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HELLO FROM CANON WILLIAM Dear All, I am writing this just a week after the tragic attack on children in Stockport, with the riots that followed – both there and elsewhere. It was something we cannot really imagine for a young man to attack so many children. Obviously, our thoughts are with all the people affected by the attack and also the riots that followed. Obviously, some people find the changes in our country, including many people from other countries, strange and perhaps overwhelming. The number of different nationalities is significant, even in Norfolk. There are a wide variety of cultures and religions. My 51 years in Norfolk have seen many changes and some assumptions one made then have gone. However, most people, of every background, want to contribute to our society. We are in a more cosmopolitan country, now. However, as a country, England has over many centuries absorbed people from many other countries. One example is from Belgium and Holland when many people came to East Anglia to flee persecution which followed the Reformation there. Much earlier, of course, the French had come over here with the Conquest of 1066. When we went over The Mary Rose, the ship at Portsmouth that sank in 1545, one factor that surprised us was the percentage of the ship’s crew who came from outside England including those from African descent. Queen Victoria had been fascinated by the Indian clerk, Abdul Karim – who evidently became close to her, and she wanted to learn more about Indian history and culture. Perhaps she was a century ahead in absorbing an understanding of a different culture. Even my Father would have been described as an ‘Immigrant’; he came over from Holland after WW2; prior to that he had been working in Java for many years for the Dutch Government. We are not just English but part of the United Kingdom along with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Each of the four parts of the UK need respect so they can support each other and so become stronger. The same applies when people, individually or in any group, work together for the common good. Our King, as his Mother the Queen did before him, values the Commonwealth and supports it. This should be a good example for different countries and different peoples to work together. It started with eight members and now has fifty-six. Likewise, the United Nations continues to be needed as much as ever. In all this, not only the teaching of Christ specifically but the Bible as a whole, give us strong examples to follow. God wants his world to work together for his glory and for a perfect society. One of the words used a lot at Christmastime is “Peace” – not just for this special date but at all times. This would bring more people to God’s wish by sharing that Peace with everyone. With all good wishes Canon William Let us pray: Lord God, whose Son Jesus Christ is the desire of the nations and the one through whom unity and righteousness will abound on the earth, teach your people the ways of peace, that all the different peoples of this earth may come to know that their most profound identity is founded not on race, nation, class or wealth but in the common humanity we all share, the crown of your creation and the rich treasure that binds us all together, through the Incarnation of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen PRAYER CORNER “Prayer is a plant, the seed of which is sown in the heart of every Christian. If it is well cultivated and nourished it will produce fruit, but if it is neglected, it will wither and die.” Please pray--
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Updated 29 August 2022
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