Very brief appearance of a cloud in the dale a few minutes before dawn…
Our local (small) branch of a national supermarket chain has recently reorganised its shelves. Now it’s full of people bumping into each other, not knowing where stuff is. When the pandemic enquiry comes, so we can learn from our mistakes, one minor quick hit would be to freeze supermarket layouts for the duration. There will be another pandemic. We’ve had near misses with SARS and MERS – it can’t be long in our connected world before another virus comes along that hits the sweet spot combining transmissibility and lethality.
Now South Yorkshire is to go into the top tier. We’re 1100 yards from Tameside (Manchester) one way and 7 miles from Barnsley and Sheffield (South Yorkshire) the other way. Epidemics move quickly, and we have to respond quickly. It’s hard to live with rules that change quickly, especially from a government that doesn’t inspire trust, but it’s got to be done.
Also from a conversation I had yesterday, “Jesus rows from the dead.” … well I suppose a lot of cultures have used river metaphors for death.
Also, from the Lectionary, “it’s time to go”. In the Deuteronomy reading, Moses sees the promised land, but dies before he can enter it with his people. It reminds me of Martin Luther King saying he’d seen the promised land.
There are jobs, callings, pieces of work, that you get so much in to, that you never want to stop, you never want to go. Sometimes we need the grace to say, “that’s it, I’ve done what I can, now is the time to stop.” I retired nearly two years ago, but my due date will be next month. I think even if I were going to go next month, I’d still think I had unfinished business – or maybe even unstarted business. It can be hard to go.
Living God, we cling to you
through changing times.
We look for ever-new ways
to express your eternal love.