I have just returned from a short break to Spain and was struck by the number of housing developments that remain unoccupied as a result of the financial crash. Contrast that with St Albans where we can’t meet the demand for housing and the strategic plan (which includes 4,000 homes on Green Belt land) has been rejected and may go to Judicial review. Gabriel Square (the former Evershed’s printing site) and The Ziggurat (a converted office building) are both being released this year but how many of those homes will be for lower income families? This disparity made me reflect on the wealth divide even in St Albans – yes there are homeless and families struggling in poverty even in a prosperous city like ours. This divide of course magnifies out of all proportion when looking at the rest of the world.

Oxfam estimate that the richest 1% in the world own 99% of the wealth. However it is measured, I suspect, that I and many others living in St Albans fall into that top 1% of the world’s population. Jesus said how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven and that to whom much was given much would be expected. The Apostle Paul commands us to “remember the poor”.

Wealth brings with it huge responsibility, it is therefore so important that those of us blessed with wealth are generous, good stewards, hold our possessions very lightly and remember the poor with our actions!

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