To wake up to the news of war is terrible.To wake up to its reality is orders of magnitude worse.Shakespeare refers to war as chaos - the loosing of the dogs of war - and calls for one of his characters to cry out the warning about what it means.Those in the Ukraine will be thinking about their relatives on the front lines, or the friends on the front lines. We are thinking, where is it going to go next? Politicians are thinking, what do we do?In all of the thinking, in all of the responses, there is the great uncertainty which is the worst enemy of good decisions. Uncertainty leads to fear, fear leads to overreaction. How do we react well? How do politicians in the cloud of war, not really knowing what’s going on, but knowing they have no opportunity to wait – how do they make up their minds?They will rightly call for all of us, and for themselves, to have resolution, courage, determination, a willingness to sacrifice whatever is necessary in order to ensure that peace may come and justice may be done.Peace and justice. They often seem to contrast, and yet they are opposite sides of the same coin.We seek peace and justice, and that must end with those involved in conflict not having solutions imposed on them but finding for themselves the way forward to reconciliation and peace.Right at the end of his life, Jesus Christ, on the eve of his crucifixion, spoke to his disciples and he said something very memorable. ‘In the world you will have trouble, but do not be afraid, I have overcome the world.’For me and for many of faith, the great certainty in the world, the only certainty, is that we know that God does not change. Let us find our resolution, our peace, our certainty not by screwing up our courage, but in the knowledge of the eternal arms that hold us.May God be with those who suffer today.
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby and Archbishop of York Stephen Cottrell have condemned the Russian attack on Ukraine as “an act of great evil”.They are urging Christians to make this Sunday a special day of prayer for Ukraine, Russia and for peace. They are also supporting a global day of prayer and fasting for peace on Ash Wednesday. In a joint statement they said: “The horrific and unprovoked attack on Ukraine is an act of great evil. “Placing our trust in Jesus Christ, the author of peace, we pray for an urgent ceasefire and a withdrawal of Russian forces. “We call for a public decision to choose the way of peace and an international conference to secure long term agreements for stability and lasting peace.“We invite Christians to make this Sunday a day for prayer for Ukraine, Russia and for peace. “We also give our support to the call from Pope Francis for a global day of prayer and fasting for peace on Ash Wednesday, March 2.”
North East Churches Acting Together (NECAT) – with members including the Church of England, Roman Catholic, Baptist, URC and Methodist churches as well as independent churches – has commissioned consultants to advise on potential sites for affordable housing development. Schemes being considered include supported accommodation for groups including older people and people with learning disabilities.The move comes after the group held two conferences on housing and homelessness in the region in recent years.Revd Joanne Thorns, a Church of England priest and Regional Officer for NECAT, has been working with Chris Beales, a member of the Church of England’s Housing Executive Team.“We know that in comparison to London and other areas, house prices are not as high here in the North East,” she said.“But there are a lot of low paid and insecure jobs and people on zero hours contracts - and that makes it very difficult to get a mortgage.“The need for good quality affordable community based rented accommodation is huge.”So far experts have found 10 potential sites on church land including rural and urban areas, with a shortlist of three sites to go forward initially for further exploration. Rural areas are also affected by the housing crisis especially in holiday areas where holiday lets have increased prices.“We have had conversations with local churches and tried to find something that they can engage with in the long term – we don’t want to just build accommodation and then walk away,” Joanne said.“Living in a community is as important as having a bricks and mortar home and people need to feel they have community around them.”
