麻豆社

Good morning.

Tomorrow, I鈥檒l be wearing green.

I don鈥檛 usually hand out fashion tips, but green is the colour being worn this Tuesday, to commemorate the fifth anniversary of the tragedy at Grenfell Tower. Vigils, including one I鈥檒l be joining in Manchester, will be held across the country. The prominent emotion will be sadness, sorrow for lives cut short as fire flamed through a high-rise building, but I鈥檒l be feeling a deep frustration too. Frustration that five years on, people still live in buildings judged so unsafe that mortgage providers are not prepared to lend on them. Over half a million remain trapped in homes with defects they can鈥檛 afford to rectify, often paying for night-time waking watches, unable to move away, even when work and family forge a compelling case.

Earlier this year, I stood with my colleague Archbishop Justin Welby on the balcony of an apartment looking out over central Manchester. The couple whose home we were in told us how much it would cost to make good each high rise block we could see. Multiply that across the towns and cities of Britain, and no wonder politicians struggle to find and commit to a comprehensive solution. Yet it was only when I stepped back from the balcony into the living room, to be surrounded by the furnishings and decorations of the couple we had come to meet, and whose story we were hearing, that the human heart of the buildings safety scandal came fully into focus.

I believe in a God who sees the whole panorama of creation. Yet this is the same God who, in Jesus, came to live in one very particular place and time, who passed many days and nights as a guest in the homes of friends like Mary and Martha. When he sent his disciples out, he instructed them to accept lodgings with whoever would offer a welcome. Living in a society where faith was practised as much in the domestic setting as in temple or synagogue, he hallowed homes with his presence.

I鈥檓 fortunate enough to live in a home that fulfils the five requirements set out by the Archbishop鈥檚 own Housing Report last year: it鈥檚 safe; sustainable; stable; sociable and satisfying. For the people whose apartment he and I visited, that patently isn't the case. So, tomorrow evening, I鈥檒l wrap myself up in an old green sweatshirt and stand outside the city library. I鈥檒l be thinking both of the 72 who died that dreadful night, and the many whose lives remain blighted. I鈥檒l renew my commitment to campaign for a full solution. And I鈥檒l commend all affected to the God who cares in detail for each of our lives and homes.

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