We have left the EU and I think I have got my head round it.

Last Friday I was one of those who was disappointed to wake up to find that the UK marriage to the EU had been annulled. The 'conscious uncoupling' may turn out to be acrimonious or amicable, lets strive for the latter, but we now to talk about the who gets what, what's best for the kids and who will pay.  

I have been thinking about those who voted Leave and have seen the hurt that they have felt because they have been labelled as racists, which most are clearly not.  The problem is that the single issue of membership of the EU has divided the country as no other - party politics, class, nations of the UK, regions etc.  Essentially, this seemingly simple question, with a seemingly simply vote, has produced an answer so complex that it can't be considered an answer at all.  Especially with the amount of back-tracking that is going on (Immigration is not going to be drastically reduced, we are not going to spend an extra £450m per week on the NHS, and we won't get a free market unless we have freedom of movement). Part of the frustration of those who voted Remain is that while we know that Leave was against the EU, we don't know what was standing for.

It occurred to me that the Leave vote was as much a vote about the state of our country as it was about our relationship with the EU. What united the disparate groups around the Leave vote was the sense that this country is being shaped and run those who by structures which have become self-serving and which are failing the ordinary people of our country: our NHS, our schools, our public services, the ability to afford to buy our own houses, providing support for the most vulnerable, etc. It seems that the difficult choices that face the country are always being paid for by those who can least afford it.   But it occurs to me that these same reservations are shared by the Remain camp.  Many of us are tired those same failures - an elite are making decisions which to benefit the elite and not the majority.  We have a new future to forge and I am frankly worried by the people who are currently shaping it. The architects of austerity, zero hour contracts, elitism and privilege are the same names who are now looking to shape our future outside the EU.  

What I was most upset about was the fact that this vote is irreversible.  There should be no 2nd referendum and there will be no repeat vote in 5 years time, if you regret voting Leave it is now too late. But what this does is to create a situation where our future can be dramatically different from the past. It has to be. Whatever your vote it can't be 'more of the same' but the possibility of our country returned to us, not just from the influence of EU but from those principalities and powers in our own country who direct power for their own purposes.

For me, I can see how Leave and Remain can be united in the future and it is by ensuring that we rebuild along the strengths of opportunity, innovation, fairness and compassion. I don't want a country designed by and for the likes of Boris, IDS, Gove and Farage. I want a country that is designed for us all.  

A jigsaw is made up pieces which are completely different but fit together perfectly. Lets make it happen.

And what exactly are we standing up for?

I try very hard not to be judgmental but there are times when I begin to read something I know exactly where it's going and I know I'm going to disagree with it.  


A case in point is the 'Thought for the Week' bit in our local paper, written by local Christian clergy.  This week was another attempt at "We must hold on to our Christian country..." .  The article quoted the martyrdom of one George Marsh who was burned at the stake in 1555 for "the faith  he believed in".  The article affirmed the view that we are in danger of losing what George Marsh stood for. This is a Christian country after all!


Except ...I began to wonder who killed poor George. It turns out that it was the Catholics. He was a protestant reformer.  So the conclusion is that one type of Christian burned another type of Christian to death because he was the wrong type of Christian.  


And from this we are asked to yearn for our Christian roots?


Can someone run that by me one more time?

Christopher Hitchens has died and Christendom should mourn.

The dictionary defines a polemicist as 'someone engaged in argument or controversy'. Christopher Hitchens was a polemicist, fiercely putting over his beliefs and opinions, writing blistering critiques of policies and attitudes with which he could not agree.  As a journalist and writer, he didn't create much but made his name with a ferocious intellect, command of language and pithy wit.  


An outspoken atheist, he attacked religion, the church and the very notion of God with characteristic zeal and fury, and became the doyen of New Atheists.  Unlike Richard Dawkins, whose anti-God stance came from a scientific background, Hitchens detested the notion of the morality that religions espoused. He once lambasted Christians being good in order to keep God happy as living in "a celestial North Korea."  Mother Theresa was an usual target of his pen and he famously beat Tony Blair on a debate on the value of faith.  His anti-religious writing certainly gave agnostics arguments of the complete rejection of faith so why should Christendom mourn him?


Because Christendom needs to be brought to account. It needs voices from stage left which cannot be brought to heel and silenced through a ecclesiastical machine, who shake us to the foundations of what we believe so that we can ensure that we still have foundations on which we can stand.  The church should not fear this discomfort. A few centuries ago people like Hitchens would have suffered and died for these views, so I have little sympathy for those who feel that the New Atheists are aggressive.  Words can sometimes hurt us but not as much as being burned alive at the stake.


