So welcome to the first stories of Hope podcast for 2021, my name is Bryce
Davies and I am now a Salvation Army officer based in Brisbane which is on Australia’s
north eastern coast. I have just moved
here with the lovely Sue and am starting work for half my work week at a place called
Maroochydore, which is a holiday destination in what is called the Sunshine
coast. A seriously beautiful part of the
world.
2021 is looking promising for the Podcast as the other 50% of my week is dedicated to the podcast and peer support work across Australia. I
have some great Friday interviews recorded - ready for the new year including 17
year old heart transplant survivor Luka-Angel Cairns, Commissioner Janine
Donaldson and Andrew Grinsted, a mate of mine from the UK.
I now have a Stories of Hope website. https://www.salvationarmy.org.au/storiesofhope/ so check it out and stay tuned for more content as the years activities evolve.
If you would rather read stories of hope episodes as a blog, then I also have a blog page.
https://www.blogger.com/blog/posts/4920090940767614723
You can find these links on the Facebook page and also on the email sign up page.
It strikes me that authors and performers of some of the most powerful love songs ever written have had disastrous love lives. The Beatles produced songs like love is all you need, love love me do and Something in the way she moves. Whitney Houston’s “I will always love you” is a classic. But like so many great poets and writers about love they often struggled to make their personal relationships work.
The lovely Sue is the love of my life. And I learnt early in the piece that my words
and expressions of love and devotion make little impression on her. She is interested in action and by that I
mean work. Me cleaning stuff and remembering
stuff seems to be the most treasured element of our relationship and the most
likely cause of discontent should I fail in this area. So my capacity to combine the two and forget
to clean something is tends to flip the lovely Sue out somewhat!
In 1 Corintians 13 there is arguably one of the most
beautiful pieces of writing on love ever penned. But is starts with the idea that fancy and powerful words
without love are just noise. A clanging
cymbal. Or in the Beetles case a strumming guitar and silky voice.
We all know that words are cheap sometimes and that
genuine care and love is mostly about action.
It’s about being there when someone is hurting with time, a coffee and a
listening ear. It’s about helping when
someone needs the lawns mowed or a meal cooked.
Its about considering others in prayer and reflection so our responses
to them are not trite or simplistic.
The Salvos Mission statement says we are committed to transform
Australia one life at a time with the love of Jesus. Love in action.
At Villawood every Wednesday we teach a dozen or so
local residents in a conversational English class. We turn up every week and our team carefully
and patiently goes over words and phrases and gently corrects pronunciation and sentence construction. It has become a fun and warm community of people. and we have a terrific time together.
Funnily enough, most of the people in this class speak
very poor English; go figure? So communication is not fully reliant on
words. The message of love is passed on by
facial expression, gratitude, sharing of food and the creation of an enjoyable and
consistent place to gather. As the
students reveal their inability to speak English well, they are exposed - and
open to ridicule and judgement. Many do
not attend groups like this, for fear of being laughed at, or appearing stupid. Many fear further rejection and
discrimination as a result of their race, culture and language differences.
So for the Salvos to provide a fun and safe
environment where we enjoy each other’s company over a morning tea and speak
English together has been really special.
Over time we have felt the love and connection of this group grow. Last week I met with these people for the last
time at my farewell and it was evident that we would all really miss each
other. The words were imperfect, but the love was real and made all the difference.
I have been practicing a few romantic songs on the Ukulele, and sometimes I play them to the lovely Sue. She usually gives me a pitying sort of look and I can tell she would rather I didn’t bother, but because I did the dishes, she smiles and lets me keep going.
Bless ya,
Bryce
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