I dreamed that for some reason there was a terrorist attack on London. It was some kind of nuclear explosion. It was all very realistic, yet in the strange way of dreams, it was also not.

At one stage I was in some high vantage point and I was in some high vantage point and I could look over the Atlantic to America, where ships were turning back because of the fallout.

Anyway, the important part of the dream came when I was returning home with some precious water for my children (the mains had been turned off). There was a girl trapped in a cage outside my house – I don’t know why. She was pleading for water and I ignored her because I wanted to put my own children first. Of course, I felt incredibly guilty. It made me realise how shallow are our community intentions.

Today’s reading is from the Book of Judges 11:29-39. Jephthah makes a vow to the Lord that if his war against the Ammonites he will sacrifice the first person who meets him upon his return home. To his honour, that person is his only child, his beloved daughter. It’s a terribly sad story. He honours his promise.

And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter! Thou hast brought me very low, and thou art one of them that trouble me: for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot go back.

Would I ever make such a promise? Would I have kept it? I know I would not.