The Good Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ

April Magazine Editorial

Groucho Marx famously remarked that he wouldn’t belong to any club that would have him! I wonder, if many people today think the same thing about being part of life of the Church? The world-wide Church at its heart is not an institution but a living vibrant body; a band of people from every walk of life trying to follow Jesus. Can we look at membership of the Church afresh and present it in a more positive light?

Of course, it’s all to easy to imagine that the historic Church is an invention of man and nothing near what Jesus would want. Philip Pullman in his controversial new book, The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ, resells this old chestnut. In the author’s view Saint Paul is the ultimate spin doctor who has recreated Christianity and made it into something it was not meant to be. The same kind of slant on the Church is painted by Dan Brown in The DaVinci Code but with Emperor Constantine as the one who invents Christianity rather than Paul. Neither Pullman or Brown are practising Christians or theologians, rather they are in the business of telling stories and selling books.

The alternate view to these contentious authors is to see the Church as Christ’s body. This does not mean that Church people have not got things wrong in the past or have done terrible things in the name of religion. But, it does mean that at the centre of Jesus’ work, here and now, is this spiritual family. So, even if clergy and laity make a hash of it, the Lord somehow will make good of bad. We, fallible human beings, are the only material that He has. Maybe the Church has many centuries to go before it reaches its perfection? Could it be that we are in the infancy of the Church?

Sometimes being part of a church can be testing but it can also be tremendously rewarding, welcoming and spiritually, intellectually and emotionally nourishing. There can be politics and squabbles in our churches which can drive us to distraction. But, just as ‘no man is an island’, surely no Christian can be truly fed without some participation in the life of Christ’s Body? Maybe this Easter we all need to give the Church a second look, and think afresh about how we can be part of it?

The Wedding of the Year!

Tim Hore and Liz Sheldon are getting married today and we are all praying for better weather than yesterday. They bought last year Victoria Inn and have happily settled in the town, running a very successful business. Liz was baptised in our church last year and has been an inspirational member of the congregation. Tim has been a great support to her, and we all wish them the very best in their married life together.

St Jude - saint of hopeless causes

There is a cruel side to each of us which labels people as hopeless cases or causes. The rather 'fun' practise of asking for the help of St Jude (patron of hopeless causes) has a more serious point. The Gospel ethos is that nothing or nobody is beyond hope. Yet how often do we label people as useless or stupid, let alone use terms like 'chav'.

I was really struck on BBC's Question Time last week the BNP leader Nick Griffin made his infamous appearance on the panel. I was struck at how he fused two issues, immigration and the plight of the 'white' working class for his propaganda. (He even tried to fly the flag for Christians which was a bit rich!) I really think that it is crucial that these two issues should be kept as separate.

But there does appear since the mid-1980s to have been a collapse in confidence in the white working class and a loss of aspirating. Maybe it started with the failed Miners Strike of 1984 and the later the emergence of a more middle class Labour Party? Could it be that with an emphasis on university education, apprenticeships and traditional blue collar jobs are seen as second class. In all of this I am not advocating a class system but rather commenting on the lack of hope and aspiration in a section of society. Is it no wonder that people like Nick Griffin feed off this.

Although the churches have made some valiant attempts over the years, much of Christianity remains outside the British working class culture. I suspect that from within this culture the church is seen as just too respectable. In addition, the lack of working class 'hope' is being fed by a drip drip intellectual climate of athiesm and secularisation which at present offers very little to this class culture. I do feel that long-term the churches need to invest much more and fundamentally shift from being a middle class experience to being a working class community. More ASDA less Sainsbury's.