Tag: Love

Counting on 2026 …. Day 67

26th June

Love

“Ultimately, love is the reason we do one thing and not another. What we love determines how we act.” (P139) Those this does beg the question, what do we love? The answer might be money, power or self.

As an alternative, Davison suggest we might “see love as the criterion by which are actions are judged.” (P140)  Do our actions express a God-like love?

Davison then explores an often overlooked issue – “What difference does my contribution make?”

One answer is that even that small difference is worth doing if it is the right or just thing – think of the parable of the widow’s mite. (P141)

Another is that we are in this together. (P142) My small contribution is part of our communal action and therefore part of a bigger whole. It is as communities that we best give and  receive love, and as communities that we will best make the changes we need to make to safeguard our common future. 

And again Davison reminds us of the core focus of the book (1), restraint. Love will always help us exercise restraint, and as regards our future, love will help us exercise restraint in the net zero lifestyles that we must embrace.  

  1. Promise the Earth: a safe climate in good faith by Julian Allwood and Andrew Davison.            https://www.cambridge.org/gb/universitypress/subjects/religion/religious-ethics/promise-earth-safe-climate-good-faith

Counting on 2026 …. Day 64

23rd June

Justice

“‘What will it cost to make the climate safe?’ That is a question for mangers, engineers, economists and politicians, but [t]he ultimate question is ….’how much will it cost not to make the climate safe?’” (P83) This is where justice is the prevailing virtue, for rather than what will it cost me to act, it is what will it cost my neighbour/ my children/ future generations if I don’t act?

So in pursuing a liveable future, Davison writes: “Prudence looks ahead … and navigates the path. Courage spurs us on to overcome obstacles. Temperance checks us from being lured off course …  [And] justice is our goal”. (P83)

What then is justice? As a base, Davison suggests it is giving a person what they are due or conversely that they should not suffer harm or wrong doing without recompense. (P85). This can apply as much to a community as to an individual. Virtues are meant to make us better people so justice is also about us: justice should make is people who seek fairness for others. And that is what God made us for: “act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:8

There is no escaping the fact that as Christians we are compelled to act on climate change so that if nothing else, we can ensure justice for all our neighbours.

Sixth Sunday of Easter

10th May 2026

Reflection with readings below

Earlier in the discourse that is recorded in John’s Gospel (chapter 13:4) Jesus gives his disciples a new commandment that they love one another, and this is presumably why Jesus is referring to in today’s reading when he says, ‘If you love me, keep my commandments.’ 

We are called to love Jesus who is God, and we are called to love one another  – and if we hear the words of Paul in Acts, one another becomes not just the person next to me, nor just fellow human beings, but all of creation. For in all that has been created, dwells God. If we love God, we cannot but love all God has created and in whom we have our being.

To love is surely the totality of Christianity. 

Yet we seem to live in a world full of hate. And if I am honest, loving everyone all the time is a hard challenge. In the letter of Peter we hear that baptism is not about washing away dirt – sins – but about creating within us a good conscience, a reminder – an alarm system even – that will prompt us to do what it right, to inhabit love. I guess like all alarm systems, we can ignore it. We can with practice, blank it out and not hear it. But conversely we can practice paying attention to our conscience so that inhabiting love becomes the norm. And we don’t do this alone. We have the Holy Spirit as our advocate – the one who can help us see the problem, can help us choose the best response, can strengthen our actions. 

Equally we should not forget that far outweighing our efforts to love, is God’s love for us. That love encompasses all that exists. That love cares deeply for every single being including those of us who still have hate within us. And God’s love will always far exceeds what we need for its is endless and eternal.

Acts 17:22-31

Paul stood in front of the Areopagus and said, “Athenians, I see how extremely religious you are in every way. For as I went through the city and looked carefully at the objects of your worship, I found among them an altar with the inscription, ‘To an unknown god.’ What therefore you worship as unknown, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mortals life and breath and all things. From one ancestor he made all nations to inhabit the whole earth, and he allotted the times of their existence and the boundaries of the places where they would live, so that they would search for God and perhaps grope for him and find him—though indeed he is not far from each one of us. For ‘In him we live and move and have our being’; as even some of your own poets have said, 

‘For we too are his offspring.’ 

