Christmas Stories ... 1

It’s kind of traditional at this time of year to have a ‘religious’ story hitting the headlines.  The annual Daily Mail ‘Winterval’ outrage is as routine as Christmas pudding now and, even this morning I saw a quaint piece about an apparent shortage of frankincense, complete with footage of a middle-eastern nativity shepherd lookalike, looking suitably forlorn.

Yet this year many mainstream stories seem to have had that edge to them as well.  I thought, as we come to the end of the year, an appropriate time for reflection, I’d briefly comment on just a couple over the coming days …

Last weekend the papers were full of the Prime Minister’scall for a return to Christian values. The text of his speech didn’t quite say that, the relevant section was more a gentle criticism of the church for suggesting values which, although Christian, didn’t necessarily chime with his political convictions, about the riots in particular. But it was a big story none the less. 

It was conviction that seemed to be at the heart of it, yet oddly defined.  David Cameron boldly declared himself to be ‘committed … but only vaguely practising … and full of doubt’.  Now Christian commitment is a notoriously slippery thing to tie down, and certainly not inimical to doubt – a genuine Christian virtue, but, in my experience, those that declare commitment at least attempt to practise, if only to seek answers to their doubts.  Where there is ambiguity, as there often is, it seems to appear more frequently with those who practise, to some degree or another – try to engage in Christian community, open themselves to spiritual experience, grapple with Christian doctrine, be challenged by Christian ethics etc. and yet still would only declare themselves to be ‘vaguely committed’ at best.  Commitment, they rightly recognise, is a high bar.   The more cynical have noted that Mr. Cameron’s commitment here may be rather like his commitment to the ‘European project’ or the ‘green agenda’, a useful declaration yet strangely insubstantial when it comes to all the tricky practicalities.  That may be overly negative though, large parts of the speech were positive and genuinely reflective. It may be that his ‘commitment’ then is more akin to a desire to believe, a commitment to the idea of commitment if you like, a recognition that some form of firm foundation is necessary, for politics, morality, society as a whole, and a sense that Christian faith may be the place to look for this.  That’s encouraging to hear, and is commonly felt, but it’s only a start.  To be fair, it’s a key part of the role of the church to make that case persuasive, sensitively yet practically. As always, the practise will be vital. James, in his New Testament letter, confronting a previous generation who were tempted to think commitment always trumped practise, was straightforward; ‘faith without works’, he said, ‘is dead.’  For him, those works began with compassion to the poorest, it would seem reasonable therefore to start in the same place when assessing the virtue of any professed commitment today.