Zetland Park Methodist Church Pastoral Letters
October 2013
"Different Responses "
A couple of recent events on train journeys have inspired me this month. In the first, a couple of Mums with pushchairs and loads of bags were alighting at Allens West station, clearly having been shopping in Middlesbrough. They had chatted to each other non-stop on the journey and continued as the conductor helped them off-load pushchairs and bags before they went on their way down the platform still in deep conversation. As he got back on the train I heard the conductor mumble, "Well don't bother to say thank you, will you!" In the second incident another young mum was getting off the train at Darlington with a double pushchair. Someone awaiting to join the train lent forward and helped lift the pushchair off, and was rewarded with a lovely smile and profuse thanks for their kindness and help. Two very different responses to help being offered!
It is so easy for us to forget just how well provided for most of us are in material terms, and therefore easy to forget to say thank you to God for our many blessings. But in terms of so many in the world we are greatly blessed and Harvest is a great time for us to catch up on our often missed opportunity to heap our thanks on God and to show our appreciation in practical ways!
It has been suggested many a time that the world can produce more than enough food so that no one needs to go hungry. The fact that so many in the world still go without an adequate and regular source of food and a clean source of water haunts those of us who almost weekly see pictures on one programme or another of adults going hungry and children suffering the consequences of malnutrition. Where political upheaval is the reason for such injustice then one can feel a sense of helplessness, but where the cause is of a more natural origin then at least we know that the aid agencies can provide a necessary life-line for those most in need, if they are well enough supported.
At this time of year when we celebrate the bounty of our harvests at home in our harvest festivals, were even in a bad year the worst effect on the consumer is usually only price increases, it is easy to forget the increasing number of those in the UK, and yes even in our own communities, who due to circumstances beyond their control and not of their making find they have no food for themselves, or sometimes their children, for days at a time. It is to help such people in crisis that Foodbanks have flourished in recent years at an ever increasing rate - there are at least eleven which Methodist Churches in our own Darlington District are involved with alone! I am proud to be involved with the Redcar Area Foodbank, though still deeply troubled and saddened that it is needed. In recent months the number of people referred to the Foodbank for support has risen dramatically and despite the generous giving of churches and individuals and regular food collections at the Tesco store in Redcar, the supplies are often going out more quickly than they are coming in.
As we come to sing our beloved harvest hymns and songs let us truly give thanks that we are so well provided for. And please can we not forget those across the world and in our own communities who are not so fortunate, and do everything in our power to do something to help them as a sign of our gratitude for all we have.