Sunday 26 September 2021

A Death in the Family



Sadly Nigel’s sister, Sandy, died last week.

It started with a fall and ended with pneumonia.  Sandy was vulnerable following many years of anorexia.

Nigel and her mother were at Sandy’s bedside at the end as she passed on peacefully.

We are all full of regret that she never completely escaped the warped kingdom of anorexia.

However, her Christian belief and ours is for an afterlife and it pleases us to picture her, (like Pilgrim, in the book by John Bunyan), casting aside her earthly burdens and bounding on eager feet over springy green turf towards her Heavenly Father.

There have also been blessings for those of us left behind - as the email messages and cards roll in we see how many friends and supporters she had and how many people valued her voluntary work for the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, where she had previously been on the board of governors, putting the patient’s point of view, piloting new projects and writing clear reports.

Fittingly, it was in the RVI to which she had given her time and energy that she died. 

Even with her life limited by severe illness Sandy had achieved so much that was worthwhile and she will be missed by many.

Which we shall try to see as a comfort.


The photo above shows Sandy with her mother when still in her twenties.

Thursday 16 September 2021

Pilgrims of Hope


Pilgrims of Hope

Pilgrims needed a place to sleep overnight. We offered our church hall.

It seemed simple, but they brought with them so much to think and feel and pray about. Like Wordsworth's newborn child, they arrived trailing clouds of glory.
These pilgrims were the Camino to COP, a multi-faith pilgrimage concerned with the impending climate catastrophe. They have grown out of the Extinction Rebellion Faith Bridge.  They are walking from London, scene of the recent extinction rebellion peaceful protests, to Glasgow in time for the internationally crucial COP26 talks on stemming the climate emergency.
On their way they are listening to the concerns of those they meet and telling their own stories.
As they go, a gathering groundswell of prayer buoys them up.

Before they arrived, I had felt no envy for them walking many miles each day in all weathers, dependent on the kindness of others for bed, board, showers and laundry.
But when they left their tread was light, considering that they carried our hopes and fears on their backs.

I felt my own heels lifting from the ground. The energy of their journey very nearly carried me with them.
Instead I turned to make sure our church hall was tidy. It was. They had left it spotless. You would never know that so many hopes and dreams had roosted there overnight.



Sunday 5 September 2021

Climate Catastrophe is Happening Now


I didn’t blog recently, not because nothing was happening, but because too much was. 

Extinction Rebellion had a fortnight of protests in London.  XR’s original mission was to draw attention to climate change as a reality, in spite of reassurances from the fossil fuel companies.  Since the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued its recent ‘Code Red for humanity’, there are few climate deniers left.

Extinction Rebellion’s updated quest is to get the government to act on climate change.  Despite making reassuring promises, they are supporting the opening of the vast new Cambo oilfield in Shetland and a new coalmine in Cumbria, while spending £27 billion on new roads and devastating an irreplaceable swathe of countryside with their HS2 white elephant project.

During the fortnight’s XR activities, Nigel sat down as an act of peaceful protest and offered himself for arrest twice, once chained to the pink table in the West End and once on a junction just north of Tower Bridge.  It is his way of shouting aloud ‘Stop the harm!’

I found myself surrounded by police cordons on at least three occasions and lost count of the number of times I was threatened with arrest. 

Extinction Rebellion causes disruption and this is controversial.  But the argument is that this is only the slightest fraction of the disruption which will be caused by climate catastrophe if it continues unchecked – ask the inhabitants of Germany or New York who suffered in recent flash floods.

There will be no ‘Business as Usual’ on a dead planet.

However, if the techniques of XR (Extinction Rebellion) seem uncomfortable to you, please still act to protect your planet by joining one of the other green organisations and following their advice to write to politicians and sign petitions.  We must act now.



Home - Extinction Rebellion UK

 Greenpeace UK

https://www.greenpeace.org.uk

 The Green Party | Home

Friends of the Earth | Home

https://friendsoftheearth.uk

 

Inside the women's action at Oxford Circus