When the guys from The Gathering asked me to talk on the theme of substitution, I didn’t know whether to take it personally. Was I the one who was to be hauled off early in the second half having failed to perform, or the super-sub who was going to come on and save the day, or even the sub who finds it hard to enter into the pace of the game and therefore is passed by a little bit? OK, so perhaps I’m taking it a bit far, but the idea of needing to play a part in a team, not be the centre of attention, sometimes need help from my teammates around me, (which means that I’m admitting I can’t ‘do’ it on my own), still puts my back up, even after all these years of trying to follow the way of Jesus. It’s a lifelong lesson that needs to be learnt, again and again, time after time, that we’re all part of one body, one family and we all need each other.
There are all kinds of jokes to be made about asking for help, but over the years I’ve learnt the hard way that I need to both ask for help and be the kind of person that others feel comfortable asking for help. As a disabled person, a manual wheelchair user, a lot of society and the terrain of our country is not my friend in terms of access and participation, so I have to find workarounds. This often ends up with me asking someone for help, having to be quite trusting that when asked, someone actually will help me, and so on. Fortunately, I don’t have too many stories of it going wrong, but taking that leap of faith and risk of asking someone else to step in for me, sometimes almost literally to be my hands and feet so that I can do what needs to be done or participate in the way that I want to is both freeing for me and really demanding. I’d rather do things myself, but I can’t. You should see me struggling up a hill.
That’s the thing, I can spend my life toiling away trying to get up the hill, or I can ask for help. Most people are pretty kind I’ve found, but none of us are perfect, not one, except for the one who died for me whilst I was still a sinner, far from God and sweating away trying to get up the hill of life on my own. I know it’s a bit corny, but it’s true. I needed help to have life and have it to the full, physically, spiritually, emotionally, the whole thing. I can pretend I can do it myself, but Jesus is the ultimate substitute, the perfect teammate who helps me to press on towards the goal and so, by some miracle of his kindness, I find that rather than being a poor reflection, or a substitute that the game is passing by, I’ve received all the help I need and now I can have the great joy of helping others too. I wonder if you feel the same?
You can find Haydon Spenceley’s Seminar session from
Saturdays TG21 Session at around 45:50
Image Credit: Matteo Vistocco
