When you look out at the world, what do you see?
The news is full of wars, disasters, and the impact - or potential impact - of Donald Trump’s tariffs. Directly, or indirectly, we are all impacted by these things... even if it’s only in our concerns for the people we love.
Sometimes, these world problems get eclipsed by our personal troubles and tragedies, such as relationship problems, work difficulties, or the loss of someone we love.
We’re quite right to be concerned by world events, or to feel lost in the face of personal struggles. And sometimes, we need to sit with these feelings. There are no meaningful quick fixes to the cares and griefs we carry.
However, if we’re not careful, we can let the bad news we hear, or the emotional pain we feel, overwhelm us and paralyse us. When we do, we stop seeing the beauty and goodness in the world… and there is so much of it.
When we lift our eyes to look around, we see new life springing up everywhere. When I’ve been out walking our dog this week, I’ve seen new growth all around - beautiful, vibrant spring green in the leaves and a carpet of fallen white blossoms covering the paths. After the cold and dark of winter, the freshness of spring brings new hope.
When we take the time to notice, we can see many ways in which people show love and compassion to us and others: comforting those who are grieving, helping out their neighbours, investing in friendships and community, and noticing and responding to those in need.
The beauty and good in the world far outweigh the evil we see in the news, but the news media rarely feel it is worth reporting.
As well as being spring, it’s also the season of Easter. In the church calendar, Easter is a fifty-day season that starts on Easter Sunday and lasts until Pentecost. In this Easter season, Christians celebrate the new life and hope we have in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Too often, this is reduced to people declaring what they believe, but that’s not what the season of Easter is about. It is about bringing hope in despair, light in the darkness… bringing compassion, care and kindness in the brokenness of our world. And we can each play a part in that.
As Gandalf says in the movie The Hobbit, ‘Some believe it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. It is the small, everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love.’
So, this Easter season, I pray that we’ll take time to notice the beauty and good around us and be part of bringing that light and hope to the lives of others.
Rev Barry Jackson