Tought for the Week : Clocks

This weekend the clocks go back an hour.  I smile every year as some of our congregation often turn up an hour earlier for the Sunday morning service, or in the summer with a perplexed look meet us leaving the chapel because they’re an hour late!    In the words of Bob Dylan ‘Times they are a changing!’ and that’s true this weekend.

The Bible, however, speaks of time in a much more personal way.  A ‘time’ for every purpose with even more emphasis on the Christian virtue of loving our neighbour. From our childhood we were encouraged not to waste time and I still have my school autograph book where Miss Henshaw my first teacher in Lakefield wrote wisely. ‘When you’ve something to do and it’s hard to begin it, start straight away and don’t waste a minute’ Sound advice – which I must admit I have not always kept!

For those who are elderly and living on their own winter can be the most vulnerable time of the year.   That’s why keeping an eye on such neighbours, especially those who live on their own can make all the difference.   Most weeks we not only welcome the homeless to our ‘Soup station’ at Greenfield but elderly guests who regularly come in for a couple of hours of friendship and care.  It’s amazing to read this week that 220,000 older people in Wales claim to have felt lonely in later life while 100,000 people aged 65 and over speak to only three or fewer people in any week.  330,000 older people in Wales claim a few minutes of conversation would make a huge difference to their lives.  These statistics from ‘Age Cymru’ are a challenge to us. Their ‘befriending’ scheme is making a real difference in the lives of those who are living in such isolation – Now that would be good use of our time!

Jesus always showed care and compassion to the lonely and the lost.  He began a conversation with a lonely woman at the well of Samaria. He invited himself to the house of Zacchaeus, a cheating tax collector hated and rejected by all, while a lonely widow of Nain had her son restored to her.  Jesus’ earthly ministry lasted just three years and yet so many lives where changed because he took time to love and care. This winter, we too can make a difference when we decide that when it comes to helping those in need we ‘start straight away and don’t waste a minute’ -Thanks Miss Henshaw!