Proclaimer Blog
Railways
For the record, I’m no train spotter. At least, I don’t think so. (Can it creep up on you?) There are things I do love about railways. I enjoy travelling on them. I used to prefer driving but these days I prefer to work, read and relax all three of which I find increasingly difficult if I’m driving! I also – and perhaps this is the confession of someone who used to work in logistics, amongst other things – appreciate the way they work. I have a functional admiration, in other words. But bogies, 5 car trains and all that stuff leaves me unmoved. Sorry. For me, the mallard is a duck. Period.
All of which is an introduction to say that it is therefore surprising that I’ve just finished reading a very good book indeed. It’s The Railways: Nation, Network and People, by Simon Bradley and was one of my Christmas presents. It’s taken me over four months to read because I’ve had to do some weight training just to lift it and it’s the kind of book you can only read in small doses.
I got it on the basis of a recommendation in the Saturday paper, as I recall. And the endorsement was justified because it tells the fascinating social history of Britain through the railways since the early 19th Century. Pastors should be interested in this topic, because the social developments of the last two hundred years have shaped church enormously.
For example, the removal of classes in British trains (or, rather a reduction) and then re-introduction reveals something about the social make up of Britain where social class has certainly changed over the last two hundred years, but not (despite what we might think) disappeared. There are comments about privatisation: not who owns the railways, but how people travel – individual compartments etc. It is a curious fact that as construction has removed private compartments we have sought other ways to introduce privacy (in modern terms through the ubiquitous headphones).
I found much to learn as a pastor. For example, picking up that last point, the human nature may be sociable but it always fights against community at one level. Pastors who ignore this battle in the hearts of our people are just naïve.
I’m not necessarily saying you should read this particular book. But we need to understand something of the human nature in order to be able to faithfully minister to others. Maybe not this book for you – no. But something, Mr Preacher, something….