The A and W gland

It has been an exciting, exhausting and puzzling few weeks. It has been exciting to see a long held plan in terms of property development come to fruition and at the same time personally exhausting as a great deal of the final detail type stuff fell into my lap. Not a problem as a bit of short term pain is easily overcome with a great result which everyone agrees is true in our case.

The puzzling bit is a little more difficult. We have not yet quite gone through the rotation of our attendance roster each Sunday, but the support and excitement level has been very high indeed. There is little doubt that the transformation from a concrete box to a workable and pleasing worship and ministry space has worked out better than anyone could have imagined. It has been most gratifying for us all to be enjoying the ‘Wow!’ factor as people see the finished product for the first time.

The puzzling bit is what I think I will call the ‘Ho hum’ factor. I naively thought that we would get a significant little spike of interest as people would be keen to see what we have been up to all these months at Annangrove Road. Wrong!

Allow me to share my, until now hidden knowledge of the workings of the human brain.

It is a little known fact that every man, woman, boy and girl has a tiny gland placed in the frontal lobe of the brain known as the ‘awe and wonder’ gland. The fact may be little known but its evidence is clear as we so often enjoy the experience of seeing our children and grandchildren revel in a new and as yet untamed discovery. The awe and wonder gland is at its peak during childhood and it sadly diminishes as we age and yet as I move well into the second half of life I want to testify to the fact that this gland still lives!! As the stupid STUFF that we waste our energy on in our prime begins to be set aside the old A and W gland kicks right back in there!

I have a simple theory that the busier we are the less interested we are and – to be blunt – the less interesting we are. A tiny pea-like thingy is contained in the A and W called the Curiosity Oomflageckyburga (strange, the spell check doesn’t recognise this well known scientific word?). Excuse the technical language but sometimes I just can’t help myself. As a kid my CO was at its highest as I was always pushing buttons and pulling levers to see what made things work. When I was making my way in the world I didn’t have time for curiosity and I focused on what was REALLY important. Thank God – literally – that in my mid 30’s I was hit by a piece of spiritual 4 x 2 and discovered what was important and received the bonus of reclaiming my A and W along with my CO!

I love the journeys of Jesus. In his early 30’s he and a bunch of mates set out to change the world. I am not at all sure that they knew that at the beginning. It was an emerging thing.

The people were all so amazed that they asked each other,

“What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.”

News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee. Mark 1:27,28
The presence of Jesus re-activates our Awe and Wonder gland. Sadly for some people being a Christian is like being a member of the NRMA. Its good to be a member but you would rather that you didn’t use it too often.

For me? Well I’m a glutton and I’m up for the whole show. I think it makes people uncomfortable so let me keep on saying it: I wouldn’t miss this gig for the world. There is nothing like the local church when the local church is working right. I readily confess that the gathering together of a bunch of spiritual misfits each week is my lifeblood. With it I am constantly in touch with my trusty old Awe and Wonder gland and its good mate the old CO.

So I remain your excited, somewhat less exhausted and still puzzled Pastor John.