麻豆约拍

Good morning. I was a very small child when pounds shillings and pence were replaced in the decimalisation that happened on this day in 1971. But I do remember growing up that the adults around me kept talking about half crowns and farthings, and that this was not what I was learning at school. Despite being a child of decimalisation, it鈥檚 the language of my parents and grandparents that I still use today sometimes. When someone asks me how much I weigh, I will answer in stones not kilos or when I鈥檓 asked my height, it鈥檚 feet and inches. But for other measures, such as money and distance, I鈥檓 all decimalised.

Human beings are often capable of holding together two ways of interpretation at once; two trains of thought. And we can switch from one to the other. It鈥檚 an important skill that has its place in the practice of religion. For most religions there is a timetable of feasts and festivals, periods of time for reflection, the telling of stories, the sharing of journeys. Just as powerful as summer, winter, autumn and spring on our imaginations are, for Christians, the seasons of Advent, Epiphany, Trinity, and Lent. In a few weeks' time, we will be living through the most holy week of the Christian year where day by day the story of Christ鈥檚 arrest, trial and execution runs alongside the 21st century lived experience of work, school, lockdown; and spiritual links will be made between the two, bringing each to life in a new way.

God of time and eternity; give us eyes to see the extraordinary in the ordinary events of today. Help us hold together the knowledge of your presence with us, especially when we are lonely or afraid. Amen.