CALLED TO SERVE
I am not at all sure whether many people like big institutions and organisations. The BBC, the Monarchy, Parliament the Church and even the Central Council of Church Bellringers come in for some harsh words from time to time. For many people, big organisations represent authority and make them feel powerless. I have to admit to being irritated by some of these bodies but I try to remind myself that they are staffed by human beings who are just like me, flawed, imperfect and capable of making enormous errors of judgement. So I should not be judging them because the judgement with which I judge , I, in turn, shall be judged.
I need to remember that these organisations I have listed are set up to serve the rest of us. We are inclined to highlight their failures and mistakes and ignore their many achievements and good points. For instance The Central Council meetings may seem little more than a talking shop to some but this group of people are elected to serve the needs of ringers and to enable the ringing community to have a representative voice in dealing with various organisations. It is an umbrella organisation which brings together a very disparate body of ringers and without it we would be the poorer.
The Church is another body that gets criticism from some, and as someone who spent a working life within that institution, I know only too well the flaws, and sometimes its unattractiveness to many people. The trouble is we find it difficult to look beyond the failings of our fellow human beings and organisations. All too often we miss the fact that so many of these institutions do some remarkable things for us all. But for the Church of God there is another dimension and that is the person who caused it to be, Jesus Christ. Some people can only see the failings of the Church. For them the wonder and light which is Jesus Christ is obscured. For me the light still shines bright.
I would ask you to look behind the facade of organisations and see the idealism and service for which they exist.
Anthony Ellis