The one needed thing

Following a recent deluge in which some houses had been flooded, I heard the local politician saying on the radio that "they will do everything necessary to ensure this doesn't happen again". I'm sure he was well intentioned, but I'm also sure he had flood barriers and better warnings in mind, rather than addressing the root causes - changing planning regulations to preclude building housing on flood plains, or addressing the causes of climate change.

We go to great lengths to treat the symptoms, but won't address the root causes.

We will bankrupt the economy and enter recession, putting hundreds of thousands out of work, in order to save the big banks
... but we won't stop them gambling with other people's money.

We will tighten the benefits system and hamper the poor, increase tax on middle-income workers, and make public sector workers redundant
... but we won't tackle legal tax avoidance by the richest individuals or corporations

We will improve town-centre policing, train and employ more liver specialists, and introduce security measures at Accident & Emergency departments
... but we won't tighten alcohol licensing laws or ban it being sold below cost price.

In order to improve the nation's mental health, we will reorganise parts of the National Health Service, improve access to therapy and spend huge sums on researching new medications
... but we won't talk about the depersonalising impact of living a consumerist and materialistic lifestyle.

And in the personal sphere, we'll do anything to have peace. We learn meditation techniques, download the 50 most relaxing tunes, and reorganise our schedule in order to get a bit of 'me-time'
... but we won't put our lives into Jesus' hands.

We'll do anything to give life meaning. We work hard for years to gain promotion to earn more money to buy more things to seek fulfilment
... but we won't accept the Lord, the author of life.

How often we'll do anything ... everything ... except the one needed thing.

Is it difficult to know?

In these days when different religions jostle for space it's difficult to know quite where to turn or which to trust.

The atheists and humanists are more and more vociferous, and sometimes seem as militant as those at the other extreme. But they may have a point about God not existing; it's difficult to know.

The Christians keep disagreeing - protestants vs catholics, evangelicals vs liberals, Church of England vs Church of England. Who knows whether any group is right? But perhaps God does exist; it's difficult to know.

Then there are the Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, Buddhists, Hindus, Confucianists, and many others - each different, each with sincere believers. One God or many gods? A human God, a monkey god, or a god within? It's difficult to know.

Then there are those who are 'vaguely spiritual but not religious' - anything from reflecting in quiet spaces to believing in crystals and tree-hugging. Have they just taken bits and pieces from other religions or cultivated their own particular idea, and so ended up with a personalised 'pick and mix' blend - a religion specifically tailored to each one? It's difficult to know!

But which is true or do they all lead to the same end? That's the trouble: it's difficult to know…

Here are some questions that may help you to decide and come to know:

1. Is it of human or divine origin? We can admire and learn from human wisdom, but a religion requires something 'other' and greater. To worship (rather than admire) a human being is perverse.
2. Is it based in history or in myth? Myths can be beautiful, bring a sense of wisdom and have many levels of meaning; we can learn about ourselves, others and the world from myths. But that is not the same as worshipping a God quite beyond the human realm.
3. Is it based on following behavioural rules that need to be obeyed, or is there a living relationship with God? Following rules is a reassuringly familiar process, though can often lead to disillusionment. But then we have come down to a simple matter of human effort, rather than knowing God.
4. Are you looking at a culture or a religion? The two often overlap but are not the same. A religion involves giving one's life in the service of a higher power; a culture means behaving in ways that are familiar within a community.
5. What happens to those who decide to stop believing? Disagreement and disapproval from other believers is one thing, but if there is coercion, threats or force to continue 'believing', then you can be sure that this is not about belief but about social pressure or power.

Here are some things that may appear useful guides, but I doubt they really are:

1. What does science say? Scientific investigation can tell us many useful things, but in the realm of spiritual beliefs it has no way of knowing or making any useful comment.
2. Are the followers sincere? This is not a good way of deciding what is true, as the followers of all religions are sincere (in the main), otherwise they would stop believing! You cannot distinguish religions on the basis of their believers' sincerity.
3. Does the religion have a lot of believers? Although most of the great world religions have millions, even billions of followers, they differ in such fundamental ways that they are incompatible; they cannot all be right.

