Mind the Gap

In London we’re reminded ‘Mind the Gap’. There’s a gap between the train door and the station platform. It’s written on the platform; an invisible man tells us: ‘Mind the Gap’.

Musing… The gap between what is and what should be…

In our National Health Service there’s… lengthy waiting lists for routine operations… a lack of dentists and GPs… underpaid health workers… hospitals in need of repair, refurbishment and replacement…

Teacher friends talk about lack of resources… the pressures of time and emotions… good teachers pushed over the edge by destructive inspections… unsupported children with complex, deep-rooted needs…

The gap between what is and what should be.

‘What is’ often focuses on the negative… recent murders, rising prices, strike action, war crimes, climate change, family breakdown, political unrest, the death of our Queen…

‘What should be’ is sometimes visible… The appreciation of the contribution of others through the Covid pandemic… the nation united, remembering Queen Elizabeth – endorsing the values she embodied… duty, service, loyalty, truth, integrity…

Martin Luther King bravely stood in the gap between what is and what should be. In his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech: ‘I have a dream that one day little black boys and girls will be holding hands with little white boys and girls.’

What should be becomes what could be.

Reading Habakkuk this morning… Seeing the gap he steps over it: ‘Though the fig-tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the sheepfold and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Saviour. The Sovereign Lord is my strength…’(3:17-19)

Martin Luther King also said: ‘Faith is taking the first step even when you can’t see the whole staircase.’

Mind the gap… between what is and what should be. I stand in that gap with hope. I step from it with faith.