Stop passing the buck...

Wednesday 19th August, 2020.

The sermon this morning was on Ezekiel. The prophet had railed against the bad shepherds. They were the political leaders of the time and fed themselves, abused their power and the people and grew fat on the corruption of the day. Looking to the news reports I felt that nothing changes. But then I thought nothing changes in myself either for here I am judging. Judge and you will be judged. It is not that one must stop fighting corruption and exposing frauds and abuses but one must stop pointing the finger. We are all in this together and what harms one harms another.

More significantly I read this dialogue in a novel:

" I am an infectious diseases specialist. There was a time when everybody thought they wouldn't need us much longer. People thought they had won the battle against the microbe - but were we in for a little surprise on that front! Everything has come back with a vengeance. TB is the least of it, perhaps. The real nasties - Ebola, Marburg, and the rest - are lurking and all sorts of new ones - avian flu and so on."

" I suppose we have created exactly the right conditions for this: too many people, too much travel, environmental degradation."

" Exactly. Global warming to wreak havoc with health. Malaria in Europe...."

This was written before our pandemic. We are part of nature and sometimes that nature is red in tooth and claw as all fights and kills for survival and growth. Look at ourselves and our wars.

When Ezekiel condemned the bad shepherds he failed to make us all realise that we are all part of the shepherd class. We lead by what we buy, what we say, what we do, how we behave, by our attitudes and prejudices, and as we know St Paul made it clear when he said " we are all responsible to all, for all".

As I say to myself " take responsibility" and do not just point the finger and pass the buck.