Food For Thought is a public theology & Bible advocacy blog for Eternity from Sophia Think Tank’s David Wilson, who gathers top Christian thinkers to take a closer look at how the Christian faith addresses matters in society at large every week.

Bruce Guthrie, a Sunday Age columnist and a former editor of The Age in Melbourne, wrote in his column on Sunday that Australian Society is celebrating the wrong people.  In a reference to the Logies (and to the Brownlow Medal and “pretty much every other award night you care to name”) he says that we are praising TV and Sports stars who are “already overpraised and overpaid” and he questions whether or not they really deserve “more adulation”.  Meanwhile, he states, “the people who do truly deserve our thanks and admiration are largely ignored”.  He is referring to “Australia’s leading researchers, the sort of people who help fight everything from influenza to cancer but who would be trampled in a rush to touch the garment [note the interesting Biblical reference!] of Joel Madden….if they ever stood next to him”.  He says that they are “household names but only in their own households”. 

Guthrie goes on to lament the lack of funding for research in Australia and the amount of time and energy that has to go into applying for grants. “The research community is bracing for a cut in next month’s federal budget. It would be a disgrace if that happened. Our researchers need more money, not less. And they need a more efficient grants system.

“Meanwhile, smart people that they are, perhaps they could try their luck on Millionaire Hot Seat. They might be able to win the money they need to help them save lives. If it’s done with enough flair, one of them might win a Logie. Then we could really celebrate their achievement.”

It’s a good article and well worth a read.  It got me thinking about the many “ordinary heroes” that our society produces who go unheralded and unsung.  Such heroes are not necessarily out there saving the world through cutting edge research but they are making a significant difference in people’s lives every day.  The Bible has many references to such people and stories about these everyday heroes.

The apostle Paul writes about equality and the fact that all people have a significant part to play in life.  He uses the analogy of the human body, stating that “those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honourable we treat with special honour” (1 Corinthians 12:22-23).  The application to everyday heroes is obvious.  It’s not just the “superstars” that are worthy of honour, but also the medical researchers that Bruce Guthrie is talking about and the everyday heroes that I am referring to.

Who are those everyday heroes in your world?  For me I have to start with my family.  The everyday hero stuff that my wife and kids and grandkids do never fails to amaze me.  But outside of my family… let me mention just three quickly with the purpose of stirring you to honour some of your everyday heroes.

Brendan Nottle is the Melbourne CBD’s Salvation Army Major.  The tireless work that he puts into humbly serving the marginalized in Melbourne leaves me inspired every time I talk to him.

Michael Hercock, a Baptist pastor in Surry Hills, Sydney.  He’s doing some amazing work with Indigenous people who have suffered through some of Australia’s policies in the past.  I regard it as a privilege to know him.

Lee and Norman Palumbo, running a shop called ‘Just Planet’ in Sunbury, Victoria that sells fair trade everything.  Their philosophy of embedding themselves as caring citizens in their local community and the way they have slowly but surely gone about that over the years is nothing short of awesome.

And so the list goes on, but you get my idea.  Take some time to think through that Body analogy of Paul’s and the article by Bruce Guthrie and remind yourself of some of the everyday heroes in your world and send them a ‘Logie’!

Food for thought.

Featured image: TipsTimes_flickr