Christians can feel helplessly situated in a world stymied by the embargoed Strait of Hormuz (if it's still closed by the time you're reading this) and Europe’s bleeding gash – the war in Ukraine.
At home, little sign of a let-up in the cost-of-living crisis only enlarges the aurora of neon gloom across British skies.
Should faith make a difference to how Christians feel and what they talk about in conversations with their worried neighbours? The Sunday school answer is an emphatic “yes”; and yet, if faith were a bicep, why have some Christians such puny "Mr Bean" muscles?