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There’s an old saying that, “home is where the heart is,” and there’s a lot of truth in that. Behind your own front door you can relax and be yourself without having to worry about keeping up appearances. So, if while eating a delicious fruit trifle you can’t reach every corner of the container with a spoon then behind your own front door it’s OK to use your fingers instead! Or if having put your feet up with a nice cup of tea you drop off to sleep spilling the lot all over yourself then at home there’s no-one there who’s going to criticise you or raise their eyebrows. But imagine how you would feel if without your knowledge someone threw open the doors of your home and invited the neighbours in for a look round. Imagine the panic! No time to hide behind the cushions all the things you wouldn’t want them to see or to clear up the debris behind the washing machine and fridge! Giving people free range to your home is a risky business not least because what they find there will tell them so much about you – things you might not want them to know. And even the woman in Luke’s parable of the lost coin, who took her house apart looking for it, made sure that she had a good spring clean before inviting the neighbours round to celebrate her success – she wasn’t silly!
Well, we at Brislington United Reformed Church have finished all the spring cleaning and soon, on June 7th to be exact, we will be throwing open the doors and inviting the neighbours in to make their own comments about us and about the building! It is an exciting time but there are risks as well. Will they come? What will they say? Will we like what we hear? Will we be able to answer their questions? What sort of future do we have…and so on? Most of us probably think of this church as being “our church” so are we prepared for those who might be critical of it as well as encouraging? Yes of course we are because that’s what our Open Day is all about listening and learning as well as witnessing and proclaiming. We want to be a listening church, as well as a worshipping community, making this building accessible to all as we share the gospel of Jesus Christ in a new context- so we have much to share as well as much to learn. So please come to our Open Day and bring your friends along as well because we want to hear what YOU have to say. Everyone who reads this letter is personally invited to come, to discuss, ask questions and make suggestions.
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Your voice is important because in the future we would like “this home (this church) to be where YOUR heart is too.” Not that as a church we have lost anything just that with your help, and with the help of the wider community, together we might FIND new ways of being the Church in this area; a church that is vibrant, accessible, welcoming and intimately involved in the everyday issues of life affecting us all. The community needs us and we need the community. And when we find the way forward that we’re looking for I’m sure that our rejoicing will be every bit as if we too had recovered a long-lost treasure!
In Jesus’ name
Derek Marsh June 2008
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