Thought for the Day
22nd October 2021
I am on the email list of ‘change.org’ offering me petitions to ‘sign with a click’ (so easy!). Some I dismiss, some I am glad to support: for innocent people in danger of imprisonment by tyrannical governments. I am also encouraged to write to my MP urging them to vote for an amendment to the Environment Bill or to amend or throw out the UK Borders and Policing Bills, or to campaign for better treatment for refugees.
All very laudable, but do these actions do any good? Petitions can eventually reach Parliament; an MP can be moved to action by a torrent of emails but did my actions help? My days of marching are over; today’s protests seem more bitterly hard-hitting than the ones I joined for Drop the Debt. We were assured these made a difference and progress was made, mainly because some government ministers were in favour: we strengthened their campaign vis-a-vis the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Nowadays we are protesting against ungenerous, self-regarding measures by a government which believes this is what the public wants. When I sign petitions or email MPs urging a kinder, more generous and more open Britain, am I joining a substantial pressure group or am I part of a minor ineffectual subculture? Even if black footballers have to endure hate mail and some people spread vitriol on Twitter, Sir David Amess’ death leads to remembering his kindness and how we should continue it. ‘Children in Need’ is coming up: just the opportunity for kindness in action!
Lesley Fuller
20th October 2021
The Bible is full of stories of courage, of people who show physical courage in the face of their adversaries. In fact, many of the stories of faith through the ages since have similarly had a thread of courageous people following their calling despite threats and intimidation. Even in the present day. The awful death […]
18th October 2021
“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?… when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” Job 38:4,7 These words, from one of the lectionary readings for this week, bracket one of the Bible’s creation stories – but not the one with which you are […]
15th October 2021
I was sitting alone – mask on – socially distanced – in Southmead Breast Care Centre awaiting an appointment. Three people came together to the reception, a man and a woman in uniform and a woman in her thirties. The woman was chained to the uniformed woman, so clearly prisoner and prison staff. Covid rules […]
13th October 2021
This month marked a special anniversary for me. On 7th October it was exactly 70 years since I first worshipped at Tyndale! On 1st October 1951 I had arrived in Bristol as a new student and during Freshers’ Week joined the Baptist students’ body – the Edward Terrill Society – the President, Michael Smith, inviting […]
11th October 2021
Last Thursday, Rachel and I were part of a live audience in Bath for a concert by the London Symphony Orchestra, featuring a favourite of mine, Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, the ‘Pastoral’. Yes, live music! The concert was relayed live to all UK care homes who wished to take up the invitation. In an interview, the […]
8th October 2021
Problems getting petrol?… Supply chains everywhere are under strain – worldwide, Europe-wide, in post-Brexit Britain (especially, it seems). You’ll have heard of the ‘just in time’ principle. Deliveries are scheduled ‘just in time’ – to arrive at home, factory, depot or shop just when needed. Back in the seventies I visited a huge new ‘state […]
6th October 2021
MOTHS Why, I wonder, did God create moths? The question was raised for me when one of our deacons showed me a hole in his suit trousers where a moth had had a meal. I commiserated with him, as was only right and proper, to find that in my wardrobe the little critters had had […]
4th October 2021
The 1st complete English-language Bible, the “Matthew Bible” is printed, with translations by William Tyndale and Miles Coverdale. The Orient Express departs on its first official journey from Paris to Istanbul. The 1st escalator installed on the London Underground at Earl’s Court Station. World Council of Churches forms. China announced a hydrogen bomb was recently tested in […]
1st October 2021
The other week Margaret and I attended a Quaker funeral. Anne had died after two years and more of leukaemia. She and her husband Michael had been friends of ours all our lives from student days – we had been at their wedding in 1966 – so it was with a sense of real loss […]