One hundred years ago tens of thousands of British servicemen had already fallen at the Somme, as the campaign that was supposed to be a turning point in the war, descended into carnage and the greatest disaster in British military history.
Communication of one kind or another lay at the heart of the problems that beset the campaign. This was a new kind of warfare and commanders who previously would have been in the field were now at a safe distance behind the front lines, dependent on battlefield reports that either never arrived, or were out of date by the time they did, and sending back instructions that were similarly unreliable.
It has ever been so – the lack of communication has so often either led to conflict, or made things worse once a conflict has begun. In the end if conflict is to be avoided then good communication must be the priority. No wonder then that much of the Bible is devoted to the subject of good communication between God and humans, and interesting that it is always God who takes the initiative in communicating with us. As Paul declares in his letter to the church in Rome, it was while we were God’s enemies that He sent Jesus to reconcile us to Himself.