A few years ago people darned their socks; Ann darned mine like a loving wife would. Then suddenly one day it was over, she told me to throw them out. So I asked Josie to darn them for me. But then she moved away and I couldn’t find anyone to darn my socks. It seemed no one, not one, bothered to repair them. Society had changed and I was caught up in the ‘wear it  and throw it out’ attitude.

As long as it was a just matter of socks it didn’t make much difference, until it started to spread, and spread, and spread. Nowadays its throw away electricals, throw away out of date food,  throw away football managers who win the Champions League, throw away inconvenient pregnancies, throw away doddery old pastors like me!

A generation is growing up today who have absolutely no memory of a time when we darned our socks. When we didn’t throw everything away, whether it was our woollen socks or human beings. That’s why whenever we take time for those worn out, or with holes in their lives and deemed worthless or surplus to requirements and keep them and mend them we  demonstrate the different way of life in the Kingdom of God