About turn

It was I believe Abraham Lincoln who said that when a nation turns from God it turns to heroes. There are heroes and heroes. A recent poll taken globally put Bill Gates, the computer billionaire at number one, President Obama at number two and the Pope at number three. Given Bill Gates’ ‘benign capitalism’ one can accommodate this choice but the most alarming was the most admired Britain who turns out to Steven Dawkins. As well as being a celebrated scientist in the area human biology Dawkins is equally well known for his atheism. His atheism is more than just a person belief but a cause that seems to drive Dawkins. His book The God Delusion which sets out to prove the non existence of God has sold two million copies. 

It is quite staggering to see the switch in in the UK in a short hundred and fifty years. We have gone from being a country with Christian missionary zeal to pretty much apostate. In the Commons in Victorian Britain a politician could take a stand on an issue because of the shared faith of the country eg on slavery. Now a politician can only argue in terms of the ‘common good’ having to take into account a variety of faiths and practices that late 19th Century Britain would have dismissed and in some cases found abhorrent. 

So how do the minority, believers, respond? Perhaps by quoting the Psalmist.

Preserve me, O God, for in Thee I take refuge. I say to the Lord, ‘Thou art my Lord; I have no good apart from Thee. ‘  Psalm 16. 1.2.

And how does God see us? 

‘As for the saints in the land, they are the noble, in whom is all my delight. ‘ v 3 

I listened to the radio today and heard a woman exultant that she was being allowed to be married in a ‘church’ of scientology. I am no expert but my view of scientology is that it is a sort of way of coping with life by a series of strategies. Few could deem it a religion. No longer satisfied with allowing two people of the same sex to be married in church the demands increase.

It made me think of the words of St John Chrysostom who examined way back in the fourth century what gifts politicians have.  In the case of gay marriage some of our present day leaders have exulted in the ‘freedoms’ newly permitted ( and no doubt the popularity it brings them in aligning themselves to the issue. )

But whether they ( leaders )  have natural gifts, there is another type of gift which surpasses all others: the gift of knowing right from wrong, and the courage to chose what is right. This gift is not given at birth St John goes on but is nurtured through reflection, education, prayer and practice.

It would be better that our leaders were poor in natural gifts, but rich in this moral gift, than that they exuded authority and wisdom.

Most politicians and many clergy these days seem to strive to be relevant rather than seek the haven of God’s will, the expression my prayer book uses.  

O is that what He meant?

It is interesting how some of our Lord’s sayings do not really hit home until you get older or at least that is how it is with me. 

The parable of the sower and the seed becomes more and more pertinent to me as I see friends who were so strong in their faith give up or just drift away. Only a few seem to be seeds fallen on fertile ground. With many it just seems they are distracted by ‘the cares of the world’ which is often a love of the good life in preference to the hard road that our Lord asks us to walk sometimes. 

I have just come back from Regents Park in London. It is a beautiful place and reminded me that God gave us the seed and Man the ability to tend the outcome’ There is a lovely section of the park with a mix of flowing water and plants. 

A friend of mine loves to photograph fashion shows and loves the mix of beautiful women  in their finery and all the razzamatazz of the cat walk. However, neither Solomon nor Kate Moss is arrayed like the model above. 

The s word

When I did my training in spiritual direction, attendance to talks would fade away to about 50 per cent attendance towards the end of term, however worthy the subject. A talk on sex was announced and there was full attendance. For the prurient the talk was a disappointment. Watching the film Yentl last night the old priest asks ‘where does strength come from? The student replies- from controlling his passions.’

Teaching on sex in the Western Christian tradition seems to range from the unhealthily repressive to the down right libertine. St Augustine, the wisest of men, does get a bit self punishing on the subject after the excesses of his youth ( blimey they were not that bad!! )

St John Chrysostom, from roughly the same time, seems far more balanced. He stresses the importance of remembering the human nature of Christ ( and the Church at his time was riven by heresy that did not. )

We know that at times life becomes a battlefield as the spiritual and the physical aspects struggle for supremacy. Yet it would be wrong to say that the spiritual aspect should defeat and destroy the physical; rather we want harmony between the two. Our physical wants and desires should not be ignored; rather they should be satisfied within the framework of morality which the spirit dictates. We should understand Christ in a similar way. It is not a question of his divine nature conquering and destroying his human nature; rather he revealed how human flesh and blood can live in perfect harmony with God.

Old school ties

I have a had a little exchange of emails lately about going to the school reunion. I have been to the last two but my problem is that not having really enjoyed secondary school, nor thrived there, and having had a bit of a checkered career I always feel a bit ill at ease. I listen to the stories of success and know what big pensions some of my old school pals are on. 

One particular boy I met barely acknowledged me although I went through primary and secondary school with him. He had done well in architecture and was obviously rather pleased with himself. God forgive me but I found him rather pompous.

I found the people who had struggled in life more interesting and especially those who had had some major setbacks like severe illness. They seemed more accessible and empathic. Even though they may not have had a walk of faith they had experienced suffering and therefore had the capacity to sympathise. Mercy cannot exist apart from suffering St Augustine wrote.

The dramatic changes that age has made to my old school colleagues reminded me of a  quote from that other theological heavyweight,  Bruce Willis ‘Life is hard and then you die.’

You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound Psalm 4.7

What's In A Face?

George Orwell famously said that at 50 a man has the face he deserves. This man could be twice that. I wonder what we can read into his life from his face. 

Point in time

I took this photo at the open air passion play in Trafalgar Square on Good Friday.  As I stood looking at the scene ( and a bit annoyed by people around who were disrespectful ) I had the not original thought that this is a depiction of the most important event in history. John Main has better words than me-

The cross is the great Christian symbol because its horizontal plane is intercepted by its  vertical plane and the Christian vision is not a denial of this life, not a denial of history or of time, but an openness to the great fact of history itself, that time has been intercepted by Christ’s love. This is the reality out of  which we must live. We can only live out of it if we ourselves are open to it in our inmost heart- not images, not imagined illusions, however holy, however religious, but the reality, the rock that is Christ.