 We always like to think that the Holy Spirit would be enough to keep us on the narrow track. But in truth we occasionally need some threatening sounds from modern day Assyrians to get us back to focussing on God and clearing our thinking.  I never enjoyed what he had to say but I'm glad that he has helped me on my journey of faith.

Bohemian Robsody

"Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love." John 13 v1

Words and Music Bob Dylan, sung by Adele, against a backdrop of the Miracle Maker.

Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus.

There is a beautiful, haunting and dark film called Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus which I saw some years ago.  It's a documentary featuring a country singer called Jim White as he drives around Texas looking for evidence of Jesus in this most Christian of US states. In his boot is a statue of Jesus.  It is a bizarre but wonderful series of scenes, characters and songs.  While it leaves you with a sense that  "the Jesus that I know is no-where here" you also get a sense that Jesus is somehow in all of it.  You start off looking for the archetypal  blue-eyed Jesus but you find Him in the cross-eyed, toothless addicts instead.

I thought about this film again today as I came across a whole host of stuff: the church which will be burning the Koran, responses to Dawkins and Hawkins, some blogs which are critical of the Salvation Army in the US, etc, etc.  I felt the same kind of confusion - expecting to see the Jesus that I know writ large in the various questions and responses but instead struggling to see him anywhere.

How is it that centuries of Christian thinking has taken us so far away from the basic teachings of the person who its all about? Take the Koran burning episode.  Of course the guy is wrong - burning the Koran sends completely the wrong message to the world about faith in Christ!  But why do we not think the same thing about invading other countries, the plight of the Palestinian people, the floods in Pakistan, etc.  Why is it at Pakistan cricketers push the dying and displaced from the headlines.  Why is Pacifism not a hot topic in Christian circles? Why does the simple message of Jesus, to look after each other, get so ignored in the pursuit of deep, doctrinal dogma?

Is it them or am I searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus?

Ironically, when Jim White takes the statue of Jesus out of the boot of the car and the camera zooms in, Jesus has his eyes shut. I know how he feels.

You can view trailers for the film at http://www.searchingforthewrongeyedjesus.com/

Hiram, King of Tyre, is dead.

He was known as 'Paddy' because he had a thick Irish accent and, for many people, there was an assumption that this was his actual name. But it was a label placed on a homeless man who would drink, berate passers-by, intimidate, sing and commit worse acts in public.But there was sympathy for him too. People would offer him cigarettes, drinks and blankets. We were able to give him a regular meal, a tent and sleeping bags, and we saw him on a regular occasions at the hall including at Sunday worship.

It was during one of our conversations that he told me that his real name wasn't Paddy but that he had the name of a biblical King. After going through the obvious ones of David, Saul, Solomon (he did look like a Solomon) I began to fear that it might be Jehoahaz or similar. It turned out to be that of a gentile king - Hiram, King of Tyre. It was King Hiram who supplied the materials and skilled workers to build Solomon's temple and there was a gentle irony in that our Hiram came to England from Ireland to "dig holes in the road", not quite the construction of a temple but part of the building industry. Everytime I saw him I would say "Hail Hiram - King of Tyre". There were days when he would look at me glumly and days he would laugh his big, toothless laugh. His full name was Hiram Herbert Lendrum. Let's acknowledge his humanity.

Hiram was a big man. Tall, broad, loud with a vice-like handshake. When we would meet he would pull me towards him as a show of strength. He rarely talked about himself, certainly about his past, and we are struggling to contact next of kin. But he has had a profound effect on me. He appreciated much of what we did for him and, despite his demeanour, never gave us an ounce of trouble. He treated us as friends "Captain Ian, Lady Woman, Lady Cooking Woman and Aaaaashhhh" were greeted with respect and courtesy. He was one of very few people in my life who told me "Ian - you are a Good Man. You are my friend." We once talked about faith and he told me that he had been raised a protestant and that he still had a tiny bit of faith left. I told him that was all he needed and he looked at me and said "Yes - you can move mountains with a tiny bit of faith." And then he added "You and me. We are just the same". He was right and we both knew that.

He was as tough as old boots but the years of neglect caught up with him last week and he died quietly in York hospital. We will miss him for reasons which I can't fully understand. God calls us to serve and take care of the poor and we do so because we need to see what they can teach us. I think we learn more about ourselves than we do about them. The motivation of Love is always better than that if blind obedience.

I will leave Hiram to the grayscales of God's grace and not the Black and White of human judgment, glad that he wanted to call me 'friend'. God bless you Hiram, King of Tyre.