The cartoon above made me laugh when I first saw it, it is of course a gross overexageration, but as Karen and I have travelled around Yorkshire over that past few days, we have felt to be in an alien land, having to comply with strict Covid rules, hand sanitising every time we have got back into the car and feeling quite uncomfortable in shopsas we have been wary of failing to comply to the rules. Even back home we have been forced to label our churches, write risk assessments and comply with a list of rules, some quite straight forward, others quite confusing and I am very grateful for the very committed and clever people in the Churches who have made sure that people are kept as safe as possible. I feel to have muddled through the last few weeks, trying to figure out what is right and permissable and what is out of the question and at times the burdon of being responisble for the wellbeing of others has felt to be a weighty responsibility.
I confess to cringing every time I hear the Prime Minister say “the rule is very simple” it seems to me that every time I hear that something is simple, it appears to be more complex than the previous rule. I have possibly watched more news bullitins than normal during my holiday and people feel to be getting increasingly angry about further lock down measures. The rules regarding this pandemic are very clear and simple, Keep a social distance of two metres, wear face masks inside, wash your hands and try to safeguard the most vulnerable people. In the last days I have seen people blocking the pavement so they can have a chat, with no face masks on and less than one metre apart, causing me to have to pass too close. Lines carefull marked on the path, with arrows directing pedestrians being totally ignored “no entry signs” being walked past in the wrong direction, people not wearing face masks, people shaking hands, I despair!
When a lawyer asked Jesus what was the most important rule, he was told “you shall love the Lord with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind” in other words “love God with every fibre of your being” many modern people would say “but how can you love God when we don’t believe?” I think the answer to that question is this, whether we believe or not, we can live by his rules and Jesus reminds the man straight away that to love God, means to love one another and so I want to comply with the Covid rules as best I can, why, because the people I move among matter to me and I want to protect them, whether I know them or not. Love should always be at the heart of everything we do, please don’t forget “hands – Face – Space”