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Loving and caring must be the new normal

As we start to emerge from the worst effects of the coronavirus pandemic, Philip Young is urging us to ensure that the “new normal” is one which cares for God’s creation as well as each other.

The challenge of living with COVID-19 over the last few months has been enormous, and it seems that the world will never be the same again. We are all facing the future with uncertainty and many with the sadness of the absence of loved ones, who have died from the disease.
 
For those of us left, life goes on. How we face the future is of great importance. The way ahead is unmapped, and we will need all the resources of our human wisdom and love to take us boldly and courageously on our way.
 
Be sure that God is always with us and nothing can separate us from His love. Be sure that God is calling us, as His children, to continue to be agents of love in our broken world. We are so grateful that there have been so many acts of love and kindness shown during this pandemic. Let us take this new community spirit of caring into our future and make this the new normal. As we continue to slowly unlock, let us practise patience and continue to be careful to contain the disease.
 
Can we also use this as a time to radically reassess the sort of world we want to create after lockdown? Do we really want to go back to ‘business as usual’? Was the old normal actually a very healthy and sane way of life? For the natural world, the lockdown has provided a time for a breather. Cleaner air, less noise, more birdsong, and a glimpse of what changes we can make when forced to do so by circumstances.
 
We have just celebrated Pentecost with all the promise of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on all flesh. The promise of Jesus is that the Holy Spirit will guide us into all truth.
 
Can I encourage you to pray that the Holy Spirit will help us at this time of great challenge to God's beautiful creation? We need the Holy Spirit to help us to face up to the reality of ecological breakdown.
 
During this pandemic we have been listening to the advice of our scientific community and trying sensibly to follow their expertise. This seems to be a good way to proceed and the vast majority of people have been in agreement.
 
Can we now, with the help of the Holy Spirit, and our scientists, try to face up to what we need to do in order to care for the future of our planet, God’s wonderful creation? The COVID-19 crisis is bad enough but, if we do not act with boldness and courage, then we could be facing the mass extinction of the human race.
 
Can we make this a timely wake-up call that loving and caring for each other and our planet is our top priority? Let us pray that the Spirit of our living and loving God will help us and lead us.


Image by JoBischPeuchet from Pixabay 
 


 

Philip Young June 2014Philip is an Anglican, Quaker, and a member of the Third Order of Franciscans, and now lives in Felixstowe. Until July 2014 he was the Diocesan Environmental Officer for the Norwich Diocese. In June 2017 he stood as an Independent Candidate for the General Election in the Suffolk Coastal Constituency.  He is now Associate Priest at St. John and St. Edmund in Felixstowe and a freelance writer on spiritual and political matters. He is available to run Quiet Days, give talks, presentations or to preach and can be contacted at philipyoung@btinternet.com. Philip is developing a new website www.revolutionoflovenow.com.

 

 

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