I used to live in Cumbria. ‘How nice for you’ I hear you say. Well, yes, but…a friend posted up a video of the rushing swirl of water and debris that used to be the car park behind our old house. The flood waters have really done some damage and I am quite pleased to be out of it all.

And yet… these are my old friends and neighbours; l I would like to do something to help. .Of course, I can give some money to an appeal and, as a person of faith, I can pray, but prayer can be dangerous. So often, when I pray about difficult situations, God comes back at me and says ‘so what else are you going to do about it? How are you going to be my agent of change to bring love and joy back to a community that is broken and hurting?’

At that point I realise that there is more I can do. I can send messages of hope and friendship, I can offer a listening ear and maybe even some wise counsel as someone one step removed from the chaos. I could even offer my house for them to come and live here for a while, provide a haven for them. But as I think about these things I wonder whether all that is enough. Perhaps the best way is to not remain at a distance but to go and visit, lend a hand, get stuck in to the clearing up, but I need some help and inspiration.

Perhaps you can see where these thoughts are taking me. The God I worship, looked at the chaos of our lives and the brokenness of our relationships, and in response, got stuck in; as St Paul puts it, ‘He emptied himself, taking the form of a servant’. Being born as one of us, he grew up, rolled up his sleeves and helped clear up the mess – it took his whole life, literally, to do it, and he is still at work.

I think I am still a work in progress. But this I know, that God is, even today, still with me clearing up the mess and sorting out the chaos, and that means a great deal to me. Inspired by him and strengthened by his presence, as I look at the mess and the heartache around me, whether in the floods or elsewhere, I am prompted to ask, how can I , how can you, follow his example?

The Rev Peter Willox

Vicar of Ben Rhydding.