Fr Luke Miller

A Message as London Area Chaplain of the Sea Cadets on Ascension Day The lockdown has been long and difficult, especially for those whose homes are uncomfortable or unsafe or full of people of three generations squeezed into a flat or small house. We are all missing the ability to mix together. There is a sense of time flying past and opportunities being missed. The usual patterns of life are being disrupted. We all hope there is a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel, but it is hard, and perhaps especially for young people. Thank you for bearing with it. It is making a difference. Fewer people have died because of the lockdown and others have been protected from becoming ill in the first place. Thank you for the sacrifices you are making. Now is possibly the most difficult time to stick with it, but do keep it up. It takes courage but it is helping. None of those brave words mean that it is easy. School has been disrupted and many people have lost their jobs

A church is not a pub. That might seem like an obvious statement but it is really important to understand that for people of faith and belief places of worship are not generally seen as places of entertainment. Though it involves sublime performance, my attendance at church is not a leisure activity like going to the theatre; though I am exhilarated by it, my worship is not recreational like going to a party or a club; instead it is part of my identity and my life. This season of restriction has been extraordinarily hard. It has brought devastating loss, fear, anxiety and sorrow for many and, sadly, it is not over yet. But as I write, there is now a sense that we are looking forward, albeit with justifiable trepidation, to a gradual (and potentially very longwinded) return to some kind of normality. That brings hope, but also a realisation that this process may not be as simple as it might look. There has been a great deal of discussion about shops, theatres, cinemas, footba