Rebecca & I spent a wonderful day watching racing at Brands Hatch this weekend. We were joined by Simon (my best man), and were invited along by ODL Securities who support the Dame Vera Lynn Trust. This is the trust that runs one of Rebecca's special school and where I am a trustee.
Whilst a wonderful day, it poured with rain the whole time. Rebecca loved the idea, but I was a bit worried that she would hate all the noise. She surprised us by being glued to the heritage race for over an hour, with her neck doing a whole load of work keeping up with the passing cars!
Both Simon & I rediscovered a lost love of mini coopers from our early days of being mini drivers, and the two mini's on the team were superb. Wonderful to watch a works mini keeping its nose on the rear bumper of an Aston DB5 for several laps.
The Lotus on the team came first in its class and actually lead for over 7 laps....
Apart from showing off some nice shots, and bragging about a good day out, why am I sharing this with you lot (assuming anyone visits)?
The main thing that struck me was the welcome we received. The racing team were the most welcoming, moving equipment and stopping their preparations to let the kids get into the cars. This may not have cost them too much in terms of preparation, but it certainly effected their way of working and what they did. My experience of church shows me a very different approach in our congregations. We tend to use the time around services to get ready, and to complete business. This normally makes it hard for visitors/new comers to feel that they can talk to us. We look busy and in most cases are busy doing church. But making the stranger welcome is more than having a welcome team member smile at them as they walk in the door, and is more than having one or two people keeping an eye open to make sure that they "settle" in.
Look at the picture with Simon holding Rebecca. See the grey haired man standing in the background? This is Mike.
Mike is one of the drivers of the Lotus. Mike was putting the wheels on the 2nd mini, making sure it worked fine and was ready for the race. He built the car for his daughter to race. He was the core person of the racing team who welcomed us.
Immediately after the race Mike came over and chatted making us feel part of his racing family. The team didn't seek one another out to celebrate, but first talked and chatted with the visitors, the outsiders, those on the edge. As we wandered off to prepare to leave the team started the next phase of the job.
Would this be true of a professional team, in formula one? Probably not. And maybe that is the issue for us to learn. These people are doing what they love, most weekends, most evenings. It has to be the love of the race (and all that surrounds it) that keeps them going. They are not so absorbed in the act that they don't focus on guests.
At church we need to re-learn this lesson. All too often we look for the professional way of doing things, making things efficient and value for money. Making church work. Perhaps we need to learn the job of worshiping and meeting with God and Christ. We need to re-discover the love of serving, and the joy of sharing.
This is certainly part of a personal lesson, and maybe a lesson for some of you.
"The Complex Christ: Signs of Emergence in the Urban Church" (Kester Brewin)
It looks like it will be coming out next summer. I guess the title is more appealing in the American market, and the new cover looks less "academic" than the old. I hope it sells well over there!
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