Episode details

Available for over a year
Good morning. In recent weeks Liz Truss has announced plans to freeze energy bills to help protect people from the soaring cost of gas and electricity. Many households will really welcome the support. However, while it is important the government takes steps to provide financial relief, perhaps we all have a moral responsibility to play our part and to take action to help others who are in need. Recently the head of the World Energy Council, suggested that we need to develop a spirit of "radical generosity" to prevent lives being lost this winter in order to stop the "cost of living" crisis, becoming a "cost of lives" crisis. We are being warned that people who are already in poverty will be pushed much deeper into it, and that many others will start to experience it for the first time. In the last few months, we’ve heard stories of people devastated because they never imagined they would fall into rent arrears or need to use a food bank. It’s not just struggling to budget and make ends meet, it’s also the effect on people's sense of hope and their mental health. During lockdown, it was inspiring to see people rallying round to help others, delivering food to those who were shielding, or just making a phone call to provide a listening ear. But now, there's a new imperative to consider others, and to share what we have, not just because it’s an opportunity but because surely it's an obligation. The Bible says, "If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, and one of you says to them, 'Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill', and yet you don't supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that?" The point is clear: It's not enough to express concern for the wellbeing of another person if we don't then take steps to help them. As the bible verse suggests, sometimes we have a tendency to say that we care about others but then to look the other way. Perhaps there's a sense of anxiety about getting the help we may offer wrong; or guilt, or a fear of being overwhelmed by the needs of the other person, or maybe we're just embarrassed by the interaction. And yet just talking to someone is a first step that might reveal how we can make a difference and put our concerns into action this winter. Giving to others forges new bonds, creates new relationships and so often it enriches the lives of not just the helped but the helper too.
Programme Website