April 2024

They say that you can gauge how civilised a society is by the way it treats its most vulnerable members. The list commonly includes the elderly, children, people with disabilities, those on low incomes and the marginalised. The well-being, dignity, and rights of such people will be priorities in a healthy country. The opposite is also true. When we see the needs of the vulnerable being neglected by those who make the decisions, we know we have a problem. If we want to continue to live in a civilised nation, we also have a responsibility to speak truth to power and to do something about it. 

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In the West, our instinct that the vulnerable should be cared for has its roots in our Christian heritage (for a full defence of this contentious claim, see Tom Holland’s best-seller Dominion: The Making of the Western Mind). The command to love “the least of these” as we love ourselves (Matt.25 v.45) lies at the heart of our faith. In this month’s issue, we see what this looks like in practice. We hear of churches and chaplains engaging with prisoners and ex-offenders; of pastoral work among people with learning disabilities; and, through the efforts of our foodbank, of support for those hit hardest by the cost of living crisis. 

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This is also a bumper edition, four pages longer than usual, with space to celebrate local life, culture and history, to welcome the arrival of Spring and to lead us into Eastertide, the season of celebration which runs from 31st March to 18th May. If you want to know more about what we’re celebrating, why not join us at one of our Sunday services, details of which you’ll find on page 25.