... Of Ringing Bells

..And the Tyranny of the Urgent.

Last night, for the second time this week and the fifth time this month I woke up to the sound of the church bells ringing. No, not the ‘call to worship’ bells: the ‘someone may be breaking into the building’ bells. Off I went, to check the site for mice or flapping curtains (the usual culprits). Mission accomplished I returned to bed; to sleep, perchance to dream...

This morning I thought about how in life we are so often called to action by the screaming bells of urgency. One of the best decision making tools I have been given is the “four quadrants of priority”.

1                     Important      and Urgent	3       Urgent, but           not important
2                     Important, but      not Urgent	4       Not important             and not urgent

Most of us implement boxes 1 and 4 quite well: we might get them wrong occasionally, but in the main we know when something really important has to be done right now, and when the task in front of us is totally trivial.

The challenge, and the key to great decision-making is learning to prioritise ‘important’ over ‘urgent’. On paper it can seem easy. But in life it often is not. Which do I respond to first? The requirement to make and fold 100 copies of the newsletter that is wanted in one hour, or the phone message from the young couple looking for marriage advise? Can’t the phone call wait? Pleasing 100 people easily makes so much sense – doesn’t it? Or is it just the ringing bell of urgency calling?

Many of us ignore ‘quadrant 2’ (the important) until it moves to ‘quadrant 1’ (now urgent and important). We tick of lists of ‘quadrant 3s (the urgents), but never feel truly satisfied. We know we can be doing better. And we can: it just takes practice.

Start with this one: when you are meeting with someone and your cell phone beeps with a text, don’t rush to pick it up. Finish the conversation you are having. It you both made time to have the meeting (even if it's 'just' for coffee), it is important. The chances are high that the text is merely urgent. 

For some of us even thinking about ignoring a text makes us break out in a cold sweat. That there is a sign: you are at the mercy of the ringing bell of the urgent. 

Time to make a change. Time to start, by... 

Oh wait: someone’s just tweeted me about Justin Bieber. Got to go. I'm sure you can work it out for yourself...

...of Salt

I have a 'thing' for salt on my food. I might sometimes have too much - though so far my heart and blood pressure seem fine.

However every now and then, I also have a negative reaction salt. Just yesterday, after biting into a sandwich with the barest amount of salt, I suddenly felt quite unwell. My taste buds reacted violently, I felt nauseous, and I had to close my eyes to help overcoming a strong fainting feeling.  It doesn't happen often: the last time was well over a year ago. But when it does, it is immediate, obvious, and 'memorable' - in the most unpleasant way. I'm not the only person to have this reaction. And I've read (because I can be a hypochondriac) that too much salt can in fact be deadly. So I do have to be careful.

Salt. We need it to survive, and yet this negative - even deadly - reaction does occur.

After my last turn, I got to thinking about Jesus describing the people of God as being salt and light. We often think of the salt analogy in the positive seasoning sense: A Godly community makes a society think and take notice of the truly important things. But perhaps its also true in the 'negative reaction' sense. Our society doesn't actually enjoy the Christian flavour. John, writing about Jesus, reminds us that the people of the world love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil.

Too much light gets rejected by the world, because it lays bare their real nature. Too much salt gets rejected as well, and for the same reason: the world prefers its own way, even though it needs the Gospel. The temptation for God's people is to cut back on the salt; to ease off the light.

But Jesus told those who listened that we are called to be salt and light. All the time. Not just when the people of the world react well, but also when they get a bad reaction. Sure, we need to find the most positive way to enter the world's "eyes and stomach". And we shouldn't set out to cause the negative reaction. But when it comes - and come it will - we are called to stay true. To be salt. To be light.

For the world needs both, whatever the reaction.

of being a cat whisperer

We have been graced with the presence of two cats, who have moved to Christchurch along with their human slaves (we all know who are the real owners in the human/ feline relationship).

Neither enjoyed the experience at first. In fact, one - Cairo - went so far as to hide under the house and meow pathetically at night - just to ensure we all understood how awful it was for her to be kidnapped away from her home. For three days, neither her human slaves nor my beloved and I could coax her inside. Things were getting desperate, or at least so it seemed to the women in the house. The cat was cold, hungry, sad: this was not how it was meant to pan out.

I am proud to say I came to the rescue. One the third night, I got up at 4:30am, opened the door and called the cat gently into the house; shivering myself, as it was wet and cold. And lo! Cairo the cat came in: snarling a little, but deigning me with her presence (the food bowl next to me may have helped: however as that fact may affect my hero status, I might have refrained from mentioning it to the others in the house). A happy ending; a saved cat, and a happy home!

The strange thing is that in Christchurch at present there must be hundreds, if not thousands, of hungry, cold and sad cats. Yet we have not gone to these same lengths to help them. Clearly, we only make such an effort for those cats we have gotten to know, and deem to be in some relationship with us. I'm not sure I would have hero status if I had proudly welcomed an unknown bedraggled feline into our home.

What is true for pets is true for people. It is hard for us to care for those we have not met and invested our emotions into. Something has to happen to move others from being 'people' (part of the crowd) to being 'persons' (part of our crowd). And here is the great weakness of many churches today: we invest all our time into those we already know, who so often are already in the house of God. These are persons to us: part of our crowd. But the people around us: the stressed KMart shop assistant, the bored child across the street, the lonely elderly neighbour; since we dont know them, we make little or no effort to invite them into the house of God. And so, like the stray cats in our city, they remain outside: cold, wet, unhappy, unfed.

This is not how Jesus called us to be. We are not meant to be inside the house, keeping warm and dry while others suffer. Instead, we are called to be people-whisperers; looking for the lost and the lonely. It's what Jesus commanded. Its what Jesus did. That means changing how we see the lost: changing them in our perceptions from people to persons. It starts by knowing their names; by discovering that the shop assistant is Julie, the child is Anji, the neighbour is Dorothy.

And it goes on to welcoming them into the house, where the air is warm, there is good food, and they know they have a place.

Time to shiver, just a little, to find the stray persons in our neighbourhood.