At the Airport

"Airport" CC BY-SA 2.0 by Jorge Díaz. Flickr.

I recently had the great privilege of going through an airport. (That’s not sarcasm; as much as we are hearing about the challenges in airports these days, I fully recognise that the ability to travel somewhere is a special privilege.)

And in airports, we see a microcosm of our best and worse selves…

The 'worse' parts I’m intentionally choosing not to write about: we all know that society seems to be especially angry and cantankerous these days.
But the best parts: those I want to highlight.
Because I think the world could use some positivity!

Like the people standing in line who entertained another family’s wiggling toddler when the mom looked to be at the end of her rope.

Or the person who, having missed their flight and been rebooked on a *much* later flight, offered to buy the ticketing agent a coffee – as they recognised they were having a bad day too.

Or the (unrelated) people who helped translate some directions to minimise confusion at the baggage screening area.

Or the tall traveler who helped the short traveler to get their carry-on stowed in the overhead bin.

Or the kindly woman who asked the crying traveller if they were OK, and could she help.

Or the people who made extra effort to say please and thank-you, excuse me and sorry; who offered visible smiles behind the masks.

Or a hundred other small things that happened, that helped make the day better.

It doesn’t take much; and it doesn’t have to be at an airport.
But in focusing on the small things that make the world better, the angry moments seem to take less of a hold in our hearts and our experiences – and by doing so, we don’t allow that negativity to normalise and become dominant.

So while an airport can bring our best or our worst, our everyday can bring these out as well. And while it’s easy to get caught up in the negativity, it can also be easy to encourage ourselves and others into a cycle of positivity too.

Eph 4.29: Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.

Flowing Through

A friend and I are working on a writing project – we’ve been bouncing ideas off each other for some time, and we now have dedicated time each week to get together for 2 hours of work. We’re using a shared source, so we sit on opposite sides of the table and type on our own devices on the same document. 

Being realistic about our lives and work, we set ourselves a monthly goal. The fluidity of our work means we can meet our goal in one session, or we may not meet our goal that month. We are being gentle with ourselves in the process; we know that we are doing the best we can without formalised external deadlines.

Of course, some weeks, life gets in the way and we don’t get together to work on it – and that’s okay.

And other weeks, we use the safe space we have with each other to seek advice, share concerns, generally function as helpful colleagues. We don’t get the writing done – and that’s okay.

Some weeks, we are productive, discussing and challenging and explaining and wordsmithing and typing (and correcting each other’s typos!). We have fun – and that’s okay.

And then there are some weeks when the words just flow. Something in us lines up, and the words pour out of us, through our keyboards – and that’s okay!

What has been exhilarating is the shared space, and the acceptance of working through our own cycles and rhythms, and the encouragement as we work towards a common goal. It’s empowering to work with someone trusted, to engage in the use of our gifts (we’re both word-nerds and writers). And when it flows (sometimes faster than our fingers can keep up) – it is empowering not just to see an increased word count, but to reflect on where that exuberance has come from.

We fully recognise that this project will need editing; we expect it will change – but we are being fulfilled by the experience of putting our thoughts to paper in meaningful and organised ways.

But we also know what a gift it is to use our skills and energy in ways that are meaningful now, and hopefully in the future.

And it is an invitation for us all: to find safe space, or to create it; in order that what we are receiving from the ever-excited Spirit of God may blow into us and flow through us.

So what’s flowing through you today?

Blessed and Blessing

One of the newer ministries in our community is prayer shawls: a small shawl or lap blanket that have been knitted or crocheted by members of the community. These are created with love and with intentional prayer; every stitch is a prayer.

The idea behind them is to extend the warmth and comfort of God and the church, to those who might benefit and appreciate a tangible reminder of their faith community. They offer the grace of being community to those who are ill or infirm, experiencing loneliness or difficulty, or in celebration of a major event.

Before they are distributed, we bring them to the church, and as part of the offering, the shawls are brought to the altar and God’s blessing is requested to be upon the shawls and those who will receive them.

Last Sunday was the first such blessing, and what a blessing it was.

For as the shawls were placed on the altar, the sun came out and shone through the stained glass windows. The refracted light brought spots of colour to the shawls, as though God was directly blessing these shawls.

I may have been the only one to witness these colours, but what a gift it was: for what is intended to be blessed continues to be a blessing. I think blessings are like that: they extend grace, they remind us of holiness, they invite us to continue the trend.

We, as people of faith, know that we are blessed. What a great reminder that we, as people of faith, are meant to also be agents of blessing.

Checking the Oil

For centuries the Church has operated like a well-oiled machine, but the oil is running low and the machine is running down. —Ilia Delio

The analogous message that churches are hearing everywhere is that it’s time to attend to the oil. And, if we’re realistic, to do a full analytic assessment of the machine itself.

We’re hearing doom and gloom stories about the future of the church – but that is focused on numerical assessment of an institution. The check-oil light.

This analogy might equally apply to our own spirituality: are we running on fumes, or unaware of rust, or low on oil?

Unless we do our own self-assessment, we won’t know.

This is the difference between self-care and self-maintenance.

Maintenance is the minimum required to get by. Care is the above-the-norm of giving, to ensure that our output is at ultimate performance.

Maintenance of self can include healthy food (nourishment), good grooming (physical needs), exercise (for body, mind, and spirit), interesting reading/viewing, showing up on Sundays.

Care of self goes beyond: it’s healthy nourishment but also willingness to try new meals; it’s our physical needs that extend beyond regular care, it’s exercise in ways that challenge and grow, it’s going outside our comfort zone, it’s embracing the enhancement and advancement that’s possible.

Our self-care is a growth mindset, rather than a good-enough mindset.

Not that good-enough isn’t good-enough; but as creatures of an amazing God, we (individually and corporately) are designed for constant increase in our spiritual experiences.

COVID’s lockdowns showed us that we’ve been in maintenance mode for a long time – when we couldn’t just do what we’ve always done. And as we emerge into the post-lockdown era, as the world has changed around us, we need to face the reality that our good-enough maintenance really isn’t the expression of church that God is calling us to be.

These comments are not criticisms; they come from a renewed awareness of our lack of awareness. And this is not just in the church: throughout society we’re starting to re-engage with activities and people and groupings with a different intentionality than what we did before.

Our challenge (and Pentecost is a perfect time for it!) is to consider our machine – as spiritual beings, as faith-filled families, as the church (community and institution) – and be honest about how to move forward into the future, maintaining AND caring for ourselves.