On Wednesday 6
th January – Epiphany – Donald Trump supporters stormed the Capitol building, forcing the suspension of a joint session of Congress to certify Joe Biden’s electoral victory. Protestors made it to the senate floor and it took the police almost four hours to secure the building. One protestor was shot dead inside the building and three others died from “medical emergencies” over the course of the protests, according to police.
World leaders respond
World leaders were quick to condemn the horror unfolding in Washington. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote on Twitter:
“Disgraceful scenes in U.S. Congress. The United States stands for democracy around the world and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power.”
Submitting.
Life has been interrupted as the virus irrupted into the routines and ordinariness of ‘normality’’, and we still don’t know what we will look like as we emerge. In one sense, this is nothing new. For anyone who has suffered ill-health or the loss of loved ones, the brutality of this reality will be inescapable. The only certainty about the future is that it is always inherently uncertain.
The Christmas story has become even more relevant as a result of Covid, says the Bishop of Leeds.
Which is one of the reasons I am a Christian. Christian faith does not offer an escape from the uncomfortable or cruel contingencies of mortal life in a material world, but, rather, plunges us into that uncertain and fragile world. This is where Christmas comes in. Realistic, unromantic, brazen and with eyes open to all that life can throw at us.