Rev Jim Rea: I stood with man whose daughter was murdered during dark days of Troubles

So much about this Christian denomination appeals to me.

When I was growing up, I would look out of the window of my grandparents’ home in North Belfast and listen to the Army band playing on the street.

Many of their bands and songsters are outstanding. I have been honoured to be their guest preacher on several occasions and have always been inspired by their worship and music.

A friend who was training as a young Salvation Army officer in London told me this most memorable story of all. He was assigned to a congregation in London to work with a senior officer. One night they went out to bring some help to rough sleepers in London’s cardboard city. One rough sleeper had made himself a pair of shoes. He had cut out some cardboard, inserted some twine and tied these makeshift shoes to his feet.

The Salvation Army officer in charge looked at him, and recognising his shoe size was close to his, he stooped down, took off his shoes and socks and gave them to the man. He then took the cardboard shoes and tied them to his own feet, and proceeded to walk back to the Salvation Army base in the cardboard flip-flops.

Walking in someone else’s shoes, if they are the wrong fit, can be a very uncomfortable experience. On the other hand, maybe I need to walk in the shoes of someone different to me. I think of the dark days of the Troubles in Northern Ireland. I often preach on the need to offer forgiveness to those who are the victims, and I am convinced how vital it is in releasing people from hurt.

But I do understand their continual grieving, when I sit in the home of a woman whose son was murdered because he was a community policeman.

I also recall many years ago a man contacting me about the horrendous murder of his daughter. He had travelled a distance and wanted me to take him to a certain spot, the waste ground where his daughter’s murdered body had been dumped.

She was a young woman taken from a nearby club and murdered. The reason for it? She was, according to reports, in the wrong place at the wrong time and was the wrong religion. I had two teenage daughters of my own. I stood with my arms around this fellow countryman and wept.

For a fleeting moment I was standing in his shoes and it did hurt.