Originally published @ 3:38 pm, Thu 9th Jun 2011
So hats off to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who has tried to challenge all the political parties but appears most to have upset the ConDems.
I once met the Archbishop when he came to Nottingham in 2005 when the Anglican Church was holding its international conference. The Lord Mayor and I had crafted a speech celebrating the history of various Christian movements in Nottingham (incl. the beginning of the Salvation Army). And we surprised the conference. Nottingham, we said, is the home of the most famous man of the cloth. (Silence.) Who? Friar Tuck. We then explained that we'd found millions of references to him on the world wide web. But we acknowledged, not one of the sites explained his theology. The Archbishop of Canterbury spoke next. I can tell you the theology of Friar Tuck, he said. "Christian Socialist." He carried Robin Hood halfway across a river and then dropped him into the water. Hard, he suggested, to think of a more dramatic example of the reversal of powers.
So a very quick mind.
“Managerial politics, attempting with shrinking success to negotiate life in the shadow of big finance, is not an attractive rallying point”. Good point, except I wouldn’t call it managerial politics. Socialists need good managers too. Clarity of vision, good planning, tracking outcomes, getting the capacity and capability in place with the right culture to get things done, all for legitimate aims.
Unfortunately for one of Nottingham's local vicars, the article didn’t come out soon enough. Addressing the congregation called for the civic ceremonies of dedication for the new Lord Mayor and the new Sheriff of Nottingham, the vicar could only think of balance and therefore how hard it must be to be a politician making tough choices, including how do we sort out unsustainable debt. Plainly, he’d not been primed about the problems of trying to live in the shadow of big finance.
Eager not to upset, the reverend went for four values – though he quickly said – out of many.
Even-handedness; care for the workless; listening to others; care for the neighbour.
More controversially, the vicar said “we all share a fundamental equality in the eyes of God”. I’m not sure that’s embraced that widely, with the exception of polling day.
Another line from the Archbishop that’s created great interest – “This is not helped by a quiet resurgence of the seductive language of "deserving" and "undeserving" poor, nor by the steady pressure to increase what look like punitive responses to alleged abuses of the system.”
The readings at the Nottingham service picked up on some of these points. James 2, v 1 – 8 and Luke 16, v 19 – 31. The second reading seemed shocking in 21st century terms –
The Rich Man and Lazarus
19 "There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.' 25 But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.' 27 And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house— 28 for I have five brothers—so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' 29 But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.' 30 And he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' 31 He said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.'"
“Even the dogs came and licked his sores.” You might ask, just how deserving do the poor have to be? Maybe the Bible needs to explore the issue of the undeserving poor itself – or probably the wrong passage was chosen to make such a point.
The first reading had a very powerful sentence - “Is it not the rich who are exploiting you?” I’d like to see how George Osborne explains that one away.
Lots to debate and I’m still to take the editorial from the Archbishop in fully. But I hope that this weekend, all the vicars will give active consideration to addressing the issues raised in their sermons.