A cartoon published by the Canadian artist Graham McKay (on the same day the World Health Organisation declared a global pandemic) showed a small city about to be overwhelmed by the increasing waves of the pandemic, a recession, and climate change, to which I would want to add a fourth as we face as a people the issue of racial injustice raised by the Black Lives Matter movement.
It’s not possible to pretend anything other than the fact, that in so many different ways and at so many different levels 2020 has been an incredibly challenging year……. and yet I believe ‘the light still shines’.
For the Church, not being able to meet physically for much of the year, and needing to do it in a very different way when we could, we have been forced to rethink very quickly about what it is we are trying to be as Church, and how we might go about then trying to be it in the very different world we find ourselves in.
Somebody has described it as ‘the gift of disruption’, and although I’m not sure it is a gift any of us would have wanted to receive at the beginning of the year, and I recognise that for those who have tragically lost their lives this year and for their friends and family it has been anything but a gift, in the care and creativity, the sacrifice and self-giving that has emerged during the pandemic it is possible I believe to see ‘a light that still shines’.
I suspect there are very few of us who have not re-evaluated our lives, looked afresh at what really matters to us, recognised the importance of human interaction, how much other people matter to us. Personally I’m longing to be able to go back to normal.
I want to be able meet with friends and family again, to be able to have people round for a meal, go out for a coffee, play a game of squash, go to the theatre, do the those things which bring light and colour to life. At the same time I’m hoping that we don’t lose the creativity and care that we have been rudely forced into over these last months.
I’m hoping that we continue to recognise and act on the belief that the individual and collective acts of kindness and grace we have seen during the pandemic can and do make a difference to the world in which we live.
‘If 2020 were a brand, what would its tagline be?’
For me it’s the header above for these brief thoughts, taken from the bible verse we used in the Christmas Cards we sent as a diocese this year. A verse taken from the start of one of the gospels which states
‘The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it’.
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The Rt Revd Dr David Court is the Acting Bishop of Lincoln
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The Lincolnite welcomes your views. All comments are reactively-moderated and must obey the house rules. Please stay on topic and be respectful of other readers.
The 32-year-old man and 30-year-old woman arrested in the murder probe of an 11-year-old boy in Lincoln have both been released on police bail, without any charges.
The man was arrested on suspicion of murder and the woman on suspicion of manslaughter after an incident at a house on Geneva Street on St Giles in Lincoln.
Police were called to the house at 10pm on Friday night, January 22.
The 11-year-old boy was found unwell at the scene and was taken to hospital for treatment.
He was pronounced dead a short time later.
At the time Lincolnshire Police said the death was unexplained and it was treated as murder.
The man and the woman arrested at the weekend were released on police bail on Monday evening.
Lincolnshire Police said in a statement on Monday night:
“Once again, we’d like to remind people that this is an active investigation and that an 11-year-old boy has sadly lost his life.
“Speculative comments are not only deeply upsetting to those involved but can potentially undermine our investigation.
“If you have any information that can help, call 101 or email [email protected] quoting incident 472 of January 22.”
Ten people from Boston have been given fines for breaching COVID-19 regulations by driving dangerously in supermarket car parks.
Officers were called after three separate reports of dangerous driving in the car parks of Lidl and Tesco in Wyberton Fen, as well as on Marsh Lane Industrial Estate in Boston.
All three incidents took place and were reported to police between 5pm and 6pm on Sunday, January 24, though it is unsure if they were connected at all.
When officers arrived, the drivers were seen doing donut manoeuvres and racing in the snow.
A total of 10 people were given £200 fines for breaking lockdown guidelines, but this will be reduced to £100 if paid within 14 days, due to all being first time offenders.
As well as the COVID-19 fines, two of the vehicles were also seized as a result of being uninsured, with drivers reported.
A traffic offence report was also submitted after one driver was seen to be driving not just dangerously but out of control.
Inspector Fran Harrod of Lincolnshire Police said: “We would like to thank the public for bringing these incidents of dangerous driving to our attention.
“This is not only extremely dangerous to those taking part but to others in these areas.
“While we continue to engage and explain with the public, this was a blatant breach of the restrictions which will not be tolerated.”
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