The national trauma of the last few weeks during which riots overwhelmed several cities of England but spreading beyond, has left us bewildered, writes Rev Sydney Maitland. They tell of whole sectors of the community who are alienated and antagonized to the point of violence, in the pretext of immigration and multicultural issues but in reality extending further and deeper into the lives of their families and communities.
And yes, law and order had to be asserted very firmly while the ‘blogosphere’ was retailing every kind of anecdote and explanation. But the reality points to more than a breakdown of law and order. It also points to failures in family and community life; resentments, whether perceived or supported by proper research, and at this stage it matters not which, and perhaps most importantly, a disintegration of rationality.
Communication was overwhelmed by emotion, the power of the image replacing reasoned and informed discussion and debate. And that was even before the shades of antisemitic undertones began to emerge in the national discussion.
Yet it also leads us to wonder about law and its effectiveness. At one time, a school of ‘Natural Law’ prevailed, based essentially on those of the 10 commandments which dealt with life and property. Order was endemic in the universe and law was its practical expression in society. It might have been a rough law and a rough justice but it was essentially understood.
Then came the ‘Legal Positivist’ school in which laws were there to meet discernible human needs and so could be and were changed, according to need. This made law-making much more political, being based on the demands of the most powerful in society and the most expedient courses of action. As these powers shifted then so did the laws, becoming more extensive, intrusive and complex. Until they became effectively incomprehensible and inaccessible. Has anyone read our tax code recently: from cover to cover? All relevant acts, schedules, guidance notes, case law and legal opinions?
So yes, we have a state of moral, social, cultural and political confusion. No demonstrable focus of unity – at least, not in peacetime. The church is one of many social institutions and its gospel message is one of many social, moral and spiritual messages.
For some the response is discouragement if not despair: to retreat into one’s own social and moral comfort-zone. Maybe all this will blow over and we may again emerge, blinking, into the sunlight. For others the response will be a more assertive (or aggressive) engagement with the variety of social and political organizations that surround us, and hope to ‘persuade’ those not of our thinking of the advantages of seeing things as we do. And yes, that ‘persuasion’ might be pretty forceful.
These are two different kinds of alternatives and yet there is a third. Not so much a quietism as an engagement in a different plane. Jesus has told us, forcefully and uncompromisingly, that as His disciples, we are the Light of the World and the City set on a Hill. The salt, undebased by dilution by sand or other supplements. (Matthew 5: 13-16). It means carrying His word into our homes and communities and letting it speak forth. It should be there in our conversations, actions and relationships: moderating and commenting on what we find around us. Not so much to criticize or condemn as to offer other perspectives and insights.
He says this, not as an invitation to the like-mined but a statement of fact for His followers. So yes, we may inform ourselves from the news media but we are also personally formed by faith and fellowship, prayer and worship, waiting on God and yet speaking forth as the opportunity is presented to us.
I know that I have quoted this before, but the words at the end of Habakkuk are supremely appropriate:
‘Though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines; Though the labour of the olive may fail, and the fields yield no food; Though the flock be cut off from the fold, and there be no herd in the stalls – Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.’ (My stresses).
Every blessing,
Sydney Maitland
