Saturday 18 July 2015

Psalm: Psalm 45

Background

Today's reading is a glorious mix of the transcendent and theutterly mundane. The author flits with ease from the glory ofwinning the crown of righteousness to matters of petty dispute andlost property. Perhaps it's an apt representation of the life of aminister - trying to keep your eyes focused on Christ, seeking todraw others into his presence, but often getting tied up withadmin, distracted by the humdrum.

For many in ministry - lay and ordained - the mundanities ofchurch life can be a source of serious frustration: "I didn't trainto be a local preacher/ get ordained/ respond to God's call so thatI could spend my evenings sitting in committees!" We find ourselveslumbered with things that are perhaps outside our skill sets, thatfeel peripheral to 'real mission' - and certainly a long way fromwhere our passion lies.

And yet, the little things matter - somehow, somewhere, tosomeone.

"If you love Jesus Christ, you will care about drains," saidArchbishop Justin Welby at the Think Pray Vote Conference in February thisyear, alluding to a remark attributed to the 19th-century slumpriest Robert Dolling.

The little things can be far more significant than we realise.All of life can be sacred. And how we go about tackling those lessexciting challenges of the role to which we've been called canspeak volumes about our attitudes and our priorities. If we displayimpatience, ingratitude - or worse - disinterest at the 'minor'tasks that demand our attention, we miss an opportunity to join Godin the mission opportunity that lies before us.

In one of my favourite of the late Sir Terry Pratchett's books,The Wee Free Men, the protagonist Tiffany Aching is told, "Openyour eyes, and then open your eyes again." And it is in taking thisadvice, opening her eyes to what is truly going on in the worldaround her, down to the tiniest blade of grass - this is whatallows her to step into another world.

To Ponder

• What are the tasks and challenges that frustrate or weigh youdown?

• If you opened your eyes, and then opened your eyes again, whatmight you see?