Remembering unsung heroes this summer holiday

If you are able to enjoy a holiday this August, why not give a thought to the unsung heroes of the last year.

As I write, the news is full of the resignation of the Health Minister, Matt Hancock, for breaching the Covid guidelines; no one seems to me much interested in his breaching of the seventh commandment on adultery, though I hope he will become repentant about that as well.

His resignation and the possibility of holidays have made me think, not about our ministers and government (though of course we pray for them with all the good they have done as well as the mistakes) but about the unsung heroes. Over the last year the public thanking of those working in the NHS and care homes has been great. While in Birkenhead as a bishop, I was glad to be out there simply acknowledging the immense work everyone in the hospitals was doing. We’re no longer on the doorsteps, but if you’ve met people working in the health service recently, you’ll know everyone is completely exhausted, and needs a holiday. But it is not the health workers I want to remember as unsung heroes this summer. Don’t get me wrong, I wish them well and pray they have good rest. It’s the people who, over the last year and this summer if they can, will be helping our children and young people remember the commandments (as well as the guidelines), and to know what God has done when we (all) break them.

I’ve retired as Bishop of Birkenhead, and am in Manchester. Last week on Zoom I was asked what brought me joy, and what made me sad. Joy was the welcome my wife and I had received at our new church, a wonderful gospel community. The sadness is seeing the children and young people and sensing a growing unease as to what is happening to them.

My unsung heroes this summer are those who make Christian camps and beach missions happen – the parents, grandparents, teachers, pastors, holiday-club volunteers, youth and children’s ministers. For all those who are making sacrifices and giving time, energy and prayer to bless young people and children with a knowledge of the Lord and the creation He has given, His commandments, and the Lord Jesus who came to save us from sin, judgment and hell.

In our new church community group, we’ve been looking at Ruth. At a time when the world was falling apart (see the Book of Judges), there was still a good man, caring for the creation, running a good business in the field, knowing the commandments, caring for the poor, respecting women, and knowing about God’s redemption. God loved Ruth and Naomi through Boaz – all three were, in a way, unsung heroes. When in the community group we were asked who were the faithful ones in our lives, I thought of those who had given up their summer holidays and had run camps for kids in schools in Croydon without whom I would never have had the chance to hear about Jesus and the gospel. Someone bothered enough about me to explain to me that I could pray asking Jesus into my life as it says in Revelation 3:20, and I did. Unsung heroes all. And so many over this last year and now are still doing this, and children and young people are needing to hear about Jesus more than ever.

I pray someone is there for Matt Hancock and his family explaining these things to them if they don’t already know. I pray that through unsung heroes this summer (which may include you, dear reader) many of our children and young people may come, even in these days, to be able to pray that Revelation prayer for themselves. As we come out of Covid into whatever future God has in store for us, our families, communities, country, culture and world will need such children and young people as never before.