I feel sorry for Humpty. After all, he suffered what we call a life-changing event. It’s good that against the odds he’s still with us. Sometimes things happen. Often we have no choice in the matter. There’s not much we can do about it. We are blonde or brunette (sorry, gents, for this sexist vocabulary; blame the French); we have eyes blue or hazel; we are dextral or sinistral – with some ambidextrous exceptions; we have heavy-duty cardio-vascular systems or more fragile circulatory equipment. In short some of our future is pre-determined and we are quite unable to do anything about it.
And we are none the worse for that. We play the hand we are dealt. There’s not much point in wishing things were otherwise. If this is true at all, it is true for all of us, whether we are atheists or followers of a major religious faith, whether we are a belted earl or a dogsbody, whether we live amongst polar bears or kangaroos. All these things make us what we are. Like our pets, recognisable as they are by their spots if they are Dalmatians or by their size if they are Great Danes, we are known for what we are – as far as that is possible – by our kith and kin and by anybody else who is interested.
When St Paul said, ‘Anyone who belongs to Christ is a new person’ (2 Corinthians 5.17 CEV), we have to understand that illuminating statement in its context. It doesn’t mean that overnight we are transformed into gifted mathematicians or world-class sprinters. Nor does it mean that we come into possession of answers to questions that have perplexed the finest minds since time began. What it does mean is that we begin an adjustment, a re-calibration of our priorities, a greater concern for others, a process of usefulness and fulfilment that would not otherwise be ours.
Belonging to Christ does not change our immune system or our metabolism. It does give us a new incentive. It may lead us to change our career plans or our affections. It almost certainly will alter our habits and our priorities. It may in the long run temper the activities of the lusty and stimulate the passivity of the inert. And the cumulative effect of a body of new persons will make a difference. Given the achievement of a critical mass, our society will have an unaccustomed openness to our life together, to our capacity to share, to our tolerance of those who disagree, to a sense of purpose. That’s enough to keep us going.
And that includes Humpty.
MARTHA’S QUESTIONS
Visitors to the St Giles, Derby website encounter Martha talking of her growing interest in the Christian faith. She wondered what it was all about. She took her questions and hesitations to ‘Christianity explored’ meetings and found answers that made sense. She invites others to do the same. She is brisk and business-like in recounting her experience.
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