I am not permitted to stray much beyond the garden gate so my perspective on the world is limited. Even so it is clear that traffic flow and footfall are both increasing. In a roughly ten minute period the other day at least six cars went up Buchanan St (the Milngavie one) which would be about normal pre-Covid-19. I can also see patches of Station Road and Strathblane Road and traffic would seem to be more frequent over the past week.
Groups of people are wandering around. Some obviously families out for their daily stroll but there is at least one group of about six who regularly gather for a jog. Ever anxious to cut people as much slack as possible, it is possible that they all live in the same house. Somehow I doubt it.
I suppose it is understandable that people are becoming restless even impatient with the lockdown, especially in this period of fine weather. I’m sure I am not the only one who has had a flash of some place it would be nice to go. But the message still going out from government as advised by scientists is: ‘Stay At Home. Protect The NHS. Save Lives.’
Rev Richard Coles is probably the most high profile clergyman in the UK. He co-hosts the weekly radio programme Saturday Live and has even participated in Strictly Come Dancing. He was on the Today programme this morning paying tribute to his sister-in-law who died on Wednesday. She had been diagnosed with cancer at the turn of the year and then fell victim to Covid-19. In a restrained but pointed way he was critical of the complacency beginning to be shown by some people during this time. He mentioned one man who told him that he was rather enjoying the lockdown. ‘It’s like an extended bank holiday weekend,’ he said.
We are all seeking to make the best of this time and no one should be denied any enjoyment that might be found despite the circumstances. But complacency and carelessness could rub out all the advances that have been made against Covid-19. I am making my way slowly through Charles Dickens’ Bleak House at present. One of the many characters is Matthew Bagney, an ex-soldier, whose watchword in every aspect of life is: ‘Discipline must be maintained.’ That may resonate negatively for some people but is there any other way forward in these days?
When I received the nine page letter from the Scottish Government advising me that I was in a vulnerable group and had to observe total lockdown I must admit there was something within me that resisted. Not allowed out even for one walk? Come on! But then came the call from my local Surgery and the sensitive but firm insistence that non-observance of the restrictions could put my life and those of others at risk.
It’s not an attractive word. I’m sure someone has found a softer word or phrase but it hasn’t reached me. It is all about ‘discipline’. And like everything else it begins within us. The Apostle Paul saw himself in a spiritual battle against the values of the ‘world.’ By that he meant the world without Christ. His mission was to ‘demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God.’ (2 Corinthians 10: 5) The crucial step in achieving this was ‘to take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.’ In other words, every idea had to be measured against the truths revealed in Christ and accepted or rejected accordingly.
It’s that kind of inner discipline that we all need to practise in these days. Not everyone acknowledges the authority of Christ over their thought processes but the call to establish the welfare of others as our priority is often heard in His teaching and that of His closest followers. So I see adherence to government guidelines with regard to Covid-19 as part of my Christian discipleship. In fact, ‘discipline’ and ‘discipleship’ come from the same Latin root. ‘Discipulus’ means ‘someone who learns’. What an indictment on a generation if it was said that it just would not learn.
