LAST Wednesday I was in a meeting near Westminster when news of a terrorist attack interrupted our deliberations.

Our host institution immediately went into a precautionary ‘lock down’ and I found myself trying to text my son, who was away on a school trip and knew that I was in Town, to reassure him that I was okay.

Traffic chaos and gridlock prevented me from getting to the train station and I arrived home much later than expected.

However, what was merely an inconvenience for me proved to be catastrophic for others: the tragic loss of innocent lives; life changing for those directly affected or who witnessed the carnage.

The next evening, crowds gathered in Trafalgar Square for a vigil and act of solidarity to stand alongside those whose lives had been blighted by 85 seconds of madness. A strange gesture, I thought. What would it achieve? It required attendance and attention by the police, distracting them from their job of keeping the rest of the capital safe. And the defiant messages of ‘we will carry on as normal’ spouted by politicians and scattered across social media or in symbolic gatherings in Trafalgar Square or (as happened this weekend) by women on Westminster Bridge were hardly likely to dissuade fanatical extremists.

So why bother? Meaningless gestures?

Some years ago, I organised a Sleep Out for leading Bishops and clergy attending a Synod, the governing body of the Church of England; a sort of parliament. Over 200 assorted people (mainly elderly) spent the night in cardboard boxes, a gesture of solidarity with those who were homeless and to draw attention to their plight.

As those who took part in the recent Alabaré sleepout will testify, a cold night on a hard floor is a bitter, draining, experience, doing it night after night is virtually unimaginable.

A leader writer from The Times, who was covering the Synod, criticised the Sleepout. ‘Gesture politics’, he sneered on the way back from the bar, ‘Won’t make a blind bit of difference.’ ‘At least it’s a gesture,’ came a reply from the darkness. ‘Better than making no gesture at all!’ Sleeping rough for one night, didn’t change the plight of the homeless; but, a salutary experience for those taking part, it will have changed their view of what it was life to experience a night in a cardboard box. A chance to share and show some solidarity with others.

That’s the point about gestures – they‘re not meant to change the world. They’re an opportunity for us to vent our frustration and to scream out loud to anyone who will listen (including to those in power) that we want the world to change. A chance to show heart and purpose in world which so often seems lacking.

So much better than making no gesture at all…