View from the Vicarage

Living With Risk

There’s risk in nearly everything we do in life so the withdrawal of restrictions following the covid pandemic understandably comes with risks.

Many keen to be independent and free again will delight in the lack of regulation. Others more cautiously will still want to balance their freedom against the risk of abandoning all restraints too quickly.

Some professions inevitably run higher risks than others. The military have shown themselves familiar through this pandemic with assessing risk and coming up with a pragmatic solution. During the pandemic, surgeons conscious of the risk of delaying treatment have had to balance the risk to themselves and their colleagues against the risk to the patient of delay.

The Christian life is no less risky. Whilst the end of our Christian lives is assured and an eternity awaits–the course of our lives on this earth may be less certain.

Christians in one part of the world may seem to have untroubled lives and their faith apparently never put under pressure and attacked. Others living in India or the Middle East or North Africa may live with the risk of their faith leading to extreme hardship not only for themselves but for their families as well.

Jesus told his disciples in Matthew’s gospel chapter 10 that he was sending them out as sheep amongst wolves. They needed to be as shrewd as snakes and as innocent as doves. Combining those two qualities of shrewdness and innocence is no mean feat. It takes much grace to be able to handle both extremes. There will be misunderstanding even in the Dever valley when we speak up for the person of Christ. Jesus added a reminder to the disciples overwhelmed by the immensity of the risks and task ahead of them. He reminded them of the promise of His Spirit speaking through us and always present – they would never be left alone.

August is a different month for many transitioning between jobs and schools and usually dominated by holidays. I do hope it will be a good month for you.

As we emerge from this pandemic, let’s make grace our primary aim. We need to show compassion and understanding to each other as each of us wrestle through the implications and come to differing conclusions. Let’s celebrate that we can live and worship together more freely, but also continue to love and care for our neighbour. As our society prepares to embrace life post-pandemic, my prayer is that we continue to show the world how to honour, value and be gracious to all those around us, whatever that might look like. John Rennie 12.07.21