How We Got Here

As a French teacher (when I’m not blogging about St Mark’s!), I adore languages and love learning new words. This week, though, I’ve had to learn about words which were all too familiar to me, but not in the context I was hearing them.

Someone yesterday asked if they had the olives they needed for the plumbing work. Now I’ve been sorting the feeding of the workers out and no one has yet asked me for olives. Why on earth would anyone need olives to do plumbing work?

The plumbing expert in my congregation was gracious and didn’t laugh outloud at my ignorance. Instead, he patiently explained about olives being used in compression fittings to seal joints and showed me what looked like a shiny ring. That’s an olive. H’mm…

Then he started talking about ‘white hawk’. Again, I was baffled. I thought I knew quite a bit about white hawks, (Leucopternis albicollis, a bird of prey breeding in the tropical New World, belonging to the family Accipitridae of the Falconiformes; it is sometimes separated in the Accipitriformes with the other hawks and their relatives.) Again, wrong kind of hawk. Apparently this is the name of a jointing compound used in plumbing.

Apart from clearly revealing my total ignorance of plumbing work, I had a fascinating introduction into new slants on familiar words. This was compounded later on when someone else talked to me about ‘ferrules’ which I heard as ‘feral’ (another weird image, of wild copper pipes rebelling against us, was conjured up by that mistake!) A ferrule, if you’re interested, is a bush, gland, or small length of tube used for making a joint. I was more interested in its etymology, since it means a ‘little bracelet’ and comes from the Latin word ‘viriola’.

All of this again underlines to me the importance of good communication. We can use familiar words and mean something completely different by them to what is understood by the listener. It’s a challenge always in communication to ensure that what we mean to communicate is actually what is understood by the listener. That can mean spending time to explain, clarify and go over what we have said rather than assuming everyone else knows what we mean.

We have been exceptionally fortunate in having many skilled church people who have brought a number of years of expertise to the work being done at St Mark’s. They have worked tirelessly since February and their efforts mean that the building looks completely different now.

Nonetheless, some jobs have been beyond us. We have had to bring in professionals to do some jobs, such as plastering the main hall, fitting the new fire door, checking the electrics, doing some brickwork and checking the central heating system. We are immensely grateful to these people for their help, some of which has been given freely, all of which has been given with a spirit of real helpfulness.

This weekend, a new carpet was fitted in the small room which will be the vestry. Our carpet man can be contacted at The Sale Room on Market Street, Goldthorpe on 07960 716688.

Each Saturday begins with a hot drink and a look at the ‘jobs’ list’ on the board in the main hall. This was the latest jobs’ list:

The main work done throughout the week involved the removal of a window in the community hall in order to create a new fire door:

This had to be sanded and varnished, inside and out.

The ceiling in the foyer to the church was also re-painted (as well as the people!):

Work has continued on boxing in the pipework in the main hall and this has been given its first coat of paint:

The coverings over all the electrical wires in the main hall have been fitted:

Doors have been sanded and planed to make sure they shut properly:

Unexpected problems have been fixed:

Floors have been cleaned (yet again!) and the stage cleared:

Another busy Saturday!

Electrical work has been going on this week in the main hall. When we arrived in the building, there was just one single socket to work from:

This week, additional sockets have been fitted and wired in. We have a number of double sockets along every wall.

The advantage of this system is that additional sockets or power outlets can be fitted whenever they are necessary.

Today is a General Election in England and many people (myself included!) have mixed feelings about that. On the one hand, people know that choosing a government is an important task and that the right to vote is a privilege that has been hard earned over the years. On the other hand, many people feel that their single, solitary vote is insignificant and that they really don’t have much say in regional matters, let alone in national and international affairs. They feel that bureaucracy steam-rollers on, no matter what they as individuals do or say.

This is not a party political broadcast in any shape or form: I simply think that lurking undearneath those feelings about politics are more fundamental questions about our individual worth and value. Where do we fit into the bigger picture? Does our daily living really have any impact on the world?

In Matthew 5, Jesus teaches his disciples about living in the world and makes bold claims for them. He says, “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavours of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colours in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” (Matt 5:13-16, The Message)

I have been very challenged recently by this passage. God’s way of living is radically different to the world’s. Not only our actions, but our motives have to be right. What we say, what we do, how we think, how we act towards others (especially those who don’t treat us the way we think we ought to be treated!)… all these things are looked at rigorously and the world’s ‘dog-eat-dog’ mentality is firmly challenged.

Jesus concludes this section by saying “Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.” (Matt 5:48, The Message)

Ultimately, our allegiance to Jesus should be defining how we live at all times and we need to understand that how we live does really matter. We might view our contribution to the renovation of St Mark’s as insignificant or trivial, but in actual fact, everything we do is seen by God. He sees all things and knows how we live. Let’s choose to live for Him, in every conversation, every deed and every thought.

Volunteers from the church have been working tirelessly on getting things ready at St Mark’s. Nonetheless, it’s not all work, as the pictures below show!