Mark Wood is going to share his thoughts for this week’s Prophet’s Corner. Mark, who is married to Jo and has two children, has worked in the charity sector for nearly 17 years pioneering and developing initiatives with young people and young adults, particularly those with drugs, alcohol and mental health issues.

Mark is managing Korban, a Christian charity offering supported housing in Colchester.

He is part of Kingsland Church in Lexden where he sings in the gospel choir and occasionally DJs in his spare time.

THE coronavirus pandemic is surely a generation-defining event and a global experience.

It touches every one of us in similar and yet different ways.

Some of us are busier than ever balancing different responsibilities as work has increased, our jobs are more pressured and now our kids need home-schooling too.

Others have more time than they know what to do with and are getting bored without the usual distractions and things to enjoy.

Some of us have experienced loss and grief we didn’t anticipate at this point in our lives, while others may still have been relatively unaffected.

Of course, those of us on the frontline in hospitals, care homes, rehabilitation and housing projects, supermarkets, food banks and collecting the rubbish (among other key workers) are continuing to serve, some of whom at great personal cost and a few who have made the ultimate sacrifice.

At times like this when there’s huge disruption to our lives and everything seems to be going wrong, it’s easy to wonder if there is a God.

Where is God in it all?

I believe that God can be found in all kinds of different places, both in the macro and the micro.

Before we’d heard of the coronavirus, many of us were disconnected and distracted from both the places where we live and the people we live alongside, whether our neighbours or even in some cases our own families.

I know the reality of suddenly having lots of time together can put a strain on relationships, but it also gives us an opportunity to make a real effort to develop and grow and invest in them.

In the cul-de-sac where I live, since the lockdown began, we have enjoyed sitting outside our front doors at the same time and all having a cuppa, observing two metre distancing, of course.

We even had a lockdown street party and have got to know some of our neighbours more in the last few weeks than in the last few years.

When Jesus walked the earth he spent a lot of time building relationships and showed us that God is all about relationship with all kinds of people.

He spent time with a huge variety of people and influenced those in the military (Roman Centurion), sex workers (a prostitute who came to him for forgiveness), religious leaders and scholars (Nicodemus, Israel’s teacher), wealthy women and powerful men, working class blokes (some of his followers were fishermen) and Jesus himself was a carpenter, more like a builder in those days.

He also built community, describing his followers as being his brothers and sisters.

In the UK at the moment we can see communities coming together, in the clapping for the NHS, the rainbows on walls and windows, the schools producing PPE and scrubs, the people delivering food, the accommodation for homeless people and we can see Jesus as he moves us to be kind to those who are struggling, comfort those who mourn and give hope to those in despair.

Across the nation we can see God at work on a grand scale, helping us to see our connectedness, strengthening our relationships and building our communities.

While the lockdown party over the Easter weekend feels like a distant memory now, at the moment as a nation we’re somewhere in between Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Hope is coming but it’s not fully arrived.

On that first Easter morning Jesus appeared to his disciples and friends, comforting and reassuring them, demonstrating that God is still with us; not even death can separate us from his love (Romans 8v2). But he also told them that things would be different.

Life is changing. There’s a new rhythm of work, relationships, recreation and rest, family and community life and creativity.

When this is all over let’s appreciate the relationships we have and the communities we’re part of and let’s not go back to the way it was before.