³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ

Good morning.  As I packed to return home from working in Cairo this summer, a dull thud resonated across the city of Cairo.  It was a chilling sound in the warm night air – the second bomb that had exploded during my short time there, mercifully killing no one this time but leaving many injured.  Such attacks have increased since the second of Egypt’s revolutions in just four years and are part of the wider turbulence in the region.  ‘I don’t fear the bombs’, said an Egyptian friend, but they cast a dark shadow over a country whose economy is showing signs of recovery, yet needs the stability which encourages investment and tourism.

On this day 75 years ago, bombs began to rain down on London at five in the afternoon, targeting the heavily populated East End docklands.  Within an hour, vast areas had been blown apart and fires lit up the sky, but this was only the start.  Night and day, the bombers returned, and by the end of the Blitz, eight months later, thousands had been killed and injured, and significant parts of London and other cities had been decimated.
‘Blitz’ is of course the German word for ‘lightning’ and in the awe-inspiring description of heaven in the Book of Revelation, we’re told that lightning flashes forth from the throne at its centre.  But seated on the throne is a Lamb, looking as if it’s been slain – an image of the crucified Christ, who shares in the world’s suffering, bore its pain on the cross and will one day, usher in a kingdom of justice, righteousness and peace.

God, our refuge and strength, bring near the day when wars shall cease, and poverty and pain shall end, that earth may know the peace of heaven, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.