, over hunting, pollution all threaten the health of our world. Even though we humans are rather adaptable to variable climates and diets, we are still dependent on a healthy world to give us life. Too many changes threaten our very life as well.

In one way, this interdependence is hard for us to understand. For we as a species are bound to compare ourselves to others. We are prone to see problems as thankfully being over there and not here. For instance, each year surveys are published as to what countries are the best to live in. I take solace in the fact that the two countries in which I have lived always seem to rate in the top 5 most liveable countries. Other than short visits to a couple of developing countries, I don't know what it is like to live in countries on the bottom part of the list. Their reality seems so far from mine. It would be easy for me to say thank goodness I live in Australia or Canada and not somewhere else. It would be easy for me to think only of my well being and not that of others.

However, such local gazing is wrong. A North America First Nations version of the golden rule tell us that when one person suffers then we all suffer. How can this be you might say? I live in one of the top suburbs, in one of the best cities, in one of the globe's most liveable countries. I have won the lottery of life haven't I? Well in one way, yes you have. I am lucky to live where I do and to have had the opportunities that I have had, when so many people "over there" suffer.

Their suffering does effect me though. Diseases spring up in countries where there are not proper medical facilities. In our global world a single traveller can spread a disease to many different countries alarmingly quickly. Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking have been two of the greatest minds of the past 100 years. Yet how man other brilliant minds have been unable to produce theories that would benefit humanity because there was no one to teach them to read in their country. We might have our favourite authors who have inspired us, yet how many other great voices have been silenced because they live in a poor village, in a destitute country miles away from here. I suffer then because others face the hardship of war, because others are refugees, because others are illiterate, because others have no medical facilities. I suffer because I do not benefit from the rich gifts that so many people could give, but circumstances mean that they cannot share.

With this I am not suggesting that we give up everything and live just like the rest of the world. I like my computer, living in a city full of museums, concert halls, sports stadiums, hospitals, libraries, and safe drinking water. I would like to keep them thank you very much. However, maybe I need to be more concerned about my brothers and sisters around the world and how they are doing. My life would benefit if they had food to eat, safe water to drink, could go to school, had access to medical care.

In the same way, my life depends on the health of the ecosystems of this planet. I need to do what is necessary to ensure that all parts of the food chain, the oceans, the air, the fertile ground is healthy. I need to do my little part to cut pollution, to take only what I need, and to promote healthy living. My life depends on it. Blessings.

Let the games begin

On Saturday morning, Sydney time, the Olympic games began in Rio de Janeiro. The opening ceremonies are something that I always enjoy watching. Oh there are the boring bits, I'll admit. The speeches go on and on. I do enjoy the music and dancing, celebrating the country's history, but sometimes that gets a little confused and you always wonder which parts of the country's history is being left out. However, my favourite part is the parade of nations especially the tiny countries that have little chance of winning a medal but are just so happy to be there. There is such joy and wonder as those athletes march by.

Now some people complain about the costs of the games. Surely the billions of dollars spent on the games in Rio could have been better used assisting the poor and increasing the social safety net in Brazil.  On this point, I can see some merit. The billions of dollars spent seems to be a lot of money for a 17 day party. Yes some things like improved transit and infrastructure improvements will be of benefit for Brazilians for years. But how many multi million dollar sports stadiums does a city need when so many live in dire poverty?

But despite all of the problems and the huge costs, there are things that the Olympics bring which you can't put a price tag on. Take for instance the picture of the South Korean and North Korean gymnasts taking a selfie. Despite 60 years of war, these two young women showed that maybe peace is possible. The same way during the opening ceremonies both Palestinians and Israelis marched into the stadium. Sixty eight years of being in conflict were set aside. The refugee team demonstrated to the world that hope can come out of the midst of great despair.

In one way, the games are very frivolous. I mean what does it matter that an athlete from one country is faster than an athlete from another country? What does it matter if China hears their national anthem played many times while India might not hear their anthem at all? Life won't change for the better because of this.

But in other ways, the Olympics gives us a glimpse of what we could be. All nations coming together. All nations putting aside differences and playing together. Maybe there are better, cheaper ways for this global unity to be achieved. But for right now, the Olympics is one of the few venues where we can catch a glimpse of what it means to be one global people. Blessings.

