Crossing boundaries

Dear Friends

As many of us know, Pam Holton has recently returned from Sri Lanka. For the few who may not know Pam, she is the lady who can be found every Friday welcoming people in to the table top sale, every Sunday sitting in a top left pew at St Matthew’s and, who most importantly of all, is always smiling.

As you can see from the photo above, she is smiling even more at the moment. Not only was it wonderful for her to see son Francis, his wife Nirosha and their two children Taylor and Sienna, but she had a very memorable trip for other reasons too.

The first thing that made an impression was that, from the moment she arrived, everyone in the community seemed happy and had time for one another. There isn’t a lot of money, and they don’t always have the bare essentials, but everyone seemed pleased with what they had, however little that may seem to us. Maybe, as Pam said, having too much, to want or to have, doesn’t bring joy but just gives you more to worry about.

While that may well be true, it hasn’t stopped Francis and Nirosha trying to support the community as much as they can. It was one of their ideas to help that made a second big impression on Pam. Towards the end of her visit, Nirosha asked Pam to join her in making sure one class of children (60 pupils) could start school the next term. Together they sourced 60 pencil cases, pencils and rubbers and handed them to each child personally. Whilst thatmay not seem a lot, the children were delighted and their simple joy at receiving their gift was overwhelming - Pam said she could have cuddled every one of them!

The third memory to treasure actually started in St Matthew’s before Pam embarked on her voyage. On Passion Sunday, Reverend Samantha had invited every member of the congregation to take a stone with a word on it so that they could use it to reflect and meditate on. Pam’s stone had the word ‘prayer’, so she decided to take it with her to pray with on her journey. During her stay she got to know another Sam, a deeply religious Buddhist and, beforeshe left, she offered him her stone as a gift. She was delighted that he was pleased to accept it. And she was very touched to learn later that it has never left him since. He carries it everywhere.

Prayerfulness, it seems, can cross all kinds of boundaries. And loving your neighbour doesn’t have to be difficult either when the value of a gift is the gesture not the price.

Thank you Pam for these very special memories and thoughts, and for sharing them with us.

Blessings

Vicki