The constitutional ferment continues. Those who thought a referendum would settle matters once and for all (in whichever direction) find themselves in a very different world. As many others have said, it’s brilliant that so many people – most of us! – got involved and that so many issues got talked about. Personally I have felt a need to become more informed in the hope of seeing behind the slogans to the reality – a tall order! I have also been energised to stand up again for what I believe.
Those of us in this and other denominations of the Christian church have different views on how to strive for justice and peace. But we recognise, I assume, the bottom line of Jesus’ ‘manifesto’: ‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.’
In our diocese it is the year of Reflection for Action. Kathy Galloway’s poem reminds us about the ‘action’ bit!
Do not retreat into your private world,
That place of safety, sheltered from the storm,
Where you may tend your garden, seek your soul,
And rest with loved ones where the fire burns warm.
To tend a garden is a precious thing,
But dearer still the one where all may roam,
The weeds of poison, poverty and war,
Demand your care, who call the earth your home.
To seek your soul it is a precious thing,
But you will never find it on your own,
Only among the clamor, threat, and pain
Of other people’s need will love be known.
To rest with loved ones is a precious thing,
But peace of mind exacts a higher cost,
Your children will not rest and play in quiet,
While they still hear the crying of the lost.
Do not retreat into your private world,
There are more ways than firesides to keep warm.
There is no shelter from the rage of life,
So meet its eye, and dance within the storm.
Kathy Galloway
