Richard Littledale's
Views on the News: August 2008

Blowing in the Wind

It is a sad but telling indicator of the state of our world that reports of Beijing air quality (see BBC website) have made the headlines as China prepares to host the 2008 Olympics. Some cars have been taken off the road and some factories have already been shut. But after a few days of better air quality, the air pollution indices have returned to levels far higher than wanted. More drastic measures may now have to be taken lest long distance athletes literally choke as they push their bodies to the limit.

Of course the key factor in determining air quality may not be the levels of pollutants emitted but how long they hang around in the air. A nice breeze across Beijing for the duration of the Olympics (8-24 August) may be all that is needed. It could move the polluted air away - just as long as it does not move more polluted air in.

These air quality headlines show the growing public sensitivity towards the state of the physical world - and even more towards the influence pollution can have on each of us.

Perhaps we need to develop the same sensitivity towards the spiritual pollution which also surrounds us. When Jesus met a Samaritan woman by the well (John 4:1-26) he offered her "a spring of water welling up to eternal life". If he were in Beijing today, Jesus might be offering "a refreshing breeze filling our lungs with clean air". We all need to be so filled with the wind of the Spirit that there is no room left for worldly pollution!