Since we are God’s offspring, we ought not to think that the deity is like gold, or silver, or stone, an image formed by the art and imagination of mortals. While God has overlooked the times of human ignorance, now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will have the world judged in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.”

Psalm 66:7-18

7 Bless our God, you peoples; *
make the voice of his praise to be heard;

8 Who holds our souls in life, *
and will not allow our feet to slip.

9 For you, O God, have proved us; *
you have tried us just as silver is tried.

10 You brought us into the snare; *
you laid heavy burdens upon our backs.

11 You let enemies ride over our heads;
we went through fire and water; *
but you brought us out into a place of refreshment.

12 I will enter your house with burnt-offerings
and will pay you my vows, *
which I promised with my lips
and spoke with my mouth when I was in trouble.

13 I will offer you sacrifices of fat beasts
with the smoke of rams; *
I will give you oxen and goats.

14 Come and listen, all you who fear God, *
and I will tell you what he has done for me.

15 I called out to him with my mouth, *
and his praise was on my tongue.

16 If I had found evil in my heart, *
the Lord would not have heard me;

17 But in truth God has heard me; *
he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

18 Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer, *
nor withheld his love from me.

1 Peter 3:13-22

Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defence to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you– not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him. 

John 14:15-21

Jesus said, ”If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

”I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”

Love overcomes hate

9th May 2026

Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:8

You Lord, are the source of all good things: 

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation: 

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives: 

May we live together in peace.

A reading from Matthew 5:43-47 (The Message)

 “You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. She gives her best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.

Hate or love?

Hate smoulders and burns.

It reduces cheer to ash and clinker..

Love soothes the flaming rage,

And untangles twisted thoughts.

Hate rides roughshod over compassion.

It disregards the truth.

.

Love reads between the lines,

And hears the hidden words of hope..

Hate erects rigid boundaries.

It ring-fences every option.  

Love sees beyond the corner,

And stretches out new horizons.

Hate casts an evil guise over every action.

It masks every sign of joy.

Love lifts the veil, 

And finds the hidden virtue.

Hate feeds on anger. 

Its rapacious appetite knows no limit. 

Love expands with humility, 

And grows with easy care.

Hate is all consuming – 

Till nothing true remains.

Love is all consuming – 

Till only truth remains. 

Prayers

Holy God of love,

Heal the wounds where hate festers.

Renew our trust in one another.

Holy God of love,

Remove the log that blinds the eye. 

Restore our vision of the world aright.

Holy God of love,

Open the ears that are stopped.

Retune our understanding of forgiveness.

Holy God of love,

Cut through warfare and  vengeance –

In streets and cities in the UK.

In Palestine and in Isreal.

In Lebanon.

In Iran and in the USA.

In North  Sudan.

In Ukraine and in Russia.

Cut through war and vengeance –

wherever it is found.

Replant the seeds of peace,

Water them with  love,  

with compassion, 

sustain them with justice,

and feed them with vigorous determination. 

The Lord’s Prayer

If you love me (discourse)

11th April 2026

Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff— they comfort me. Psalm 23:4

You Lord, are the source of all good things: 

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation: 

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives: 

May we live together in peace.

A reading from John 14:15-17 

‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees her nor knows her. You know her, because she abides with you, and she will be in you.”

Response:

In the  warm sun, the aroma  of coffee, the embrace of a friend, 

 God is my comforter.

In the fresh air in my lungs, the soil beneath my feet, the push of the wind, 

God is my strength.

From the contentment of the cat and the playfulness of the otter,

God is my guide.

In the  midst of strangers, in the face of opposition and contempt,  

God is my advocate.

In the  blue of the sky, the green of the leaves, the love of neighbour,

God is my truth-teller.

In rise of the hills, the flow of the tide, the song of the bird,

God is my inspiration.

Holy  God, I thank you that you are the ever-abiding presence 

that brings new life. 

May I in turn share that good news with all whom I meet.

Amen.

Green Tau reflection

The Great Commandments

17th March 2026

When asked what was the greatest commandment, Jesus replied ‘Love the Lord your God with all you being and love your neighbour as yourself’. On the surface they sound simple. In practice they are not. We might think prayer and worship address the first part. But that may not be enough – if we love God absolutely, we also need to love and respect all of creation. We would not say to a young child, I love you absolutely and then tear apart their beloved teddy bear. To love God is to actively – proactively – love what God loves.
Loving our neighbour is to give them care and respect. But who is my neighbour?

