We will all have noted the European Championship success of the English women’s football team and I would heartily congratulate them, writes Rev Sydney Maitland. Not being a particular enthusiast for athletics and ball-based sports, I am inclined to leave it at that. But there is one aspect that makes me think a little more about it.
For some, all ball games are the same, just as all cars are the same and indeed, all politicians. There is little room for distinction or subtlety. In practice however these sports do not mix easily and are not interchangeable. Imagine a playing field being used by soccer and rugby teams at the same time – never mind its simultaneous use by a soccer team and the local rifle club. No, these activities demand their own spaces and their own rules, and discussions on them can become quite intense. I was never completely at home with the off-side rule in soccer or the knock-on rule in rugby. But then would anyone except a sailor be interested in the ‘mast-abeam’ rule?
The interesting thing about all these is that to enjoy them they demand a set of rules if they are to be taken seriously. A kick-about is fine but this is not a formal game. Pottering about in a boat is fine but it will never gain a ‘race complete’ signal.
So what about things of faith? There are definitely aspects in which they are deeply personal and in which they act upon our sense of the numinous, our intuition and our sense of morality. There are aspects of doctrine, worship and history that distinguish Christianity from other faiths and there are definitely variations of practice within it.
I definitely would not say that all religions are the same and yet there is also something about Christianity that probes our deepest memories and motivations. It probes who we are and who we are becoming. It is with us day by day, to inspire and edify us and to curb and correct us. And yes there are 2000 years of its observance by millions of believers under which we have come to recognise the forms of life and belief, of relationships and practices that are honoured while others are not.
For some these practices become set in a legalism to provide the basis for judging and condemning others and of course for excusing themselves. For others these are the life experiences of faithful believers as they have followed their faith, often at personal cost and certainly into clashes with the prevailing culture. Yet if a set of rules is necessary to give form and coherence to a game of football then the same applies even more so to the life of faith.
But there is something else. The rules of life for a Christian are there to help the believer to follow a life of faith and to express that life in gathering with other believers. They may be challenging – especially when they affect an intimate part of our lives our relationships and transactions. Here there indeed may be some serious searching of our own priorities and loyalties.
But Jesus came so that we might have life and life in its abundance. The things that constrained His life were never intended to be burdens but ways of expressing and living His faith. In Psalm 19, the Law of the Lord is cause for celebration rather than resentment or resistance. ‘The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple; the statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes; the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever; the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether.’
There is nothing here to suggest that God got it wrong in giving the law to Moses – even if the human observance of it is partial and liable to corruption. But Jesus came to fulfil the law and in Himself to give us a life of complete fulness and sufficiency in Him. This is where we find who we are and where we are going.
If a game of football needs rule to be played properly, then we have no need to resist the experience and understanding of the church down the ages, from the time of Jesus’ resurrection onwards. These too are there too so that we might be released into a new freedom and to be edified with a new kind of wisdom.
Every blessing,
Sydney Maitland
