The Car Park Parable

 

We have recently installed new controls in the church car park, and it’s felt like quite a significant moment in our life together.

The truth is we have been talking of doing this for years, if not decades, and at a recent Church Meeting the time just seemed right to grasp the nettle and give approval for the new scheme.

Our church’s car park is a blessing, and we must not lose sight of that.  I know of more than one congregation that has been forced to close because of a town centre location with no car park.  Yet, the truth is that our car park has been open to abuse.  It’s particularly unfair when some people and businesses pay for yearly permits whilst others, who have no connection with AFC, just take a chance every day to park without making a contribution.

Recently one of our Elders discovered that the only description of our church on a local website was that of being a car park!  That, perhaps, explains part of our problem.

Well, now the cameras have been turned on, the notices erected, and the touch pad installed for user group members to enter their registration numbers.  The Elders have done sterling work sitting by the signing in portal for the last few days, gently encouraging people to enter their details.

In the process of all this we’ve learnt that car parking companies sometimes employ theological terms as they talk about ‘grace’ periods for dropping people off, or ‘forgiving’ a certain number of fines per month!  It’s also been ‘interesting’ to gauge the public’s reaction.  Some people forgot the number of their car because it’s the family’s second vehicle (something of a First World problem there perhaps).

Currently, as we make our way through Matthew’s gospel in the lectionary cycle, we are in the middle of many parable stories told by Jesus.  They are coming thick and fast in these middle chapters.  So, I occasionally wonder how our Lord might have used the Parable of The Car Park?  Maybe it would have carried themes of justice and equality and of trying to be considerate of others who need the spaces after us.  It could become a parable about just how difficult it is to ‘permit’ and ‘not permit’. And I’m sure the themes of grace and forgiveness would find a place in it too.

I love the ‘stories of Jesus’ and it’s not a bad exercise to ponder the type he might have told if he had been teaching in the 21^st century.

The Blog will return in September, hope you have a good summer.