The one in need, those I encounter in my everyday – those I encounter physically and those I encounter virtually via news channels, the internet etc. For some it maybe all that I can offer is prayer.

And is my neighbour just my human neighbour? Or is my neighbour all my brothers and sisters in creation?

Loving my neighbour is to care and and respect not just people but plants and animals, birds and insects, and indeed whole ecosystems. We cannot not both act and pray.

We can’t react to every situation in need of attention but we can each actively discern where we focus our attention. Individually we are single stones but together we are the House of God

Love overcomes hate

7th February 2026

Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:8

You Lord, are the source of all good things: 

We praise you.

You call us to tend and care for your creation: 

May we strive to do your will.

You have made us as brothers and sisters with all that lives: 

May we live together in peace.

A reading from Matthew 5:43-47 (The Message)

 “You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the supple moves of prayer, for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selves. This is what God does. He gives his best—the sun to warm and the rain to nourish—to everyone, regardless: the good and bad, the nice and nasty. If all you do is love the lovable, do you expect a bonus? Anybody can do that. If you simply say hello to those who greet you, do you expect a medal? Any run-of-the-mill sinner does that.

Response

Hate or love?

Hate smoulders and burns.

It reduces cheer to ash and clinker..

Love soothes the flaming rage,

And untangles twisted thoughts.

Hate rides roughshod over compassion.

It disregards the truth.

.

Love reads between the lines,

And hears the hidden words of hope..

Hate erects rigid boundaries.

It ring-fences every option.  

Love sees beyond the corner,

And stretches out new horizons.

Hate casts an evil guise over every action.

It masks every sign of joy.

Love lifts the veil, 

And finds the hidden virtue.

Hate feeds on anger. 

Its rapacious appetite knows no limit. 

Love expands with humility, 

And grows with easy care.

Hate is all consuming – 

Till nothing true remains.

Love is all consuming – 

Till only truth remains. 

Prayers

Holy God of love,

Heal the wounds where hate festers.

Renew our trust in one another.

Holy God of love,

Remove the log that blinds the eye. 

Restore our vision of the world aright.

Holy God of love,

Open the ears that are stopped.

Retune our understanding of forgiveness.

Holy God of love,

Cut through warfare and  vengeance –

In streets and cities in the UK.

In Palestine and Isreal.

In Iran.

In Yemen.

In North Sudan and the Sahel. 

In the Democratic Republic of Congo. 

In Ukraine and in Russia.

Cut through war and vengeance –

wherever it is found.

Replant the seeds of peace,

Water them with  love,  

with compassion, 

and feed them with vigorous determination. 

Amen 

The Lord’s Prayer

Third Sunday After Epiphany

25th January 2026

Reflection with readings below

Two of our readings have the prophecy that ‘the people who walked/ sat in darkness have seen a great light’. A prophecy of salvation or of awakening(which might be the same thing). It speaks of change – significant change – for the people. It may even be talking of systemic change – ie that they way in which things happen, the way in which they are done, is completely changed from top to bottom, from root to branch. And that surely is likely, because Jesus’s gospel is one of complete change. Certainly it was a complete change for the four fishermen who join Jesus in sharing the gospel.

When we look around the world today the need for change is obvious but it is hard to know where to start. 

We have war and violence and the threat of war and violence. Arming the opposing sides doesn’t end the violence. But maybe solidarity – presenting a unified diplomatic front, enacting boycotts etc – does.

We can discern the roots of war and conflict in water shortages, in food shortages, in the impact of climate change that makes environments inhabitable – but also in corruption, misinformation and the abuse of power. 

The Earth does have enough resources to feed the world population but it needs resources to be diverted from livestock to humans – ie growing protein rich plants for humans to eat not for captive animals. It needs changes in income distribution so that everyone can afford to buy the food – and we need income redistribution to prevent a small number of individuals cornering the vast proportion of the world’s wealth.

As regards fresh water we are in a crisis, globally we are using fresh water faster than it can be replenished by the natural systems of convection and precipitation. In scientific parlance we have breached a planetary boundary vis a vis fresh water. We need to limit consumption – which again goes back to changing what we eat and the way we farm, but also to the technologies we use – AI is greedy consumer of water – the clothes we wear cotton in particular consumes vast quantities of water, whilst the processing of fabrics is also water intensive. We compound many problems by prematurely discarding what we have bought. 