Great Expectations

The past few days, I was able to go on the presbytery minister's retreat. Having never been to one of their retreats before, I went into the event with low expectations. I guess, I didn't feel like I needed to go on a retreat right then. There were so many other things I could have been doing. I have a number of things on my to do list. Secondly, being an introvert, I wasn't all that keen to go away with many people I hardly knew. Despite the fact that I am in a "people" profession, and despite the fact that I meet strangers constantly as part of my job, being introduced to new people is still a nerve wracking experience for me. And I didn't really think I needed a break right now. Oh sure I have some holiday time built up. But I do good self care I thought. So why go on a retreat.

However, as soon as I got there, many of my fears were allayed. The strangers were not that difficult to meet. We had much in common. My to do list was full, but nothing was on it that needed to be done right now. And as I sat back and did some reflection, I came to realise that I did indeed need a few minutes to just slow down and be. My expectations for the event were more than exceeded and I came back rested and recharged.

Expectations. Sometimes we go to events and we have great expectations. We have anticipated what might happen and how that will make us feel. Sometimes we get what we anticipated or even an event exceeds our expectations. Many times though when we go in with high expectations, we get disappointed. Something didn't live up to expectations. It was not as good as you had hoped it would be. This leaves us disappointed and demoralised.

However, sometimes, we leave an event pleasantly surprised. Like my retreat, we come away with more than we had hoped for and this fills us with joy. Something you had dreaded doing becomes pleasurable. This is an unexpected joy that brightens our journey.

We are only human. We are bound to have certain predispositions towards things if for example, a friend likes or hates a movie, or if someone is kind to a relative or nasty to them. Sometimes our expectations are met. But other times we get disappointed or come away with a pleasant "aha" moment. I guess my learning is not to let my preconceived ideas ruin my experience of events. By nature, we are bound to be disappointed sometimes. However, we need to learn to treasure those pleasant surprises that we find on the way.  Blessings.

What to do when the news gets you down

The past 2 months have been very difficult weeks in the news. Between the Orlando massacre, the crazed truck driver in Nice who killed so many, the coup in Turkey, the election here in Australia, the Republican and Democratic conventions, the Brexit vote and change of Prime Ministers in the United Kingdom, it is enough to make your head spin. We have politicians getting elected on how much they can scare people. We have media outlets who are using crisis after crisis to garner ratings. All of the news seems bad, bad, bad.

What can one do in the midst of such a barrage of disaster stories? Well there are a few approaches. The first approach is to just adopt an attitude that things are going to hell in a handbasket approach. Things are just getting worse and worse and things were never so good as in the glory days. I have problems with this approach. First of all, the olden days were anything but glorious. There was no such things as human rights or labour rights. There were things such as slavery. Secondly, the world is going to hell in a handbasket approach fails to look at the good things that are happening right now. Yes there are many problems in the world right now, but people are still kind, do heroic deeds, go out of their way to help strangers, and make the world a better place to live. These good deeds may not get the same news coverage time, but they are still happen. Curmudgeons, who see the world through dark glasses and see the past as idyllic, miss the good of now and hope for the future.

A second approach might be to turn off all the news. We don't have to watch the news or read the papers anymore. We can, in this 500 channel universe, watch sitcoms or soap operas all day long. This is what I call the ostrich approach or the head in the sand approach. I have problems with this way of thinking as well. A strong part of my makeup means that I feel compassion for others. I want to cry when others cry. I ached when I heard about the devastating tsunami in 2004 or the horrible earthquake in Haiti in 2011. Turning off the news means that I won't be aware of the needs of my global brothers and sisters. So for me being an ostrich is not a good option.

In my life time many momentous things have happened, some good, some bad- the Viet Nam war, famine in India and Bangladesh, genocide in Rwanda and Burundi, wars in the Gulf States, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the end of Apartheid, and even a few Grey Cup wins for the Saskatchewan Roughriders (my Canadian Football team). But my grandfather in his 91 years in the planet faced many tumultuous and wonderful events as well- WWI and WWII, the great depression, women getting the vote, the Hindenberg, the Titanic, the flight of the Wright brothers, and the invention of antibiotics. I don't think his history is any less topsy turvy then mine, but the difference is that now I get to see it in my living room 24/7 and with constant commentary. History has its dull moments and times when everything happens all at once. But in 100 years from now, who knows what things history will remember. To some future curmudgeons in the year 2116, today may seem like a peaceful interlude when everything was wonderful. And I imagine that there will be future ostriches who just wish that the news of their day would just go away.