And that last point also tells us that they are definitely not all leading to the same end!

A nice feeling Christmas

At this time of year we all like the familiar, warm feeling of Christmas - carol singers with candles, mince pies and mulled wine, nine lessons and carols, a Christmas tree with baubles and tinsel and enticing presents beneath. Somehow it is cozy and safe, reminding us of childhood excitement, snowmen and sledges, followed by hot chocolate.

If only that were the message of Christianity at Christmas!

I'm all for the things above - a time to pause from the bustle of life and re-connect with family and give gifts. But actually I'm very glad that this is not the message of Christianity! For it is also somehow irrelevant to the rather harsher realities of most of life, which includes financial struggles, unemployment, rejections, broken relationships and anxiety. If Christianity has anything useful to offer, it must be relevant to real life.

Perhaps that is why the Christian celebration of Christmas is about God coming into the world as a baby, born in poverty in a muddy shed, welcomed by a few and ignored by the majority, and the family's flight as refugees into exile as the despot ruler massacred children in an attempt to kill the baby.*

Umm, not much tinsel there ... and yet the Love of God revealed.

I hope you have a loving, safe and peaceful Christmas.


* You can read about it yourself in the Bible, in Matthew Chapter 2

The wisdom of giving up

In my last post I talked about how difficult it is to know in the present when it is time to stop doing something - though we can all see with hindsight when we should have stopped. This post is on a similar, though slightly different theme: about giving up.

We don't like giving up. We are trained to persevere, to try harder, to keep working until we - hopefully - overcome. And, conversely, no-one wants to be seen as a 'quitter'!

But there are some times when it really is wise to give up!

When something cannot be accomplished, known or understood, to keep on trying leaves us immobilised, stuck, in limbo.

I think of people who cannot get over some terrible event because they cannot answer 'why?'; I think of people stuck following some significant injustice, but powerless to change the outcome; I think of people unable to move forward following a break-up or major rejection that they cannot reverse.

In these circumstances, giving up is the beginning of moving forward; it is the start of moving forward and living again.

Not everything can be known, not everything accomplished. When we have reached an impasse, despite our best efforts, there comes a time to give up, to let go. Here, the only - and best - human answer is "we don't know", or "I have tried but cannot do it".

But for Christians, this is also about knowing it is time to put the matter back into God's faithful hands - where it belongs - knowing that He does know, is just, and is loving.

Not knowing when to stop

We human beings seem to find it impossibly hard to know when to stop. We cannot identify the point in time when enough is enough - except with hindsight!

For example:

• the banks lending mortgages to those who couldn't afford to repay, and eventually going bust
• people seeking sexual gratification in more and more extreme ways, and wrecking their relationships and reputation along the way
• a 'rogue trader' betting on the stock market and jeopardising the very survival of their firm
• the gambler, drinker, smoker or drug addict not knowing when it's time to quit, until it's too late
• an elderly person not letting go of some independence to accept needed care, and ending up having decisions taken out of their hands when the inevitable crisis arises
• all of us continuing to emit greenhouse gases, and causing irreparable damage to the world's climate.

They are all forms of addiction - for money, excitement, control, independence - and they thrive on the fantasies:

• that we are wiser than we actually are
• that we will be able to spot some point in the future when it's time to stop
• that we can always change our minds later, if or when we need to
• or blind optimism that 'something will turn up' or that a solution is 'just around the corner'.

We are just not very good at knowing when enough is enough.

You may not be a rogue trader or a problem drinker, and so dismiss the gross examples above as not applying to you. But for the same reasons we all put off saying to God, "we've sinned, please have mercy on us!", thinking that we can always get right with Him at some (indeterminate) future time, 'before it's too late'.

