Over the last few weeks, I have become a convert to the BBC programme “The repair Shop” a programme I have never really watched before. I am in awe of the skill of the craftsmen and women who can take broken items and restore them, not necessarily to look as good as new, but primarily to give them a life for future generations. This is far from being a quick process, but takes hours of patience, lovingly taking the beloved item to pieces, cleaning and repairing the components that can be saved and replacing and reforming the pieces beyond salvation. There are times when the challenge looks to be far too big and stretches the craftsmen and women to the limits, having to use their minds as well as their skills to achieve the result.
For me, the key factor of this programme is the stories that each individual item carries. A visitor to the barn will bring in a scruffy, limp teddy bear, thread bare, with limbs hanging lose, vulnerable and fragile and appearing to be worthless. The owner of the bear will tell Julie and Amanda the bear ladies the story of this beloved little soft toy and the story of its history is the first thing that brings the bear back to life, it becomes far more than a toy, it is a reminder of a much loved family member, a particularly meaningful experience in the owners life and the journey that little bear has been on. I love to watch Julie and Amanda lovingly weave their magic until the day that the owners return to pick up their beloved possession, not in pristine condition, like a new bear, but still carrying the battle scars of its previous life, but fit for purpose in the next stage of life.
Of course, as a preacher in the Church, my eyes light up to a range of sermons I can preach using The Repair Shop as an illustration, but I think the key message for me is contained in one of those teddy bears. The Church has a history, a story to tell of the journey we have been on, it carries the battle scars of by gone years and experiences, sometimes falling foul of misuse, it has been a comfort in times of greatest sorrow and has been a place of great joy at other times, but that story is what has made us the Church we are today, and there are times, particularly in this Pandemic experience when we lay limp and fragile. In the right hands, with patience, skill and re crafting, the Church can emerge, still carrying the battle scars, but more fit for purpose for the next stage of life.
The story will always be important, we all have our stories to tell about where we come from and during the last fifteen months we have experienced good story telling fodder for generations to come “I remember a time when we were all told to stay at home for months on end, we weren’t even allowed to visit our loved ones or have any physical contact” we are living the history of tomorrow, today! But more importantly, we are reshaping the world in our generation for generations to come, the majority of whom will not be born until long after we are gone. Like with the Repair Shop, that process will take time, skill and patience, but will bring results that are fit for purpose in the next stage of life.