Insights

Insights into the mysteries of faith might be expected to come mainly from notable pulpits, where our trained theologians and men and women of religious eminence offer their views on life and belief. Of late, though,  I have been blessed with Godly insights from people with no obvious right to speak of holy things. It is as if those who are very busy in the secular world, pause for a moment - perhaps it has to do with Christmas - and reveal a light granted to them in their daily labours. They do not seek it, but it descends on them en passant and is the more powerful as a result than anything we professional God-botherers know. Here is that very worldly man Taki in the Spectator magazine: 'Although the Gospels were written by non-professionals, they exude more truth and power than you find in Homer and Dante and Milton put together.... People like Dawkins have never engaged with religion in a serious manner. They are shoddy self-proclaimed scholars who can only doubt and proclaim their doubts as proof of the absence of God and Christ. Give me a real scholar like Pascal, who proved mathematically that one cannot go wrong by believing in God. Then I happened on finance expert Martin vander Weyer writing that he waa asked to preach a sermon in his parish church at Helmsley, Yorkshire - 'A thing I was certain I would never be asked to do'. It was about Godliness and economics, setting out things 'the City must learn to avoid if its professionals and companies are ever to be trusted again.'  He pointed to a blistering report by a law firm on 'The Trust Deficit' which contains more ethical wisdom than anything I have read lately in the religious press. So 'Where can wisdom be found?' asks Job (28.12) In unexpected places, and do not forget anything by Matthew Parris, a reluctant atheist who writes like a prophet in The Times and elsewhere.

Practise

The Prime Minister has created a pre-Christmas stir by calling on the nation to r


The Prime Minister has created a pre-Christmas stir by calling for a revival of 'Christian moral values'.The nation's 18,500 clergy in the main Christian churches will be calling for this every week, but it takes the PM to get the idea onto the front pages. Mr Cameron says that he is personally only a 'vaguely practising Christian' and is 'full of doubts' about theology.  That leaves him where most non-churchgoers stand, and begs the question of 'what is a practising Christian'?  What changes a nominal Christian into a practising one? The immediate answer is that a practising one attends a church regularly and takes part in the prayers, and sings the hymns, and listens to the sermons. Can you be a Chistian withluout actually doing all that? Increasingly, the answer is  that perhaps you can, because church is what has been manifestly rejected. Dietrich Bonhoeffer asked: 'Can Christ be Lord, even of those with no religion?' What a good question !!Christian Research tells me that in 2010 there were 1.3m Anglicans, 1.5m Catholics, and other categories, adding up to roughly seven percent of the population. That hardly makes a 'Christian country' if the criteria is churchgoing. But perhaps the meaning of 'practise' is to have a general belief that there must be a God and that Jesus told us as much about him/her/it as we can hope to understand, but it matters as much as it matters that the sun has risen again. Do we derive moral values from a nominal God, or from one who has offered us a recognisable code from which we get moral guidance? And if he has, how can we neglect it? Practising surely means taking seriously what we have been shown about the nature of God and what he requires of us.  TWO Addenda: Matthew Parris, an atheist Christian prophet, writes brilliantly in The Times today (December 17), and I have heard a scientist say of his new-born child that she is all he will ever see of the 'God particle.' Brilliant !!










The

Nativity

There is no point in letting the facts spoil a good story.I will sing the old Christmas hymns again this year with my fingers crossed, because of course they contain ideas about Jesus the Christ and his coming among us that cannot possibly be verified or justified. As with many things about the nativity record in the Bible,  historical credibility is sparse. Very few clergy 'believe' the literal truth of a star, a stable, a virgin birth. But the story is so charming, and sits nicely on Christmas cards, and in children's presentations, that it would be a shame to argue about it. We love to hear the story every year. It is the ultimate 'repeat' about which we never tire, as successive generations learn and celebrate it. As a church minister I once re-wrote two or three of these familiar songs, thinking to make them more 'believable. I was pleased with them, but there was a strong pew-based revolt, because people in the church did not want to give up the virgin birth, swathing bands, or even, oddly, children 'all in white waiting around.' I surrendered, and will again join the choir singing the tuneful mythologies of Christmas with all the other carol addicts. We like things to be the same at Christmas. It is great to see that of 656 films being offered on TV during three big days only 13 will be new. It was Browning's 'wise thrush' who sang his song twice over to 'recapture his first fine careless rapture'  Just so: we like repeats. We may have heard it all before, but as Humphrey Bogart requested of the night club piantist in Casablanca, 'play it again, Sam'.

correction to in difference

last sentence: 'We should be more selective about the people to whom we are indifferent. Like the other JC'

Indifference

We all have strong opinions about something or other. Jeremy Clarkson has many, and is never slow to express them. The media takes notice because the man is a celebrity. When the Duke of Edinburgh says he has no time for power-generating windmills it is widely reported. My opinions are also robust, but nobody will hear of them, because I am a nonentity: who cares what I think about anything? Clarkson has made a fool of himself, perhaps deliberately because his income depends on the sale of his books etc. In our time there are many opportunities for expressing opinions, and on Facebook no doubt millions of people are doing so all the time. The only other way to say what we really think - and we should do it more - is in conversation with close friends, who understand whether we are joking, or in earnest. Among strong opinions I hold is that Donald Trump should even now be prevented  from despoiling the north east of Scotland with a lot of unwelcome development. What else? And what about those who steal railway cable, memorial plaques and manhole covers for scrap metal? I would lock them up, and melt the cell key down for scrap..... English football needs an English manager..... Fundamentalist religion of any kind is inimical to humanity. Studdert Kennedy wrote: 'When Jesus came to Birmingham they simply passed him by: they would not hurt a hair of him, they only let him die. For men had grown more tender and they would not give him pain. They only just passed down the street and left him in the rain.' His poem was called 'Indifference'. We should more selective about the people to whom we are indifferent. Like the other JC.