There are so many voices in the world today, it makes me wonder which one should we should listen to. On top of our inner often negative voices of doubt and fear, there is also a cacophony of external voices on the news, television and social media feeds. We can live in dread of what tomorrow can bring, we can fear what is going on in the world. Wars and famine are raging, as well as freak weather systems wreaking havoc. We (well, certainly I) can feel totally impotent and vulnerable. Politics is polarised, news readers and media folk chomp at the bit to get a scoop on the 24-hour news feed. Should running a country and our lives be about sound bites and PR? Being a good speaker helps, in fact, having a voice that engages the people has been important even in biblical times. Moses wasn’t a confident speaker, and he called for someone to speak for him, and his brother Aaron took that role. Moses spoke to God; God spoke to Moses and Aaron spoke to the people. People were amazed by Jesus too. They said that he spoke like one with authority unlike the religious leaders of the time.

Jesus also spoke in parables, telling stories to get his message across, I suppose you could say that he made himself relevant. But is having a voice, a charisma, the only thing that matters? I wonder what words of wisdom these people would have for us today. Certainly, wars and famine were not uncommon in biblical times, to be honest, I wonder whether there has been a century or even a decade in the history of humanity without a war going on somewhere.

I am reading a book called “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry”1. It talks about slowing down, simplifying our lives, not falling for all the talk but getting down to basics, what life is really all about.

 Jesus in his thirty-three short years lived a life. At every turn he cared about the people in front of him, he wasn’t swayed by the latest political regime, he cared about the individual, those who were rejected, with no place to turn, those with not enough money to get by, the vulnerable, the elderly, those who were sick. He gave them his time and attention. He wasn’t in a rush. He took time. He prayed. He laughed. He wept. He made a difference. What are we rushing to? I wonder if we stopped and noticed those around us - our partner, our family, our neighbours - I wonder what kind of difference that would make to this world we are living in.

Sarah Smith

1 Cromer, John Mark, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, 2021, (London, Hodder & Stoughton)