If you were planning a day out looking at model villages, you might think of ringing Bekonscot, at Beaconsfield, Bucks. or Merrivale at Great Yarmouth or, again, a model town at Wimborne, Dorset. If your interests took you in the direction of steam locomotion, you might ring the National Railway Museum at York.
You would surely be gratified to find somebody on the phone who knew her stuff and could help you. You might even get an invitation: ’Come and see’; That is not always the course when we make a call to other organisations.
Anything rather than meet a customer. This seems to be the mantra by which customer services operate. We ring an organisation and are invited to select a number. We confront a series of Questions and Answers. We are invited to compose a sentence explaining our problem. Eventually we may find ourselves speaking to a human being.
They did things differently, of course, in the first century CE. When John the Baptist wa in prison wondering what was going on in his homeland, he sent two of his followers to Jesus with a question: ‘Are you the one who is to come or are we to expect someone else?’ To which Jesus responded not with words but with activity. After what must have seemed a gruelling schedule, Jesus told the two to go to John and tell him what they had seen. We are reminded of the saying, ‘What you are is shouting so loud that I can’t hear what you say.’
As though in a thoughtful mood Jesus began speaking about John. I paraphrase. What, he asked them, did you go into the desert to see? A man in a fancy outfit? No. You won’t find them in a wilderness. They’ll be in top people’s palaces. No, you went to see a prophet. A prophet, did I say. He is far more than that. There’s no end to his greatness.
OPENING HOURS
Parish church offices are open and welcome inquiries on weekdays. Opening hours are commonly advertised as 9.30 a.m. to four p.m. One northern parish church office opens at 8.30 a.m. and closes at 4.30 p.m. One minster opens from ten a.m. to noon. I don’t think you’ll often be asked to select a number. You’ll be speaking to someone who knows that first impressions count.
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