Trivial?

As the rioting situation began to develop in the capital, I was attending a local neighbourhood forum here in Lancashire. The subjects under discussion were a world away from what was happening in Tottenham: traveller camps, flower displays, pharmacy opening hours and so on.

Many would feel exasperated by time spent on such issues at the moment. Words like "narrow" and "parochial" would be bandied about. Yet are we right to get hot under the collar when small matters arouse big passions?

I attended a training college where there was a huge range of views among the students. Often there were discussions and debates and strong disagreements. There was a tactic which students would often resort to in order to put each other down. They would complain, "Why waste time on that? It's not important. The church should spend its time dealing with much more pressing matters."

Of course, it was frustrating to have that said to you, because to your way of thinking the truth you held was important. The other person was putting you down, making you seem petty and foolish.

But should we really stop caring about getting small things right? To my mind it would be very worrying if every time someone had a local concern they were silenced. "Compared to the riots, your concern is nothing, and you should simply live with it."

No! Decent citizens should be given a respectful hearing when something local upsets them. Jesus listened patiently to a woman by a well while she mused about the differences between Jews and Samaritans about worship. Finally He used her concern to lead her to the important point: "True worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth" (John 4:23).

We may well be in a fight to save this country from social breakdown and its streets and people from loss and destruction. But if that means that our eyes are taken off the local, day to day, quality of life issues that concern our citizens, the rioters will have won.