Everyone was gathered together from the office as we gave a presentation to the popular secretary. Her boss waxed lyrical about her hard work, saying how much she would be missed, and that he needed to employ two people to replace her. She left for new pastures. Two new people were taken on, remarkably similar in appearance to the secretary who had left, but whose shoes they could never fill. Although I can't recall the names, I’ve never forgotten the occasion due to the observations I made at the time as to how much someone is taken for granted while they are around, and how quickly the landscape fills in once they fade out of the picture, while their influence on the lives around them remains.
We influence other people simply by being with them. One of my neighbours died recently, a lady who loved birdwatching and who had a pager so that she knew where to go to find them. She spoke often about birds, and how raptors soared over our houses. I still look up when I’m out. The house clearance people came in the week and took away everything, even her bird feeders. She has faded out of the picture, but her influence remains.
When we know we are leaving, the more we can do to prepare others in advance, the better. I have big decisions to make over the next year and I may fade out of the picture at St Peter’s, and so I’m making sure that others know what I do so that everything will be covered in that eventuality. My green bin was full last time with lots of paperwork I accumulated over the last 20 years since I moved here, so that it doesn’t burden anyone else once I go. I’m putting in place directives around future health care, and I’ve made my wishes known to the family regarding my funeral when the time comes. It’s important to consider how it will impact others once we do fade away from their picture. That’s why I’ve set up ‘Dying Matters’ meetings - the next one is in the hall on Wednesday afternoon.
Jesus knew he was going to be leaving, and so he prepared his followers in advance. We heard last week how he called Peter the rock on which his Church would be built, and today we read how he sent his followers out, and how joyful they were when they returned. I identify with this joy, because when we’re doing what God wants of us, sharing his love with other people, we are bringing the Kingdom of God into this world, and it’s a wonderful place to live in - one which we will inhabit forever. Nobody can take that away from us. We can’t fill Jesus’s shoes, but we can follow his example, listen for the pager and know where he wants us to go next. We are his family, the Church, today’s labourers in the harvest: let’s enjoy the work and put our all into it.
Amen.
Julie Rubidge, Lay Minister