Dear Church,
It seems a number of people could relate to Sunday’s wilderness metaphor!
“But,” one said to me, “While I was thinking about how much I feel like I’m in the wilderness at the moment, I looked up and saw people – people in front of me and behind me and beside me – who all know what I am going through and who care. I am not alone in the wilderness.”
“I am not alone in the wilderness.”
I hope you also know that – that there are people around you who care! It is one of the great things about being part of a church (when the church is working well), and it is definitely one of the great reasons for joining a small group (we are highlighting our small groups currently)! Steve and I are also happy to have a conversation – and the Pastoral Care Team (Peter Churcher, Lucy Gledhill, Meryl Jackson, Kathy Joyce, Janelle Lamont and Rudy Prawoto) are also happy to have a chat. (If you are interested in finding out more about the Pastoral Care Team, please speak to me!)
This caring, inclusive community is – we hope and pray – an incarnation of our God who never leaves or forsakes us. (Our departing university students were well warned on Sunday!) As Psalm 139:9-10 says, “If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast.”
However (this is a shameless promotion!) there is a link between knowing you are not alone in the wilderness – and our working bee this Saturday (8 Feb) 8am to 12pm. (Come anytime during that time to help clean the church and hall. Yummy morning tea will be provided!)
The link is the word ‘bee’. According to Wikipedia:
The origin of the word bee in this sense is debated. Because it describes people working together in a social group, a common belief is that it derives from the insect of the same name and similar social behaviour. This derivation appears in, for example, the Oxford English Dictionary. Other dictionaries, however, regard this as a false etymology, and suggest that the word comes from dialectal ‘been’ or ‘bean’ (meaning ‘help given by neighbours’), derived in turn from Middle English ‘bene’ (meaning ‘prayer’, ‘boon’ and ‘extra service by a tenant to his lord’).
So it’s not a working bee, but a working bean! 😊 Help given by a neighbour! I like that! It is that kind of help that sustains us during the wilderness times in our lives. It is that kind of help that is seen in big, amazing events – like Brisbane’s amazing ‘mud army’ after the 2011 floods (shown here) and our own humble ‘help your neighbour’ day this Saturday coming! And it is what we want to be known for (and why we are cleaning the Community Centre, so it welcomes our community in!) as the people who ‘help their neighbours’!
Grace be with you,
Belinda