It feels like we are living between times again. Lockdown is giving way to an easing of restrictions – now thrown into chaos by the hypocritical shambles of Dominic Cummings’ breaching of the instructions given to the whole country (and the government’s defence of him). Enough on that for now.
Christians always live in what we might call ‘in-between times’. There is always a ‘not yet’ element to whatever is happening in the world. What is surprising is that people should still be surprised that provisionality is always the name of the game for mortal human beings living in a material and contingent world.
Last Thursday was Ascension Day – Jesus leaves his friends to get on with the job. It’s as if he tells them it’s time to get out of the audience and onto the stage, or out of the stands and onto the pitch. They have watched and listened to him during these last couple of years, it now comes the time for commitment to the cause. It involves conscious choice.
If you read the narratives, these were a people whose lives were in turmoil. Having put their hope in Jesus being the one to liberate them, they then watched him bleed into the dirt of Golgotha, their faith draining away with it. Then they start experiencing his presence again in various ways, discovering that they can no longer hold onto him or possess him – and certainly not appropriate him for their own sense of security or prosperity. Then, just as they are getting their heads around that one, he takes them up a mountain and leaves them.
Now, if I was one of them, I might be justified in thinking that the promised Holy Spirit would come immediately and empower me/us to do what Jesus told us to get on with. No chance. There’s now another wait (and we don’t know how long this might be, if ever). So, we have to learn to let him go, live with ourselves and each other, wondering how we are supposed to do what he left us with.
Pentecost will come. The friends of Jesus will be empowered to speak of the Jesus revolution in ways that everyone can understand. But, for now, they have to live with the double-whammy of (a) having been given a commission whilst (b) living with complete uncertainty about the future.
We don’t know what the future will look like for our society, our economy, our politics, our church. But, we do know that we are called to be creative, bold and adventurous. Will we make mistakes, misunderstand the calling, head in the wrong direction at the wrong time? Probably. But, Jesus in the gospels shows little surprise when his friends mess it up. What we can’t do is just go back to the fishing grounds of the old certainties.
Ascensiontide – between Ascension and Pentecost – asks us if we are up for it? Before we know what’s coming.
Nick Baines's Blog 
May 24, 2020 at 9:35 am
Good as always
May 24, 2020 at 11:13 am
Dear Nick Baines,
Thank you for opening this reflection with a reference to the recent Cummings/Johnson debacle. It is hard for me to describe the incandescent level of inner rage which has been surfacing in me during the past 48 hours.
It seems to me that we are living through a process of being ‘collectively gaslighted’ by a government that has no respect for truth. I have been reading ‘Caritas in Veritate, the encyclical letter of Benedict XVI. He warns us that Love without TRUTH becomes no more than an emotional response; that Love without TRUTH in the political domain leads to totalitarian and dehumanising regimes. It seems to me that these were prophetic words because this seems to be playing out in front of our eyes.
The call to keep on searching for the TRUTH is costly. I am grateful that through writing such as yours, I am enabled to keep on sifting through the filth for some semblance of TRUTH.
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Van: Nick Baines’s Blog Verzonden: zondag 24 mei 2020 10:19 Aan: susanverkerk@kpnmail.nl Onderwerp: [New post] In-between again
nickbaines posted: “It feels like we are living between times again. Lockdown is giving way to an easing of restrictions – now thrown into chaos by the hypocritical shambles of Dominic Cummings’ breaching of the instructions given to the whole country (and the government’s d”
May 25, 2020 at 9:14 am
Dear Bishop,
On twitter you asked “do we accept being lied to, patronised and treated as mugs?” by this government and its political party MPs. What do you suggest we do about this?
May 25, 2020 at 10:26 am
Oh come on!, We’re all longing for Cummings to go, but this is the wrong issue to pick up on. The instructions were I think, to stay at home unless it was absolutely necessary to leave, and for those two parents it was necessary, to make sure there was care available for their little one if they became too ill to care for him.
Let’s look at what is true, and what isn’t true. Lots of what is claimed by this regime isn’t true.
