Christian Comment with Richard McDermott, parishioner at The Immaculate Conception, Stroud

AFTER 30 years in the same house it was a shock to the system for my wife and I to have to ‘downsize’ when we moved.

Indeed, this is more than an understatement as it has proved a traumatic experience – one that we were warned about, but as with many other things in life, didn’t fully appreciate until ‘it happened to us’.

Decisions about what to keep, what to pass on to the children or give to charity, what to throw away became quite an ordeal.

After all that, we inevitably kept more than we needed (just like holiday packing).

In the materialistic world in which we live, many of us have much more than we need, but for all kinds of reasons we can find it difficult to part with some of our possessions.

Such were my strong feelings about this that I decided quite early in the process I wouldn’t ever be moving again unless it was ‘in a box’!

However, there were also many positive aspects to the removal of ‘the clutter’ in our lives.

The discovery of ‘lost’ pictures and greetings cards - reminding us of wonderful family occasions; the christenings, the birthdays, the school reports; the special times of the year such as Easter and Christmas; the shared meals with both family and friends who have been so important in our lives.

The goodbyes from neighbours were both rewarding and sad.

So in our ‘new life’ we have a fresh start where we can live without ‘clutter’.

As a Christian what does this mean?

Jesus told the Apostles Mk6: “to take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no haversack, no coppers for their purses” and to wear sandals, but they were told: “Do not take a spare tunic.”

This seems to be more than one can realistically aim for in the 21st century.

However, it gives the opportunity to reassess what we really need and what is really important.

Perhaps we should have done this many years ago.