PCN Newsletter 18th June 2020

Thursday 18th June 2020

The World Post Covid PCN members have been sharing their hopes for our world and our society after we have come through this current pandemic. I have already highlighted two issues which have been raised – the attraction of a universal basic income and the need to value much more the key workers in our country, be it in hospitals and care homes, our supermarket staff, office cleaners, refuse collectors and many others.

But there was another very common hope for the future and that is to treat climate change with the same urgency as tackling the coronavirus. Members have emailed about the need for sustained action, for businesses and organisations to be more environmentally focussed in their work. Working from home has reduced travel and hence car emissions. Our skies are clearer, pollution reduced. Will we, can we, learn lessons from this lockdown? Christine and I live on one of the busiest arterial roads into Sheffield, a major bus route with polluting diesel transport emitting fumes as children go along the road to their schools. For the past three months the road has been quieter and when I go into the back garden I hear the birdsong clearer than ever before. Of course life will inevitably return to normal but hopefully this experience will have built up the pressing case for hybrid/electric vehicles, for more people getting on those bikes or even walking to work. What can we do at PCN about the huge challenge of climate change? We can always plan our meetings at venues which can be accessed by public transport; we can work with other organisations in lobbying government, we can disseminate information about events and resources. Members of churches can be proactive at encouraging places of worship to be eco- churches. And we have produced a film, Holly’s Story about her passion for climate action, one of the five PCN films to be released in July. There are other issues which members have raised as we seek to build a better world and in future newsletters I hope to refer to them. But do keep sending us your thoughts and hopes for a better world for us and our children and grandchildren. Adrian Alker

Oneness Just once in a while along life’s bumpy road, something happens to lighten our load. It’s often hard to describe but things click into place; it’s as though there’s a oneness as with nature we embrace. All that is separated for a while is whole. There’s a kind of harmony deep in one’s soul. Is it just imagination or is it something real? Is one just dreaming or is it a genuine feel? It’s like a burst of beauty filling one’s heart with joy. It’s like a child opening a gift and finding a new toy It’s like Laudate Dominum sending tingles down one’s spine. It’s like a pair of lovers in raptures divine. It’s like hearing the dawn chorus at the start of a new day. It’s like dappled shade through a tree-lined way. It’s like the God in me meeting the God in you. It’s like receiving a message that finally gets through. The oneness is elemental coming from deep down inside; an outpouring of spirit with nowhere to hide. As the sun shines so brightly on the beauty all around, the earth seems filled with the most wonderful sound. For a short while at least, as we trudge on life’s way, we taste the divine love such we want it to stay. 6^th June 2020 76 years to the day since my father, as a 19 year old soldier, stepped out onto the beaches of Normandy as part of the D-Day landings. This poem is dedicated to all the brave souls who shared a vision of a better world. Occasionally, we get a glimpse of that world; of a oneness that defies language and all attempts at explanation. It just is. Grenville Gilbert