Our two readings this evening are difficult readings for the modern mind to relate to.
First we have the account of the people of Israel, wandering around in the wilderness, guided by a cloud. When the cloud stays put, they stay put. When the cloud moves, they set out in pursuit. God was in the cloud, and at night, the cloud was visible as a fiery pillar of flame. God decides where and when they go. They follow, we might say, blindly – we might say, without thinking. They accept their fate.
As modern people, we don’t do that do we? We work out for ourselves which way to go. We analyse. We debate. We share our understanding and insight. We make a decision. We don’t need a cloud. This passage has no relevance for us.
And then the second passage, the message seems to be essentially: accept your lot in life. Be content with your station, your position in society.
But today we believe in social mobility. We believe in a meritocracy. This passage offends us. It seems to be saying that slaves should accept their slavery. But surely, they should aspire to liberation. This passage is more than irrelevant, it is offensive.
The unspoken assumptions of the society in which we live are that we are masters of our own destiny. We believe in scientific investigation. We believe we can ascertain the facts and weigh up our options. We are told that people with talent should and will rise to the top. Our government even has a social mobility tsar. Hollywood presents us with the American Dream over and over again, stories of people who dreamed dreams, acted on those dreams and ultimately triumphed, as their dreams came true because of their hard work, determination and talent.
Our assumption that it is we who are in control. We can be whoever we want to be. We have no need to follow a cloud. We will not accept the condition to which we are called if we choose not to do so.
The trouble is being in control doesn’t always work out for us, does it? Sometimes we have dreams that turn into nightmares. Sometimes we make a choice and find we have taken the wrong turning. Social mobility involves people moving downwardly as well as upwardly. Sometimes we set up businesses that go bankrupt. Scientific endeavour can lead to an environmental nightmare as well as beneficial discovery.
And when things go wrong when we think we have been in control it feels really bad. It feels like it is all our fault. We are to blame – after all - we were the ones in control.
Alternatively, if we assume we are in control but find that things are out of control, we may come to the conclusion that something of someone has wrested control from us. We need to take back control.
If you haven’t seen the Channel 4 film entitled BREXIT – An Uncivil War – I recommend it to you. It stars Benedict Cumberbatch who plays the part of Dominic Cummings the political communications guru who masterminded the Vote leave campaign.
He was the person who came up with the slogan ‘taking back control’ and the film shows how he arrived at that devastatingly effective slogan and explains how it appeals to us when we feel we don’t have control but have the illusion that they once did.
It’s not a slogan that would work in many places. In most parts of the world, most people know that they never had control and think they never will.
But it is a peculiarity of our national culture (and maybe one or two others) that we think we are in control and when events demonstrate that this is not the case we wonder how we came to lose it. We used to have control, right? Rule Britannia. Britons never shall be slaves. Two world wars and one world cup! When things spin out of control we wonder whether we can get back to the good old days when we were in full control.
Can we get back to those days? We are now getting the answer to that question. The answer is “no”. We see our prime Minister just popping across to the continent of Europe to get a few extra concessions, but she comes back empty-handed. They need us more than we need them? No they don’t. The exact same benefits? Sorry, these are not on offer.
And when illusions are shattered people don’t find it very easy to think they were wrong. They look for a scapegoat. Traitors! We were betrayed! Attacks on foreigners have increased sharply. Why haven’t they left yet? Verbal abuse is becoming routine – not worth mentioning any more. The language being used on the internet now is toxic.
So the church is urging calm. The Queen has urged respect. We need to stay civil. We condemn violence and abuse. But this does not answer the question: what should our people do? Where does the future of the nation lie? Is the pillar of cloud moving? And what is it moving towards?
A no-deal BREXIT? The deal that was defeated by 230 votes? The Opposition deal that hasn’t even been put to the EU yet? Norway +? Norway ++? Norway+++? Another referendum? A peoples’ vote? Can we be masters of our own destiny again?
Those passages of Scripture; those passages we thought were not relevant for us. Let’s look at them again. But, before we do, I must declare my hand. I have a position on control that I have to admit to.
