I remember what seems like a lifetime ago when I opened an exhibition at our wonderful Rosetta Arts centre at the end of 2019 and talked optimistically about 2020 vision – which is, of course, a perfect and complete vision!

How little I knew what was to beset us, all too soon.

We did have a vision, of course, in 2020, but it was, for most of us, very nearsighted only.

All of a sudden, those things that we’d overlooked in our rush upwards and onwards, those things became very important.

The people we’re so used to seeing and hugging; our homes and the treasures in them; our table and the tablet and phone on it; our parks and green spaces; live streams and films of events we’d hoped to experience in person.

All those were carefully scrutinised and we began to see how precious they were when we paid more attention to them.

Newham Recorder:

And gradually, as the blinkers of the pandemic are lifted, we have begun to glimpse a new and different vision; it looks not dissimilar from the past but it’s a bit gentler and more softly focused.

It’s a vision of a world in which we are kinder and more forgiving to those around us and to ourselves. A picture that takes in the whole of creation and recognises that we are but a part of that rich tapestry.

And we realise that’s the picture of us that God and the angels see; a picture full of love and life.