Another planetary boundary we have crossed is that of biodiversity. In its diminished state it does not support the ecosystems that we rely on. And another boundary crossed is the amount of greenhouse gases we are pumping out into the atmosphere and which are causing the increasing incidence of extreme weather events. 

If this all seems impossible to address, you’re not alone! But let us hear the message that Jesus brought: “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” Jesus took the message to the people around him, telling them parables, healing those who were sick, paying attention to what people needed, teaching them of the power of loving one another. 

To follow Jesus can mean to completely uproot and transform our lives as did the fishermen. Or it can mean to completely transform our lives and stay put as it did for for Mary and Martha and Lazarus, or for the man called Legion, or for Peter’s mother-in-law. Transforming our lives in situ is probably a life’s work: how in each situation can we be more loving, how in each part of the day can we be open to God’s presence, how can we support each other in the fellowship of the Spirit? But we can. We have the resources – our Christian communities, our prayer life, reading the Bible and learning from the insights of others, from the strength and comfort of God, from the example of Jesus, from gaining knowledge of the natural world, of the possibilities of diplomacy and alternative economics, of new and old technologies, of the power of love and hope.

A different world is possible, the kingdom of heaven is near at hand.

Isaiah 9:1-4

There will be no gloom for those who were in anguish. In the former time he brought into contempt the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, but in the latter time he will make glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.

The people who walked in darkness
have seen a great light; 

those who lived in a land of deep darkness–
on them light has shined. 

You have multiplied the nation,
you have increased its joy; 

they rejoice before you
as with joy at the harvest,
as people exult when dividing plunder. 

For the yoke of their burden,
and the bar across their shoulders,
the rod of their oppressor,
you have broken as on the day of Midian. 

Psalm 27:1, 5-13

1 The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom then shall I fear? *
the Lord is the strength of my life;
of whom then shall I be afraid?

5 One thing have I asked of the Lord;
one thing I seek; *
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life;

6 To behold the fair beauty of the Lord *
and to seek him in his temple.

7 For in the day of trouble he shall keep me safe in his shelter; *
he shall hide me in the secrecy of his dwelling
and set me high upon a rock.

8 Even now he lifts up my head *
above my enemies round about me.

9 Therefore I will offer in his dwelling an oblation
with sounds of great gladness; *
I will sing and make music to the Lord.

10 Hearken to my voice, O Lord, when I call; *
have mercy on me and answer me.

11 You speak in my heart and say, “Seek my face.” *
Your face, Lord, will I seek.

12 Hide not your face from me, *
nor turn away your servant in displeasure.

13 You have been my helper;
cast me not away; *
do not forsake me, O God of my salvation.

1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you be in agreement and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. What I mean is that each of you says, “I belong to Paul,” or “I belong to Apollos,” or “I belong to Cephas,” or “I belong to Christ.” Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptised in the name of Paul? I thank God that I baptised none of you except Crispus and Gaius, so that no one can say that you were baptised in my name. (I did baptise also the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I do not know whether I baptised anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptise but to proclaim the gospel, and not with eloquent wisdom, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its power. 

For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 

Matthew 4:12-23

When Jesus heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and made his home in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: 

“Land of Zebulun, land of Naphtali,
on the road by the sea, across the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles— 

the people who sat in darkness
have seen a great light, 

and for those who sat in the region and shadow of death
light has dawned.” 

From that time Jesus began to proclaim, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.”

As he walked by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea—for they were fishermen. And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fish for people.” Immediately they left their nets and followed him. As he went from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John, in the boat with their father Zebedee, mending their nets, and he called them. Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed him.

Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and curing every disease and every sickness among the people.

Advent – for those who work and give

13th December 2025

Those who sow in tears shall reap with joyful shouting.

He who goes to and fro weeping, carrying his bag of seed,

Shall indeed come again with a shout of joy, bringing his sheaves with him. Psalm 126:5-6 

In Scandinavia a sheaf of wheat or other grains is saved and put out at Christmas for the birds. If lots of birds come, it is said to presage a good harvest. Maybe it is a reminder that generosity is frequently reciprocal. 

