outrage

It's 6.30pm on August 8 2011. If Visigoths had been on our shores we would not feel any more vulnerable than we are.  What is happening to this land? Thugs  of all ages are destroying parts of London. Rural crime is reported to be escalating, with tractos being stolen from farms; even a church bell being stolen for scrap metal. Drain covers from the roads are being stolen for scrap. The financial markets are in continuing trouble.  There is evidence all around us of moral collapse. I hear the Home Secretary and other politicians telling us that they are 'absolutely clear' that there is no excuse for this. Hundreds will get community orders and such flimsy punishments. At the same time there is evidence of faith in the laws of God being abandoned, as people have just walked away from the groups that proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the ethical demands of other faith systems. Most of us feel utterly outraged by what we see happening. We are reluctant to cry 'To prayer, all is lost' because some of us remember the years of  the second world war,. when the destruction was much greater. But at least then we had identified the enemy. This time the enemy is our own people eating society from within. Surely a return to the practical values and disciplines of faith is now essential, There are thousands of good people of all ages around, who must make their presence felt.