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Website last updated on 5th Jan 2010. |
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Our Minister
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Telephone Number: 01252 544823
Email: linda.phillips@theinvernet.co.uk
Linda writes (taken from our February 2010 newsletter) ...
Dear Friends,
I hope you have all recovered by now from “the Big Freeze” – quite an experience for many of us here in the south of England, though many of our older members could remember similar events in the past. But I wonder how we all felt about it? To begin with, it was beautiful to see, an awe-inspiring experience of the beauty of nature, we stayed in the warm if we could and admired it from our sitting room windows. After a day or so we realised it wasn’t going to disappear as soon as most of our snowfalls do, and began to dig ourselves out if we could and get on with life. It struck me when I ventured out to the shops how cheerful everyone looked, we were laughing and swapping travellers tales, helping each other out, shopping for our elderly neighbours, clearing their paths for them. There was a moment when I thought, why can’t life always be like this? The sun was shining (at that moment, anyway!), the world looked clean and beautiful in its white coat, and people were smiling at each other. Of course, under the surface the reality wasn’t so good, and there were many who were struggling and suffering because of the snow. But all the same, why does it take a crisis to make us pull together like that; did you find yourself smiling at and talking to people who you probably won’t speak to again for the rest of the year?
But then of course, no sooner had our trials begun to draw to a close when a greater calamity struck on the other side of the world, with the Haitian earthquake. That certainly put our struggles into perspective, as we watched the horrors unfold on our television screens. Look at the response, though, people from almost every developed nation in the world immediately reached out to help the people of Haiti, with money, food, equipment and their very selves, offering their skills in medicine or rescue work, or even with their bare hands helping to dig in the rubble to find survivors.
Again, why does it take a crisis to make us behave like this? If such concern had been shown before, perhaps the people of Haiti would not be suffering quite so much now. If the world had cared a little more in the past, their country would have been better placed to cope with this disaster.
Apart from getting out our cheque books, for most of us there is little we can do to help Haiti, but there are always situations in our own communities where there is suffering and deprivation, and God calls us to help where we can, in whatever way we can. He calls us to reach out with love and compassion to the casualties of life who are all around us - whether it’s because of heavy snowfall, or ill health, emotional problems, bereavement, losing their job, whatever, there are always people there who need our help.
I pray that our experiences of the last few weeks will have changed our view of the world around us, and been a wake-up call for us to lift our eyes beyond our own situations and concerns to share what we have with others more readily. Even a smile can make as much difference to someone as writing out a cheque, so let’s keep our eyes open for the opportunities God offers us in the future to share with him in working for a world where all may know they are wanted and cared for.
With Christian greetings,
Linda