Praying with our friends in Vellore

Zoom has some real benefits. I was delighted, today, to be part of a prayer gathering between a group from Cambridgeshire Ecumenical Council and a group from the Diocese of Vellore, and to have the opportunity to offer a brief reflection on the conversation we had around the challenges, particularly by way of coronavirus, currently affecting our two communities.

It was interesting to see that, despite the profound differences between the two locations, that there were marked similarities between the issues we have faced and the responses we have made. In India food rations have been sent to the families of pupils at home because of closed schools while in England we have been supporting an increased use of foodbanks. Just one example. We have also both faced the difficulties when churches could not meet for worship.

In responding to the conversation I mentioned that some in the UK have been claiming that Christmas is cancelled, but that is definitely not so. God continues to make a difference in our world. Citing some words of Lesslie Newbigin I suggested we need to remain positive. Newbigin once said: “Mission begins with a kind of explosion of joy. The news that the rejected and crucified Jesus is alive is something that cannot possibly be suppressed. It must be told. Who could be silent about such a fact? The mission of the church in the pages of the New Testament is like the fallout from a vast explosion, a radioactive fallout which is not lethal but life-giving.”