The Clock

This comes straight from Mission-Shaped Parish (p. 8) - but what a great image. "What goes to make up a clock? Just about anything - sand, water, sunshine, springs, gears, quartz crystals, gold, silver, plastic, steel. Yet underneath all the diversity, every clock has two essential components. One is the bit that knows the time - the mechanism, the bit that makes the clock tick. The other is the bit that tells the time - digital numbers, a sundial arm, a voice, hands on a dial - in short a clock face, the bit that you need to see or hear. Any clock needs both components, a mechanism and a face. Otherwise it will not be right, or it won't be helpful. In local church life also there are two essential components - the bit that knows the good news for its community, and the bit that tells the good news to its community."