Parish Magazine Online (Jan-Feb '22)
Energy supplies
‘The energy market is in turmoil. Wholesale prices are at unprecedented highs and more than 20 energy firms have failed in recent months.’
www.moneysavingexpert.com, January 2022
The January/February issue of the North Dartmoor Parishes Magazine is now available to view on-line here
Energy matters. That’s partly why we pay so much for it and why the development of sustainable, long-term and reliable sources of power is needed more than ever. Our thirst for power to drive manufacturing, lifestyle and our homes seems inexhaustible. While wind power is the largest source of renewable power in the UK, for those of us here on the edge of Dartmoor, it’s often in the windy weather that we experience power cuts and our dependency on electricity is laid bare (although the truth is, perhaps from my childhood memories of the 1970s, I quite enjoy lighting the candles and the house being hushed when the power is off).
As we head nervously into 2022, holding our breath as the price of gas and electricity is predicted to rise considerably (along with everything else, it seems), there is real concern among many people about the cost of living. Internationally, the matter of energy security is also of strategic importance as West European reliance on Russian energy means that we are more inter-dependent than we would like. Energy matters on lots of levels.
Even closer to home than what keeps our lights on and our radiators warm, however, is the widespread weariness many of us feel as Covid-19 continues to hinder our common life, exhaust NHS, government and care workers, and separate families. While many of our society’s ailments have been a long time coming – our care for the elderly and vulnerable, for example, was a disgrace long before the virus emerged – the start of another year is, for many business-owners, teachers and our emergency services, daunting to say the least. Where will we find the energy to keep going? To keep caring, in a time when too many people seem not to see beyond their own horizons or the social groups to which they belong? In the words of the King James Version of the Bible, ‘where there is no vision, the people perish’ (Proverbs 29:18).
Fortunately, there is a power and an energy that can keep us going, especially in dark and difficult times. It is evident in the green shoots that are forcing their way through the ground as I write; it does not produce radioactive waste that remains poisonous for thousands of years, and is freely available to everyone who seeks it. Who are humble enough. A source of energy and creativity, which can restore broken lives, and that works through the many cracks in our lives, this power is ‘made perfect’ in our weakness. You don’t need to be clever, or rich, or to earn it. The Bible describes it as the Holy Spirit, and where it shines, ‘there is freedom’ (2 Cor. 3:17). The trouble is, like electric cars waiting to be recharged, we need to stop and stand still sometimes to receive it. How do you, I wonder?
Many people who are ‘not religious’ or who know themselves not to be especially holy are fired and inspired by this same power, this energy which defines easy definition. I know, because I see it in their lives, their perseverance to live good lives, and in their eyes. For ‘God is Love, and those who live in God live in Love, and God lives in them.’ Because of this, we will not give up.
From our Team Rector, Revd. Paul