From The Rector's Desk

From the Rector’s Desk – 28 May 2020

Greetings in the Name of the Risen Christ!

The unexpected announcement from the President on Tuesday night, has meant that we now need to deal with a new set of expectations. The response has been varied but most of all it has been another disruption. A disruption in our mindset and our planning. We are being kept constantly uncomfortable, and off guard, and this is a recipe for uncertainty.

When we lack certainty, and we lose confidence everything looks difficult. Our biggest challenge today is the loss of confidence in ourselves, our institutions and each other. We realize that there is no quick fix. In the biblical narrative we are like the people grumbling against Moses and wanting to go back to Egypt. We just want what was, no matter how unhappy we were then, it beats the uncertainty of now. 

Rev John Aitchison wrote: “This week one is very conscious of the kind of solidarity experienced during the first weeks of the lockdown beginning to unravel. How do we understand and deal with this? What then has changed since then?  As they say in military science, no plan survives the first contact with the enemy.  

In some ways, all of this was predictable. The difficulties and the unraveling of certainty had to come and the truth of the matter is that no one really knows what is the right thing to do.  We will only know that after the event. So, what do we do in this murky time?

One obvious thing for Christians to do is to keep their heads. We should diligently keep up to date with the factual information and expose falsity, but we cannot pretend, as Christians, to know the technical answers.

We must focus our eyes on the larger battle, the far deeper warfare, the one we pray about every time we say the Lord’s Prayer “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

Therefore, I call you to levelheadedness. The teachers and grade 7’s and 12’s are uncertain as to whether they will or will not return to school and today is a tough day for them. Churches are talking of re-opening or not, both these are a reminder that we don’t know what will happen and we fear what we don’t know.

But know this. God’s Church is at work and we don’t need to “go back!” We need to move forward, following God deeper and deeper into an uncertain world and a deeper dependence on God.

As Moses said to Joshua so I say to you, Above all, be strong and very courageous.” (Joshua 1:7) 

Our God who has called you is faithful, and He will not fail you! 

Therefore, choose faith, not fear!

Rector

7th Thursday of Eastertide.

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