Tuesday 26 August 2008

Right about now, all over the country, there will be people travelling to work. They'll be doing it in all sorts of ways - by 'plane, train and automobile', to coin a phrase. I'm lucky enough to be amongst those who can walk to work. We're a mixed bunch -the walk-to-workers. Of course, we're all doing it for different reasons. For some it's a green gesture - one small contribution to helping the planet. For others it's an investment in their health - improving their circulation and looking after their heart. For the rest its just a more pleasant and convenient way to get there.

I meet all sorts as I walk the short distance into work. Some are business people - case in one hand, phone in the other and half way into the office before they've even left their front drive. Then there are the dog walkers - always equipped for the weather, with their dogs scenting all the delicious smells of the park and quivering with anticipation. Occasionally there is a jogger or two - usually on their way back from the park and making me feel so unhealthy by comparison.

There seem to be more and more people walking to school, which is positive for all sorts of reasons. But I met a couple the other day who seemed somehow to be missing out. They looked like a mother and daughter stepping out on the way to school. What's wrong with that, you might ask. Isn't it good to start the day together? Of course it is. But they weren't really together, that's the point. They were walking side by side, true enough, but both of them were plugged into separate sets of headphones - both marching off to school in step with different beats. Is that really together?

I was reminded of Simon and Garfunkel's old song 'the sound of silence' with its description of people 'talking without speaking' and 'hearing without listening'. The song may be over 40 years old, but the sentiment seems right up to date. To walk side by side but both in step with different beats seems a shame somehow.

Of course I might be entirely wrong about my two walking companions. Perhaps it was just an up to date way of enjoying a kind of companionable silence or shutting out the noise of the traffic roaring by. I'll never know. But I do know that speaking, and listening are gifts of God, and I intend to enjoy them both today.

As a minister, there are all kinds of questions that people ask me. One of the old favourites is 'what does it mean when the Bible says we are made in the image of God'? Of course there are many answers to that question - but at least one of them is to be found in our ability to communicate with each other. To be able to talk to each other, to communicate everything from the deepest feeling to the simplest instruction - that is the gift of God to us. It is part of him reflected in us, and it should never be wasted or neglected.