milnrow-october-2022-web

UPDATE FROM ST THOMAS’, NEWHEY AND ST JAMES’, MILNROW
With the arrival of October comes
the celebration of our harvest festival
It’s a time to be thankful for all the good things we have, for the beautiful place we live
in and the food we eat. In times of plenty it’s easy to forget to be thankful, we are used
to going to the supermarket and getting whatever we need. This October though, as we
begin to feel the rising cost of living bite, perhaps we are more aware of how lucky we are
if we have enough food to eat and can heat our homes reasonably well.
Karl Marx said “religion is the opium of the masses”. In other words, the purpose of
religion is to make the poor quietly accept their poverty in the hope that it will be better
in the next life. Karl Marx was wrong, though it is an understandable mistake given the
attitudes of many people who claimed to be religious at the time. You see, Christianity is
based on the teachings of Jesus Christ and particularly on the two rules he said were the
most important:
1. Love God
2. Love other people as much as you love yourself.
God created a world that could support the people and animals that live on it as long as
we look after it properly and share it’s bounty fairly. The trouble is – we don’t, do we?
We use and don’t replenish, we waste and litter, we sit on what we don’t need and ignore
those who do need it. And we’re ungrateful. As soon as it doesn’t go our way we moan
and blame God or someone else for the mess we have made.
It doesn’t have to be like this. The kingdom of God is coming, in fact it is already here,
breaking through when we least expect it, giving us hope. But we can’t just sit and wait,
that isn’t what God intends or Jesus told us. We have to help it along.
Which brings us back to rule 2, Love other people as much as you love yourself. Many
of us struggle to really love, we don’t even love ourselves properly – and I’m not talking
about romance but deep, real care for the wellbeing of someone. God loves us (all of us,
even the ones nobody else loves) so we should try and do the same.
That means standing up to injustice, pointing out inequality, arguing against selfishness
and greed. We need to give others the hope of the kingdom that is coming, not just in the
next life but here and now if we all work together. Which will make us the very opposite
of the drugged, accepting masses that Karl Marx thought religious people were.
I know that it sounds worryingly like I’m suggesting we all get out in the street and
protest (and for some it may well be that) but we can also have a quiet revolution up here
in the hills. If we share what we do have and refuse to buy into the greed and arrogance
that is so common in our society at the moment, we will find ourselves in a better and
happier place, even in these difficult times. And please, as the cold weather comes, lets
look out for those we think might be struggling, even if it’s only inviting them in for a
brew it could make more difference than you think.
Revd Janet Pitman
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