Umm. Really?

The Bible says:
“All people are like grass,
and all their faithfulness is like the flowers of the field.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
because the breath of the Lord blows on them.
Surely the people are grass.
The grass withers and the flowers fall,
but the word of our God endures forever.”
(Isaiah 40 v6-8, NIV)

Making a difference

Most people have some desire to do something 'worthwhile' with their lives. The nature and scale of what is seen as worthwhile varies greatly, but some of the following motivations are likely to be included:

• to do some good
• to make a difference for others
• to give our children a better life than we have had
• to leave something behind, so that we will be remembered
• to make a mark on the world (even if just on one small corner)
• to make life worth living, and not just to live purely for ourselves.

This sounds noble and good, and it may well be so.

But it's worth stopping to consider whether the recipients of our 'good deeds' really want that done to them!

Maybe

• we can listen to what others are saying, before we rush in to help?
• we can deal with people as equals, rather than 'needy people who should be grateful for our help'?
• the worker in the developing-world would rather that we paid a fair price for their labour, than that we sent aid?
• we could believe that (even needy) people have wisdom and know their circumstances and needs better than we do?
• acknowledging our own weaknesses and failings enables others to help us, and so empowers them?
• the best ways of helping involve building relationships, not money and stuff?
• people who have few possessions have something to teach us?

Do we overlook the recipients in our desire to make a difference? And if so, what kind of difference are we making?

World poverty is only half the problem

Who do we think we are kidding? There is a deceit at the heart of third-world development.

When we see people starving on our TVs due to a drought in some part of the world, we may respond with compassion, send some immediate aid and perhaps consider longer-term strategies aimed at helping people to help themselves.

And when we see the economy of some developing country improving and making progress towards lifting their population out of poverty, we are thankful as we see living standards being raised. Along with any altruistic motives, our guilt is also assuaged and there is probably relief that a part of the world needs less of our money and aid.

But this is only half the development story, as it propagates the assumption that under-developed nations should aspire to Western standards of life. The other half of the needed change is carefully suppressed and rarely spoken.

We also need to address first-world over-consumption and greed. Unless the West reduces its consumption of raw materials all round, and until we live in a sustainable way – that is, not plundering the rest for the few in the West – then we are continuing to buy the lie that can we raise the standards of the poor, but not lower the living standards of us who are rich. We cannot round everyone up to the level of the West.

It cannot be done!

Moreover, keeping the focus on the developing nations is also a way of avoiding (or even acknowledging) our own need to change!

Real progress would be to greatly simplify our Western lifestyles whilst also addressing the abject poverty of the many.

Perhaps we can stop raging against the current economic downturn and 'austerity measures' in many Western nations, and see it as the beginning (just the beginning) of going in the right direction. This would also mean dropping the delusion that the current downwards direction of travel is temporary and soon we'll be back to 'business as usual' - which means more raping the planet and exploiting the poor.

Austerity sounds harsh, but it could offer a simpler life, with less clutter, more balance, less rush and more time - which sounds good to me! However, for this to be so, also means tackling the growing inequalities in our own Western countries. While we continue to tolerate great disparities of wealth within the West, we have no difficulty accepting such inequality between rich and poor nations. If we do not tackle our local wealth gap, austerity just means that the wealthy are protected while others, especially the young, are cast into unemployment. Moreover, the West will pay even less to our wage-slaves in developing countries, as we export our misery in order to protect ourselves. That doesn't sound good to me!

Andrew Carnegie, one of the richest men the world has ever known, said "The man who dies rich dies disgraced" and went on to give away most of his fortune through philanthropic enterprises. Jose Mujica, the current president of Uruguay, who has been described as 'the world's poorest president' (see: www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20243493) says, "Poor people are those who only work to try to keep an expensive lifestyle, and always want more and more".

Personally, I am for getting materially poorer in order to work towards greater equality and fair shares all round. Then we will all be richer!