Rotary from the heart

 
Rotary Club of Rotorua Monday, 15 August 2016 President’s Pen
 
It is not easy to experience change.
 
We like the security of order and a set programme that we are used to. Change challenges our vision of life. Unless we can see benefits in change that outweigh the set patterns of the life we are used to, we feel that it is an imposition to make us do things differently.
 
Twenty years ago, eighteen months after arriving in Rotorua, a rather autocratic boss took my job away.
 
I was happy doing pastoral ministry in my church. I thought I was doing well with the right focus, but he thought otherwise. As I look back I realise that the move was really to my advantage, as well as to the community I have served in since.
 
 
 
As a pastor, my focus was very narrow and confined to a church environment. When I moved out of that work scene, I was forced to look beyond those confines. The result has changed my life. I am still very involved in my church but the focus of my life has been in the very broad focus of community.
 
Chaplaincy has allowed me to continue my pastoral lifestyle but on a much broader and satisfying scale. What Rotary has done for me is to expand my vision even further to include the very practical needs of my community. Unwittingly, through the years of pastoring, Rotary has opened doors to the wider community even though time restraints didn't allow me to become as involved as I would have liked to have been. I am so grateful that, as a retired person,
 
I can devote a lot of time to the needs of people out there, the most important activity of Rotary for me. So change has meant a lot to me. I look back and realise that I would have been largely unfulfilled following the same old pattern. Change allowed for a fresh experience that has been a pleasure, an inspiration and very satisfying. If we stick to the old we are often left behind while opportunities pass us by. If we are prepared to experience new things we are in for a lot of surprises.
 
While the old has had its relevance, the new allows for a fresh beginning to the rest of our lives. I remember preaching a sermon entitled "Doomsday" and was told by one elderly lady to be positive not negative. The next week I saw a bunch of daffodils in front of the pulpit. My first words were, "It's spring! Let's focus today on new things, fresh things." I saw a reaction in that congregation that led them on a more positive and fruitful life path.
 
That's simply what we are trying to do in our Club at present. We want to get a freshness into what we are doing, a more appropriate vision of service to our community. We need to put aside the processes that focus on just what we want and make our Club relevant to what they, out there, need us around for.
 
Let's welcome relevant change and enjoy the satisfaction of a meaningful, Rotary experience.
 
President Allen