We welcome Brett's contribution to the bulletin.........

Live, Love… Read

I can't remember how often Barry would pop his head into my office and ask “Have you read the new post on the church website?” and most of the time my answer would be “No.” So over the past week I have been reading various blog articles, website entries (and even columns that Barry has written in this very space) to make up for lost time.

I have to admit that because I was working with him I seldom took the time to read through the things that he was writing on a weekly basis (I always told myself - wrongly it seems - that it was because I was too busy or because I had been part of the conversations he had in the Potters House that helped him form many of these writings), But every time I have read a new entry, I have been dumbfounded again by how much I learn and glean from thoughts that have been accessible to me all this time (and I’m not alone, a friend of mine in Johannesburg who knew Barry at Edenvale Methodist – where Barry served before coming to St John’s – has been doing the same with the same thoughts)

I wonder if the excuses to be constantly learning from life now need to be reviewed, Barry was a big believer in continually learning new things and reviewing old ones – pushing and testing to come to a closer understanding of the truth. And I wonder if we should take a leaf out of that book and make time (and I really mean consciously make time rather than just squeeze it in-between other things that we are doing) to read more, explore more and challenge ourselves more to learn from the wisdom of others who are walking the same path as us.

This may even be an opportunity to keep Barry, his teachings and his thoughts alive in our hearts and our minds through the teachings that he had always intended us, the congregation, to learn from. And I pray that in my life it will spur me on to engage with people and their writings from now and well into the future, as I know Barry would have wanted me to.