Lets not lose the community spirit we have shown through the pandemic

Reverend Simon Atkinson, Baptist Minister of Brixington Community Church and Chaplain to Exeter Chiefs (Image: Simon Atkinson)

Last week saw local elections take place all over the country and I wanted to thank all those who stood for election even if they were not successful. Being a local councillor or county councillor is not easy, it is hard work, and it is unpaid and at times they can receive a lot of grief for what they do.

I am sure we all want the best for our community, so can I encourage you to be supportive of your local councillors and encourage them as they seek to serving this amazing community of Exmouth.

Congratulations to those who have been elected and I pray that you will serve this community of Exmouth to the best of your ability and find great joy in doing so.

It is great that we have people willing to serve the local community in which they live. Being a councillor is one way but there are many others who give of their time freely to serve others. It has been amazing through the pandemic to see people and local organisations step up to help and support others in our community. I believe that Exmouth is richer place because of it.

As a church community we have been able to support many families throughout the pandemic.

Over this last year we have delivered 1080 food parcels which has fed 4000 people. We are one of many organisations that have been helping and supporting local people.

There have been many who have struggled, but with the help of the local community, voluntary sectors, the churches of Exmouth and local council many have been supported through this difficult time.

We are hopefully going to be out of the lockdown restrictions soon and I am looking forward to being able to meet friends and family and also being able to go and watch Exeter Chiefs in my capacity as Club Chaplain.

There will be some in our communities who will be apprehensive about returning to normality and understandably so, as we are going to have to live with the threat of Covid for some time yet. Since the rules of social distancing have been in place, many have found going into crowded places uncomfortable and in speaking to others, many are fearful of large crowds.

So as life gets back to some sort of normality let us not forget those in our communities who will struggle.

The bible talks about loving your neighbour and I think there have been many examples of this in our community over this last year as people have had time to stop and think about others and their needs.

From doing a bit of shopping to phoning people, there have been many acts of kindness undertaken. If this isn’t loving your neighbour, then what is? When we put the needs of others before ourselves, we enrich not only the lives of those we are helping but also our own.

Over the last year it has given us a chance to reflect on what is important to us and how we might want to change our life priorities. It would be easy to jump straight back into the old way of doing things, but I wonder what things you are going to change that perhaps will bring a heathier work life balance.

My prayer is that we will not lose the community cohesion that has been highlighted during the pandemic and that we will come out the other side of Covid stronger than when we went in. Also, I pray that our local businesses will start to recover

from the loss of trade and that we will support our local shops and restaurants during this transition.