Something that has stayed with me for a lifetime is the belief of Stuart, my Bible Class teacher, that our ideas are never stupid. The idea in itself may not be suitable, but if it is expressed, it may prompt another idea in someone else that proves to be the solution.
Stuart always pushed the boundaries. If we gave the standard ‘correct’ replies to a question, he would say ‘But what about . . . ’
Stuart was a gay man in a marriage, and he was about to come out? Is that what it was? I didn’t know that. Then it all fits.
*
Rev. Lyall Dixon, of Collins Street, at the service of Holy Communion, used these words:
“Come to this sacred table not because you must but because you may.
Come not to express an opinion but to seek for a Presence.”
*
I think of my uncles, the churchmen of my family. They knew about unconditional love, but they taught me values and priorities too.
I remember a conversation I had with one uncle who was a senior person in my church. I had just begun to make some money by doing casual work. I told him that two Exclusive Brethren had employed me, and that I had made them pay— I charged them more than I charged other people.
He looked out into the distance and asked quietly, “Now why should those two people should have been asked to pay more than anyone else?”
I have never forgotten my shame at that moment; I have never done anything like that since.
Congregationalists were people of integrity.
Next: Chapter 20. Colours of Congregationalism
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