A walk on the Pennine Bridleway south of Hayfield today, past Mount Famine. I thought, maybe famine at one time was more of a shared experience, not like the present-day marginalisation of people in poverty, but no, that’s not how the Potato Famine worked. Some landowners probably managed to get by while people where dying around them.
Today’s walk was a fairly easy way to get in amongst the knobbly landscape…
In Sunday’s Lectionary, Jesus tells the story of the ten bridesmaids. It’s about being ready for the kingdom of heaven, and the punchline is “Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour.” But what concrete actions can we take to be ‘awake’, to be ready for the coming of the kingdom in which the first are last, and the last first?