There has of course been one major news item this week – the riots in London and other major cities. Now, I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to associate the Crawley Catenian blogsite with my personal opinions on the topic. I’m certainly not going to opine whose fault the riots were. In any case the media are already packed with analyses far more astute than any I’m qualified to make!
However, I think I can venture that this sort of scenario is not what Jesus had in mind when (in Luke 6:20) He said “Blessed are you who are poor”: and that when He promised “for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven” He did not mean the first-century equivalent of plasma TVs and cool trainers. Neither is it just the “disadvantaged” sector of society that indulges in dangerously selfish behaviour, even if it's often manifested in ways that are less physically violent (though for that reason more insidious and therefore, in a sense, even more dangerous). As has been widely commented, our society seems to lack an overarching value system that enables us to get on together and promotes cooperation and therefore social cohesiveness. Morals are eminently practical things whether one has religious belief or not.
To go just a little deeper, I don’t think I’ll be courting controversy to state on a Catenian blogsite that, as a Christian, I believe in the fundamental role of a strong family to nurture individuals, give them a sense of identity and self-worth and an appreciation of the dignity of the human person; a worldview, in fact, that does not set the acquisition of power and material possessions as the pinnacles of aspiration but sees a deeper value to life.
Yes, all this has already been said. Let’s take the opportunity, though, to relate it to ourselves as members and wives of the Catenian Association. We belong to an organisation dedicated to the support not only of a group of people, but to the values and beliefs they (we) espouse. More accurately, perhaps, it’s an organisation dedicated to supporting us as we espouse our values and beliefs. In short, the Catenian Association provides us with fellowship as we work to build a society that recognises a shared value system: one that treasures individuals rather than being individualistic and aspires to a quality of life that is more than merely material.
We may each feel we can only make a humble contribution to that building work, but make it we must. If we each just lay a brick or two we’ll build a house... and eventually a whole Kingdom. Belonging to the Catenians and flying a public flag for our faith is a good start.
