A few weeks ago, I was sitting in the Auditorium listening to Con’s sermon on The Good Samaritan. As I’ve spent the last few months supporting MUC
admin. around the rentals of the building, my mind wandered (despite the impressive sermonising, Con!) to that subject.
I noted down two things that Con said. Firstly, he said that the story of The Good Samaritan is a story of helping those who aren’t us. Since childhood, I’ve always understood the message of the parable to be help those who are different, but this way of phrasing things got me thinking.
We have this wonderful building that so many people here worked hard to conceptualise, plan, build, and now maintain and enjoy. My understanding is that a big part of why this building was realised was the fact that we want to invite others into our space. We want to connect with the ‘not-us’ in our community. And, wonderfully, I see this happening every day I go to work.
When I drive into the car park, I see mums and dads (and grandparents) unload their kids, take them over to the lift, and let them push the button to go upstairs and join playgroup, or Mini Maestros. In the afternoons, there are art and reading classes. On the weekends, children learning Mandarin. Did you know that there are at least 4 different language groups that regularly use the building, Greek, Farsi,
Cantonese and Mandarin? Speech pathology, yoga, physiotherapy, bridge
games, hearing aid cleaning, book clubs, pottery, Eid celebrations, a parenting conference, discussion groups, all regularly happen in the building… and
none of that mentions the church-based groups and activities. Spectrum, Grumpies, prayer groups, worship, Catch Your Breath, the new Muck-In youth group, various portfolios and committees.
That long list is only an overview because I know I have forgotten many things. With all that, I think Manningham Uniting Church does well at bringing the ‘not-us’ into the Community Centre.
That brings me to the second point I noted down from the sermon that stuck with me. Con reflected that his opinion of Australia was that we are a country that has the opportunity to do better. While this was concerning treatment of Indigenous
Australians, the sentiment can apply here too.
This amount of activity comes with its difficulties, from the benign to the brutal. A missing piece of equipment, the heating or cooling forgotten, not having access to the room we preferred at the time we wanted, broken tables, screens or even bones. All of these annoyances give us that opportunity to do better. To show acceptance to people who have tried their best but did not quite measure up. To make sure these people continue to feel welcome in our building. In God’s building.
So congratulations to everyone for welcoming in the not-us. Now I ask, can we do better?
Kim
Administration Support for MUC&CC Rentals and
Facilities