The events of the past couple of weeks outside of St Pauls has been described as a ‘car crash’ in PR terms for St Pauls, as usual the church is woefully ill prepared to engage with the people where they are; combined with revelations that the Financial Markets who the Occupy London protestors are protesting against, are involved on the Board Of Trustees, it has become a nightmare of Biblical proportions – I am sure the rank and file Clergy could scream when they hear the term ‘money lenders, Tables and Jesus‘ mentioned in the same sentence as St Pauls.
Jesus, the reason the Church is here, was never one to shirk controversy, he
talked to the wrong people, he committed blasphemy – in the eyes of the
Pharisees on at least two occasions (working on a Sabbath to grind corn, and declaring he was God), he upset the political elite and when faced with the Law of the Land he deftly drew the line between the political, the local andthe spiritual.
The Church has one MAJOR flaw, it doesn’t want to side with anyone, it doesn’t want to offend anyone – Jesus shows it’s impossible, just do what is right.
Let me make my view clear, I do equate the rank and file with St Pauls, tonme there are entirely different entities, though they belong to the same order, St Pauls is a business with a church attached, the rank and file are a church!
I cannot help but wonder if we should be using a different analogy, the days between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection? During the days between
death and life there was confusion, fear, hopes smashing on the ground, yet all this changed. Perhaps after the despond there comes hope and direction after this fiasco.
Listening and looking I can see people, ordinary Christians, saying what
should be done – well normally what should not be done, like forcibly evicting the protestors – and a moral re-awakening of the Church to its true calling; perhaps Occupy London have awoken the charity in the people, if people are suffering the Christian question is ‘what do we do’?
I like the fact the debate has moved, however transitory, from the economics
to the spiritual and to the focus being the Church – in a sense the Church now has the spotlight, it is time for it to use that spotlight.
I hope I see the grass roots, the people of the church, beginning to stir