THE PARISH CHURCH FOR LYTHAM

Last Updated 01/05/2010 17:55:27

A WASTE OF TIME?

I bumped into some friends today while shopping. I complimented them on how well they both looked. They recounted how golf, trips to the gym and swimming keeps them healthy.

I know I need to keep healthy just like anyone else but I can’t play golf. I tried. It was a disaster. I drove off the first tee and hit the ball so hard, it vanished from sight. Or so I thought. While I dreamt of a hole in one, my golfing partner pointed out to me that my ball had been neatly deposited in the undergrowth behind us. For the ball to go backwards when I had put such effort into hitting it as far as I could forwards, I realised that God was trying to tell me something. The message read, ‘Give up golf’.

I have been a member of a gym in the past. There aren’t many who can say they shared a jacuzzi with the wrestler ‘Big Daddy’. In fact, in this gym, no-one did. There wasn’t room. But he was a member of the same club although Shirley Crabtree – his real name – didn’t like chatting too much when he was trying to relax. I can understand that. But you can only spend so much time sitting still while surrounded by bubbles or looking at your reflection walking nowhere on a treadmill while becoming extremely hot and tired in the process. Besides, having had major surgery in the past I cannot use most of the equipment you find in a gym. If I did, the sound of slipping discs cascading down my spine would serenade the other gym members rather than a symphony of sleek, well-oiled joints and muscles in harmony heading towards Olympic gold.

I used to swim regularly but after a while I discovered that doing endless lengths of breast stroke was making me physically deformed. My chest looked like a bird’s. And besides, I found endlessly drying in between my toes extremely tedious. I am not as aware of this after a bath or after cycling. I don’t know why. I suppose it has something to do with being immersed in water for considerable lengths of time and then having to have a shower as well. I just came to realise that there are more important things to do with your life. Life’s too short to spend masses of time drying in between your toes. I should be doing something more helpful or purposeful with my life.

Like the other man I met today. He has an amazing occupation. Some people think he inflicts pain on them. But he doesn’t. He stops their pain. I was in pain. The pain had begun on Saturday and this was Monday. But he was incredibly helpful. Gentle and considerate. And he stopped my pain. I was so grateful, I couldn’t thank him enough. Although as a dentist, he warned me there is a lot of work yet to be done which might on occasions be uncomfortable for a while. But think about it. He has a job in which he stops people’s pain. How wonderful.

While doctors, nurses, dentists and many other health care professionals do this as part of their work and service of others, we are all given opportunities to stop or at least reduce someone else’s pain from time to time. There’s a story that comes early on in the ministry of Jesus where he heals a paralysed man on the Sabbath, the day of rest, at a time when such healing was considered to be work and was therefore banned by the religious authorities (Matthew 9.2-8). The ordinary people who saw this healing weren’t just impressed, they ‘glorified God’ because – and this is the fascinating part of the story – ‘he had given such authority to human beings’. This amazing statement forms the final sentence of the story. Most people miss its massive significance. The people didn’t glorify God because he had given such authority to Jesus, as we might expect. They glorified God because he had given such authority to us. Watching Jesus heal the paralysed man on the Sabbath had made them realise that we are free to do whatever it takes to ease the pain of others so that they can get on with their lives. Whatever it takes. No excuses. Even the most immovable structured must not get in the way such as religion, finance or politics. No leaving it to someone else to sort out. The paralytic man had four friends who took him to Jesus. We, too, can share the pain of others so that we can bear them into the healing presence of God. It’s not about magic but faith. This isn’t a waste of time.

Andrew.

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