I could only have been seven or eight at the time, when my brother and I were dragged along to a Church meeting where the adults were talking about building a new Sunday School building. I can’t remember how much the building was going to cost, but I can remember the amount being way outside my frame of reference.
Even as a youngster, I understood that raising this money was going to take a gargantuan effort. As a family we started baking biscuits to sell (we weren’t bound in those days by any of the bureaucracy surrounding turning the kitchen into a biscuit factory) we were driven by making this dream a reality and we raised a significant amount of money over about five years.
Somewhere along this front, there is a brick laid by me, with my name on it, and hidden from sight today. At my best guess, the day of the stone laying ceremony was over fifty-five years ago and yet, I can still remember something of what Mr Hammond Heap, a Lawyer from the village, a Local Preacher and a man with great influence in the Methodist Church of the day “today” he said “is a red letter day” and he went on to explain that there are days in our lives that are red letter days, days that are so important that we will never forget them, days that will change our lives forever.
I find it quite remarkable that all these years later, that day is still etched in my mind and when I visit the Church all these years later, I still have a personal investment in that building.
Today is the last Sunday before the start of Lent and the bible reading for today involves Peter James and John going up a mountain with Jesus and there on the mountain top, they witnessed Jesus standing with Moses and Elijah and as they watched the appearance of Jesus was transformed. I like to believe that the experience was life changing for the three men and maybe they would remember that moment for the rest of their lives. We might say that it was a red-letter day for them.
For me, I like to think that I have had more than my fair share of red letter days and thanks to one old man, many years ago, that day as we laid our stones playing our part in the erection of this building was just one such day. What about you?