I have four hospital appointments this week including two for injections of chemotherapy. Not for the first time I feel blessed in being close to the Beatson. I often wonder how those who live at a distance manage to cope with a similar schedule. I am also grateful for the sense of community that there is at the Beatson. Sometimes there can be administrative blips and there is also the possibility of a longer than usual spell in the waiting room but the overwhelming sense is of a dedicated staff working hard often under pressure for the good of their patients.
I turned up for my appointment on Monday and gave my name at the reception desk. The nurse said: ‘It’s okay. We know who you are.’ At the risk of sounding a bit sentimental it was a heart-warming moment. Here I was, one among many, not feeling at my best but assured that I wasn’t just a name on a sheet. That’s the impression I have been given on this long stretch that has been this process.
I was reminded of that very popular sit-com Cheers about the bar in Boston that was a home from home for a number of quirky characters one of whom was the psychiatrist Dr. Fraser Crane who was later to be given his own series. I always appreciated the theme tune:
‘Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name
And they're always glad you came
You want to be where you can see
The troubles are all the same
You want to be where everybody knows your name.’
Okay we’re talking about a pub here but when life is hard there is enormous encouragement in knowing that you are part of a community where people care for you. I see people’s faces light up when a nurse appears at the door of the waiting room and their name is called. It’s not just that their ‘turn’ has come around. They are being taken by someone who knows their name, their trouble, and who will be doing the best for them. We are constantly told by psychologists that this is something that is lacking in modern society. Everything that we need for entertainment, information and intellectual stimulation can be accessed in our own homes. No great need to seek the company of others. But then the time comes when you need others, a sense of community, to be where everybody knows your name.
This is not too far away from the vision that Paul cherished for the Church. The reason he wrote those letters was to deal with issues that were disrupting a sense of community. People departing from the core beliefs of the Gospel and declaring their way was best. People allowing themselves to be defined by their loyalty to big personalities rather than Christ. People neglecting the needs of the vulnerable and needy. People just not getting on with one another. Even in Philippi where the Christian witness was a source of joy to Paul there were issues that needed to be sorted out. He reminds the believers that their ‘citizenship is in heaven.’ (Philippians 3: 20). If you like, their community is a colony of heaven, where the eternal truths and values are cherished above those of ‘earthly things’. A place where the troubled, confused and despairing can find that deep satisfaction which only Christ can give. That vision of the Church has to be sustained in face of all the threats that can arise from the self-centredness of broken humanity.
I’ve never been a great ‘party‘ person. No political party has ever enticed me to the extent that I would want to be a member. While being concerned about a number of ‘issues‘ which threaten the quality of life I have only once put my name to any pressure group. The only community that has ever held me is the Church of Jesus Christ because there can his Word be heard, there can His call to serve is made plain, and there His people know my name and uphold me in the days of trouble.
