From the Vicarage - January 2011

FACING A NEW YEAR

I do not remember facing a new year where there was such an overwhelming mood of pessimism in the country.

The country’s serious economic condition continues to be a major source of concern. Of course, we are not alone in this as a nation. But the effects of the government cuts in the United Kingdom are just beginning to sink in. There will be huge reductions in the number of people employed by national and local government. And the social consequences of a growing number of unemployed people could prove serious, particularly among the young.

At a time when the government is wanting to encourage the “big society”, we know that the voluntary sector’s ability to complement the work of the statutory services will be severely affected by continuing cuts.

The violent nature of the demonstrations following the rise in student tuition fees seemed to fire a warning of what might lay in store for us. Of course, there were all sorts of extremists who would have jumped on the band wagon with the students. But it was a frightening to witness the scenes of violence on London’s streets. And whatever our views about the coalition’s policies on student loans, we will have all have been shocked at the attack on the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.

The challenges of energy costs and supply continue to cause concern, particularly as is looks as if we are now returning to colder winters. It is estimated that the average gas bill will rise by £500 annually. Inflation has not been controlled in the way we had hoped, and pension funds and savings are being eroded.

The international scene is not more cheering. Peace in the Holy Land seems as distant as ever, and we are told that Burma and North Korea are collaborating on the production of nuclear weapons. One wonders how long it will be before some extremist group will make an unholy alliance with these maverick states: all this, at a time when we are having cuts in our defences forced on us by the economy.

What do we as Christians have to offer to this gloomy world view, at the beginning of 2011? Very often we seem as pessimistic as everyone else. Even at church meetings, at deanery, diocesan and national level, we seem preoccupied with decline. Of course, Christians are called to live in the real world. But is not our vocation to be a people of hope? To affirm that this is God’s world, and that he has a purpose for us?

So as we face the new year, may we discern something of the loving purposes of God in the world. Rarely could our country have stood in a more dangerous situation than at the beginning of the second world war. The King, with his simple yet very deep faith, quoted words that seem as relevant now as they did in 1940.

“I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, ‘Give me a light that I may tread out safely into the unknown.’ And he said to me, ‘Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God, for that shall be for you better than light, and safer than a known way.”

May we as individuals and as a Church put our hands in the hand of God, and walk in faith and hope in the year to come.

Stephen Carter