When Hannah Spencer of the Green Party traded pipe wrenches for a seat in Westminster, it made headlines, but it also echoed a deeper biblical pattern. Writer, Alex Noel explores how God often uses the hidden faithfulness of ordinary work as preparation for extraordinary callings.
Can a plumber fix your political problems? For a majority of voters in the recent Gorton and Denton by-election the answer is ‘yes’. On 26 February, they elected plumber and Green Party candidate, Hannah Spencer, as their new member of Parliament.
Though she’s relatively new to politics, Hannah, 34, already has a track record of solving problems and getting things done. She has worked as a plumber since leaving school at 16. And bit by bit has honed and added to her skills through apprenticeships and trainee schemes, setting up her own company, ‘Hannah’s Household Plumbing’ after completing a Prince’s Trust (now King’s Trust) programme in 2015.
Hannah joined the Green Party in 2022 - angry at the enlarging gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’
Hannah joined the Green Party in 2022 - angry at the enlarging gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’, and paving the way for her to become a local candidate in the recent by-election. She is the first Green Party MP elected in Greater Manchester and there can’t be many other plumbers-turned-politicians.
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Her skills and experience fixing people’s plumbing and boiler issues, will now be put to work solving their political problems, as she takes up her seat in Westminster. But not before apologising to customers in a recent interview: “I think I might have to cancel the work that you had booked in, because I’m heading to Parliament”, she said.
It is quite a pivot to go from plumber to parliamentarian.
It is quite a pivot to go from plumber to parliamentarian. But it is not as out-of-the-ordinary as we might think. While it makes for a great story, Hannah Spencer is not the first person to find themselves thrust into the limelight, somehow already equipped with everything they need for a much larger role. And in a totally new setting. Or the first to go from carrying out their day-to-day activities in near-obscurity, to becoming a well-recognised person.
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There’s a pattern here which I’ve also seen in the Bible, and in the lives of many faithful Christians. I don’t know whether Hannah has a faith or not, but her life right now is certainly an example of how working your trade, and being faithful in the day-to-day - whatever that may involve, can become an unexpected preparation ground for much bigger things.
For example, when David’s father Jesse called his youngest son in from minding the family’s sheep in the local fields [I Samuel 16], the last thing David expected was for the prophet Samuel to anoint him, and tell him he was chosen by God as the future king of Israel. Nor that he would soon leave home and be ‘apprenticed’ to the current king, Saul. Or even that he would be playing his harp in the royal palace: until then, it was only his sheep who usually heard him play. What relevance could shepherding possibly have for becoming a king?
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In the gospels, when James and John, who had worked their whole lives as fishermen on the Sea of Galilee, got talking to a rabbi on the shore; how could they have known the significance of that conversation? Or when Jesus invited them to become his disciples, and promised that he would make them “Fishers of Men”. What could a lifetime of catching fish, day-in-day-out, in all weathers, possibly have to do with sharing the good news of God’s kingdom?
And when Joseph, a slave, was called up after several years in prison, to interpret Pharoah’s dream; did he imagine where it would lead? With his supernatural gift forgotten and his character humbled, he was steadily formed under years of pressure. Then suddenly he was remembered; promoted and given a prominent role, responsible for governing Egypt and guiding the whole country through a severe famine. [Genesis 41] What’s more, his position, and the esteem he was held in, enabled him to rescue his family, and ultimately secure the future of the Israelite people.
The hard graft of everyday life, often in obscurity, has a profound role in shaping us. Day in, day out, it is here that God will work into us the character, experience and skills we need, if we trust him. And so, when we’re faced with a challenge, asked to lead or given any sort of platform; we won’t second-guess ourselves. Instead, like muscle-memory, we will instinctively know what to do, because we’ve already done it hundreds of times before, in other settings. David’s shepherding skills equipped him to shepherd a nation; James and John’s fishing skills found people hungry for the kingdom of God, and Joseph’s character and gifting combined - enabled him to lead well during a critical moment of history. Similarly when we’re presented with our own ‘moment’, whatever that looks like, I pray we find that we already have everything we need.
