WAR CRY

Christianity ‘deeply imprinted’ on our culture

WRITING in The Sunday Times, broadcaster and author the Rev Richard Coles reflected on how Christianity continues to survive in the UK after a recent survey found that more than a quarter of all Anglican churches do not hold Sunday services.

‘It’s partly because the Christian faith is so deeply imprinted on our memory and imagination and culture that it endures in ways we are not always aware of,’ he wrote. ‘But it is also, I think, because it still speaks to our depths, and our heights, and consoles us when we grieve and exalts us when we rejoice.’ The retired parish priest also highlighted the help that churches provide in the communities in which they are located.

‘When I was vicar of Finedon,’ he recalled, ‘the church played an important part in lightly organising the goodwill and creativity of our non-members. We were that way able to fund nursery education, house people on low incomes, and take care of those unreached by statutory service providers in lockdown.’ nA BAG of silverware stolen from a church in the Lake District was found by a dog sniffing around in the church undergrowth.

A BBC online article reported that ‘precious chalices and plates’ were stolen from St John’s Church in Keswick in February, but an elderly labrador recovered the items.

The vicar at the church, the Rev Charles Hope, explained that he was delighted to receive the recovered silverware, and praised the labrador, Mick, for his ‘excellent nose’.

He concluded: ‘In fractious and furious times, to know ourselves to be equal in dignity and deserving of love is an extraordinarily beautiful and powerful thing.’

Churches lose faith in fossil fuels

CHRISTIANS, including members of The Salvation Army, took part in a prayerful protest against fossil fuels, accompanied by a Salvation Army band. Some 1,000 people attended a No Faith in Fossil Fuels church service at St John’s in Waterloo, before walking to parliament to call on the UK government to stop new investment in fossil fuels.

Major Heather Poxon, The Salvation Army’s UK environmental officer, said: ‘The Salvation Army has a history and a mandate of raising our voices against injustice and calling on the government to do the right thing, hence our participation.’

Help for families ‘at breaking point’

A BABY and toddler supplies bank run by The Salvation Army in Southport supported more than 100 families last year.

Launched in 2020, Little Miracles exists to help families in financial hardship. Since opening, it has seen a steady increase of clients, with 120 families seeking assistance last year in response to the rising cost of living.

Supported by the Christian charity Compassion Acts, Little Miracles supplies emergency parcels to people based on their needs. Parcels have included baby formula, nappies, toiletries, clothes and baby food. Families needing help are able to obtain a referral from food banks, family wellbeing centres, social workers, health visitors and schools.

‘We have seen so many families affected by the rise in the cost of living,’ says Kathryn Casserley, community programme and engagement manager for The Salvation Army in Southport. ‘They are at breaking point and have made so many cutbacks to pay for their rising energy bills that they just can’t cut back any more. The little money that they do have is just not stretching far enough.’

Commissioner Anthony Cotterill, the church and charity’s leader in the UK, fronted the march alongside other church leaders, and at its end led the walkers in prayer.

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