May 25, 2020 at 11:34 am
Incandescent rage? Are you (and Nick Baines) bonkers? I doubt you have sufficient evidence to find Dominic Cummings “guilty”. Don’t you have anything better to do than make such stupid ill-informed comments? And there’s no chaos, as you put it, other than that emanating from your huge vile gob. Three points: FIRST, there are far more important things to worry about than Dominic Cummings. As a result of Covid-19 over 300,000 thousand people worldwide have died, and even more hundreds of thousands are grieving. Businesses are collapsing leaving potentially millions unemployed. And all you have to rage about is Dominic Cummings. SECOND, you would do well to remember that the British public (including me) voted for a Conservative government, and thank God, we got one. So when you insult the government, and call them filth you are indirectly insulting me and the British electorate and calling us filth. How nice of you to say so. And THIRD, how strange that you made no reference to the Labour leader’s kids who carried on going to school during lockdown. I very much doubt if all the low-life Labour MPs are as white as snow.
I feel sorry for sad people like you who really ought to get a life.
May 25, 2020 at 11:44 am
Reblogged this on Andrew James.
May 25, 2020 at 12:48 pm
We have all felt plenty of inner rage at the insufferable response of the government and the ruling class to the plight of ordinary people in this country for some time…no change there then…
May 25, 2020 at 1:01 pm
Thank you. I especially like the second paragraph when you talk about living in “in-between times”. Forgiven but having to live with the consequences of sin, redeemed but living in a fallen world.
May 25, 2020 at 1:34 pm
And further, Susan Verkerk, you should be aware that the gutter press who have been slamming Cummings (purely to sell newspapers, of course) are a bunch of hypocrites. Just look at them and their photographers crowding round Cummings house, paying no attention to social distancing rules! The thoroughly decent and dignified Telegraph shows restraint. Hoorah for them!
May 26, 2020 at 9:48 am
Bishop Nick,
the opportunity for people of FAITH to spread the news of the power of GOD which HE has given us has been neglected by our “leaders” – who or what else could close down the world [almost] overnight?
May 26, 2020 at 11:05 am
I always enjoy your blog bishop nick but there is a certain conflict in this one, a baying for blood for one man’s mistake at the way he tried to protect his family and then reminding us that Jesus knows we will make mistakes and forgives us, not much forgiving in today’s blog
May 27, 2020 at 1:29 pm
It is perhaps wise to bear in mind that ‘hypocritical shambles’ are not confined to government, IICSA has seen its fair share of senior clergy found to be morally wanting and accepting the protection of the institution.
http://survivingchurch.org/2020/05/26/c-e-bishops-and-moral-outrage/
Matthew 7 “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye but do not notice the log that is in your own.”
May 28, 2020 at 8:58 pm
All Bishop Nick has done here, and on Twitter, is remind people that PM Johnson is a liar, charlatan, hypocrite and poor role model. Much more polite than how I would word it. But then I am not in a public office or position of influence. So I can say that Johnson is a sociopathic buffoon, and the worst PM since David Cameron, and who is doing huge damage to this country. Scottish independence has never been more likely. If, knowing those things about Johnson (liar, hypocrite, poor role model), one still thinks that makes Johnson suitable to hold political office, well, that is one’s choice. What that says about Johnson supporters is another matter.
May 29, 2020 at 11:50 pm
“ SECOND, you would do well to remember that the British public (including me) voted for a Conservative government, and thank God, we got one.“
From Bill Johnstone, who gave an earlier reply. I find it curious for God to be given credit for the Conservative government. This government was elected by people who, through their choice and free will, elected them, even in the face of hubris, bluster and lies. There was a pretty poor choice on offer, though. Subsequent events have made clear Johnson’s weak character, defects and unsuitability for political office. Johnson may be serving a deeper purpose, to demonstrate how low the level of political discourse has fallen here. I doubt two things. That God would approve of a leader with Johnson’s characteristics. And that Johnson will be leading the Conservatives into the next general election.
May 29, 2020 at 11:51 pm
SECOND, you would do well to remember that the British public (including me) voted for a Conservative government, and thank God, we got one.“
From Bill Johnstone, who gave an earlier reply. I find it curious for God to be given credit for the Conservative government. This government was elected by people who, through their choice and free will, elected them, even in the face of hubris, bluster and lies. There was a pretty poor choice on offer, though. Subsequent events have made clear Johnson’s weak character, defects and unsuitability for political office. Johnson may be serving a deeper purpose, to demonstrate how low the level of political discourse has fallen here. I doubt two things. That God would approve of a leader with Johnson’s characteristics. And that Johnson will not be leading the Conservatives into the next general election
May 29, 2020 at 11:53 pm
Nick, I am not thinking straight, comments 15 and 16 are mistakes, 14 was right. I do not believe Johnson will be leading Conservatives into next GE.
May 31, 2020 at 7:46 am
You threw your stone – now be clinically objective and tell me what Mr Cummings did that was wrong?
