Thursday 4 June 2009

We all have weaknesses, I suppose, and one of mine is junk. I enjoy looking round proper antique shops, truly I do. But stick me in a real junk shop, piled untidily with everything from tin hats to torn books and broken dolls and I'm happy.

The other day I found a new junk shop I hadn't visited before. It had all the necessary features - poky rooms, uneven floors, little or no organisation and a faint smell of mustiness. I was having a great time poking around all the junk, but it was when I got to the bookshelf that I found the real gem. There it was sandwiched between the manuals on gardening and a big book on European art. It had a bright yellow spine and curling edges, but the red lettering could still be picked out easily. It was entitled "how to buy almost anything secondhand". It was all I could do not to burst out laughing on the spot. I couldn't decide whether it was really appropriate or horribly ironic. This little book on how to buy things swecondhand, was now mouldering away on the shelves of …a secondhand shop!

I had found my gem. Quirky, sad, a bit bashed, but definitely a gem. The thing is - I find them all time and not just in junk shops. I'm a pastor, you see. It's my job to look after people and to find the best in the worst places. Times without number it has been my privilege to find courage in the frightened person, strength in the weakened person, and wholeness in the broken person. A bit like my little book - a plucky person in a shabby context can really brighten my day.

When Jesus healed people, I reckon it wasn't just about making them better. It was all about treating them as wonderful, precious human beings, no matter what was wrong with them. By holding a leper's hand, or asking a madman his name, he was telling them that they mattered, come what may. He was treating them like treasures, I suppose.

I've often wondered what I would feel like if I saw one of my own books sitting on the shelf in a secondhand bookshop. Perhaps I should look on it as pre-enjoyed, rather than thrown out. It doesn't really matter either way. Since God has found me, and holds onto me, I don't need to worry. In amongst the junk God finds his treasure, and once he's found it he never throws it away.