It has been interesting to see what's being posted on social media in response to events in Paris, and indeed the (sometimes ugly and evil) responses in print and broadcast media.  Please don't believe the Daily Mail, Mail on Sunday or other vile islamophobic drivel (sorry, don't usually rant quite so blatantly here, but it makes my blood boil).

Some people have turned their Facebook profile pictures into French tricolour as a sign of solidarity.  Neither of my two French-born Facebook friends has.  There are other folk like me who haven't, and who feel uneasy about the use of national flags, setting one nation-state over against another.  Maybe my views are coloured (no pun intended) by seeing the English St George flag appropriated by right-wing extremists to such an extent that I, and many fo my friends of all politcal and religious hues would never fly one.  In Scotland the saltire is proudly displayed as a symbol of identity and shared values, maybe had I grown up here I'd think differently, I don't know.

After a deal of pondering, I've decided today to use the Coventry Litany of Reconciliation in lieu of my planned prayers of approach today, and I will place a globe on our Communion Table... it is one world and we are all God's children.  Maybe coexistence is less than ideal, but it's surely a massive step forward.

The Coventry Litany of Reconciliation

All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.