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Viewpoint from Rev Nigel Lacey 22/09/2023
 Rev Nigel Lacey,
Rector of Hopton, Corton, and Gunton
Living in a world of my own
One of the things that I enjoy is making model railways. Whether it be making engines, rolling stock, or a layout it is something that engages my mind and helps me to learn lots of skills – wiring, woodwork, metalwork, and so on
Over the last few weeks I have been steadily making some model buildings. A church, a shop, a station building, and some houses. This has been absorbing and fascinating at the same time. Currently I am making a village school which has brought memories of my own primary school days
 I am not making a model of anywhere in particular. It is an imaginary ‘might have been’ if history had taken a slightly different course from what actually happened. I have found myself drawn into this imaginary history and can picture the sort of people who might have lived in the houses, shopped at the corner shop and been a pupil at the school. I can also imagine what the railway might have needed to carry in and out of such a community
Perhaps it is an escapism thing. I suppose it is a way of creating an ideal world that contrasts with how things really are
The real world is not neat and tidy and it is not always summer and people don’t generally lean over fences and gates to watch a small steam train puff gently through the countryside. The real world is often messy and dirty. There are injustices. There is suffering and there are dark days and struggles. Perhaps that is why my imaginary world is so compelling but I know, deep down, that it is not a world that I can inhabit, even if I could shrink down to 1.76 scale
You see, I have to live in the real world and interact with real flesh and blood people who hurt and grieve as well as experience joy and love. That is where the Christian faith comes into play. The belief that God came down to our real world as a human person is the unique claim of Christianity. It means that Christ’s followers can’t retreat into an imaginary world where all is perfect but have to be a part of the world that is real, with all that means. The real world is better than my imaginary one as it is where Christ actually is
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