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Thoughts for a Mothers' Day in the Midst of an Epidemic

DOING THE RIGHT THING
Live as children of light—for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. - Ephesians 5:8b-9 http://www.biblegateway.com/ NRSV

I go to Sainsbury's. The toilet roll aisle is a desert. I buy some tissues - after all they sell the same stuff at Waitrose and call it luxury loo roll.

At the checkout the computer says I have tried to buy three tubes of Sensodyne. It blocks the sale but I only have the regulation two tubes.

The tannoy announces, 'Hoarder at checkout number two! Hoarder at checkout number two!' A split second decision. Shall I stay and argue it out or see if I can reach the exit doors before they slide shut?

Who would have believed we would come to this in the Twenty-First Century? This isn't what we looked forward to on 1 January 2000 when Cliff Richard sang The Lord's Prayer to Aulde Lang Syne and we let off maroons. How can we get through the next few months?

Actually I didn't make a run for it in Sainsbury's. As I plaintively held up my two tubes of toothpaste, a girl - who looked about 18 but had just told a colleague it would soon be her fourth anniversary of getting together with her significant other - swiped her staff card through the barcode reader and corrected the mistake without even missing a heartbeat. I lived to shop again.

The only civilised way to get through this is not to be a hoarder, not be be selfish or greedy, or careless of the welfare of others, but to "Live as children of light—for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true."

DELIBERATELY MISSING THE POINT
The man replied... "All I know is that I used to be blind, but now I can see!...I have already told you once, and you refused to listen. Why do you want me to tell you again?" (John 9.25b & 27a http://www.biblegateway.com/ NRSV

All of us have been asked to make only essential journeys. That begs the question, when is a journey really essential? We decided, after some hesitation, that taking some food to Helen's father and making sure he is all right was an essential journey.

Driving along the highway network was a surreal experience. It was like travelling in a time machine back to the 1960s. Everywhere the volume of traffic was what people giving travel bulletins on the radio sometimes call 'light'. Occasionally, when there was scarcely a car in sight on both sides of the dual carriageway, we would say to one another, 'Look! The road is virtually empty.'

It was clear that a lot of people are heeding the official advice. Perhaps they are like the man who - on meeting the one who is 'the light for the world' (verse 5) - found he could see.

But some people remained in the dark. Feeling exasperated at their persistent questioning, the man who had regained his sight accused them of refusing to listen. There was no point in continually repeating the same message if they didn't choose to hear it.

Does this explain the 'Skegness Effect'? At a loose end on the first day of Spring, thousands of people descended on Skegness, and there was a similar mass migration to Bridlington, Brighton and other seaside resorts. Others have taken themselves off to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Were these journeys essential?

Where they trying to outrun the virus or just enjoy themselves after a week of bad news? There has never been a more important time for us all to listen and make sure we are seeing clearly what needs to be done. Refusing to listen to the experts is not a viable option.

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