Home, Sweet Home

On Saturday I went to our Seagull Theatre to see the Halloween Show ‘The Gory Laboratory’. The theatre had been full of parents and young children for performances on Thursday and Friday…

There were jokes, songs, slapstick, magic tricks… audience participation, children on stage, pantomime traditions… excellent scenery, music, sound-effects… a mad professor and his assistant, his laboratory, girls who needed their help… The actors are folks I know well, experienced, skilled in children’s entertainment. They’re at home on the stage.

Some months ago our friend Mary was sad; her dad needed to go into a care home. The situation became more distressing; within a few weeks it was clear that dad wasn’t being well cared for. Mary’s family made official complaints and moved dad. They weren’t alone in their concerns…

The care home was inspected. Friday’s Lowestoft Journal reported that the home was rated ‘inadequate’. A new manager’s been appointed; there’s a plan for improvement. However, for Mary’s dad this care home was neither caring, nor a home.

The Journal also reported on ‘’Pakefield Pastures’, a ‘mobile care farm that brings joy to hundreds of children and adults as it provides animal therapy care and well-being.’ The animals, including alpacas, rabbits, guinea pigs, lambs, sheep, goats, donkey’s and pigs, visit young people in schools and elderly people in care homes.

Pakefield Pastures has been given an eviction notice to leave the field where the animals are currently living. They’re looking for a new home for their much loved animals.

Yesterday at church Stephen spoke about Jesus ‘The Good Shepherd.’ He talked about the sheepfold, the sheep’s ‘home’… a place of safety, security and care. Pakefield Pastures are looking for such place; Mary’s dad’s didn’t find it. Stephen suggested that churches should be sheepfolds – inclusive, welcoming… where all are known, accepted and loved.

He referred to Psalm 23: ‘The Lord is my Shepherd…’ that finishes ‘…and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.’ The Christian expectation of ‘home sweet home’.