Opportunities

Last November the title of one of my Praise & Prayer News was “It’s about time” which contained some reflections on opportunities.  This week, I find myself reflecting on much the same theme.  I apologise for repeating myself, but as Paul writes to the Philippians sometimes this is helpful.

In two of his letters, the apostle Paul writes about making the most of every opportunity.  On both occasions (Ephesians and Colossians) it is about how believers relate to the world around them, and the witness through our lives.  Life is made up of opportunities taken but also opportunities missed.  I have a few regrets as I look back but the bitterness of one lost opportunity seems to linger and recalling it immediately fills me with sadness.

For reasons I don’t need to go into here, moments of bonding with my father seem to have been few during childhood.  He struggled with ill health and other problems that clearly got in his way.  I have some very precious memories of times together, but also of this one opportunity lost.  I regret that I cannot remember telling him about it years later, when we had developed a wonderful working relationship in Christian ministry.  I wish I had done so.

It was a Saturday afternoon when my father came into my bedroom and asked if I would like to go with him to watch a football match with our home team, Hastings United.  We had done this once before and I remembered how cold and bored I was.  The play was uninspiring and the only excitement was caused by a goal keeper hitting his head on a goal post as he dived to save the ball.  He knocked himself out and was carted off to hospital, while the match laboured on.  The thought of once more taking the long walk to and from the Pilot Field and time standing on the terrace did not attract me.  I declined the invitation.

It was only a few minutes after he had left the house that I knew that I had lost something special.  I ran after him, assuming he would walk through the park and then up Elphinstone Road.  All the way I searched for him, but in vain.  When I reached the Pilot Field I could not get in as I had no money.  I felt deeply wretched.  What is worse now, is not knowing what was in my father’s heart when he invited me to go with him, or how I made him feel when I disdained the invitation. Writing about it now makes me deeply sad.  I wept as I walked home that day.

Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote, “The bitterest tears shed over graves are for words left unsaid and deeds left undone.”.  T.S. Elliot wrote, “Footfalls echo in the memory, down the passage we did not take, towards the door we never opened, into the rose garden.”.  One of the saddest passages in the Bible is about a woman who spurned her lover because he came calling at an inconvenient time (See Song of Songs chapter 5 verses 2 to 8).

The apostle Paul’s comments on these two occasions, imply that in our lives will come moments of opportunity.  They are to be grasped, to be made the most of.  Not to be wasted or lost.  They are there for a moment, and only a moment.  We need to act quickly or live with the regret.  Sometimes, in order to make the most of them will be costly.  The King James Version of the Bible uses the expression, “Redeeming the time”, which seems to emphasis a cost involved.  For me it was giving up nothing more than a lazy afternoon, hanging around the house.  A small price to pay for the opportunity of that “walk into the rose garden”. ‘Redeeming’ is not a bad translation of the original Greek word used.  Grasping opportunities will be costly.

During the past week, Gordon Banks (a good friend, colleague, and trustee of Rural Mission Solutions) and I have been preparing a webinar on ideas for Rural Mission in the Autumn.  We ran that seminar this morning and have had great feedback.  As we prepared we started by identifying the key activities for the autumn months: the start of the academic year, harvest thanksgiving, Halloween, bonfire night and Remembrance Day.  We then started exploring how these occasions present opportunities for mission and evangelism.  As we explored resources available I wrote a handout listing these.  It covers three sides of A4 paper.

Were you among those who attended the webinar?  If not, could you have attended?  Did you miss an opportunity?  We actually had an excellent attendance.  I am excited by the comments afterwards, like this one from an Anglican Archdeacon, “Thanks for an excellent Webinar this morning.  I have just posted a blog about the Webinar.   https://archdeaconrichmondandcraven.wordpress.com/ Not only have you resourced us with mission ideas but you’ve taken me into the place of webinars - which I shall be exploring with our new Director of Comms.  Huge thanks and every blessing.” And so the blessing will be multiplied because of a grasped opportunity.  Hallelujah!

It is two years since we in Rural Mission Solutions first saw the opportunity that a financial investment in technology could bring.  The Mission Webinars are the first step, and I’m still hoping to add the opportunity for training, for Bible teaching, and Christian ministry to isolated children.  To achieve that we need additional team members who are good at communications, and willing to invest a little time to develop the skills.  Please put your prayers behind this.

Finally, if you were unable to attend this morning but want to see what opportunities there are for mission this autumn, the good news is that the webinar is now in video form and can be viewed at https://youtu.be/IX0yZNXqrP8

From the Diary

Most weeks I spend time researching, writing and recording material for rural evangelism in the UK.  I value your prayers for these activities.  Once a week I also serve as a voluntary prison chaplain with men on life sentences.

Give thanks for the recent webinar.  Katrina Thomas, Children and Families Adviser for Rural Mission Solutions is preparing a presentation which we hope to run soon. Several other webinars are scheduled for the autumn.  We are also offering opportunities for online discussion groups after the webinars.  This is a new experiment.

Please pray as we send out invitations in the south east of England for people to come and meet Katrina and me at Herstmonceux on Saturday 17^th September.  Email me for details if you are within travelling distance.  It would be great to meet up with you.

Wednesday 7^th September I am attending an important Court hearing in Sussex as a trustee under a Will.  My co-trustee and I are trying to make changes to the management of the trust that will enable us to operate better and to support one of the beneficiaries.  Because of the current arrangement the trustees have had to lend a considerable amount of personal money in order to cover urgent expenses.  We ask for your prayers that we will be wise and gracious and that the other party will not obstruct these plans.

Sunday 4^th September: morning at Fleckney Baptist Church, afternoon sharing in a welcome service for a new Methodist minister; evening at Narborough Congregational Church, all in Leicestershire.

Sunday 11^th September – Newark Congregational Church, Nottinghamshire

Sunday 18^th September – St Leonards-on-Sea Baptist Church, East Sussex

Toward the end of the month I will be running some rural evangelism consultations for the Rural Evangelism Network.  I will also be sharing in a special day for rural churches and participating in various other meetings.  More about this next month.

Please pray for health and strength, safety in travelling and that I will walk close to God and be sensitive to his leading.

Thank you.

Barry