‘Humpty,’ I said, ‘are you familiar with the word “idler”?
‘Yes. I’m a great reader of O’Brian’s books.’
In that case, I thought, Humpty knows that a ship’s company in the days of sail was divided into watches, teams that manned the yards and rigging. They were either busy about their duties or resting. There was another section of the crew that had particular duties – cooks, sail-makers, for example. They were excused watch-keeping. They were known as idlers.
Life under sail was not a genteel or decorous matter. If something needed to be done, there was only the crew to do it. Far from a dock or a shipwright the crew managed as best they could. In a crisis the idlers had to belie their name and get on with it along with the others.
Paul had very clear views about idlers. No, not specialist crew members in the Royal Navy. Far from it. Paul had in mind some early Christian believers. They were people who were not inclined to earn a living. There was a crowd of them amongst the believers in one of the churches he made himself responsible for. ‘We hear that some of you are idling their time away, minding everybody’s business but their own,’ he wrote. He reminded the readers of his letter of the principle he had laid down when he was with them: ‘’Anyone who will not work shall not eat.’
There was a whole paragraph about this in his letter (2 Thessalonians 3.6-12). It is a salutary reminder that being religious – joining in worship, singing hymns, studying the Scriptures – has to be accompanied by earning one’s living if it is to mean anything. Paul calls a spade a spade and is scathing in his comments about the Thessalonian shortcomings. It’s almost as though Paul is adding an eleventh commandment: ‘Earn your living.’
Whatever our political or religious views, most of us have a respect for hard work. We know that there is no such thing as a free lunch and we do our best to pay our way. Paul could see that if the believers in the scattered communities of the early church failed to shoulder this obligation, they would be making a laughing-stock of the Church and its message. He urged his readers to have nothing to do with such idlers. It is clear that he regarded this not as an optional extra but as an inescapable part of faith in Christ. Whatever makes it possible, idling is no part of a Christian’s time-table. Paul’s Gospel was nothing if not down-to-earth.
I’ve got an idea Humpty is as well aware of that as any of us. He doesn’t talk about it. He just gets on with it. Good for him.
MARTHA STEPS DOWN
After 20 years Martha (aka Pat Smith) has written her last article for the St Peter’s, Formby, Liverpool, magazine. The 44-page December issue, newsy and colourful, wishes her well as she moves to Scotland. The editorial team, Rod and Sue Jacques, David Manning-Fox and Peter Deyes (who manages the advertisements) are soldiering on after losing a valued contributor.
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