Meet Bruce

Meet Bruce

A kitchen tap had dripped for some time and my wife suggested that I fix it. (Prov 27:15 certainly did not apply!) I had previously tried a repair without lasting success and was not keen to attempt it again. Eventually my wife’s words goaded me into action. Water gushed freely into the air after my attempts to shut off the main household water supply reputured a key pipe. That gush stopped the kitchen drip, but also meant turning off all water into the house. My wife was gentle with her words.

It’s hard to find a plumber between Christmas and western new year in Australia, but along came Bruce. Bruce is my age and we chatted merrily about life experiences and family as he started the repair. 90 mins later Bruce had repaired the burst water pipe, ended the kitchen drip and agreed with my wife on some further repairs that he would do in the next week or two. I cannot imagine the time that I would need to do that, if indeed it was within my reach.

Bruce left school aged 15 and his speech showed a lack of schooling (not to be confused with a lack of education). As I paid the bill he admitted to not being strong on paperwork (which I had already deduced from the filing system consisting of documents strewn on his truck floor). I imagine that he would be quite lost in my world. As the above tale of my attempted repair shows, I am certainly lost in his world.

A few thoughts arise from this tale of Bruce.

Knowing how and knowing who. A few days before this incident I talked with a family member whose skills are similar to mine. We agreed that another family member was very handy with his hands and superb at problem solving. He knows ‘how’, just like Bruce. Others are good at knowing ‘who’ – they network and build relationships such that they can identify and recruit those like Bruce who know ‘how’. Each to his own.

Education. Australia’s education system is increasingly titled towards economic goals with an emphasis on higher-order vocational applications. At a secondary level, it is dominated by preparation of students for university entrance. It arguably fails the Bruces of the world for whom an early exit from schooling into vocational training is apt. Where are the classes that will give Bruce basic linguistic and numerical literacy coupled with small business management skills? Such classes would provide a useful scaffolding to support Bruce’s high practical intelligence, can-do problem solving and handiness with his hands.

Church. Bruce appeared to have no church links, but I wonder what would happen if he strayed into a church. Churches in my circles value activities such as sitting in chairs for 90 minutes, singing songs that are musically complex, reading and discussing Bible text, praying aloud. Most of this is just not Bruce and it’s no wonder that he and his kind are rare in churches that are rich in doctors, lawyers, IT workers, managers and the like. What does a Bruce-friendly church look like?

Ministry. What Bruce could do in 90 minutes would be impossible for me. It was far more sensible that I pay Bruce $200 to use his skills to solve my drip than to attempt it myself. In the language of the Bible, Bruce is one of the parts of the body that seem less useful and which are generally treated less honourably. (1 Cor 12:22f). Yet, as the same passage says, such parts are indispensable – as Bruce certainly was. Church generally honours those with on-stage gifts with music and word, while a myriad of other gifts go largely unrecognised. How can we better identify, develop, use and appreciate the Bruces in our congregations?

Thanks Bruce for making my day, ending my drip and teaching me some lessons.