A reading from Deuteronomy 24:10-21

When you reap your harvest in your field and have forgotten a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow, in order that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive tree, you shall not go over the boughs again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow. “When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not go over it again; it shall be for the alien, for the orphan, and for the widow. 

As we prepare for Christmas amidst a rush to buy all that we want and more, let us pray for those from whose labour we gain:

We pray for shop staff and shelf stackers, warehouse workers and delivery drivers:

May their work be rewarding and well rewarded.

We pray for factory hands and machinists, for assemblers and packers:

May their labour be rewarded, their safety ensured.

We pray for farmers and growers, labourers and pickers:

May the fruits of their work be savoured and not be wasted.

We pray for the soil and the water table:

May what is extracted be replenished, may their good health be sustained.

We pray for agricultural live stock – birds, animals and fish:

May they be raised with love and respect and, at their life’s end, with dignity and care.

May we as consumers, always show out thanks and respect for the work of others.

May we be measured in what we buy, 

may we be conscientious in caring for what we have, 

and may we be generous in passing forward all that we can share. 

Amen.


Go forth into the world in peace.

Be of good courage.

Hold fast that which is good.

Render to no one evil for evil.

Strengthen the fainthearted.

Support the weak.

Help the afflicted.

Show love to everyone.

Love and serve the Lord,

rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit;

and may the blessing of almighty God,

the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,

be with us all. 

Amen.

From the Book of Common Prayer 

Proper 20 14th Sunday after Trinity

21st September 2025

Reflection with readings below

This passages from Jeremiah seems to express both the grief and frustration of God and of Jeremiah – and it is not always clear to the listener which of the two is speaking. But that shouldn’t be surprising as a prophet is someone who is tuned into what God feels and desires, and what God is saying. The closeness of the relationship is both a joy and a stress: joy from sharing in God’s presence; stress from knowing God’s grief over the waywardness of humans. For both God and prophet it is not black and white. It is not as simple as God hating and dispensing with the one who sins, nor as God loving and rewarding the one who is righteous.

In last week’s gospel we noticed that the sinner rescued by God was no different from the ones who didn’t need rescuing. They were all sheep of which one had gone astray. They were all coins of which one had been lost. Nor is either sheep or coin discarded: both are retrieved and loved with an overriding passion. We should not then be surprised to read in Letter to Timothy that Jesus ‘gave himself a ransom for all’. Salvation is salvation for all – not just a few, not just most – but for all.

Knowing that salvation – healing – for all has always been God’s desire. Again from the Letter to Timothy ‘God our Saviour … desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.’

All and everyone is more than just humankind, but envelopes all that God has created. We should not imagine that salvation in just for humans and that other creatures, other living beings – and even ecosystems – are not part of God’s vision of healing and restoration. Indeed if only humans were rescued, life would be very bleak. What delights would we have to eat? What fresh waters would be there for us to drink? What flowers and trees would be there to delight our eyes? What sounds of bird song would enchant our ear?

And yet we humans often live as though all the other parts of creation were of no value and can be ignored, wasted and discarded with no repercussions. We seek to consume ever increasing amounts of the Earth’s resources as if there were no limits to supply. We seek to discard what we don’t want as if  the Earth could endlessly absorb our waste and are surprised when that waste returns to pollute our rivers and coasts! We seek to take more and more land away from wildlife and still expect our fields, hedgerows and gardens to be abounding with wildlife. We seek to fill the atmosphere with more and more carbon dioxide and yet are surprised when this upsets the Earth’s natural balance, triggering rising temperatures and extreme weather events.

Not only that, we also seek to live as if we were the only ones that mattered. That our actions will not affect the lives of others. Bizarrely we seem to believe that if those who are rich get richer, that growing wealth will not make others poorer. Bizarrely we seem to believe that if the rich get to buy more and bigger houses, more and bigger cars, that that will not mean fewer and smaller houses, and  fewer transport options for those who are poorer. Bizarrely we seem to believe that if larger companies take bigger and bigger profits, that smaller companies will not struggle to earn a fair share. Bizarrely we seem to think that if the rich can pay to lobby governments and authorities to shape the world to suit their wants, that those of us who can’t afford to pay lobbyists, will not find their needs excluded from decision making processes.

Yet everything could be so different. 

