Visiting

I spent the majority of my adult life from age 17 to age 60 serving in Uniform as a member of the Army. I am often asked about service life and am always happy to explain it, as I experienced it.

I was asked to visit someone to speak to their Grandson about service life, with a view to his understanding more about Army life in general, and the Territorial Army in particular. My later service was with the TA, where I had responsibility for recruiting. I met the young man at the house, and spent a pleasant hour providing information on the TA to him. I gave him an idea of his particular options to maximise the use of his existing skills within the framework. We also spoke about the options for him to move to the Regular Army in due course, if that was his longer term aspiration.

Afterwards, I was asked by his Grandmother to stay for a chat. The chat turned into perhaps what might be considered a pastoral visit. It involved me listening a great deal to what was being said, responding when questions were asked, with those answers I felt able to give, and promising to follow up those that I could not answer. We were then joined by her son, who talked to me at some length, finishing with the statement that he was considering being confirmed. He is 49, and thought that it was about time he made some commitment. I was able to assure him that it was a positive thing to do and to point him towards our next series of Confirmation classes starting later this year.

All in all, this was a meaningful session. What had started out with my visit to help the grandson, turned out to be to provide a listening ear for some of their concerns. I leanred that sometimes, what appears on the surface, might well actually be a sign of a deeper need, for a listening ear. It was good that during our conversations, they were able to provide their own solutions to the things discussed, just airing them with someone from outside the family seemed to be the solution.

On reflection, I can also see that I drew something from this. The fact that they felt that they knew me well enough to trust me and to be open and to share some of their history and worries, seems to me to be affirming and to provide some acceptance of my role in lay ministry within the parish.

God is the God of providence, placing people in places and positions where they might be able to support others in need - in this case the need appears to be two-way, for the family I spoke to and to help my own journey towards discernment.

And an additional outcome - an invitation to be a guest speaker on Army Life and my journey to a small group in May. The Army saying is 'never volunteer for anything', it seems to me that God volunteers you without any help from anyone else.