'Doing Jesus' in Civic Life

Late January saw the publication of Alain de Botton's Religion for Atheists: A Non-Believer's Guide to the Uses of Religion (Hamish Hamilton, 2012). Far from being an attack on religion of the sort we have come to associate with the New Atheism, de Botton suggests that religion offers valuable resources which – when appropriately cherry-picked – address our need for community and compassion, our yearning for a sense of transcendence and connection. As the publicity blurb for the book put it, 'even if religion isn't true, can't we enjoy the best bits?'

All very well, perhaps, except at some point we come up against the claims of specific religions, not least the one who declared himself to be 'the way, the truth and the life' (John 14:6). How do you 'pick and mix' Jesus?

Even those who have not read de Botton's book are unlikely to have escaped the news of some high-profile 'religion versus secularism' battles of the last few weeks. Notable, perhaps, has been the bid to ban prayers before the meetings of Bideford Council, a ruling subsequently reversed by the Government, with Eric Pickles arguing that Britain is 'not strengthened by the secularisation of civil life'.

Even so, the ongoing challenge will be not just to contribute to the common good of civic life - to 'do God' in a generic sense - but to do so as Christians, with all that our witness to Christ might entail.

Writing in The Spectator last week, Matthew Parris, a self-confessed unbeliever, seems to recognise something of this in his comment that Jesus 'did not come to earth to offer the muzzy comforts of weekly ritual, church weddings and the rhythm of public holidays'.

Whilst acknowledging that the church is embedded in the social fabric of the country, Parris wonders whether this sufficiently captures what Jesus requires of his followers. So, he counsels: 'Beware (I would say to believers) the patronage of unbelievers. They want your religion as a social institution, filleted of true faith... To those who truly believe, the implicit message beneath "never mind if it's true, religion is good for people" is insulting. To those who really believe, it is because and only because what they believe is true, that it is good... If a faith is true it must have the most profound consequences for a man and for mankind.'

There lies the path of discipleship.

Thanks to Antony Billington LICC

Wisdom from above

The world is full of crisis decisions at present. The Eurozone has ratified a multi-billion Euro bailout for Greece who now faces years of austerity and no doubt, anti-government backlashes. Syria is still in turmoil as the government tries to suppress the rioting masses and Iran is believed to be on the brink of manufacturing nuclear weapons, cutting off oil supplies to France and Great Britain to show their dislike of European sanctions. Where is the wisdom in all of this?

In the Old Testament there is a body of literature known as the ‘Wisdom Literature’. This comprises Job, Proverbs and Ecclesiastes with extracts from Psalms and Habakkuk. The book of Proverbs is often attributed to King Solomon who, as you may know, had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Just imagine that - 1,000 mothers-in-law!

The book of Proverbs is full of pithy sayings, not dissimilar to those of other surrounding nations like Egypt and Mesopotamia. Some have suggested that the book of Proverbs may have been modelled on the earlier works of these nations, not least because there is no mention of the Mosaic Law which is at the heart of Old Testament thinking.

But what is wisdom and how can we distinguish it from its counterpart – foolishness? Several times in the Proverbs a contrast is drawn between wisdom and foolishness. Proverbs 3:35 says “The wise will inherit honour, But fools display dishonour.” The Hebrew word for Proverb is masal which can be variously translated as parable or riddle. As we know, Jesus often drew upon the wisdom tradition in that he used parables as his principle means of teaching the crowds – “All these things Jesus spoke to the crowds in parables, and He did not speak to them without a parable” (Matthew 13:34). This may seem strange coming from a gospel where Jesus addresses the crowds with the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) which is anything but parables. However, the root meaning of the Hebrew word masal is ‘to rule’ or ‘to have authority’. Jesus was recognised as someone who ‘had authority’ - “because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law” (Matthew 7:29).

To define what we mean by ‘wisdom’, I turn to the New Testament and to the letter of James which is sometimes referred to as a ‘wisdom book’. A verse I find very helpful is found in Chapter 3 verse 17:-


But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.

Just look at the attributes given to wisdom by James – purity, peacefulness, gentleness, mercy and so forth. The phrase I like is ‘open to reason’. It reminds me that we can argue with God, vent our anger and frustrations upon him, pull his decisions apart – but in the end we end up saying, “oh yes, I see what you mean - I get it now – you were right all along”. And through all this we can imagine God patiently listening to our ravings and saying in a gentle voice, “I know I was.”

If you take James 3 verse 17 and apply it to a person, what kind of person do you picture? Is it the brash, arrogant evangelist who proclaims their message, desperately trying to convince you to change your mind? Or is it the forceful leader who surrounds themself with ‘yes men’ and refuses to tolerate opposition? Or is it a gentle, humble and loving soul who has infinite patience – never mocking you for your slowness to understand? For me it’s the latter. Think for a moment, which of these people would you feel most comfortable confiding in and sharing your innermost doubts and fears with?

What James has so cleverly defined in this verse is not simply the nature of wisdom, but the nature of God himself. This is indeed the model we need to aspire to. The more Christ-like we become, the more our personality will reflect the words of this verse. If only the leaders of nations were steeped in these virtues. If only we, as we attend our many meetings and hold our many discussions in the church, would bathe in the words of James before breaking out into disputes and divisions.

But my final thought is this. James does not simply define wisdom. He refers to it as wisdom from above or divine wisdom. That reminds me that the source of true wisdom is not men and women but God. What better reason could the Bideford Town Council have for reinstating their prayer time before council meetings?

A prayer for wisdom:-

Lord, in all my dealings with people may I not only be able to discern your wisdom, but also to be a conduit of your wisdom. May …
my heart and mind be pure
my temperament be peaceful
my words be gentle
my mind be open to the thoughts of others
my life be merciful and bear good fruit
my judgements be unbiased
my thoughts be sincere
For the sake of your kingdom … Amen

thanks again to Roger Johnson