Revolting students, and not being cynical

Yes... revolting students. The rather rich son of a Pink Floyd guitarist – a band whose most successful song contained the line 'we don't need no education' – is seen swinging on the Union Flag on the Cenotaph; he then apologises saying that he didn't realise what it was. That particular student is currently studying history at Cambridge University... (I wonder if they learn about irony?)

OK, a cheap score and I shouldn't laugh too mcuh. Clearly there is a great deal of disillusionment with our political process at the moment, and I would like to argue that there is a spiritual problem here. As a society we are cynical about our politicians. The common view holds politicians in contempt, seeing them as seedy chancers, one small step above an Arthur Daley or DelBoy, out for what they can get, concerned only with hanging on to their own powers and privileges and parliamentary expenses, while our hospitals, schools and transport system go to ruin. When, for example, a Nick Clegg makes a coalition agreement, which necessarily involves compromise, that action is interpreted as a betrayal. It is as if our society has lost the capacity to understand politics in a grown up way – and hence we see the sorts of things that happened in London last week.

Now, don’t get me wrong – I am not intending today to give a party political broadcast, nor really am I wanting to talk about politicians very much. My target is actually the state of mind that can react to our political community in such a way. For there is something deeply depressing about this broad attitude, this cynical contempt. It is a symptom of a spiritual sickness – a profound loss of faith in our world, a sign that our capacity for joy has been damaged.

For what is actually going on with this response of cynicism? Well, there are various elements, but the key one for me is that it is a response of the powerless. Those in a position of power have become remote and inaccessible, nothing that we do seems to make a difference to them, and in this position of powerlessness all that we have left is the scorn that can be poured out on their heads. We can’t see any way in which we can affect what they do, so we indulge in a culture of complaint – it’s our way of getting back at them. And it happens in all walks of life. But let us be in no doubt that when we do this we are actually helping to maintain the status quo. When we say that all politicians are useless it undermines the capacity of any one politician to actually change things.

This is something which Jesus understood. In our reading from Isaiah today we are presented with a vision of tremendous joy. The lame shall leap like a deer and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy, they shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. This is a cheerful message, a vision that inspired the early Christian community and energised their activity. There was something here that could be hoped for and worked towards, and they took its message to heart: Be strong! Fear Not! Your God will come and save you! What this did – what all the prophets did, from Moses with Pharoah, through Isaiah and Jeremiah, all the way through to Jesus saying ‘Blessed are the poor in Spirit’ – what this does is to say that “It doesn’t have to be like this”. It allows us to dream that things can be different. It allows us to hope that things will improve. It allows us to cultivate our capacity for joy. It develops the imagination, the prophetic imagination, that is the real force for changing the world, the vehicle for the Spirit, the means for bringing the Kingdom into being. And if you don’t believe me, just think on these words for a moment: "I have seen the promised land".

Listen again to our reading from James. “You also must be patient. Strengthen your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is near. Beloved, do not grumble against one another, so that you may not be judged. See the Judge is standing at the doors! As an example of suffering and patience, beloved, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord”. We are called to work quietly, thoroughly, with patience and perseverance for the overcoming of the world. And we mustn’t grumble, we mustn’t complain, we must not take offence.

For we have received a promise in Jesus, we have received a hope, we have received the capacity for joy. This hope, this longing, is what Advent is about. For we look forward with eager longing to the coming of our Lord, when all shall be changed, when the lion shall dwell with the lamb, and when all the things that trouble us, or threaten us, fall away.

For Jesus has transformed the situation. He acted out the prophecy of Isaiah, and so could give this message, ‘Go and tell John what you hear and see: the blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the poor have good news brought to them. And blessed is anyone who takes no offence at me.’ For those who do not believe, Jesus is offensive, to the powers that be, to the cultured despisers, to the ones who mutter in cynical despair. But he is coming again, and sooner than we think. Let us, in the meantime, love one another, and not grumble, and fill our hearts with the joy that is coming into the world. Amen.