The Parable of the Doona Cover by Stewart Perry
The seasons are starting to change and the nights are cooling down, so we recently took the light bed spread we use for summer off our bed and put our doona back on. Before we could do that we had to get the doona back in the doona cover. I don’t know if you have a special trick, but I find putting a doona inside a doona cover one of life’s greatest challenges. I’m never quite sure which is the front and bottom side and which is the side that goes length ways on the bed. I know it’s rectangular in shape but it’s pretty close to a square especially when you’re juggling a heap of bedding in your hands. I’m sure if we took our time, laid the doona out or got a tape measure we’d be able to work out easily which is the longer and get it right first go… However, we normally get around to these types of exercises when we don’t have much time to spare and so it’s a rush job before we rush off to somewhere else.
Normally we do get it right first time… but not this year… I thought it wasn’t right after the first night but I am used to all the covers magically disappearing from my side of the bed… but as the week has gone on, it’s been more and more obvious as the doona has bunched at one end that we’ve put it in the wrong way around.
Now it’s not a big deal, it’s not too cold yet and I haven’t woken up cold yet… it covers most of the bed most of the time but there will come a time, if we don’t fix it, that one of us, most likely me, will wake up cold in the middle of the night.
I know it will be an effort and a hassle to take the doona out of the cover and make sure we’ve got it the right way around so the doona can do the job that it’s supposed to do… keep us warm at night.
There is an old saying: “near enough is good enough” but I’m not sure that has theological validity and certainly can lack a focus on care and compassion. Near enough is good enough when the covers are always on our side of the bed, or if we get use to the fact that part way through the night we have to readjust them.
But what about the one out in the cold.
There are many things in church life that aren’t quite right or near enough to think they’re good enough. Things that we just get use to. But unlike your bed, a church should be a community where strangers are welcome and encouraged to experience, connect and make a home. Last week Mary-Anne wrote a brilliant blog about welcoming, which is something that many churches I’ve been to or been a part of don’t get quite right. But it’s more than just the welcome, it’s also the language we use, the songs we sing, the time we take to explain the things that are assumed by many, the representation of different backgrounds and genders in the key activities of a church community.
Often what can happen when a person comes to church is that they have a nice enough experience, but something doesn’t quite sit right because it’s not explained, they’re not introduced to others, they’re not noticed, some things don’t make sense, things seem to run in away that others seem to understand but they do not… and so if that is their experience, the potential for regular connection and involvement is significantly diminished. Why would you come back to a place that leaves you a bit cold?
I want to say that in church life: near enough is never good enough, particularly when it comes to the way we pay attention to others, particularly those who are new, reconnecting or not yet our members.
Near enough is good enough was never God’s attitude when Jesus was incarnate, lived, taught, died and was resurrected. In fact what God did was way over the top. The doona was so big that no-one could ever be left cold, to use my inadequate analogy.
We are seeking to focus this year on “attention with intention” but part of that is going to have some times when we need to realise what we are doing isn’t quite right and we need to swap the bed spread for the doona… and if we have things not quite lined up we need to take the time to unpack it all and set it in place so that no-one should be cold.
I would love our church to be known as a place of warmth for all… but that will never happen with a near enough is good enough attitude, it will never happen if we just get use to the way things have always been or the way that works for us and keeps just us warm. Like our God, we do need to have a willingness to go way over the top for the benefit of others… and sometimes that will be at our expense.
My prayer is that as people are prompted to “give church a go” or “feel like it’s time to come back to church” or stumble into an Op-Shop, our childcare centre or one of our many activities, they will be met with an overwhelming warmth, that says you matter and that you are worth paying attention to.
Stay warm…
Stewart