Despair and hope Fr Patrick writes…
In December I spent the morning of Christmas Eve lying on the floor of my study with terrible back pain. Paramedics came and got me onto a sofa. They gave me strong painkillers and I quickly started to feel better. I’m grateful for them, and for the clergy and Readers who took the Christmas services. Even now I am aware of stiffness in my back and still need painkillers. The incident has reminded me of my own mortality. I turned 60 in June, and I am not as strong as I used to be. I have to accept my limitations and accept I can’t do all that I used to do.
And then I continue to be very disturbed by the things we see in the news. Donald Trump appears to want Greenland, the Panama Canal and even Canada as part of the USA. Elon Musk posted, “America should liberate the people of Britain from their tyrannical government.” He uses the highly emotive issue of sexual abuse scandals to make aggressive and vicious attacks on government ministers. He seems to want to destabilise the UK government. He has gone on to promote a far-right party in the German elections later this month. There appears to be no respect for other people and a complete disregard for truth. Most disturbing of all, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook and Instagram are to get rid of factcheckers, dramatically reduce “censorship” and to recommend more political content. This seems certain to ramp up misinformation and political polarisation. It will lead to social breakdown and wars.
I find that there are a lot of reasons for despair, and I find myself completely unable to respond to the challenges that arise. But then I am reminded that it is God’s world and not mine. I need to trust God. I can still commit myself to truth, dialogue and peace. I can still do what I can for good in my own small patch, but I have to leave the outcomes to God. I am reminded of Christian hope. Hope does not naively believe everything will be alright. It knows that, with Jesus, we have to walk the way of the cross. But it looks beyond death to resurrection. It trusts in God’s love for us. It trusts that the good we do is not lost but has eternal value. It trusts that the ultimate outcomes are good.
Let’s choose hope! – Fr Patrick
| Prayer of the Venerable Bede 671-735
O Christ our Morning Star, splendour of light eternal, shining with the glory of the rainbow, come and waken us from the greyness of our apathy and renew in us your gift of hope. Amen.
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