A QUESTION OF FAITH
With Anthony Thacker Retired Baptist Minister
IN these strange times, are there any clues to guide us? We certainly did not have sessions in college training on ‘What to do in a pandemic if every church in the country is closed’!
The last time all the churches were closed here was back in the reign of King John, in 1208 (a casuality of medieval power politics, between Pope and King). We did not see all churches close in the World Wars – though some did, suffering drastic bombing damage in World War II like Coventry Cathedral.
As for World War I, I remember an account from 1918 which one of the oldest church members told me, about the church where I was minister (Oadby Baptist). It was the evening service, and the local sergeant came in and told the people the service had to close and lights be switched off, as a Zeppelin had been observed coming towards the village. Highly memorable!
More drastic was the fate of the church of my childhood (before my time!) – Kirby Muxloe Free Church. It was World War II and a German bomber, interrupted by the British, dropped its bombs to get away faster. They landed on the Free Church. I have seen the photograph of the resulting damage. Blackened, and looking likely to topple, the back wall of the gothicstyle chapel remained. In front of that was the rubble that remained from the rest of the building. But in front of that, strangely undamaged, was the wayside pulpit with its unlikely but apt message still in place: “A sense of humour is a good defence against all knocks!” The people of the church certainly needed their sense of humour after that.
But some good came of it. The Free Church and the Parish Church struck up a positive partnership long before this became fashionable, and Free Church people were able to have their services in the Parish Church, at a different time to the Anglicans. It’s a reminder that in times of adversity we can work together, putting hope into action.
Most dramatic of all was the action of the people of Eyam, in Derbyshire in the Plague Year 1665-6. People had been fleeing plague from London, but as they fled north, spread the plague. When plague came there, the people of Eyam resolved to ‘self-isolate’ to use the current term. Yes, they suffered: 260 of them died, as they quarantined themselves and refused to run, spreading plague further north. As a result, thousands of lives were saved in cities like Sheffield and Manchester, because the plague stopped its northward march at Eyam. To be Good Samaritans today we don’t need to be quite so drastic: we follow the guidelines on social distancing, self-isolating and the like, and many volunteer in hospitals, aid foodbank, and provide food distribution.