Mama Used to Say (and still does!)

Pause For Thought with Kiera Phyo, youth director at an international development charity

I have lived in London for 8 years and to be honest I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with city living. One evening I’m on my local bus and a friendly looking person sits opposite me with a box of take-away chicken. As they consume each chicken wing they casually throw the bones on the bus floor. When the bus arrives at our stop they stand up from their seat, turn around and wipe their greasy, chicken covered hands on the seat fabric. I was stunned silent.

It was one of my lesser London-loving moments!
However from that same bus stop I can look over my shoulder and see The Shard stretching high above everything else. I marvel at its ingenuity as I recognize the diversity of London life.

On Pause for Thought this week we’ve been musing on lessons from the old testament story, The Tower of Babel. It’s a story about a group of people who were also urban dwellers and were a building city centre tower; they wanted their skyscraper to reach all the way to the heavens. They were using their talent to demonstrate power and make a name for themselves - a name that said they didn’t need anyone else.

God being less keen about this aspiration mixed up their languages so they couldn’t understand each other enough to complete the project. I can imagine they quickly became stunned silent too as they began speaking random words.

God wasn’t against them building a city, but was against their determination to do it alone. I am often amazed by the idea that God wants to involve us. Instead of simply waving a magic wand to make the world a better place, he invites us to do life with him and use the power of language for good.

I reckon that’s why God was so miffed at the Tower of Babel; He’s looking for partnership, not power.

The Shard’s strap line, “Stop staring up. Start looking down.” is inviting us to visit the 72nd floor and enjoy the view. It encourages me to stop looking too far into the distance and instead look at the people around me, the every day person (even the person who throws their chicken wings on the floor!) and realize that God is inviting us to use our talents and positive communication to create a city he would be proud of.