I spotted this car parked outside our local supermarket just in time before I walked straight into the ladders which extended across one of the main walkways into the entrance. I’m not particularly tall but could have sustained a nasty injury had I walked into them, fortunately the greatest inconvenience was having to duck to pass them. I could comment on the fact that the car was parked in a parent and child parking space, but that would be unfair, because I never saw the occupants. I can’t help but be concerned for people with visual impairments, who might not see the danger in front of them until it is too late.
I have spent several hours this week completing the preparatory work for the Safeguarding Advanced Module, which was far more helpful than I had imagined and was very thought provoking. For most of the content, I can’t help but think that if we live by the one command of Jesus to love one another, there should be no need for safeguarding training, we should instinctively want to care for one another and keep each other safe from harm. One of the key parts of the training is about calling out when things are going wrong, and we all know of stories that have emerged in the press where people haven’t called out when maybe they should have done. Hindsight is a wonderful thing!
It was only when doing the training that I felt guilty about the car with the ladders, I confess that my immediate reaction (as it often is these days) was to take a picture to use in a thought for the day. I might well have been a much better neighbour if I had reported the hazard to the security man inside the supermarket, although in my defence, he was busy chatting to a pretty young woman when we went in and nowhere to be seen when we came out. Failure to report what was happening could have resulted in somebody being injured, I hope not.
The Methodist Church launched a programme at the conference this summer entitled “Becoming a Justice Seeking Church” https://www.methodist.org.uk/our-work/our-work-in-britain/social-justice/a-justice-seeking-church/ take a look at the link and maybe watch the video. I spend significant time in my life trying to understand what the role of the Church is in the modern world, with fewer people in our Churches and aging congregations. Maybe I feel like the religious people who Jesus mentions in the parable of the Good Samaritan who walked on by, when the Holy Spirit is calling us take action.
Our safeguarding training reminds us that we are all responsible for caring for the most vulnerable in society and on this first week of reflecting on what it means to be a Justice Seeking Church, we are reminded to embrace the excluded, to love and care for those that world shuns. Walking on by on the other side, is not enough.