Burnt Offerings

 “Aussie Voices” shares interesting “Christ Moments” from local ministers.  

(Matthew 26:39) Going on a little farther, he fell on his face and prayed, “O my Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me….

We never journey alone

I never saw the film, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I didn’t need to. I don’t see the point of increasing your stress levels more than you would do after having watched the 6 o’clock news. I also hate walking out half way through a movie or a show.  

I guess I am an optimist at heart and always feel that things will improve with time. Of course that is not always the case and I have berated myself afterwards for sitting through a woeful movie that just didn’t get better. This idea of sticking things through to the end however doesn’t always flow through to every facet of my life, as there are some projects I started that would have been better had I never started them in the first place. Ideas that sounded grand at the beginning can often be marathon tasks to complete.

 Even Christ had moments in his ministry where it seemed easier to pass up the responsibility as it was too much to bear. Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane and his disciples kept falling asleep.  Jesus was about to be betrayed and he felt alone and defeated.

 I guess we all struggle at times with seeing things through to the end. At times we may feel like things are too much or out of our control. I remember once working as a landscape gardener where I was busy engaged in chain-sawing away some limbs of a tree. Whilst I worked I felt a tap on my shoulder. An elderly woman was keen to engage my services not as a gardener but to saw several inches off the legs of her bed. I told her that it would not be possible as all I had with me was my chain saw and it was not a suitable instrument to perform such a task. I insisted I would not be able to help her. However this woman was both persistent and insistent. In the end I relented and promised her I would have a look at what could be done.

 As I finished my job I planned to make a hasty retreat and feign forgetfulness rather than face the old woman again. But sure enough she sought me out and led me upstairs to her bedsitter apartment. For those of you who are unfamiliar with chainsaws they are noisy and dirty as they are powered by two-stroke petrol that is very prone to gushing out copious amounts of blue smoke not to mention black oil that splatters everywhere.

 No sooner had I completed chopping a ragged two inches off the first bed leg than I realised that this was one of the worst days of my life. With spattering of oil spray and wood chip all over the room it went against every sane nerve in my being to continue, but under the constant encouragement from the old lady I persevered to the very last cut. I looked around the room; it was as if a bomb had gone off. But through the smoke I saw the outline of an ecstatic, smiling old woman.

 As I opened the door to leave, billowing blue smoke swirled around me heralding my entrance into the stairwell and I looked into the stunned faces of the crowd that had gathered. The cacophony of sound still ringing in my ears was contrasted by the silence and the looks of fear of those gathered as they parted like the Red Sea to allow myself and my trusty chainsaw free passage down to my van. Yes, this was my own “chainsaw massacre” and I had seen it through to the end. Even now I can still see the jubilant face of the little old lady waving from her apartment window as I drove off into the sunset.

 As we set about the task to build the Kingdom of God in our own communities, our tasks and responsibilities can sometimes seem overwhelming and at times we may feel they are too much. We are reminded however that we never journey alone and that Christ is with us. We are a community and at times we need to ask for help, whether it be practically, spiritually or emotionally. To get the job done we need to be able to ask and also to realise that help may come in a form that may surprise us….a man in your bedroom wielding a chainsaw could be an answer to your prayers!!

 Robert Thompson

Minister- Queensland

July 2011