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The Revd Lyn McRostie
The Rectory, Chawton Lane, Northwood

As a minister, I’m privileged to be able to spend time visiting people and to talk about life, about values and about what matters at the place where we see ourselves to be. So often, I’m reminded that what the papers and breakfast TV might say is a long way from where we might find ourselves. Breakfast news gives us headlines in 15 minute segments; almost as though what happens in our lives can be dealt with in the time allocated to the space between the headlines and the local weather.

It reminds me of a very popular Mel Gibson film I saw called ‘What Women Want’.  It’s an intriguing title …! I won’t give all the plot away in case you haven’t seen it but by the end of the film I was thinking if only, if only life was more like that and we did really learn to listen to each other. Real listening is quite an art; it means putting our own interests aside and concentrating completely on the other person, listening not just for the words but how they are said or, as Mel Gibson discovered, what is frequently not said!

Hearing the unspoken is often the hardest part. This is one of the things that can trouble people about prayer. I’ve often been asked why we need to bother with prayer. How can prayer help with issues such as asylum seekers, teacher shortages, long working hours, relationships that aren’t working out? I believe that when we take time out to listen in prayer we can find the voice of God in the most unexpected places.

When we listen to those unspoken words the world around us can begin to change. Gradually we may come to value other things, to look at family, friends, colleagues, other people in a new light. We may find we respond in different ways, ways that change lives. We can begin to discover that life isn’t just about what women want or what men want or what children want. It’s also about what we may give and in giving we find, as Mel Gibson did, that there’s a freedom we’ve never known before.

May God bless you all

Lyn.

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