It’s not quite Christmas yet, from a purist point of view, but – a heartfelt Happy Christmas to every one of you! When I hear those amazing, majestic words from beginning of St John’s Gospel that the Rector has just read, Christmas for me has come, and it’s very good indeed to be able to share it with you here in Huntingdonshire, and to gather in this ancient place of worship just as we have gathered in Pathfinder House or in schools and homes and farms and factories over the year as we have shared together in the work of encouraging and building the common good.
It has not been an easy year, though, as the Credit Crunch has hit home and money is tight on all sides. Whether you have had to make tough decisions or be on the receiving end of them, it’s been hard. And the never-had-it-so-good days of continuous growth in our economy and improvement in our standard of living seem to be little more than a fond memory now.
That wonderful reading from St John is honest about the darkness – we have to be if we are to do anything about it – but full of hope too. Just when we might have been tempted to think that there was no real meaning or purpose to life anyway, and nothing to be done except scrabble to the top of the pile if we can, St John reminds us that there was a beginning and there will be an end, and that a rational, purposeful story – what he calls the Word – connects the two. And more. He reminds us that the Word is a good one, life and light, and that we are invited to join its story too.
In a world of anxiety, we are offered hope, and an invitation to throw off the darkness of gloom and throw in our lot with the Big Story of working together with the good grain of things to find new beginnings and new good for our common life. And maybe even, just now and then, a glimpse of glory too.
And all this is both a free gift and an open invitation. New, free and open: they’re words an advertising executive would die for – and here they are not selling false hopes or futile trivia: they are saying that the world really is a Good News Story. All we have to do is join in.
But what, you might fairly say, if you don’t go along with all this religious stuff, or have a faith – but a different one. Is it still Good News then, or at best a distraction or at worst a danger? It’s a charge that has to be taken seriously. It’s all too easy when times are tough for false prophets to lead the people astray.
There is something about this particular Word, though, that makes a difference. St John and the whole Gospel is quite clear that Christ came into the world for the sake of the whole world, for everyone, whether they believed him or not. Whether you count yourself family when it comes to church, or a friend, or fairly sceptical, or even a foe, it’s no different. You too were on the heart of Christ as he went to the Cross. And he told his followers to do the same. Love your neighbour, yes; but love your enemy too.
So Christ’s hope, of course, was that everyone would find the hope he brought, but the offer was unconditional, and our choice fully respected. It’s because of that, that I was delighted to be able to help launch this year the new Faiths Council for Huntingdonshire. Of course I believe 100% in the Christian Gospel. I couldn’t do my job or be who I am if I didn’t. But I will do alI I can to help and work with anyone else who is looking for the light, even if their faith choice is different from mine, because that’s what my faith tells me to.
Now that is in the context of inter-faith relationships, and good relationships on that front are good for the whole of society. But the principle I have just tried to set out for you, of giving ourselves to and for others, is not just about religion. There’s been a lot of talk about building the Big Society this year, and unfortunately the very phrase has become something of a political football, and been prejudiced too by the need to make such cuts. The fact remains, though, that 2012 has to be the year when we start to work together for the common good, or stay stuck in the gloom. Anything that is going to happen for good is likely to be bottom-up not top-down.
If we are going to do that we are going to need to engage together, and in three ways. To make them easy to remember, all three things begin with P. We are going to need to get our hands dirty and share in growing new provision for our communities. Christ came into the same regular world that you and I live in, and got stuck in. Whether it is care for the isolated and vulnerable, places for young people to hang out safely, transport for rural places, lunch clubs or language classes, there are a whole raft of practical bits of provision that we need to hang onto and if necessary recreate together. We have a great tradition of community action together – and the churches have by and large played their part well – but did you know that nationally 60% of men born in 1946 were members of local organisations when they were in their 30s, but by 1970 that figure had dropped to just 8%? 2012 is surely the year to reverse that trend. Your Hunts needs you! Together we can get things done.
I’m not going to let our local councils off the hook here, and I’m sure you aren’t either – they have a vital part to play and often hold the only cash that’s around – but they can’t do it alone and neither can you or I. So partnership is my second big thing. Christ came and said, follow me. Join the movement. Get stuck in too. Faith groups tend to have partnership in their DNA, they’re congregations, they congregate. But they aren’t always so good at taking the next step and doing things together across their boundaries. You’ll remember what the rescuers found when they finally reached the Welshman who had been shipwrecked on a desert island for five years. Two chapels, they asked? One we expected, but why have you built two? Ah, he said, that’s the one I go to, and that’s the one I don’t go to … 2012 is a year for us to do better, and a year too to bury the hatchet of mistrust between public services and faith that surfaces now and then. Together we can get things done.
We will, though, if we are to really get moving, we also need to start to talk together more about our common values, our principles. If we just work at a purely pragmatic level we will almost inevitably end up just administering the cuts as painlessly as possible – because we won’t have enough shared passion to go for anything new, to say boo to market forces when we need to, or dare to go for the best, even if it brings more risk than the mediocre. Christ came and got stuck in with passion, and suffered passion for it. Again, the great faiths have a rich store of ethics and principles that is there to be shared – and most of them are common to us all. Can 2012 be the year when we go for gold, when we listen to one another carefully and agree what would be good for us all? Together we can get things done.
I’m preaching of course, but I am a bishop and I am in a pulpit so what do you expect? But I also think I may be preaching to the converted. I know for instance that the District Council is giving serious consideration to making 2012 the year when it engages us as a community in conversation in new and better ways about what we all want and need. I applaud the support they have given to our inter-faith work. And on my side of the street I have seen how the parish churches here in Huntingdon have recently started to open the doors at All Saints in new ways to all sorts of activities, from Christmas Cards for charity to console games for young people – and we are having a wonderful Carol Service now her in St Mary’s, for which many thanks to church and council alike.
So – don’t wait for the torch to come through here on July 8th: let the Light of the World light your fire now, and make 2012 the year when the darkness was dispelled. Together we can get things done.
A Bishop's Blog 