Thought for the Week

Rev Mark Smith, vicar at St Peter's Church, Rawdon

I WONDER how you react when bad things happen? We've had our share of them this year. Two terrorist vehicle and knife attacks in London, the Manchester bombing, and the appalling fire at Grenfell tower. A man driving a bus into a crowd of people shouting I want to kill all Muslims " . And that's without even considering the horrors happening in Syria, Iraq, Libya and Yemen.

But even if these disasters never come near us we still aren't immune from bad things happening. We have to live with the fact that everyone we love will die one day. No-one will enjoy perfect health. And smaller domestic incidents can rob us of our health, wealth homes and freedom. Even if we could miraculously get rid of all terrorism and crime we still have to battle cancer, dementia sickness, genetic disabilities and accidental death. So how we handle bad things happening remains a big issue for everyone.

When I was first ordained some 37 years ago,I remember speaking to two different people who had recently gone through tragic bereavements One was a man who was bitter and railed against God the life and the universe for the unfairness of it all. He abandoned any semblance of faith. He fell into depression and despair. His suffering turned to anger and hate and behaviour that was destructive of his own life and the lives of those around him. I won't ever condemn him. His situation was tough.

The other was a mother who lost her teenage son. As you can imagine she was broken-hearted. But she determined that she would move closer to God. She told me "I don't want his life or death to be wasted, I want to ensure some good comes from it" And it did! She became a rock to others, a support to others going through their own tragedies and she found joy in doing so. Her life was radiant. Somehow the tragedy made her a bigger, more loving and fuller person.

In those moments I understood I would face the same choice many times in my own life. When tragedy came as it inevitably has many times I could give in to anger, despair, bitterness or I could treat it as an opportunity to grow, return good for evil and contribute to my community and the world. I determined to chose the latter!