Do you know your neighbours?
I have to confess I’ve not been acquainted many of them over the 4 years I have lived in this apartment, and as a consequence of this Flick and I decided to change the situation by hosting a pre Christmas ‘block party’ for the people who live in our building.
It’s not a usual sort of thing for insular Sydneysiders to do really, there are communities out there, and even here on the Northern Beaches (dahling) that do meet and commune with each other over wine and barbeque on occasion, but it’s never been us. Usually passing in the stairwell or out in the carpark may elicit a quiet hello but certainly no introductions or conversation.
So, as the landscape of tenants and owners seemed to be changing over the last year we decided, as some of the more long standing occupants, that it was up to us to begin the introductions.
I was in charge of the invitations and so Photoshopped a picture of our building which had been delivered by an earnest real estate agent looking to encourage us to sell (sell that which we don’t own…) and one evening we did the tiptoed delivery to each of the 27 apartments. We met one neighbour doing the delivery, she seemed very nice and very positive about the barbeque and feeling bouyed by her response we sat at home and waited for the RSVPs.
Of course, not everyone replied, but we catered for more than had responded… you know how people are… they look out the curtains to see what sort of people are there and whether they’ll feel comfortable joining us. For a while Flick sat in the middle of the lawn, at a table covered with food, all by herself and Steve, one of the neighbours called over the balcony, “Hi there, having a good time?” Flick responded with her raised hand, “sorry, can’t talk, busy right now…” you probably had to be there, but it was pretty funny…
One by one families and couples, and people came down, bringing their blankets and chairs and meat for the bbq. We poured the wine, clinked the beer bottles to wish all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, and we got about the business of getting acquainted! The party lasted as long as the light and by 8pm we’d slowly begun the trek back into our seprarte but conjoined homes. This time though we had hefty boys taking the table back upstairs for us and returning the bbq to its owners.
In the final analysis it was a really great afternoon! We can now say hello to occupants of 10 of the units by name. That’s a pretty cool we have the chance to have a gander in a couple of the units to see just what’s different from our own place and we have managed to convince our near neighbours to babysit the goldfish for us while we’re in Brisbane next week!!! Cooooooool.
Having done it, I highly reccommend making the effort again. Now, this is the first place I’ve lived in with a real sense of community and I love that we could sing out to any of the crew and say, “come up for a drink” and they’d likely say “sure!!!”
I’ve spent too many years cocooned in a Christian bubble that separated me from the world, and while that may have its place its by no means the way Christ behaved on earth. I may not behave in the same way regarding alcohol and sex and cigarettes than my neighbours (to name the most obvious differences) and I may spend more time considering my spiritual world than they, but actually they’re really not so very different to me.
And that’s a good thing to remember when you live in a community like ours whose had it’s fair share of trouble in recent months concerning other differences like race and origin. Maybe a little bit more time on common ground is what we all need to make our community a better place.

In a staff development session some months ago one of the Managing Directors spent some time lecturing the staff concerning core values. It sparked a few thoughts in me, actually, it also resolved some of the underlying reasons I was getting rather edgy with work in that it helped me recognise that my core values were being pressured by the values of my employer.

Now, I realise that I am bound to start wading out into some deep and choppy water by pushing this boat out particularly as I know a lot of my readers are either unfamiliar with the work life in this kind of (Christian) environment in general or are involved with different, expressions of Christian faith. So, forgive me if I appear to be treading carefully… It’s because I am!

Here’s the crux of the matter…

I have set myself some fairly rigid boundaries of late and one of these is only working the hours I get paid for.

My reasons for taking the hard line have a lot to do with spending no small number of years without boundaries around my private life at all and suffering some fairly hefty consequences. Sadly, a lot of these boundaries were trampled on in relation to my work.

Yep, in relation to my work for a Christian organisation…

Taking this stance has come into conflict with this organisation’s core values of being a servant, of excellence and of teamsmanship.

So I find myself having a s**t of a day today all because of one email outlining my role in the Next Big Thing. A Big Thing put on for a particular section of our fellowship which Does Not include me in any sense and in a role that requires my attendance from 5pm – 9pm Friday and All Day Saturday.

Now, I know that I won’t have to work on Monday by way of a day in lieu and I know that there are other members of the crew who are happy to do whatever is required to be of assistance, (which brings me into conflict not only with the team leaders but other members of the team).

And yet… it makes me wonder where Jesus stands on issues such as these while He is watching us do the Big Things. It makes me wonder whether “Losing your life for me” means a commitment to be available all hours in the name of putting on a Great Event (among the other sacrifices that are expected in working for ‘the Lord’).

Now, don’t get me wrong… I believe in the message of the Gospel. I believe in it enough to want to take it to my unchurched friends. I believe in it enough to be working for an organisation whose primary goal is preaching that message. But on days like today I seriously have to question whether ‘losing one’s life for gospel to save it’ means that we should be spending a weekend making sure the fee paying delegates are having a good time or whether we should instead be extending a hand to our neighbours in more practical, meaningful ways.