I received a flyer through my door the other day from one of the political parties obviously chasing my vote in the up and coming general election, I had to laugh, because they did an amazing job of explaining what a terrible place Ipswich is and all the things that are wrong with the town and then telling me that if I wanted to put these things right, I must vote for them. I’m not sure that I agree with all their critical comments, and I see in my work a huge amount of good work going on in this place, and nowhere on their bold document, did I see a word of explanation of how they were going to perform this miracle.
I have watched the debate programmes on the television, and all I seem to hear from the two major parties is why I shouldn’t vote for the opposition. I have never been a strong follower of any of the political parties, but this time I am completely at a loss as to where to cast my vote, because I no longer know who to trust. In recent years we have witnessed politicians from around the world blatantly lying just to promote their own self-interests and my greatest concern is for the most fragile in our society.
The biggest question for me is what is true, and what is a lie? Both major parties are telling me that I will be worse off if the opposition is in power, they are outlining their own plans for the NHS, education, immigration, affordable housing, climate change, the cost of living, crime, unity, and division. I don’t know what to believe, or who to believe, if I hear once more about non dom taxes, tying up tax loopholes, windfall taxes, I think that I will scream. The worst of it is that it isn’t over yet, and we somehow know that whoever ends up in power, the whole thing will be a bitter disappointment and we know that in the months that lie ahead we will hear a list of excuses why manifesto promises have not been carried out. I know that I sound negative, but it wears me down.
So much of our life is based on two five letter words Truth and Trust and for me this is what my faith is all about. What is it that I believe? I believe that God is Love. That is absolutely fundamental to my life and if I believe only that, then I will do my best to live by the mandate laid down in the Bible, to love God and to love my neighbours. That way, I will do my best to live by the guidelines taught by Jesus. That might sound to be an outdated principle, but I believe that we will only find pleasure in life when we serve those who need our support the most, when we have the interests of others ahead of our own self-gratification.
I Trust in God, who has led people of faith over many generations through the power of the Holy Spirit. I look at the political map today and I honestly can’t see how this mess can possibly be sorted out and in my own power, the only thing I can do is hope that I will have the wisdom to put my cross in the right box on the day, but in all honesty, the only one I really trust, is God.