PostScript: Reeds in the wind?
This week many are experiencing tension and insecurity. Can the proclamation of Matthew 11.9-11 help?
Context
Advent has been hi-jacked. Instead of calm hope many are experiencing anxiety and dismay as they contemplate the future of the nation, and indeed, the planet.
How can we read a situation so full of complications and trade-offs, when politicians regularly mislead, or peddle half-truths? What should we do if we want Brexit, but are concerned about the Irish Peace Process? If we are in Scotland, what if we don’t want Brexit, but value the Union? Should we vote for the representatives of any party tainted with anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, misogyny or any other prejudice, and what choice is left when so many are apparently guilty? How do we respond to violence within the campaign, or abuse? Whose promises dare we trust when it comes to the challenge of meeting the threat of global warming and the need to stop burning fossil fuels, use the world’s agricultural land better, and acknowledge that industrialised nations must act. Many feel abandoned and bewildered.
Reflection
We look for a prophet, not someone bounced about by circumstance, and not someone in a protective ideological bubble (v.8) either. Do any of the would-be leaders on offer deserve the title? And how would we know? It is difficult to get the fair impression of a person that those disciples who had actually encountered Jesus could report on to John in prison. We have few opportunities to meet candidates face to face, fewer still to see the leaders for ourselves, but are bombarded with soundbites, tweets, snatches of video or headline quotations which claim to capture something important. Dangerously, in this mix doctored clips pass for authentic, and opinion is offered as fact, until trust evaporates. But verses 7 to 9 speak of the thirst for certainty.
Jesus (11.4-6) pointed to his deeds not his words. Is our current problem that there are few actual achievements to judge? Johnson has been Prime Minister for a matter of weeks. Can we yet judge him by his deal? Do we rather judge by the pain allegedly caused by ‘austerity’? For that do we blame the present administration, immediate Tory predecessors, Lib Dems in coalition, or a reckless past Labour government? Unlike John, we are unlikely to get a clear answer to the question, ‘Are you the one?’(11.2)
On Friday, some of us will be facing bitter disappointment, and perhaps fear. Verses 2 to 3 show John keeping faith with his vision in the midst of his own desperate situation. Will we likewise be able to be secure in our vision of a world in which God has purposes, long since announced by prophets and apostles, which will, we know, in the end prevail?
And, on Friday, equally some of us will find we’ve got what we hoped for. Will we have the humility to bring it up against the challenge of v.5 and judge its worth not by self-interested but by God-centred standards? Will we be prepared to go on pressing our politicians to face up to the challenge of global warming, respect other faiths and cultures, fight poverty and injustice and seek those values, the truths of Advent, which are beyond GDP and a prospering economy, hope, in faith, for joy and, ultimately, peace?
But the result is in, and the re-elected Prime Minister now has the chance to confound his critics when his promises are fulfilled: the NHS is fully resourced; the government makes good its claim to be strong against all forms of prejudice; the concerns of Northern Ireland and Scotland are addressed; and Brexit is conducted efficiently and with dignity. Can we achieve the prophetic voice which will demand all this and demand it clearly? Can the disappointed forebear from finding fault, and the pleased avoid crowing over them? Many times in the campaign the demand was made that this election should reunite the nation. Can we respond to its outcome in a way which has us united in purpose, travelling God’s Highway (Psalm 35.8), strong and weak united in a just and caring society (Matthew 11.5), with a secure place in the world (Psalm 35.10) and a determination to rise to the challenge of global warming, for universal fertility and abundance (Psalm 35.1-2) are necessary to God’s idea of happy nations?
Prayer
A prayer to find peace in a renewed sense of proportion; perhaps to accompany Intercessions.
Every year, dear Lord, Advent brings its problems.
For some it is ‘first world problems’.
What do we give that difficult relative?
Whose turn it is to provide the turkey when the extended family gathers?
For others, it’s far more serious.
Will the money stretch to presents for all the children?
Can we afford the festive trimmings others are enjoying?
Even, will we have a roof over our heads this Christmas?
Or how will I face Christmas this year, alone without my dear…?
And this year another layer of concerns has been added,
as we have faced an election in which was embedded
one of the most serious issues to face our country in decades,
one which has divided communities and parties and even families.
Now, as we know at least some of the answers,
help us to focus on the positives.
Open us to the possibilities for reconciliation
with those with whom we have disagreed.
Heal the hurts of those who have themselves suffered
threats, insults, or even injury, in the course of this campaign.
Remind us that even major national questions need to be put in perspective
within a world which is facing global warming,
and is beset by war, violence and injustice.
May your peace at Advent find our hearts,
and from there leak and seep, and then flow out
into our families, our communities, and then the wider nation,
as we share the Good Thing which you have provided for all people.
Amen.
Questions
- Are you feeling better today than you were during the campaign?
- Is certainty better than doubt?
- How do you see the path from where we are now to a reunited nation, and what is a first step you would take down that path?
All-age activity
Set up a circle of nightlights – electric ones for safety! Get everybody to think of one thing that the election result has brought that pleases them, and one thing they are not happy about. Write them on slips of paper. Invite them to tear up the slip of paper with the disappointment on it. Pass round a basket for the waste. Take the other ‘positive’ slip, fold it over and place it within the ring of lights. Pray:
Lord God,
who came vulnerable into the world at Christmas,
the Prince of Peace;
help us to put aside grudges,
and soften our hearts towards those with whom we disagree.
Help us also to make the most of what can unite us
as we move into the light which you bring through Advent.
Amen.
Young people
Compile a debit and credit account of the outcome, two columns with on one side good things which you now expect to happen and on the other, bad ones. There may well be dispute over which column certain expectations should be placed in. Focus on the areas of policy which affect young people most (e.g. education, race relations, street crime, job prospects) and try to emphasise the positive aspects of the outcome.
Brenda Vance is a URC elder and retired university teacher living in Sussex
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