View from the Rectory

September 2021

There is an old Sunday School song that tells us:

“Jesus bids us shine.

You in your small corner and I in mine”

The sentiment is important because it is urging each of us to live the best life we can where we are; which is exactly what Christians aspire to do. But the idea of us inhabiting our own small corner even in small villages is increasingly outdated and incorrect.

Over the past twenty years or so our communities have increasingly become global and the past two years have, more than ever, showed us how interconnected we are, not just in our villages but throughout the world. In August we were told that the impact of global warming had brought us to Code Red, the most urgent warning there is. We have all seen for ourselves the impact of severe weather events with deadly floods and fires throughout Europe and North America. We are regularly told that the amount of resources we consume affect the world we live in.

I was listening to a meteorologist talking on the radio the other day and he was explaining the cause of the severe weather events in the Northern Hemisphere. Apparently they are being driven by what is happening in the arctic which is now the warmest region in our hemisphere and has caused a distortion of the Jet Stream to bring hot and cold air to unusual places which is causing our weather to go haywire. What is happening in the Arctic is affecting everyone who lives north of the equator.

Over the past two years we have seen how a virus emerging in China can impact the whole world and how we, without knowing it, can pass deadly infection on to someone else. In theory we have always known that but it has never penetrated our consciousness and impacted our behaviour as it does now.

Some people are furious that their rights have been impacted by the pandemic; they have been confined to home, made to wear masks and to have vaccinations they don’t want. But is life about rights? We might not like things we are asked to do for each other but we have  responsibilities to ourselves and to each other. I am more than ever aware of the fact that what I do impacts not just on my neighbour but on someone I have never met who lives on the other side of the world.

In the Bible Cain mocked God by asking, ’Am I my brother’s keeper?’ having killed and hidden the body of his brother Abel: well we may not be our brother’s keepers but even if we don’t realise it what we do impacts others. We saw that in such a positive way in the past eighteen months when our communities came together to care for and support each other during the worst of times. I pray that that community spirit continues and that we continue to be more aware of those around us. I hope though, that when we are showing love and care we no longer direct it only in our own small corner but share it with those we unknowingly impact as well.

View the previous ‘view from the Rectory’ updates here:

April 2021

Wednesday 25th March 2020

Tuesday 24th March 2020