麻豆社

Good Morning

In this week鈥檚 Merseyside Derby between Everton & Liverpool, the City was united by a minute鈥檚 applause. It was in the 12th minute because Ava White was just 12 when she was stabbed a few days earlier while the Christmas lights were being switched on in Liverpool City Centre.

Ava鈥檚 murder is the latest in a shocking series of 40 fatal youth stabbings so far this year, making 2021 the worst for such atrocities since 2008. Many more children have been badly injured鈥� families left inconsolable 鈥� whole communities racked with fear. Many are asking if things will get better any time soon?

Faron Paul, who runs the Faz Amnesty, suggested on Radio 4 this week that we really are in a bad state. Faron, who was stabbed several times as a young person is now a parent and encourages young people to give up their knives without necessarily having to involve the police. The system has failed 鈥� he said 鈥� and we must now all ask - what more we can do?

That same interview also referred to the Knife Angel 鈥� a 27ft sculpture made of over 100,000 seized blades. It鈥檚 toured the country - challenging violent and dangerous behaviour amongst young people. But, as an angel, it also symbolises a message of light 鈥� and hope for a brighter future without violence.

As I heard about the Knife Angel I鈥檇 just been reading a chapter of theologian and artist Scott Erickson鈥檚 book Honest Advent. He focussed on the message of the angel in the Christmas story Do not be Afraid. Erickson repeatedly urges his readers during this Advent season to feel the wait within themselves: tune in, he writes, to the genuine uncertainty and fear which seems to be all around and be honest about how you feel about it.

Reflecting again on the message of the Christmas angel to the Bethlehem shepherds I realised how easy it is to hear 鈥淒o Not Be Afraid鈥� without really acting on it. Instead, a kind of passive acceptance can consume our fear resulting in an absence of action. For a quiet life we reluctantly conclude that we can鈥檛 really change things for the better.

But the Knife Angel challenges us to move beyond inertia and fear. In 2021 the sculpture is a powerful memorial to those young ones who have so tragically lost their lives. It also challenges us to do whatever we can, and more, to make our young people safe.

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