Listen

More than anything, we need somebody to listen. Really  listen, that is, not just cock half an ear while they think of the next thing to say. Today's paper says than doctors are being treated like priests; and for sure the most popular medicos are those who make time to listen to their patients. A man I know found his surgery closed and only a cleaner on the premises. He sat on a wall outside and told her his problem, and afterwards he had no need of the doctor. A pub landlord tells me that lonely and troubled individuals are more and more turning up in the hope that he will have time for a chat, or that there will be other customers willing to listen to them. 'They want sympathy more than drinkl,' he says. 'Running a pub is hard enough without being a mixture of priest, doctor, social worker and psychiatrist.' Is this a role for the under-occupied clergy? Lots of them pretend to be 'busy' but when you analyse their day much of what they do is self-indulgent. Ministry can be a sinecure. Clergy set their own agendsas so that they appear to be immensely busy, or more or less idle. Most have not been trained in time mangement so never achieve much. A church could 'adopt' a pub or a surgery to provide willing listeners (not preachers!) to over-burdened landlords and doctors. Chaplaincy is a more useful activity than parish ministry... perhaps also for motorways and pub chains aetc,etc. Too many clergy are wasting their time and training. Discuss...