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Richard Littledale

Richard Littledale's
Views on the News: June 2009

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Honourable?

A few years ago I spent a day as a guest of Peckham Police Station. The purpose of the visit was to spend time with a church member, to understand his job, and to experience something of his world. When he entrusted me for the afternoon to two of his young police constables to accompany them on their beat, he informed them that I was a minister. It soon became apparent that they thought I was a government minister rather than a church one. At the time I was rather flattered, but the chances are that now I would be insulted. The scandals surrounding MP's expenses have introduced a whole new level of scepticism from the public, and many are questioning the continuation of the title 'honourable' for Members of Parliament.hand mirror - click to change background colour
hand mirror - click to change background colour Despite the understandable howls of outrage from constituency supporters, there has also been a strong element of schadenfreude to this whole affair. Like many German words, schadenfreude is made up two words/concepts coupled together. Literally it means 'shame:rejoice' and describes the emotion where we enjoy the spectacle of another's shame. The national newspaper which has fed us this story one juicy morsel at a time has played on our basest emotions and encouraged us to join in the cat calls ... and buy the paper. In so doing they have distracted us from other weighty matters, and have doubtless ensured that we are looking the other way when the journalists fill out their expense claims!
Clearly as Christians we expect the highest moral integrity from our leaders, both political and spiritual. We should be shocked at those who have abused the expenses system, and should honour those who have chosen not to. However, the same Bible which encourages us to embrace those values also urges us to pray earnestly for our civic leaders. Watching the recent scandals, I wonder whether we have kept our end of the bargain? It is often said that churches get the preachers they deserve, but perhaps Christians who are lacking in prayer get the politicians they deserve too?hand mirror - click to change background colour
Jesus was not a great one for joining in with public condemnation of those who sinned. Perhaps he felt that private condemnation from God in the secret places of the soul was more than enough. Instead, he preferred to use episodes of public sin as cause for reflection on private spirituality. Perhaps we should do the same.
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