responsibility

The theme for the month along at the local school through June is 'responsibility'.

The Head was speaking about it again at the P4-7 assembly. He uses powerpoint sparingly. As in not every week by any means. And not very much when he does.

This week he had just one simple slide. which looked something like this

RESPONSIBILITY

RESPONSE - ABILITY

That was it. Effective.

That was what he spoke about. Being able to respond appropriately to people and to situations that we faced.

It's stuck with me throughout the day. Not least, I suppose, because there are so many different people and so many different things to which I'm having to respond.

And I was challenged to think through just how I do respond. Whether it's appropriate or not.

There have been people to see. A couple in the morning who were in to talk through how they went about identifying themsleves with us. In a formal sort of way.

The answer to that can be given in just a minute or two.

A rapid response that would have been. But not necessarily all that really responsible.

In fact it was nearer an hour, I suppose, we shared with one another. Giving folk time is part of responding appropriately. Being able and willing to give them that time is perhaps quite a part of our learning responsibility.

Being rushed with folk is maybe not responsible.

Then there was the midweek lunchtime service. Which grew, I suppose, as we figured that this was a way to respond to the needs of some folk.

We used our eyes and thought about it all, observing all the patterns of behaviour that there were and figuring out just what those patterns meant.

Being able to respond appropriately involves, I guess, the patience to reflect on what is going on. Observing and assessing and concluding in the end how best a situation may be helped.

There's been that sort of process in some other ways as well.

Problems sometimes come. Certain situations where it's hard to see what's going on without becoming angry. And yet those situations are not helped by my responding angrily at all.

'Revenge', in any shape or form, will rarely be a useful or appropriate response.

Sometimes I simply have to walk away and take some time to work the whole thing through and cultivate a reconciling attitude instead.

I did sort of 'walk away' this afternoon. To the hospital. An entirely different setting. It helps put things in perspective to meet people really quite ill.

It was Sheila again I was in to see. But it ended up being a visit to all of the ward. All the other ladies soon joined in.

A fair amount of banter started up. Some laughter.

But also some serious stuff as well. One of the ladies had been pretty near to death's door it transpired. The laughter, I think, was expressive of her relief.

And Sheila's, too. For she's so much improved and spoke about her going home next week perhaps.

I prayed with them all at the end and remembered them all by name before the Lord.

Thank you so much, 'Your worshipful', one said. I'll call you that since I don't know your name.

Just call me Jerry, I replied, always somewhat wary of a title like 'Your worshipful'. It smacked of things I thought I'd best avoid.

Later I thought it was actually quite a compliment. Describing me as someone full of worship. But I was away by then. Sometimes I think of a telling response too late!

I was thinking, though, about this whole 'response-ability'. I'd gone there to see simply Sheila. And found a situation which was different from the one that I'd envisaged. Did I stick with my pre-planned approach? Or adapt and adjust?

Response-ability is a kind of chameleon thing, I guess. Adapting, or responding, to the 'colours' of the environment around. Rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep.

And praying for them all.

I got back home to a letter that someone had written. Anonymously. Mainly because of the things that were being said. 'Criticism' would be a loose generalisation for its content.

Letters like that really irk me, I have to say. Partly because they're anonymous and reflect the fact the writer was afraid to say it openly - afraid, I guess, of how I might react. As if I were some monster.

How to respond appropriately? Well, I wanted to respond, of course. Which is difficult when the letter is anonymous. But I've learned to take a very simple line with things like this.

If someone won't sign then I won't read.

Period.

Life's too short to get myself all twisted up in knots by things like that.

I'd always rather folk would simply speak more face to face. Hiding how we feel does no one any good. And letting it out anonymously like that is really little better. The thing can't really be addressed at all.

Kirkliston was my venue for the evening. A meeting with the folk who've been elected there to seek to find the person who will be their new minister.

The meeting was long, but I think it was good.

I'm 'responsible' for helping them through this time when they don't have a minister and I wanted to encourage them all from the start.

So I started our time with a reading from Scripture and spoke about how I thought it applied to them. That this was a vital time, a turning point in their own story there. And how these folk were tasked, like Samuel was of old, to find the person God was raising up to be their leader in the days ahead.

An anointed leader and remarkable days of blessing, expansion and growth.

Being able to respond to their scenario, their minister newly gone, that sort of thing - being able to respond in ways appropriate involves them in receving from the Lord his word for them.

Listening for that word which God is speaking in their midst and to their hearts.

And responding to him and his word.

That's real response-ability, I guess.