As many of you will know, I wrote and spoke last month about the terrible events in Southport at the end of July, and I am sure that we have all been holding Alice, Elsie and Bebe, their grieving families and the whole community in our thoughts and prayers. Only a few days before the attacks in Southport we had held Leavers’ Services at St Mark’s Church in Antrobus and Great Budworth Church, where we had said goodbye to the Year 6 pupils and had wished them well for their ongoing journeys in secondary school and life – how very sad that those three young girls from Southport have been so cruelly denied this and countless other opportunities and adventures in their lives.

After one of my addresses I was reminded though of the wonderful ways in which communities had come together after the mindless anti-immigrant protests and rioting in a number of towns and cities across the country, and of course His Majesty King Charles spoke about this to the nation at the beginning of August. Mosques and other buildings being repaired, fundraising taking place for all sorts of things – sending really positive messages about, amongst other things, the important role of social media as opposed to the negativity of the protests and riots – and local people speaking out on behalf of their communities and distancing themselves absolutely from the far right protests and rioting.

In one of my addresses I quoted St Paul who, in his letter to some of the earliest believers in Ephesus (modern day Turkey) encouraged them to “.....put away falsehood.....and speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another” and asked them to ensure that “...no evil talk came out of their mouths.” To these wise words we might add “...or from our smart phones....!”

As sisters and brothers in Christ we draw our strength from our Christian faith, but we know that in our diverse and pluralistic society others draw their strength from different sources and, like those who have been speaking on behalf of their communities in Southport and elsewhere, we should honour and respect them, notwithstanding our differences. This has, I think, been amply demonstrated across the country in these last few weeks.

This month we will be welcoming new children to our schools in both Antrobus and Great Budworth, and giving thanks to God for the harvest and the work of our farming communities, who have had to deal with such difficult weather over the last year (see Paul Gerrard’s commentaries for the view from the farm gate as it were). As we do so, let us not forget all those across our world who are suffering and let us commit ourselves afresh to the pursuit of justice, peace and reconciliation, taking comfort even in the darkest of times from Jesus’ reassurance to us: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you.”

May God bless each one of us in this coming month.

The Revd Alec Brown.