Depressing news

What a lot of depressing news there is, these days! Iraq is a problem of course, but the whole of the political situation which led up to it is even more depressing. Politicians are more concerned to listen to big business than ordinary people; they pay lip service to ethical principles but do nothing substantial about them; the television is full of violence; newspapers of triviality; shops are full of tat; people are dying in Darfur; injustice is spreading and our own country and the US are abetting it; and the world is going to the dogs.

That’s a list that came straight out of the top of my head and I’m sure people can add to it and put it in a different order. In the face of this it is easy to give up and retire to our pleasant corner of the world, but this is Easter, for heaven’s sake. If we can’t do something about the evil in the world, then Christ has died in vain and we are yet in our sins. The problem is the enormity of what faces us. We can’t put the whole world to rights but moaning about it is going to get us nowhere. I think the answer is for everyone to focus on something that interests them and then take action on that. People often ask me after a sermon, “But Chris, what do you actually want us to do?” I feel reluctant to tell them about my own particular pet projects, but perhaps we ought to do more to indicate what is going on. For example, the web site ought to have much more on Trade Justice: not just links, but commentary and guidance too. There's a risk of controversy but I think that wouldn’t do us any harm, whereas doing nothing would.