Singing in a Strange Land

My late brother, Anthony, suffered lifelong disabilities of mind, body and emotion, spending most of his adult life in land-based working communities for people with learning difficulties. This narrative of his life in its ’minute particulars’ is punctuated by social and theological reflections on the times through which we have both lived and the lessons we can learn from his communities that are so urgently needed in today’s deeply endangered world. The fundamental unity of our shared human and planetary community, flowing from and finding its fulfilment in God who is a community of relationships, is being torn apart by our selfish, greedy and destructive behaviour. Our only option for countering this, so as to create a sustainable future for our world, lies in a radical reversal of the self-centred values which so dominate life today. We need to renew a commitment to living together and with our Earth simply, humbly, and for sufficiency, not excess. With sustained attention to the signs of the times, we strive once more to grow creative communities of moral value, civility and thoughtfulness. It is no accident that this worldly imperative coincides with our responsibilities under God’s covenant. 3