Community Spirit in the Face of Tragedy

The events in relation to this reflective thought for the day may be old news now but with a stretch of imagination you can relate the analogy to anything of a similar nature.

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There’s something about a tragedy that can bring a community together in a way that nothing else can. Two separate events recently perfectly highlighted God’s love for humankind in relationship to this.

The first illustration came from the fictional TV drama, Broadchurch, which had us gripped to our seats for its conclusion.  It was revealed to us that the person responsible for the murder of a young boy at the beginning of the series was a member of that close community.  

As part of the eulogy during the boy’s funeral, the vicar relayed to the small island community the message that God loves every one of us, and he talked about how God demonstrated this by sending His only son to pay the price for our sin. He said that we should forgive others as God has forgiven us, and even though forgiveness seems impossible in these circumstances we owe it to God to at least try. The final scene was set on the cliff top, above the beach where the boy’s body had been found, and the mother of the boy, surrounded by family and friends, lit a bonfire as a final farewell to her son. We were left with an image that was not one of tragedy, but one of hope, when householders along the shore line lit bonfires in succession, as a declaration of support for the family.

In the same week as this episode was shown, a second illustration to underline the message of God’s love came via an email. It had been sent as a round robin throughout Scarborough, North Yorkshire, as a response to the fatal stabbing of a teenage boy the previous weekend, the outcome of an alleged pre-organised fight. Nine teenagers had been taken in for questioning in connection with this. The email was sent in the wake of the aftermath, and offered a common place for people to gather to focus prayers of healing and peace for the victim’s family, friends of the murdered teenager, and also to pray for the young people involved. It was an open invitation to the whole town to come along and light a candle on the beach from a set time, near the place where the murder had occurred.

This simple act of lighting a candle (or a bonfire) as an act of prayer can serve as a reassurance of God’s presence in our times of trial. We do need be aware however that God is not responsible for the evil that happens in the world, and that he is there with us to help pick up the pieces when its consequence affects us. This is proven time and again through those He chooses to send as angels in our moments of need. In the two examples here, the angels were in the form of the fictitious vicar (via the writer of the drama series), and the sender of the email.  Both events portrayed hope, fictional and factual, through the action of one person who utilised an opportunity to instigate an idea. An idea that helped to bring a community together through an act of prayer, mutual support, and provide a way forward towards healing and, perhaps eventually, forgiveness. 

Psalm 147 verse 3 tells us that God heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds. But God also wants to save us from ourselves and therefore in Colossians 3:13 we are told to ‘bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.’ (NIV) Sometimes, that means forgiving ourselves too.

Seeking revenge should never be an option

© Julie Fairweather


After a long labour… my book is born

My collection of short stories Picking at the Bones is now available as an EBook from Amazon.co.uk (£3.33) and Amazon.com ($5.19) – you can read the first story (and part of the second one) free from the ‘look inside’ button on the site. However, if you’re tempted to leave a review based on reading this alone, please resist. There are 22 stories in the collection and they are all different. So the review would not be fair comment.

If you would like to purchase a paperback copy (£6 plus p & p), please contact me via this site by sending a reply to any post (I won’t publish your contact details on here, and any comments you make will not be published either, unless you specifically request this).

If you look at this link Festival Fringe Readings you will find further samples from the collection there, which were performed at the Scarborough Festival Fringe Event recently (one complete story and two short extracts from longer stories).

The majority of the collection contains ‘slice of life’ stories that slide underneath the surface of characters’ lives in an attempt to distinguish the truth from gossip and lies. Vulnerable narrators drop in now and then to pick at the bones of the characters’ failings to add another dimension to the reader’s perception of what is and isn’t true. 

Changing the subject slightly, I was approached in the town centre of Scarborough recently by a pleasant young man who was representing the British Red Cross Charity. He was raising awareness about the service it provides in the UK. You’ve all seen the advert, no doubt, where the hooded girl declares, ‘I am a crisis. And I don’t care who you are.’ I spent a good while chatting to him and was impressed by his level of knowledge about the organization and staggered to learn of the diversity of the work that is carried out in the name of the British Red Cross, some of which equips vulnerable people with the means to help themselves and thereby become self-sufficient.

Unfortunately, as is the case with many of us these days, I was unable to sign up to make a regular direct debit payment as a donation. But I can’t get the charity out of my mind. It touched my soul, perhaps because my writing tends to be about vulnerable people, and I want to try and support it. Therefore, if I’m fortunate enough to sell any books, I pledge to donate 25p from my royalties share from Ebook sales and 50p from Paperbacks to this cause, as a starting point.

If, when browsing the samples of the stories from this post (or through reading anything contained on my website), you yourself feel inclined to make a small donation of your own to this charity, please visit this link to the British Red Cross website.  You can give anything you like as a one-off payment or as a regular commitment.

I thank you in advance for your precious donation, whether it’s made directly to them or through the purchase of a book.

   With love and prayers to you all,

   Julie