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A spiritual comment and prayer to begin the day with Canon Stephen Shipley

Good morning.

There’s no doubt that the corona-virus pandemic has had a profound effect on us all. The experience of living in the shadow of the disease for many months has dramatically changed the way we live, and even if we count ourselves people of faith, that doesn’t mean we’ll avoid times of deep spiritual struggle. Already the analysts are registering evidence of both excitement and fear for the future, of where stress levels have changed, and whether personal faith has weakened or grown.

Inevitably disputes have arisen about when lockdown should begin to ease, and among many other disagreements in the worlds of education, industry and commerce, the instruction preventing clergy from entering their churches has particularly caused much pain. The words ‘anxiety’, ‘isolation’ and ‘vulnerable’ seem to have an ever-increasing hollow ring as they are thrown around in far too many news reports. So it’s no wonder that we’ve been warned about the psychological damage caused by constant exposure to such negativity.

Perhaps we need to spend less time on analysing the state of the world and give more attention to nurturing our relationships with family and friends – both old and new. I hope also that the conversations I’ve had – mostly of course ‘virtual’ – have brought solace and strength to those I’ve met up with – as they have to me.

Above all, I’d like to think I’m following the novelist Charlotte Bronte’s counsel when she said: ‘I try to avoid looking forward and backward. I try to keep looking upward!’

Lord, make each moment of our lives a miracle; make us laugh at the utterly impossible; give us hope when all things seem hopeless; love for the unlovable; peace where no peace could be. Make us gamble all on your Almightiness and to dare everything in your great service.

Amen.