This is the first time that the great festival of Easter is being separated
from the early spring holiday in some parts of the country. For some it is
of no consequence. There is plenty of opportunity for those who wish to
celebrate the Christian festival and why should everyone else be
inconvenienced by the awkwardness of the date of Easter?
For others, however, it is a sign of the further distancing of the Christian
faith from the day-to-day life of this nation. For them, this is not just a
time for bringing out half-forgotten customs to welcome the arrival of
spring with the new life and hope which this brings. It is rather a way of
reminding ourselves as a nation that the Christian faith lies at the root of
our identity.
There are many aspects to this identity which has been formed by language,
customs — and even the weather. But no one can deny that without
Christianity, its reform and renewal, there would have been no nation,
institutions, laws or values worth the name. It is true that the churches
have not always been good stewards of the trust given to them and, from time
to time, have shamefully betrayed it. But this should not blind us to the
overarching and underlying importance of Christianity for this culture.
For example, much of what we believe about the sacredness of the person
derives from the biblical view that each one has been created in God's image
and has an inherent dignity which cannot be taken away from them. It
attaches to them, however, from the beginnings of life to its very end. Even
if, for example, we do not know exactly when personality emerges for the
early foetus, the precautionary principle compels us to treat each stage of
human development with the greatest of respect.
That is why the proposals to manipulate the embryo, even at the earliest
stages, must be viewed with caution and be subject to strict regulation.
Similarly, while we should not officiously seek to keep dying people alive,
it cannot be permissible to take a human life intentionally. The hospice
movement, with its Christian roots, has shown us how to help people to die
with dignity. We should not hasten death even when we know it to be near.
Despite appearances, we believe people to be equal. Once again, this is
grounded in the Christian view that, in Christ, all human distinctions of
race, gender or wealth do not matter. It is this insight which should be the
basis for hospitality towards those who come to these shores from elsewhere:
made in God's image, they deserve our love because we know that God loves
them. Such an insight is very far from the "thin" values of tolerance and
multiculturalism that can simply mean benign neglect. Here there must be
integration into the mainstream of life as well as respect for people and
cultures.
One of the great disparities of our age is that between the rich and the poor.
Throughout the Bible there is great concern that the poor should receive not
just charity but justice. There are also warnings that "the love of money is
the root of all evil" and, with typical Middle Eastern exaggeration, that
"it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich
man to enter the kingdom of God". This is a way of saying that the rules of
this kingdom are quite different from those of the present order and you
cannot just make it fit into our structures. Rather, it measures and judges
all that we do and are.
Is there any good news for the rich? The answer is: yes. What is required is a
change of heart, of disposition, of attitude. From possessiveness we need to
move to gratitude for what we have, from "cutting corners" to make a quick
buck to that integrity for which business in this country was celebrated,
and from mere accumulation of wealth to a generosity of spirit. When that
happens, hedge fund managers and directors of companies can, indeed, go into
the kingdom of heaven ahead of the chief priests and elders.
Naturally, such a change of heart has consequences: it requires stewardship of
the talents we have been given and also of our possessions. The creation of
wealth is certainly part of our stewardship but so is the use of it. There
were a number of wealthy people around Jesus. Zacchaeus, some of the women
who worked with him and Joseph of Arimathea come to mind. What was required
of them is also required of us and that is to share our wealth generously.
The Gates Foundation and its fight against diseases that kill the poor and
Warren Buffett, who is determined to be part of such responsible generosity,
are examples from the world today. In this country, companies such as
Laing's have shown the way in corporate responsibility.
In addition to generosity, we need to struggle for justice so that those who
work for us and provide for our needs are adequately rewarded. Even in a
market of amoral forces, we should never forget that we are moral agents and
responsible for our actions. The turmoil in the markets is almost certainly
the result of such forces. Those with power need to ensure that the poor are
not disproportionately affected. In global terms all of us in the West are
rich and each one of us has a duty to combine compassion with justice. It is
important that some of our time, skills and money goes into helping those
most in need in our communities and beyond. Such values of the kingdom of
God will shape a society that recognises the equal worth of each and which
opens the way to the kingdom for all.
Our fundamental commitment to freedom is also from Christian teaching about
the importance of conscience and our responsibility before God. It comes
from a basic insight of reformation times that even the ploughboy must be
able to read and to understand the Bible. Freedom is a natural right that is
restricted only by our obligation to one another so that an ordered and free
society can be possible. It goes without saying that people should be free
to believe, to express their beliefs and to change them in every part of
this land. Respect for people, their culture and their religion is certainly
a necessary value but it cannot be at the expense of fundamental freedoms of
movement, thought and expression, derived from Christianity and so
forcefully reasserted during the enlightenment.
There can be no doubt that a Christian basis for society has steadily eroded
in the past 50 years or so and, with that, Christian discourse has also been
less heard in public life. There is no question of coercion and even less of
"theocracy" but there should be some acknowledgement of where we have come
from. Christianity should not only be able to contribute to public debate
but make it possible for others to do so. There is no neutral vantage point
and secularism has its own assumptions which need to be examined. Any
contribution to public debate, by Christians or anyone else, should be on
its own merits and should aim to persuade on the basis of good argument
rather than of privilege.
We must make sure that there is no further erosion of fundamental human
dignity and equality. We should also be concerned for the flourishing of
vital social institutions, whether that is democracy, the Queen in
parliament under God, the rule of law or the family.
Easter is, above all, a time of hope: what has gone wrong can be redeemed,
what has been hurt can be healed. We have a God-given responsibility for the
health of all creation, its healing and its renewal. The churches should be
at the forefront of the battle for a wholesome environment. However, we know
also that the risen Christ reveals not only our personal destiny, not only
the purpose for which humanity has been created but that renewal of creation
which is God's will for his world. We work then for conservation but we also
look for transformation — for a new heaven and a new earth.
Let us celebrate this great festival of new life, freedom and hope with
confidence for the future.
