Paul breezed in exactly at 10am.
He starts his two hour shift straight away.
Today, he has to continue dismantling an old recliner chair that will be going to the recycling centre in due course.
Paul has some mental health issues and severe learning deficits.
But
Every Tuesday for the last twenty odd years he has attended St Paul's Centre to do his little job.
It was my privilege on Tuesday to take care of him for the morning.
I got out his mat that he kneels on and laid out some tools that he needs, a set of metal Allen keys and a few screwdrivers, then showed him which screws he needed to work on that morning. Once he was started he put his head down and worked for two hours solid.
As I watched him from time to time from my office that lies adjacent to where he works, I had this amazing flood of memories from the files stored deep in my memory of the hundreds of similar images from my ministry.
And
I had this real clarity about how the simple things that we as the Church do to just help people along in their life journeys make such a massive difference in this world. I was suddenly overwhelmed with the desire to spend the rest of my days just lavishing the love of Jesus on to the whosoever.
Simple things.
The pure and simple love of Jesus does not need Theology, doctrine and other intellectual fads to back it up or indeed make it work.
It's just.
Simple.
Paul has been given this opportunity that he may never have had if it wasn't for the simple love of Jesus. This love helps him to feel loved, useful and whole.
And
I watch him leave dead on 12 midday.
He leaves laughing and muttering to himself, he seems content and satisfied.
It so reminded me on Tuesday of how much I was recapturing my sense of mission and purpose while I'm on this earth.
It may well be that I go back into my ministry soon.
It may well be,.
But
I don't think I've ever stopped really.
I was also reminded that we as a Church, are the whole body of Christ. His eyes, ears, his mouth.
And
It doesn't have to be intricate, brilliant Mission planning that will help us to touch lives in a profound way.
No
It's the simple things
