Amazing how a change in the weather prompts a change in mood. Last night the North wind rattled our gutters through the early hours; and this morning last week’s blossom lies mostly scattered across the lawn. It’s almost Autumnal in feel. But looking back on the past three weeks of glorious sunshine one can only be thankful that the (first) three weeks of Covid-19 lock-down coincided with weather which tempted us into the garden. The Spring beauty of those weeks was a balm for the soul to set against the national crisis.
But crisis is where we are and remain, whatever the weather. The Prime Minister’s very personal realisation that the NHS is ‘the beating heart of this country’ might encourage us: perhaps in future politicians won’t ever again underfund the service, underpay its key staff, or expect nurses to finance their own training. And when the Archbishop of Canterbury calls for a ‘resurrection in our national life’ we sense that there is a drive for change. The Easter message is always a challenge to things the way they are, a call to transformation.
Fr John