They say that 'things are not what they were in our day' As I get older I believe that too; always hankering for the 'good old days' when we could lie in a field in the long grass and watch the Spitfires have a shoot out with the ME 109's high in the sky. When the battle was over and planes crashed, we would have a bet where the plane crashed and then rush to see if we were right. Then we would resume our positions in the long grass of the fields of the Wirral to listen to the skylarks high in the sky and again bet as to whom could spot the tiny birds before they too dropped back to the long grass. It all sounds so wonderful, but in reality it wasn't. We had rationing and there was scarce food in the shops. Many items like fresh fruit I did no see until after the war. As children we would have lookouts to spot the arrival of the bread van and rush to be first in the queue to buy our ration of bread. Many old folk could not even get to the queue and if they did they got no bread. Potatoes were in short supply and of course there were no such things as eggs, only re-constituted eggs in a square shape, like a blob of something. Many of our neighbours died in the Blitz when Germany bombed us daily and nightly for a year at the onset of WW2. I would say that morality has changed today, from what it was. It is now normal for couples to live together and not get married and the State approves of this. Homosexuality is at least talked about and 'gay' folk are accepted by and large. There were always 'gay' folk and the Church was a safe haven for them, so long as they used the word celibate and did not mention homosexuality. Now not all celibates are 'gay' and indeed many celibate folk do great service for us by concentrating on prayer and service to the rest of us. We now have many clergy who are openly 'gay' and who live with their partners. Many would say that this in contradiction of Biblical teaching. I don't accept that as being 'gay' is as old as the Bible and to be 'gay' is a private matter for the folk concerned. Who has the right to condemn others for their way of life? I pray that 'gay' folk will eventually not have to make a thing of it all and simply 'be' like the rest of us. However, it is up to us to be more accepting of each other. After all, it is the spiritual life which is the most important, and as I get older and older, I believe that more and more. 'Gay' is a word now taken over by some folk to describe themselves. 'Gay' to me is being happy and carefree. 'Gay' folk generally do not appear happy and carefree and I regret that they have taken over such a word, but then I have no right to the word myself, so why not I suppose. We should perhaps make a 'Bushism' ( i.e., just make up a word') for being happy and carefree. Any thoughts?
Psalm 30 ( Exaltabo te, Domine.)