This week saw the CEO of Barclays calling on the government to curb public sector pay and resist calls to increase taxes in banking profits – this the same Venkatakrishnan, who can ‘earn’ a maximum annual package worth £14.3m, up from £9.8m previously. The average UK income was, in 2024, £37,430 although research suggests that a comfortable income for a family of two adults and one child is around £60,000. 

Would it not be more equitable for everyone to have a sufficiently generous income? 

A report by the Guardian last week revealed that through the privatisation of publication services – such as water, buses, mail, rail and energy – around £200bn has been paid to shareholders, diverting wealth from the common society to a private elite. In effect privatisation has cost £250 per household per year.

Would it not be better for public services to be owned by and run for the benefit of society as a whole? 

We need to use wisdom and discernment, honesty and compassion, if we are to live equally good lives one with another. Truly it is because of God’s wisdom that we are told to love our neighbours as ourselves. Unless we can act with generosity towards one other – both human and non human beings, unless we can work cooperatively with one another, unless we can live within the limits of the Earth’s resources, we are not to find salvation. To live in this way is to truly love God.

This past week the daily reflections from the Centre for Action and Contemplation have been on the theme of love: https://cac.org/daily-meditations/the-work-of-grief-and-love/

Jeremiah 8:18-9:1

My joy is gone, grief is upon me,
my heart is sick. 

Hark, the cry of my poor people
from far and wide in the land: 

“Is the Lord not in Zion?
Is her King not in her?” 

(“Why have they provoked me to anger with their images,
with their foreign idols?”) 

“The harvest is past, the summer is ended,
and we are not saved.” 

For the hurt of my poor people I am hurt,
I mourn, and dismay has taken hold of me. 

Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there? 

Why then has the health of my poor people
not been restored? 

O that my head were a spring of water,
and my eyes a fountain of tears, 

so that I might weep day and night
for the slain of my poor people!

Psalm 79:1-9

1 O God, the heathen have come into your inheritance;
they have profaned your holy temple; *
they have made Jerusalem a heap of rubble.

2 They have given the bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the air, *
and the flesh of your faithful ones to the beasts of the field.

3 They have shed their blood like water on every side of Jerusalem, *
and there was no one to bury them.

4 We have become a reproach to our neighbours, *
an object of scorn and derision to those around us.

5 How long will you be angry, O Lord? *
will your fury blaze like fire for ever?

6 Pour out your wrath upon the heathen who have not known you *
and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon your Name.

7 For they have devoured Jacob *
and made his dwelling a ruin.

8 Remember not our past sins;
let your compassion be swift to meet us; *
for we have been brought very low.

9 Help us, O God our Saviour, for the glory of your Name; *
deliver us and forgive us our sins, for your Name’s sake.

1 Timothy 2:1-7

First of all, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for everyone, for kings and all who are in high positions, so that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and dignity. This is right and is acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires everyone to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For

there is one God;
there is also one mediator between God and humankind, 

Christ Jesus, himself human,
who gave himself a ransom for all

— this was attested at the right time. For this I was appointed a herald and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying), a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

Luke 16:1-13

Jesus said to the disciples, “There was a rich man who had a manager, and charges were brought to him that this man was squandering his property. So he summoned him and said to him, `What is this that I hear about you? Give me an accounting of your management, because you cannot be my manager any longer.’ Then the manager said to himself, `What will I do, now that my master is taking the position away from me? I am not strong enough to dig, and I am ashamed to beg. I have decided what to do so that, when I am dismissed as manager, people may welcome me into their homes.’ So, summoning his master’s debtors one by one, he asked the first, `How much do you owe my master?’ He answered, `A hundred jugs of olive oil.’ He said to him, `Take your bill, sit down quickly, and make it fifty.’ Then he asked another, `And how much do you owe?’ He replied, `A hundred containers of wheat.’ He said to him, `Take your bill and make it eighty.’ And his master commended the dishonest manager because he had acted shrewdly; for the children of this age are more shrewd in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light. And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by means of dishonest wealth so that when it is gone, they may welcome you into the eternal homes.

“Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much; and whoever is dishonest in a very little is dishonest also in much. If then you have not been faithful with the dishonest wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? And if you have not been faithful with what belongs to another, who will give you what is your own? No slave can serve two masters; for a slave will either hate the one and love the other, or be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth.”