In a 12 months when the Archbishop of Canterbury was compelled to step down, and with attendance within the Church of England persevering with to say no and different scandals, I listened with curiosity to the titular head of that church, King Charles, as he delivered his Christmas message. Would he discuss the true challenges going through the church and society? Would he provide some meaty message, reasonably than the saccharine sap we're so used to listening to? Would his message spark thought or present hope to these in dire want?
Sadly, the message was largely the identical moralistic, do-it-yourself, polytheistic faith – with rightful honors being paid to servicemen and girls, volunteers and medical doctors and nurses. As the pinnacle of the Church of England, you may need anticipated the King to supply slightly extra particularly Christian commentary, however this was primary humanist doctrine, tinged with a splash of religiosity that I believe will fulfill nobody who really listened to what was mentioned.
To be truthful, King Charles is nothing if not constant. His Christmas message this 12 months was much like the one I commented on two years in the past and his Thought for the Day delivered at Christmas 2016.
Nevertheless, there have been some variations. It was solely the third time in 100 years that this dialog was not recorded within the royal residence. The truth that it passed off in a former hospital chapel was notably poignant given the King's personal struggles with most cancers and people of his daughter-in-law, the Princess of Wales.
He was actually proper when he mirrored on the eightieth anniversary of D-Day – however I'm at all times slightly uncomfortable with the simplistic view of the struggle that’s so usually held on these events. I'm positive there are various troopers, sailors and airmen who “went so bravely” and who function “examples of service and selflessness.” However not all. Servicemen and girls had no selection. They have been drafted. To recommend that these women and men have been volunteers who sacrificed themselves for our larger good isn’t fairly the reality. Many would really feel as in the event that they have been a sufferer.
One other situation with the speech was how out of contact it was in some areas. Final however not least, when he acknowledged that “Throughout earlier recollections, we may console ourselves with the thought that these tragic occasions not often occur in fashionable occasions.
“However this Christmas, we can not assist however consider these for whom the devastating results of battle – within the Center East, Central Europe, Africa and elsewhere – pose a each day risk to the lives and livelihoods of so many.”
The issue is that in earlier celebrations there have been wars and violence in lots of elements of the world. It’s true that till the struggle between Russia and Ukraine there was no World Conflict 3 or any main struggle in Europe involving the good powers – however conflicts have been and are part of human existence.
However how are we to beat this battle? The king out of the blue introduced the gospel—however it was a really completely different gospel than Jesus taught. Take, for instance, this assertion: “We additionally consider the humanitarian organizations that work tirelessly to carry important aid. For the Gospels communicate so vividly of battle and train the values with which we are able to overcome it.”
However that isn’t what the gospels do—although that could be a part of their fruit. They don't give us a moralistic story telling us that we are able to defeat violence by being good to one another and giving “peace an opportunity.” The excellent news is about how Jesus got here to earth to avoid wasting his folks from their sins. He was born to die – not born to set us an instance for twenty first century “values”.
King's misunderstanding of the gospel continued: “The instance that Jesus gave us is timeless and common. It’s to enter the world of those that are struggling, to vary their lives and produce hope the place there may be despair.”
There may be, in fact, a component of fact to this – as in most errors. After all we must always need to assist the struggling and produce hope the place there may be despair. However what hope can we provide? It have to be the hope of the gospel. The hope of Christ himself. Christ got here to offer us everlasting life, to cope with our sins, to not be just a few sort of divine Hallmark card for mankind.
The Jesus the king spoke of can also be the one who mentioned he’s “the best way, the reality, and the life” (John 14:6). King Charles thinks he was unsuitable – and would a lot reasonably have mentioned “I’m the best way, the reality and the life” amongst many others.
“That is the guts of the Nativity story, and we are able to hear it beating within the religion of all nice faiths in God's love and mercy in occasions of pleasure and struggling, calling us to carry mild the place there may be darkness,” he mentioned.
However once more Jesus mentioned he’s and mild. The truth is that the “religions of mankind” are a part of the good darkness that engulfs the world – and brings a lot battle into it. Idolatry and false faith are to be fled from, not embraced by Christians—and they don’t seem to be to demean Christ by inserting Him on the mantelpiece with lots of our different gods. “There may be salvation in nobody else, for there isn’t any different identify beneath heaven given amongst males by which we have to be saved” (Acts 4:12).
As a substitute of the gospel of Christ, King supplied the truisms of these whose perception is that every one faiths are essentially the identical. However he additionally added a political edge: “Variety of tradition, ethnicity and religion supplies energy, not weak spot.” This isn’t a self-evident fact. In truth, there may be appreciable proof that whereas range is an efficient factor, an excessive amount of of an excellent factor might be dangerous. The latest issues in Europe and the UK aren’t on account of a scarcity of range, however to a scarcity of cohesive tradition throughout society. Our cultural elites have given up on the roots of Christianity and need to hold its fruits – and this seems to be as fanciful and implausible as their theology.
The political commentary continued because the King issued a reasonably political assertion with a reasonably simplistic evaluation of the issues that had arisen within the UK following the homicide of the Stockport ladies.
“I felt a deep sense of satisfaction right here within the UK when, in response to anger and lawlessness in a number of cities this summer season, communities got here collectively to not repeat this behaviour, however to appropriate it. To restore not solely buildings, but in addition relationships. And most significantly, restore belief by listening and, by means of understanding, determine learn how to act for the nice of all.”
Once more, it's a neat soundbite, however like most soundbites, it's superficial, lacks perception, and presents simplistic options that demonize some and sanctify others.
Earlier than the king completed, he once more supplied his considerably naïve view of all of the world's faiths and philosophies: “Once more, listening is a recurring theme within the Nativity story. Mary, the mom of Jesus, listened to an angel who revealed to her a unique future stuffed with hope for all folks The Angels' Message to the Shepherds – that there needs to be peace on earth—resounds, the truth is, with all faiths and philosophies.
If solely the king would hearken to what Jesus taught, he would discover that peace on earth comes solely by means of Christ, not by means of many conflicting beliefs and philosophies.
I used to be notably disillusioned by this speech because it got here only some weeks after the King visited the church I used to belong to – St Thomas's Anglican in Sydney – and heard a sermon from the wonderful evangelical Archbishop of Sydney, Kanishka Raffel.
I hoped he would pay attention and be challenged by what he heard. However to be trustworthy, I can hardly blame him for listening to what he needed to listen to. Too usually we preach in codes and memes, apologizing for the church and utilizing generalizations and buzzwords identified within the tradition, making an attempt to not offend (particularly the wealthy, highly effective and influential) – however which find yourself lacking any chunk.
And therein lies the principle drawback with the King's Gospel. It’s a gospel for our time – which is not any gospel in any respect. In the long run, it omits the true Christ and leaves us with a group of wishful pondering and clichés – which is able to save nobody.
We nonetheless pray that King Charles will know and love and The king his mom so clearly beloved and served. We’d like the excellent news, not the wishful pondering of a fantastic ideology that finally helps nobody.
David Robertson is minister of the Scottish Kirk Presbyterian Church in Newcastle, New South Wales. She blogs at The Wee Flea.
