Coronavirus: Message of faith and hope from Anglican Bishop of Portsmouth

In the midst of all the uncertainty and anxiety, life continues. This challenging situation asks the best of us.

That’s you and me, and all of us together.

As our churches must temporarily stop public worship, but often are remaining open for private prayer, we’ve had to think about what a Church community really is all about.

Amidst all the practical questions we’ve been working on, we’re also thinking about what it means to pray in our own homes, apart but together in spirit. We’ve been thinking about how we mark the big moments in life, and show kindness to each other on a day to day basis.

I think the whole of our society will be asking similar kinds of questions, about what we can and should keep on doing, and therefore about what it is that holds us together in times of challenge and uncertainty.

It seems to me that, between the big headlines we are seeing, there are deep bonds that unite us, as people express small acts of neighbourly kindness to one another.

We hear of people offering help to those in isolation with their practical needs. We hear of concern and provision for children unable any more to rely on school meals.

We hear of chats on the phone, Facetime and so on. We hear of compassion finding a way to meet these new challenges.

This is not to put a positive spin on what is and will be a painful and unsettling experience of us all.

This is testing us and it will continue to be hard.

Our task is somehow to hold in balance the complex mix of what life brings us. It is to stick by each

other in pain and fear without trying to make light of it or dismiss it.

But is also to stave off despair through continuing to hold each other in kindness and care.

To be blunt, this calls for that genuine love that helps us to stick by one another, whatever comes our way.