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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with the Bishop of Ripon, Rt Rev Dr Helen-Ann Hartley

Good morning. Today is apparently ‘blah blah blah day-,’ when we are supposed to grasp nettles and stop procrastinating. Why do today what you can put off until tomorrow? No more of that, get to it, and get to it now. There is wisdom in waiting and considering but that shouldn’t be confused with the need to act.

Take climate change for example. When I lived in the Pacific, I spent quite a bit of time on the islands of Fiji and Tonga. There, it is the young people who are taking a lead, preferring to speak about climate action; we know change is happening, but what are we going to do about it? It’s probably easier in our context to feel removed from global issues like that, but spend time with farmers and you’ll soon hear stories about the impact of unseasonal weather caused by an over-heating planet.

I’ve always been a little wary of, yet impressed by the character of John the Baptist in the New Testament. He bursts onto the scene with great drama, and announces that the time is now, the place is here and the purpose is this: namely the bringing in of the Kingdom of God. John doesn’t strike me as a procrastinator rather the person who inspires a response. History is full of prophetic characters who weren’t always popular but who left such a legacy of action that cannot be airbrushed out. We need such people of all ages and stages of life to remind us we all need to play our part

Lord, help us this day to do the thing we have been putting off until tomorrow. Make this day a day of action and moving forward. Give us resolve and self-belief that what we do can make a difference to someone else’s life. Amen.