MINISTERS MUSINGS

April 2008 Musing

SHOP and DROP

Shopping in a large supermarket must be the equivalent of a commando assault course. Recently I visited such a place. The first obstacle was finding a parking space near the entrance. That achieved, the next thing was to find a small sized trolley rather than one designed to take the goods of a family of ten or a shipping magnate. Having grabbed one that was floating free in the car park I attempted to enter via the automatic door only to find that I was trying to gain access via the exit. Once inside I was totally bemused. Nothing seemed to be where it was on my last visit. The whole place had been reorganised. There was now an upper floor accessed by a trolley escalator. I eyed it with some trepidation then backed off. After all, I had only come to get some dog treats and dish cloths. On the way to get what I really came for I acquired half a trolley full of other items. Then it was back to the trolley escalator again. I really wanted to go upstairs to look at ‘electrical goods’. Discretely I observed people using the escalator. It looked simple enough. Just walk on and the ‘contraption’ did the rest .This I did, and was pleased to be making a smooth ascent plus trolley. That was until I got to the end. There was nothing for it but to leap off using the trolley as a Zimmer to retain balance. Why was it that other folk just casually walked off and did not fall over!

Having made a circuit of the upper floor and piled a few more things into the trolley, I returned to the descent escalator. No go! No way had I the ‘bottle’ to put myself and trolley on the descending moving slope. With as much dignity as I could muster I backed off and found the lift. Once more on terra firma I made my way to the check out and only tapped in the wrong PIN once. All good intentions about using non disposable bags were forgotten when I discovered that I had left my re usable bags in the car. Of course I attempted to leave via the entrance door, but this time managed to zip through when others were coming in ( to their annoyance). It took a little while to find the car again ,but it was exactly where I left it had I remembered exactly where. It was good to get home again too worn out to pack any thing away, The dogs enjoyed their treats!

One of the reasons given for declining congregations at Sunday worship is the use of that day for family shopping. I cannot believe it. Why exchange the serenity of worshipping God for the super market ‘free for all’ (except that it is not free). There are no busy aisles and aggressive shoppers in church. There is no check out to negotiate and everything is free, not least Gods peace and love and grace. Churches had Sunday opening long before shops and they still give the best value there is, so why not change your routine and ‘shop’ in God’s supermarket.