Can mutuality survive?

Another grey damp day, with sun peering through the cloud cover, milder and potentially wetter as cold air from Siberia is replaced by warm Atlantic air. I heard from Pidgeon's just after breakfast that this Friday's funeral has been postponed until the following Wednesday, pending clearance by the Coroner's office. It's likely that they are very busy dealing with the increased death rate due to covid-19, especially if someone hasn't been hospitalised or seen a doctor lately. 

The morning news reported that the third highest death rate in the UK is in the neighbouring Borough of Rhondda Cynon Taff. Not surprising, since this is still one of the poorest areas of Wales, with high rate of unemployment across the generation, persisting since coal mining ended forty years ago. The region has not been fully redeveloped industrially since then, with not enough new jobs or sufficient training for new work skills to meet the need. Many qualified people move away to find work and settle, or else commute to jobs outside the area. The poorly qualified are left behind, with few opportunities of making a better lives for themselves locally. It's a story that's true in other de-industrialised areas of the country as well. 

Will the alleviation of chronic poverty and associated health conditions feature in strategic planning for the hoped for 'new normal' once the pandemic has been brought under control? Or will those in national government again suffer the kind of amnesia or obstructiveness that has hindered regional government for decades? I still feel very resentful about the refusal to back Severn Barrage and Tidal Lagoon electricity generation projects, which could have created tens of thousands of new jobs and developed new skill sets for a lost generation of workers in the South Wales Valleys. 

Like many a colony, Wales was plundered for its water and its coal. Only a fraction of the wealth accrued from these natural resources has benefited the local economy in the long term. The depth of inequality perpetuated ensures that Britain cannot become a truly healthy society until there's a deep change in values and priorities, a shared change in consciousness about what matters. We've become such an individualistic society under the dominance of consumerism. The pandemic has taught many the value to seeking the common good and self-sacrifice but will this last, once life gets easier again. Can 'mutuality' survive and prevail? Reading the Psalms as I do daily is a sane reminder of how we fail to learn or forget the lessons adversity teaches, once we have it easy again. 

God is easily pushed from the centre to the periphery of life, conscience likewise, when we're distracted by selfish pursuits. Lent starts this Wednesday. The world's second Lent in lock-down. Because infection and death rates are easily, looking forward and making plans for better times comes to the fore. Will this distract us from reflecting spiritually on the present situation we're in?

Walking in the park this afternoon I met Peter and Jan walking their dogs. They come regularly but this is the first time we've bumped into each other for eighteen months or longer. I was pleased to hear that Jan has kept the Church of the Resurrection open for Sunday worship when it's not been required to close by law. They've been having Sunday congregations of sixty, and live streaming  the Parish Eucharist with congregation for those who cannot come. I wish we could have done that here in Canton. She too has her worries about the rushed implementation of the new Ministry Area plan, in common with other clergy who have to live with the consequences. Good to know I'm not alone with my misgivings.