While eating my breakfast this morning, I watched the Countryfile Ramble for Children in Need on BBC iPlayer. I have always felt inspired by the Children in Need appeal each year and this programme is no disappointment, so if you haven’t watched, I can commend it to you. The real stars of the show are the young people who have conquered physical, mental, and emotional issues and have had to cope with experiences most people would never have to face in a lifetime. I feel moved as amazing young people stretch themselves to the limits and talk frankly about the challenges they have faced and continue to face in their lives.
The children have all been helped by charities that have received funding from the Children in Need charity and by the time you are reading this on Sunday morning, or later, the appeal will have happened for this year and the money will no doubt have poured in enabling vital work to continue. The unsung heroes in the work are the army of people who work for the charities supported by Children in Need, and it is lovely to witness the results of their endeavours.
Today is the final week in our six-week journey reflecting on what it means to be a Justice Seeking Church and the focus for our thoughts today is the idea that we must all play our part. The ramble isn’t the only programme where children are stretching themselves to raise money and to raise awareness of the needs that exist in society, I have also been watching four young people who have been devoting time to face their fears and show that physical and mental conditions are not “disabilities” but are challenges that can be faced and worked through.
I feel humbled as I watch them stretching themselves to the limit and then a bit further, and I reflect on how many times in my life I have complained about issues that feel to be futile in comparison. The important message from the work of Children in Need is about the young people helped, but it is also about the people who help young people to deal with medical conditions, dealing with bereavement, coping with bullying, finding help in living with mental health issues, and a whole host of other issues.
The programme reminds me that in an effort to overcome adversity in whatever shape it takes, we will only ever succeed if people work together for the good of humankind. I remember many years ago sitting in a Church meeting where we had discussed a particularly thorny issue which required somebody to take action. I tried to think who could possibly do this the following day, and I ran through a whole list of people with little success. It suddenly dawned on me, that I could offer, which I consequently did, and discovered that somebody else had reached the same conclusion and we worked together, making a difference.
You maybe are looking at the world with all its complexities and issues and might be thinking “somebody should do something about this”. Being a Justice Seeking Church means that we all need to play our part and do the little bit we can do. Joni Eareckson Tada, the American evangelist who is quadriplegic falling a diving accident sums it up in the words of this song.
Oh Lord, dear Lord, great author of the play, May I in wisdom learn the only part that I need play, is the part that you wrote for me, the part that you wrote for me.
God calls all people and nations actively to work for peace and justice, liberation, and transformation. It is never just someone else’s responsibility. We all have a part to play.