Everyone counts

Have you ever noticed that our newscasts value some lives more than others. Last week we listened in horror to the news that someone with a truck and guns murdered 84 people in Nice. It is horrible. How could this have happened? One quarter of the nightly newscast was dedicated to this story. During the past year, other such attacks have been major news stories: Paris, Brussels, and Orlando to name a few. But googling a list of other attacks this year, it was quite frightening to realise that there are so many other places that have suffered such attrocities. Oh some I had heard mention of in the news: the attacks in Jakarta, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, but countless other places have had barely a mention in the news Iraq, Syria, Egypt, India, Bangladesh, Somalia, and Nigeria to name a few. Why is it that some places seem so important, while others get barely a mention?

I am also amazed at how some people get such news coverage, while other people get ignored. Pauline Hanson, the senator elect, has tv cameras flocking to her door to catch her controversial statements. Donald Trump is able to make the news with one bombastic statement after another. But other politicians who work very hard for their constituents are never mentioned. Certain sports figures, like Jarryd Haynes, get almost daily coverage in the news (whether they are winning or not) while other athletes get totally ignored. One missing child gets a 10 minute story on the newscast while another missing child does not get mentioned for weeks. Why are some newsmakers such press darlings, while other news stories get no mention at all?

It seems to me we have forgotten. All lives are important. Not just some. But it is obvious from the fact that several action groups have had to call society into account and remind us that we are not a society of equality that we believe that we are.  Movements like Black Lives Matter, It Gets Better Project, the Aboriginal and Torres Island Straight Congress, and countless others all help to remind us that we have so much further to come in order that all lives are treated with the same value.

Now don't get me wrong. I do mourn for the lives of all those who were killed in Nice, 9/11, and in Paris. Their deaths are a great tragedy. I also mourn for those who were killed in other extremist attacks that barely rated a mention on our news (the people of Dhaka, Medina, Turkey, and Indonesia).  Their deaths weigh on me as well. I cry for the mother who's face is on the news talking about her missing daughter. I also cry for other parents who have missing children but the news seems to forget them. I do marvel at anyone who gives of their time and serves in politics, including those back benchers who just quietly do their jobs while others are in the limelight. Finally, I marvel at the gifts of all athletes, even the ones who finish well back in the race. Everyone is important.

We live in a world of sound bites. We have become a society obsessed with who can grab the limelight and hold our attention the longest. Both Donald Trump and Pauline Hanson know this. But we need to remind ourselves that for every camera hog, there are millions of other important stories that go untold. For every headline, there are countless other stories that have not been told. For every feature story on a politician or a sports champion, there are thousands of other people who work just as hard who go unnoticed. We need to look beyond the sound bites and the media darlings though and have compassion for all not just for some. Blessings.

What will you be remembered for?

A question that I have asked congregations when I have done consulting work is how the congregation is known in the wider community. What is their reputation? What would Joe or Joan Blow from the neighbourhood say is this congregation's greatest asset that they share with a community? Too often congregational members do not know how to answer this question. Or they will immediately jump to the easy conclusion that the community would miss the rental space that the church has to offer. However when I push them and say what spiritual offerings would the community miss if the church was no longer there or when I say that any community centre could be doing the same thing, many congregants seem dumbfounded. What do we have to offer?

Often times, though, when I research the congregations, I discover that they do many things for the community that they take for granted. Supporting community initiatives like taking donations for refugees, offering classes for congregants and community members alike, going to meetings about various social causes and neighbourhood concerns, offering help to the poor and needy, being a place where people can come and seek advice and find solace. Churches do this work and keep quiet about it. We in the church forget that we do contribute more than space to the neighbourhood; we provide a service. We are very shy about sharing the good news of the work that we do.

Yes there are exceptions to this understating of our case. Some congregations are all to willing to broadcast the good work that they do. Other congregations do a form of outreach ministry well for so long, that they forget that there are other needs in the community. But from what I have seen, many churches do many good works quietly and do not share this good news with anyone.

The same goes for people I think. Yes there are those who overstate the amount of help that they give to others. But most people do very little to share the good news that they are trying to make some piece of the world a better place. I think this is to our detriment. Sometimes the world can seem to be as Jacob Marley states in Dicken's, A Christmas Carol, a hard place. But if I come to understand that Mary does work with refugees, Sam supports famine victims in Africa, Nancy works with people who are depressed, and Peter assists street people, then maybe I can see light in the darkness. Just like those countless churches that quietly do so much good work, we need to share the news of the quiet work we do. Then maybe our world will seem to be a kinder place. Blessings.