Yesterday I found myself on the panel
for the Dreams for Living youth forum
in the Lloyd George Room of the House of Commons in the British Parliament
together with a Roman Catholic Labour backbencher, the Conservative shadow
justice minister, the chairman of the Liberal Democrats, the leader of the Christian
Party, the Chairman of the evangelical agency Care, and a barrister
representing the Christian Legal Centre.The panel began with the subject of Church and State, the leader of the
Christian party having put forward the suggestion that Britain is a
Christian nation and that we must fight in humility and with peace to preserve
that heritage, commending the contemporary practice of Christian prayer at the
opening of parliamentary business. The chairman of the Liberal Democrats
strongly affirmed his own Christian faith but strongly argued for the complete
separation of church and state and regarded the official practice of Christian
prayer as out of place in such a context. It was clear from the questions and
responses of some of the young adults present that they easily confused the
concept of the separation of church and state with the separation of the sacred
and the secular. I suspect many people do the same not just in the political
arena but in other social contexts and so this month I propose to share some
thoughts about the topic in the hope of stimulating prayer, discussion and the
practice of the kingdom of God in the world.
1. CHURCH AND STATE:
Last month I
made the comment that while the state is in part a Christian construct it can never be the
primary means to the kingdom
of God because the
domination component central to it is antichristian and in the end opposes the
kingdom. (The full text can be found on the blog at www.daywatch.eu) Let’s be clear that when
the church is expressed through the same kind of centralised structures of
domination as the state it is not a kingdom structure either but simply a
religious structure of the world and equally opposed to the kingdom. It was
this kind of expression of church that was able to partner with empire and bring
the nation state to birth. This kind of church construct is actually the world
too! This does not mean however that we can simply turn our backs on these
misshapen and misaligned expressions whether of church or state, rather we must
stand in the gap and intercede for them, seeking in every way we can to express
the church as the agent of the kingdom that it is meant to be in the world. And
because we love the world we will do all we can to disregard and deconstruct
the domination systems of church and state. When the scripture says “love not
the world, nor the things in the world” Walter Wink helpfully points out that
this can correctly be read as “love not the domination systems of the world.”
This has to be our attitude to both church and state.
2. SACRED AND SECULAR:
On the other
hand there really is no such thing as sacred and secular. God created
everything good, and the presence of human beings made it very good. While it
is clear that the material proceeded from the spiritual there was no separation
between the two, in fact everything is made spiritual thereby. Naming the
animals is talking with God. The fall was where we doubted God’s love and
friendship and set up our selfish personal and corporate systems of domination.
This has equally touched our relationship with God, with our fellow humans and
the created environment. The good news of the kingdom of God
is about a restored relationship with God as father but it is also about
reconfiguring our relationship with our fellow humans (the polis, or people, from which we get police and politics) and the
creation. So the church of the kingdom is in world that is structured by the
state, but it resists and reforms its attempts to dominate people and it seeks
the elevation of the poor and the conservation and healing of the environment
in expectation of a new heaven and a new earth that provides a home for justice
joy and peace.
3. PRACTICING THE KINGDOM OF GOD:
On the cross
Jesus drew all things to himself, descended into hell and left sin and death
there, coming back with the first fruits of the new heaven and the new earth in
his resurrection body. As we accept his actions on our behalf by faith and
allow his love to overwhelm us, we too receive his new creation. Now our lives
in the world draw sin and death to us and we can swallow them up through him and
deposit them into hell and give out the first fruits of the new creation in
return. This is what sanctification is all about, not personal “holier than
thou” holiness but holiness for others! This is especially true of our
encounters with the domination systems of this world, at whatever point our
lives intersect them. As we come into contact with them and their lust for
power, status and money like Jesus did in the temptations, we overcome the
powers of this world through him.
Please respond
to these thoughts. I have deliberately not tracked them all to the relevant
biblical passages, but hopefully it is obvious. Where you would like to
challenge, question or refer back to Christ in the scriptures or your or
others’ experiences please do.
