Its been a while since I wrote a blog. Amongst many other reasons, one of things that stopped me was a holiday. A week spent in a charming part of Wales with my family, accompanied by sheep (lots of them), by falling water (falling from the sky and in some of the most spectacular waterfalls around), and of course, by steam trains.
Rather a lot of our holiday was spent riding on, looking at, waving to steam trains. Well, I do have two train mad sons, and I can admit to being something of a steam-railway geek myself. And in fact, my wife isn't far behind in the steam-train geek stakes either.... and we were staying in a cottage just 2 mins walk from one of the Stations on the Talyllyn Railway - so not surprisingly we spent a lot of time there...
The railway itself is delightful - it travels from the coast up into the mountains, and in the process crosses some fantastic countryside and scenary. But most interesting for me is that the railway is run almost entirely by volunteer members - all the drivers, firemen guards, station-masters, blockmen (that's "signalmen" on most railways) and even their very own Thin Controller are volunteers, giving incredibly generously of their time, effort, and money to keep the railway operating in a manner as close to its original Victorian conditions as possible. And as whole, these volunteers are fantastic. They are doing what they love, yes, but doing it in such a way as to be inclusive, welcoming, helpful and friendly to the visitors - doing it in such a way as to share their love of the railway, of the locomotives and the rolling stock, of the stations and the route, with those who come to share. Watching these disparate individuals, from all walks of life, coming together, working together, sharing and having fun with each other and with the paying visitors, you could see a real sense of community - and that, more than anything else, is what is slowly but surely converting my wife and I into real steam-railway geeks!
And as I watched, I couldn't help compare the volunteers I saw with the many fantastic volunteers who give so selflessley to the church I'm part of, who work together, in community, to spead the good news they have found, to welcome, to help, to include those currently outside the community of the church - those who see the church first and foremost as their family, the place they are called to be. And I am proud to be one of them - to be in the place, in the community that God wants me to be in, even when its difficult.
Because being a community is difficult. Whether its a community of railway volunteers, or a community of believers, living and working closely together is a challenge. Whilst we were in Wales, I overheard conversations between volunteers - conversations about budget and finances, conversations about "leadership issues", conversations about "the way things used to be" - conversations which I hear, day in, day out, as I go about the business of being part of a church. The kind of conversations which exasperate, which frustrate, which make me want to stamp my feet, throw my toys out of the pram, and disappear into the sunset, never more to have anything to do with those people.
But I can't, because this is where God has placed me, and this is where he has placed all those other wonderful, frustrating, confusing, helpful, painful, beautiful, lovely people. People who he loves, just as they are. Maybe there are times when I feel I can't live with them, but if He, the One who knows them better than they knows themselves can not just live with them, he can love them enough to die for them, who am I to question his choice?
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