ST DAVID’S VISION CAN HELP TO MEET 21ST CENTURY CHALLENGES
from the Bishop of St Davids, the Rt Revd Wyn Evans
The end of 2009 brought to a close a decade during which many certainties had been challenged. In 2010 we stand on the threshold during which many certainties have been challenged. We stand on the threshold of an era where much of what we have hitherto taken for granted will be more problematic: easily available fuel, new sources of food, access to water. We can no longer assume either the possibility of stable government or the existence of human rights across the planet.
All of this makes the task of our political and religious leaders much harder. The expertise and skills of our political leaders in Cardiff Bay, in Strasbourg, or in Westminster, will be tested to the full, as will the work of the United Nations; nor will it be easy for our religious leaders during the next decade.
Such a future, uncertain and dark would not have been unfamiliar to Dewi Sant. His solution was to stand back from the world, live frugally and prayerfully in community, showing care and concern for neighbour and pilgrim; focussed on the little important things
His lifestyle, like that of his contemporaries around the shores of the Irish Sea, left a light footprint on the Earth. He looked forward to a future purified, restored and recreated as the Kingdom of God, where community values of peace and justice would prevail, not only in Wales but in the world, where neighbours would live in community in love and peace and justice.
Therefore the challenge from 2010 onwards, for our political and religious leaders, is to catch that vision, live that vision and transform, not only a newly confident Wales, but the whole world.
+Wyn