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What a tough day. And I wish I could get to grips with controlling my M.E. symptoms. The only good thing about them today has been the lack of a headache, which is actually really good as I find them totally draining. I had a really good night’s sleep for a change and when I woke didn’t feel too bad for a change. The problem then was that I couldn’t stop thinking about Jane and ended up getting really upset for several hours. So before long I started feeling very weak and a little dizzy, quite typical of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Fortunately I’d arranged to visit my friend in hospital and that was a good distraction, lifting me out of grief for a couple of hours. I actually enjoyed myself as we solved the problem of how to improve the NHS… yes a retired Ofsted Inspector and Financial Advisor really do have all the answers!
Then we moved on to an equally contentious question regarding disestablishment of the Church of England. The funny thing is that as I was driving home a variation on that same debate continued on the radio. How weird is that? They were specifically talking of the role of Bishops in the House of Lords and their role in rejecting the recent government bill designed to impose a welfare cap. I agree with the former Archbishop of Canterbury who was quite outspoken in his criticism of the Bishops involved. Welfare dependency is a trap that needs dealing with and this bill seems a very modest step in the right direction, at least as it affects the able bodied. I'm not quite so sure about the implications for the disabled and infirm though. But if this is the Christian voice in parliament I can’t say that it represents me at all, and I really can’t see why the church should involve itself in government in this way anyway. Surely the all-important message of the Gospel of Christ and teaching of the Word of God should be the main focus of church leaders? And part of that work would be supporting those who are actually called by God to become politicians not clergy, and opening up the Word of God to encourage Godliness. Each to their own I say, and anyway who is looking after the church when they are sitting in parliament? Ok I'm not C of E, so maybe I'm not the right person to speak on this, but it does feel like a blurring of roles to me, which is a direct consequence of that denomination being established as the national religion. Basically I believe that the pulpit can have a far more influential voice than the benches of parliament, which is by design adversarial, perhaps only rewarding the worldly wisdom of the skilled debater.
Well that was a helpful digression from the world of grief and I really do need to get out more and engage with the real world. Sitting around at home feeling sorry for myself is just not helpful.
Acts 6:2 ‘So the Twelve called a meeting of all the believers. They said, “We apostles should spend our time teaching the word of God, not running a food program.’ (NLT)
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