When I returned to faith, no longer a young man, one of the crucial early transitions was the change I experienced from being a person who thought he was in control to being a person who thought he wasn’t in control.
Before, I thought I was the master of my own destiny. I thought I understood where the world was moving and the part I was to play in it. I knew how things worked and what was right and what was wrong. I’d worked it all out by myself.
It was only when I realised that I hadn’t worked it out, that there were things in the world that I couldn’t fix, couldn’t understand or couldn’t cope with, only then was I ready to understand my need for God, for his guidance, my need for a cloudy pillar to follow, my need to accept my situation, my need to accept that my focus was to be the best person I could possibly be in the situation I was in, and that I needed to learn how to be that person. I couldn’t work it out on my own.
It was only when I accepted my weakness that I found strength.
I wonder whether what applied to me as an individual also applies to us as a nation? Will we, as a nation, only discover our strength when we have accepted our weakness?
Maybe, it is only in our weakness, that we can find a way to trust in God. Strong nations have no need of God. They worship a God contructed in their own image. In their illusions they rely on their own strength. It is weak nations that truly turn to God. Especially when they are lost in a wilderness.
What happened in the wilderness? The people looked up and saw the cloudy pillar over the tabernacle. It was not moving so they stayed put. They waited on the Lord. They placed their trust in him. All was well. When the cloudy pillar moved, they moved and not before.
Can I return to some words of Paul? Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing; but obeying the commandments of God is everything.
Paul is writing to a church divided over the status of men who were circumcised and men who were not.
When it comes to BREXIT, we are a divided church. Apparently most Church of England clergy voted remain and most Church of England lay people voted leave; which doesn’t make it any easier.
What do Paul’s words look like if we change them to apply his thinking to a church thinking about BREXIT?
‘Was anyone at the time of their call a leave voter? Let them continue to support BREXIT. Was anyone at the time of their call a remain voter? Let them oppose BREXIT. Leave is nothing, and remain is nothing; but obeying the commandments of God is everything.’
We obey the commandments of God wherever we are called. What might this look like?
Well in the discussions in the weeks, and months and years ahead we can express ourselves respectfully and politely, as the Queen as called on us to do. We can talk to each other without calling the other person’s motives into question. We can assume that the other person has the best of intentions.
And we must call on others to do so also. And this may mean we have to challenge people around us.
There is disparaging and sometimes violent language out there. And the disparaging language paves the way to violent language and violent language paves the way to violence itself. Threats and violence towards political opponents and people from other countries who live in this country is being normalised by this language. So, please challenge it when you hear it if you are in a position to do so.
And there is condescending language being used. People who voted leave are routinely being described in social media as being stupid – voting against their best interests and so on. Well, sometimes people vote against their best interests because they have ideals and we should respect idealism when we encounter it, even if we do not share it.
It seems to me that this condescension often takes place when BREXIT is regarded purely as a technical issue with a technical solution. It is worth thinking about the referendum result in a more holistic way sometimes. Most people voted I think in an emotional way. Very few of us understood as much about the EU when we voted as we do now. Our response to the referendum should not just be about EU membership. It needs to address wider issues of economic justice and social cohesion and if you are able to point people in that direction you are doing us all a great service.
Sometimes talk turns to the language of betrayal. If parliament votes against a certain form of BREXIT the will of the people has been betrayed – stuff like that. This is dangerous talk. When a parliamentary democracy has a referendum it immediately results in an ambiguous situation whatever the subject of the referendum. We need to proceed with care and move forwards together.
Which is exactly what the people of Israel did in the wilderness. They proceeded with care. They moved forward together. How did they do that? By seeking to understand the will of God. Taking care that they had properly understood the will of God and were obeying his commandments in everything.
God is always there even when the cloud does not move. God is there even when we do not know what our next move will be. Sometimes we don’t know where we are going and we can only trust that he does. And in these times of waiting, if this is where we find ourselves, we have to remain faithful, keep trusting him and keep obeying his commandments in all things.