I was reading the paper yesterday and saw there had been an outpouring of grief for another high street chain that has gone under. I think it is always sad when there are job losses and I feel for those facing fresh uncertainty. I can also understand the broad concern people have over these things so far as it speaks to the general direction of the economy. There are some general ways these things are a shame.

At the same time, I am always surprised by those who seem distraught that the shop itself has gone under. Fair enough, I suppose, if you were a regular patron. But it does seem, for the most part, it is people who never used the shop who are utterly bereft that it is no longer there. There doesn’t seem to be any connection made between the fact that it went under and that the selfsame people bemoaning the loss singularly failed to shop there. As far as the high street is concerned, it is a simple matter of use it or lose it.

The same goes for those who are often concerned about the loss of local churches. Buildings fall into disrepair, get handed over to others and end up either delapidated, put to an altogether different use or pulled down altogether. There is frequently an outpouring of grief by those who never set foot in it when it was a church. There is simply no connection made between the church no longer existing as a church and those complaining never going to it. Moan about it all you like, decry the loss of historic buildings and the rest if you will, but if you won’t go when it is operational, what exactly do you expect?

As with shops it goes with churches: if you want to keep them you need to go to them, if you want to maintain them you have to use them. If you are concerned the shop will close and the high street will go under, you need to make a concerted effort to use it. If you are concerned that local churches will close and their buildings fall into disrepair or be lost altogether, you have to go to them whilst they are open.

You cannot keep open what no longer has any utility. If you are part of the masses who have eschewed the purpose for which these buildings exist, you cannot be upset when the building goes by the wayside. If you want to keep churches (and shops) open, the short answer is you have to go to them and make use of them whilst they are there. If you don’t, whose fault is it when they are no longer there?