As I sit in my living room gazing out into the garden on a beautiful, crisp January morning with clear blue sky and a heavy frost on the ground, wrapped in my fluffy blanket because the thermostat has been turned down 3°C, I reflect on the public sector workers, especially the nurses out on the picket lines.
Whatever our view on the rights and wrongs of them striking, it is staggering how they have fallen so quickly from the hero status they had in 2020.
It is sad that in the 21st Century, we need to have Wokingham Food Bank and Share. How we long for a society where the needs of all are met, and yet in this broken world we see unfairness and the gulf between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have nots’.
Jesus Christ summed up the ten commandments: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ [Matthew 22 NIV]. But where many strive to fulfill the second (and well done to them), we will only see true fulfillment when we fulfill the first too.
Jesus points us forward to a day when we can know a society where truth and justice reign, when we can live in peace and fairness together with him. If you want to know more, why not join us for our Hope Explored or Christianity Explored courses?
Ian Stewart, a member of Christ Church Wokingham writing on behalf of Churches Together in Wokingham
