Reflections by Rev. Grant Dawson

Some thoughts on

About 36 years ago my computer word processor received a major upgrade—a dictionary. What a world changing event, especially for someone like myself who can’t spell anething anyting anything! And with this new aid, I remember creating my Christmas sermon only to discover that every time I entered that necessary festive word “shepherds”, it was tagged as being wrong. Now there’s a word I actually thought I could spell.

It turned out, however. that Microsoft thought that “shepherd” would not be used enough to necessitate its inclusion in the dictionary, probably because of the limited disk space on early machines. (I must add that this oversight has been corrected.)

But I do remember realizing that this word was indeed unusual outside of some Christmas talks. And probably most of the younger people in the congregation would never have encountered a sheep, far less have seen a shepherd looking after them.

And this story may act as a reminder whenever we are speaking to others that we need to keep in mind both their background and their needs. Or we may end up talking about events that most people don’t remember, or using words or expressing concepts that few people understand.

And this is especially true in the realm of faith. I know many people are concerned that they are not able to communicate what they deeply believe to others. But this often stems from that fact that we get caught up trying to squeeze faith into what might sound good in a talk on Sunday morning, but is quite out of place in the restaurant at lunchtime. Remember that often a simple comment about how you overcame a situation or a quiet smile to someone who is hurting will communicate God’s love far more effectively than ten Bible verses or some theological insight.

Grant

As a fun exercise, ask a young person you know what the circle is in this picture, taken not far from my wife’s home in Scotland.

A Prayer 

Understanding God, make me at all times truly aware of what is going on around me. May I centre on others before speaking to them. May I assess real needs before spouting platitudes. May I wait in patience for others to reply, before beginning my story.

Amen.