My mother told me of a bombing raid near her home in WW2. She lived near the shipyard in Belfast where warships would come for repair. Following the raid children were evacuated south to the coast so they could be in a safer place. War is messy and imprecise, innocent people get hurt, lives are lost and even little children are not spared – such are the terrors of war! I am sure many of you, like me, feel a sense of anger and exasperation at the futility of war, the loss of civilian life and the immense cost, physically, emotionally, socially and economically.
|
I wonder what event or which person first drew your attention to Jesus? The crowds came to see Jesus on Palm Sunday because people were telling each other about him and about the event that had taken place at Bethany when Lazarus was raised from the dead. Many people had been at the funeral and witnessed Jesus’ greatest sign. Little wonder he was the talk of the town.
There is an impatience in our nation to move on from the mandates and restrictions that were put in place during the pandemic. We might never join a protest, but to some extent we share the general frustrations of this time both individually and as a family. While we want to be mindful of the vulnerabilities of some of our church members, now after two years, we long to be able to meet together more freely. In our current circumstances we can learn from James who asked the church family he wrote to, to be prayerfully patient. Their situation was different from ours, nevertheless we both benefit from patience and prayer.
|
|