Rarely does the Supreme Governor of the Church of England stray into deeply theological territory. I suppose that in the week after one of her junior bishops called her son Big Ears it is unsurprising that she is looking a little beyond her Church for virtue!
The Queen addressed her Church's General Synod thus,
"It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue and that the wellbeing and prosperity of the nation depend on the contribution of individuals and groups of all faiths and none."
Wow. I wonder if she realised what she said?
This is profoundly true and far too little understood. There is no difference in the duties and opportunities of virtue for the Atheist, the Agnostic, the Believer, the Nominalist, the Buddhist, the Muslim or the whatever. This is explained by the apostle Paul:
For we must all of us appear before Christ's judgement-seat in our true characters, in order that each may then receive an award for his actions in this life, in accordance with what he has done, whether it be good or whether it be worthless. [Weymouth's translation]
Virtue will indeed be expected all round. Nelson Mandela, Stephen Hawking, Queen Elizabeth, Kim Jong-il, Barack Obama, Richard Dawkins, Pope Benedict and every one of the rest of us. Does faith help virtue? I think this is possible. Indeed, our Lord said that his followers would be light and salt in a dark and rotten world.
But at the heart of the Christian message is no virtue. Just the opposite in fact. A cross. Condemnation, not complements. Death not life. Savagery not elegance. Blood not beauty. Bad not good. Shame, not virtue.
What the Synodic observation lacks are two further observations:
1. That people of faith and people without faith - all of whom have the same possibility and responsibility for virtue - ALL FALL SHORT.
2. There is forgiveness through a crucified Saviour who calls us to him.
To put it another way - the call to virtue is universal, the remedy for our failing it is unique. Thank you Jesus!
No comments:
Post a Comment