Intentional - Pastor's Pen for 21st September 2025

Centennial Park

I was talking with my son about the troubling nature of news and world events. We discussed that information, news and propaganda are so easy to disseminate in our online environment, we hear about things so quickly, some of them are true, some need verification. It's easy to become numb to the tide of media and just shut things out. I often wonder how we can live more intentionally and positively in the real world, without being so discouraged.

Prof. John Swinton writes; "Like the invisibility of water to the swimming fish, a good deal of our life in the world is lived unintentionally; it just hums along under the hood. When we bring certain things to the fore and choose to describe them, we bring them to attention."

I like to connect with the 'real' world by sometimes walking, running or riding my bike at lunch time for some fresh air, to pay attention to creation. This week I biked through Milford and popped into a pharmacy to look for some aching joint cream I heard was good, to put on my dodgy knee. The pharmacy assistant said it was very effective according to her husband, who was the former pole-vaulting champion of Albania. "Well, he would know," I said. Then we got to chatting about the world athletic champs and the fact that three Kiwi girls are in the pole-vault final. Her final words about the product? "Ohh, make sure you don't get it in your eye after applying." Noted.

Had I ordered the product online, I would never have had this entertaining and positive conversation and been connected to the real world with real people and their interesting stories in my neighbourhood. It reminded me once again to live in the world with intention, to notice real people and things.

Psalm 8 asks; "what are mere mortals that you should think about them, human beings that you should care for them?" The psalmist reminds us that God's intention is to care for us, in the context of the real world, and we can trust in Him.