Church Secretary's Address

Dear Friends,

The last few months have seen great turmoil in the financial markets. It seemed that each day we opened our newspapers or switched on our TVs there was yet more bad news. It hardly seems possible that it has been over a year since the Northern Rock problems were making all the news but now things are being measured in multiples of that problem: “If you think Northern Rock was bad, this is 25, 50 or 100 times worse”. For a period it seemed that things had settled down but for those who work in the Finance Industry there were, no doubt, those who were warning that things were far from over.

Northern Rock’s problems were exacerbated by panic, some Institution’s problems of late have been exacerbated by unbounded profiteering but the start of these problems was due to reckless lending to people who had no, or little, hope of repaying their debts. This was done on a vast scale and the money to be able to make these irresponsible loans was raised in a manner that spread the problem right through the system, not totally unlike a virus. So as we look at the problem we do well to remember the simple fact that actions have consequences and bad actions have bad consequences. It is foolish to ignore the bad actions of others simply because they are not our own actions. Sin does not recognise personal boundaries, in fact it thrives in an environment that does not actively seek to prevent it doing so. As Christians we should ever be watchful against sin in our own lives but also as a church we need to constantly warn against the cost of sin to the society in which we live. As we look around it is hard to escape the evidence of the results of a godless culture. What people believe about their origins does matter, what they believe about the sanctity of human life does matter, what they believe about sexual morality does matter. We must take care that we do not let the world bully us into silence on such things for there is no lasting cure for the woes of this world apart from Jesus Christ.

-Church Secretary.