Dear Friends,
Just when we thought we had heard the last of it, rumours are beginning to circulate concerning the possibility of a short, sharp ‘lockdown’, most likely around the time of the half term holiday at the end of October. Govt. has been quick to dampen down the suggestion, but those of us who subscribe to the ‘no smoke without fire’ view of the world will reply to the effect that they would say that, wouldn’t they. Covid has not gone away; most likely it will never go away. It is no use any of us pretending that it has, or that it will. We have to learn to live with it and that will mean having to accommodate ourselves accordingly – at home, in work, at school, in church – wherever we find ourselves we will have to be careful both for ourselves and for others. In short, we will have to use our ‘common sense’, one of those lovely phrases that can mean anything and everything to each and every one of us. It has a rich history as far as philosophical thought is concerned. It was Aristotle who first sought to describe ‘common sense’ – he understood it as some innate ability to combine what each of our five individual senses experience into a holistic appreciation of the external world: our ‘common’ sense is the summation of sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing. 5 + 1 = 6 – our so-called ‘6th sense’. Over the centuries, the great thinkers of every age swapped ideas as to the best way of describing ‘Common Sense’. Ironically, it might be said that if they just bothered to use their own common sense, they would have worked it out much more easily. For me it is best understood as a combination of instinct – our initial response, or 1st thought – and reason, our having thought about it, or 2ndthought – informing our day-to-day judgement about what is right and wrong. Sometimes they will appear to contradict themselves – heart vs head – yet neither can be ignored. But for Christians there is another essential element, faith. And so, to parody something that Jesus said, ‘None of us can live by faith alone.’ Faith does not supplant instinct and reason, rendering them redundant. Rather, faith serves to focus instinct and reason in such a way that the judgements we make – instinctively & reasonably – will be in accordance with what it means to be a follower of Jesus. Hence, for us as a Church, we will use our ‘common sense’ when deciding what is or isn’t appropriate with regard to the ongoing situation with regard to the Pandemic. That may mean having to step back from time to time; being cautious, being sensitive to one another, being patient with each other. But at the same it should not be allowed to become an excuse for not moving forward as and when we think it right to do so. It may be than when we come to review the choices we made, to be able to describe them as ‘the common sense thing to do at the time’ will be high praise indeed. And so, we move into autumn and do so with a degree of foreboding. As the season shifts, so the mood changes. Darkness begins to overtake the light as the days shorten, and the ‘night draws in’. That of itself shouldn’t worry us unduly, but often it does. So much we have to take on trust. Common sense tells us not to worry. Faith inspired common sense dares us to ‘fear not’…