July ~ August 2010
Here we are well past the longest day and by the time you read this we will have heard what the chancellor has had to throw at us in the budget. As you might have guessed I’m writing this before budget day. However, I’m pretty sure that we will all be having to tighten our belts and swallow a bitter pill.
It seems that whenever times are good we, human beings that is, are always looking forward to the future, planning the next new gadget to buy or where to go on the second holiday of the year. Having just acquired the latest digital ipad, iphone or ipod we are looking for the next one that will do even more amazing things that we hadn’t realised that we couldn’t live without. We often think that everybody is in the same position as we are and are unaware that life is still difficult for some people. It is only when life becomes hard that we seem to be aware of the life around us. It is then that we pull together as community.
St Luke tells us that Jesus warns us not to be greedy and told a story of a rich man who stored all his riches in a barn. In fact he had so much that he pulled down his barn and built a bigger one to hold everything. He then relaxed and told himself that he had everything stored for many years so he could eat, drink and be merry. But God said to him this very night you will die. Jesus then tells us not to worry about what we shall eat or what we shall wear, for life is more than just food and clothing. Don’t be afraid, be generous to those whose need is great.
Jesus wasn’t condemning having money and being comfortably off, he was more concerned with the idea of always wanting more. People in this country come into their own when the going gets tough. You only have to think about the spirit in the second world war or Live Aid or Comic Relief to feel sure that if times are difficult we shall all pull together to make sure that our neighbour, whether that is the person next door or in another street or village, is helped through the difficult time too. This is what ‘living in the Kingdom’ means.
Wishing you all every blessing and very happy holidays,
