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Good Morning, The subject of this Thought walked up to me as I sat outside an empty pub, reading about the Prime Minister’s vision of a New Jerusalem. As I sat their pondering the idea of a perfect society, a man held out a copy of the Big Issue, crammed into a plastic cover, and asked if I would like to buy one. I had no cash and he had no pin machine, so he watched over my things as I went to the ATM. The man – whose name was Francis - sat with me for a bit. He shared the salient facts of his life: a peripatetic childhood, a stint in the army, and alcoholism. He said he’d been in a hotel for the last three months, courtesy of the government scheme – ‘Everyone In’ – but the scheme had come to an end and he was now back on the streets. He thanked me and set off in search of the next sale and to try and find a bed before the sun when down. He couldn’t wait for The New Jerusalem; for now this old city would have to do. The phrase ‘A New Jerusalem’ first appears in a wild and intense vision had by the prophet, Ezekiel. Part visionary fancy, part practical hope, it walks a thin line between the literal and metaphorical. It even comes complete with architectural plans for a heavenly city. Its prominent feature is that God lives there and walks its streets. The city re-appears in the book of Revelation, where John sees a place where there is no pain, no suffering and, presumably, no one needs a bed for the night because the sun never sets there. Throughout history some have tried to build a New Jerusalem, alcoves and all. It was a driving theme for the Puritans in colonising New England. And just a few streets from where I met Francis, The Knights Templar built their Temple the same distance from St Paul’s as the Holy Sepulchre was from the temple in Jerusalem. Others have taken the spirit if not the letter of the vision, most notably in the New Jerusalem pledged by the post war government that saw the creation of the Welfare State. It is perhaps William Blake’s Jerusalem that conveys the idea most potently. In a poem that is both a hope and a question, he asks: ‘was Jerusalem buildeth here?’ The realistic answer to this is ‘no’. An optimistic answer might be ‘not yet’. Some will not cease from the mental fight of trying or hoping. My guess is we’ll know the New Jerusalem when we see it. Its streets don’t have to be paved with gold but it has to be a place where a Francis doesn’t have to beg to get a bed before the sun goes down. It has to be a place where ‘Everyone In’ means everyone.