Priests and Privilege

I wonder how many people there are out there who think that the possession of a piece of plastic around the neck and the prefix 'Revd' make for a privileged class of people?

I wonder if they also realise just how right they are if they think that and also wonder if they realise that they are more than likely right for all the wrong reasons?

The reality is that privilege means that one gets invited to things that others generally don't as what appears to be a matter of habit and as a mark of who the person is. After all, if you're one of those suitably enobled people you get invited to stuff all the time - this is indeed privilege and preferment.

If you're one of those rare people who have won a medal in some major sporting arena, or perhaps in some major arena of conflict then you will also get yourself invited to things - So if you're Mo Farrar of Johnson Beharry VC, you can expect those invitations to select gatherings and amazing functions and happenings to fall through the letterbox all the time I I guess.

But if you think that's the all the case because you have that wonderful 'Revd' sellotaped to your business card then you have got the wrong sort of privilege in mind; after all, I haven't been invited to much in the way of gala functions, state balls, celebrity-filled junkets or the like in all of my time doing the job.

BUT - We are indeed privileged, and it goes like this:

I have been privileged to sit by the bed of a person who is departing this life and have had the privilege of helping their last moments in this world have shape, meaning and within the pain - a dignity.

I have been privileged to sit with those who have lost a loved one and help them come to terms with their loss, finding meaning, reason, hope and solace in the situation before them. Sometimes I have been able to bring a perspective of the person's life and to see within the haphazard jumble of life's events a consistency and qualities that closeness to them has previously obscured.

I have been privileged, as I was today, to find myself in a crematorium (or at a graveside) and, in the company of the deceased and their loved ones find before us someone whose life was to be not only celebrated but also given thanks for - even when they have left earlier than my 87 year average!

I have been privileged to celebrate life coming into the world and to give thanks for it in blessing and baptism services - often at times when those bringing the child knew only that they wanted to have God involved even when they didn't understand fully what that might mean (another privilege as I get to explain guilt, love, grace, sacrifice and relationship as found in Jesus, the Christ, and the cross).

I am privileged to have eaten out with the homeless on many occasions, sharing a sandwich and a brew as I find out who the image of the invisible God is made visible in!

I am privileged to be invited to dinners, but as there's no such thing as a free meal, that comes with saying grace (another privilege which I'd pay for - and with mess dinners - I do!).

The list could go on for a lot longer (are you still awake?) but I'll stop here (or shall I mention weddings, school assemblies, chaplaincies, marriage counselling, prayer ministry, preaching, church, worship and the rest? No, thought not ;-) ).

Suffice to say I am more privileged than perhaps many of you out there might think.

Pax

Beginning and End (and in between)

Many a time I have sat by the bed of someone who was soon to leave this world of ours and been challenged by the family members who clung so hard to them.

Many a time I have urged people to let go of their struggles with others and choose a path of peaceful coexistence, even when it means moving away from them.

Many a time I have sat with, and prayed for, couples as they come to terms with the loss of a baby.

Often in these encounters I find myself drawn back to the words of Psalm 139 and the strength, comfort and direction that is found in this piece and the thoughts it contains.

Psalm 139

Lord, there's nothing you don't know about me: Beginning to end and all that's in between.

You know my thoughts, my deeds and more besides.

You know where I've been, what I've seen and what I'm going to as well.

You know what I've said before I say it (and how you wish I wouldn't).

Where can I go that you're not?

How can I avoid your gaze?

No matter where, or how, I can't give you the slip.

Darkness hides me from men, but not from you;

Holes in the ground or high in the peaks and there I am alone, except for you!

Morning, noon and night; 

Seven by twenty-four by three sixty-five - there you are alongside me!

Before my first scan you saw me and knew me,

My whole life story; triumphs and sadness, challenges and trials,

There they were, all my choices (not sadly yours), all my deeds!

From the womb to the tomb (and beyond) as I grew and blossomed,

Blossomed and decayed.

Your words, You hopes, Your love;

Surrounding and a finger tip away.

Would that perhaps I had realised this and acted better;

Made the right choices; done the right thing; been the better man!

If only you'd have got rid of the really wicked people,

Stopped the bloodshed, stayed the wars, protected the innocent;

If only you'd change your mind and act on the earth once again,

Forgot the rainbow and down down and dirty with the down and dirty people!

How I wish you'd check me out and see what bits of me are wrong.

What thoughts, deeds and plans deny you and damage us both,

And those around me too!

Find them and work on them with me,

For you doing it without me would mean nothing, would it?

Make me the man I can be, should be, rather than the man I am;

And wait for me with everlasting life at the journeys end.                                   ©VicVDB2013

Sunday Worship - Christmas 1

Here we are on the sixth day of Christmas and we are not only celebrating Christ's birth in Bethlehem (and His resurrection some thirty odd years later) but looking towards His second coming and best of all, singing carols!

Here is one of my favourites (yes, we are singing it today):