May 31, 2020 at 11:27 pm
I have a funny feeling that the Bishop and his supporters might well be pining for the return of that beacon of truth Tony Blair! What a shining example of pathological lying and who were the complete mugs who supported him. I hadn’t realised that the church encouraged division and anger and used intemperate language and good to see Archbishop Carey giving some guidance to the Bishops as to their behaviour and language.
Reading many of the Bishop’s previous blogs and listening to a youtube speech it Is pretty clear he is one of those true Europeans who loves democracy but only when he agrees with the outcome otherwise it is unacceptable. Hypocrisy of the highest order.
May 31, 2020 at 11:52 pm
What has happened to my last comment?
June 1, 2020 at 3:36 pm
It had to wait – just like all the others.
June 3, 2020 at 4:37 pm
I do not want Tony Blair back as PM. He was dishonest about the reasons for going to war in Iraq. I think he is a war criminal according to the Nuremberg principles. In fact I do not want any liar for a PM, Johnson has made a career of it. And a referendum result based on lies is meaningless. And a government that can only win by telling lies will get caught out and pay the price. Good to see an effective opposition once again.
June 5, 2020 at 8:27 am
Oh dear, Ian Fraser imagines that God would not cause such as Johnson to be PM. In reality, the Bible tells us that all rulers are appointed by God, and as Paul says, speaking in a time when his nation was ruled by a foreign heathen ruler.
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
(Romans 13:1-2 [ESV2011])
We should be grateful that we, at present, have a say in who leads our country.
As to the question of whether Cummings broke the rules, as Bill Johnstone says, you do not have the evidence. Indeed, I would go further and say that the evidence in the regulations themselves is that he did not break the rules,
Thus, may I suggest, by making these accusations are you not bearing false witness. For bishops to publicly condemn a man on such flimsy evidence is demeaning to their office and brings the Christian Church into disrepute. Political point scoring is not what Christians should so, when there are so many sinners going to a Christless eternity. Pray for revival and holiness in the Church instead.
June 7, 2020 at 4:46 pm
Correct, God would not cause Johnson to be elected. He was selected as Conservative leader by that party’s membership, exercising their right and free will to do so. The party he leads secured enough seats to form a government in the last general election. People who voted exercised their right and free will to vote as they saw fit. The electoral system FPTP here meant the Conservatives secured enough seats to have a majority government. Voting, electoral systems, these are all human inventions. Free will is a gift from God. Hopefully those who have this gift use it in the right way. I hope I do. I think and reflect and pray a while before responding as I do here. As for Johnson, given his track record, it is very difficult to believe anything he says, or take him seriously.
June 7, 2020 at 7:49 pm
Martin Yirrell, who commented that all rulers are appointed by God, is stepping into the realms of theological determinism and predestination. I do not accept that paradigm, but equally I accept that others do, which is fine, everyone is different, so too their faith journeys. I prefer to keep kicking at the darkness until it bleeds daylight. I would add that literal interpretations of the Bible can lead one in the wrong direction. Was P.W. Botha appointed by God? Stalin? Suharto? Hitler? Churchill? Mandela? Roosevelt?
June 7, 2020 at 8:55 pm
If God can turn the heart of a king, He can certainly influence an electorate in their choice, so yes, God did cause Johnson to be elected. The ruler is always God’s choice, be it Diocletian or Trump and hence Christians should obey the civil authorities under God, even if they disapprove of their policies.
The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord;
he turns it wherever he will.
(Proverbs 21:1 [ESV2011])
June 8, 2020 at 11:40 am
“The arc of the moral universe is long but it bends towards justice.” Reverend Martin Luther King said that, but by his actions clearly believed that the arc could not be left to its own devices, that positive force to bend that arc is essential. Some of MLK’s civil rights actions broke the laws of civil authorities, and he was arrested and went to jail. Was he wrong to do so? In a literal sense, I guess so. But the civil rights movement would have been weaker without his wisdom and bravery. MLK is on the right side of history, and that is a very important thing for political leaders to keep in mind. I can only speak for myself, but I am glad that people like MLK, Mandela, Gandhi and Jesus Christ broke the civil authority laws they did, otherwise that arc, which still needs bending, would not be where it is now.
It has been an interesting discussion, I will not be replying further, however.
June 8, 2020 at 6:41 pm
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. (Romans 13:1 [ESV2011])
Surely that answers your question. And the governing authority in Paul’s day wasn’t so very different to Hitler.