The Bishop’s Letter

As we look forward from Lent to Easter, Bishop Mike asks what we might have to hope for.

Lent is a time for reflection, with an eye to what St Theresa of Avila called “looking forward to the joy of Easter.” Certainly it seems there is much to reflect on at this time. Some of it personal, some of it bigger picture reflections about where we are in our society and the wider world.

This is not an easy moment in our culture. The much talked about recession has not quite gone away. Economic outlooks are far from healthy. There must be a question as to whether small changes of growth in the economy herald the end of a recession which has been primarily in the banking sector. It is likely that more people will lose their paid employment. Some economists think that we are in a property and assets price “bubble” and that further losses will ensue. In short, there’s not a huge amount of hope around.

In the wider world, there now seems to be a somewhat passive acceptance that the so-called Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are falling off the world agenda. The MDG Report 2009 made the following observation: “More than halfway to the 2015 deadline to achieve the MDGs, major advances in the fight against poverty and hunger have begun to slow or reverse as a result of the global economic and food crises.” This in itself, when you consider the optimism around the setting of the MDGs, is somewhat hopeless news.

Hope is a key theme in the New Testament. When Paul reflected on the resurrection of Jesus he was forced to conclude that, “If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all people.” In other words because of the transforming power of God in raising Jesus from death, hope is born not just for this life but for eternity.