Dear friends,

The other day I had a conversation with someone who expressed what felt like an overwhelming sense of despair about the world in which we live; it prompted me to revisit this poem from the Iona Community…

A Safe City (Zechariah 8:1-19) Do you have a dream of a safe city?

My favourite is the one God shares with Zechariah, a place where old people, who use walking sticks who use walking sticks, sit and talk in city squares, and the streets are full of children playing When the streets are unsafe I try to be brave and to act justly, and to hold onto God’s dream.

Ruth Burgess, Iona Community.

On 29th September the Church celebrates Michael and All Angels. One of my favourite sculptures is Sir Jacob Epstein’s bronze depicting the triumph of the Archangel Michael over the Devil, which is on the wall of Coventry Cathedral. The ‘new’ Cathedral was built after the previous St Michael’s was destroyed during WW2. The preserved ruins of the ‘old’ Cathedral and the ‘new’ Cathedral stand side by side as a reminder of “the folly and waste of war…[and] a sign of faith, trust and hope for the future of the world.” Richard Howard, Provost at that time, wished to “build a kinder, more Christ-child-like world”. Today Coventry Cathedral is recognised around the world for its Ministry of Peace and Reconciliation; participants at a recent workshop were asked to consider:
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“Justice. Truth. Forgiveness. Peace. What is required in the reconciliation process? Is one component more important than the other? Where should an individual or community begin the reconciliation journey? Where will you begin? What will you decide?”

21st September is the International Day of Peace and the theme for 2018 is “The Right to Peace”. We are encouraged to “[seek] peaceful resolution of conflict when disagreements arise around you”, at school, in the workplace, in our local community – see more at www.un.org/en/events/peaceday/

“These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another, render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace, do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath…” Zechariah 8:16-17a.

It seems these are all ideas and questions we might revisit regularly and reflect on. In the meantime, “…I try to be brave and to act justly, and to hold on to God’s dream.”

Linda.