Dear Friends,

“What can I write for my pastoral letter”, I asked my husband and daughter the other evening. “How about ‘Keeping your faith in the political and economical climate’”, came back the reply! (Serves me right for asking!)

I was about to dismiss it, when I thought actually this is something which is affecting us all at the moment, in one way or another. Our newspapers are full of the ‘Ministerial Expenses’ revelations; European Elections and the threat of the BNP loom on the horizon; and the credit crunch has ramifications in all walks of life.

I suppose, firstly, we are reminded that no-one is infallible. Political party representatives who claim that they have just been following (and perhaps bending) the rules, have now been ‘found out’ – and hopefully whatever sort of system emerges from all the mayhem will prevent this sort of thing happening again.

Of course there have now been calls for the general voting public not to ‘punish’ those standing for the main political parties in the European Parliament by not bothering to vote at all, because of what has happened in recent weeks. We all have a duty of care in the way we use our vote, but not using it may mean that the racist and questionable views of those running for the BNP come out on top by default.

The ‘credit crunch’, the recession, whatever we call the financial climate at the moment, has had far reaching consequences for people all over the world and may take us years to recover from, and it’s hard not to be affected by news of those who have lost money, homes or businesses.

So do we as Christians feel we have an advantage when it comes to getting through difficult times in our lives? How do we keep our faith strong and positive, when all around us may be losing theirs?

Someone once said, ‘Faith is not faith until it’s all you’re holding on to’ – so I suppose when all we have is faith in the God who said ‘Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have…. I will never leave you or forsake you’ – we will truly be able to
reply with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can anyone do to me?’ (Hebrews 13:5-6)

Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. is quoted as saying, “Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase” – so although we may not see the bigger picture, or be able to prevent all the evil which invades our world, putting our faith and trust in God, who loves us
unconditionally, will enable us to ride the storms of life.

I leave you with this last thought from D Elton Trueblood (American Quaker author and theologian), who said,

“Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation.”

Yours in Christ, Helen <><