This is the script of this morning’s Thought for the Day on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, following publication of Sue Gray’s update on her investigation into alleged gatherings on Government premises during covid restrictions.
Publication of Sue Gray’s report yesterday poses questions for all of us. Put bluntly, what sort of society do we want to be? And what role should leadership play in shaping such a society?
These are tough questions that can’t just be addressed in the abstract. However, any answers must be built around a moral framework that delimits what is acceptable and what is not. Any living community in which competing values and convictions play for priority will have to agree on some moral parameters – what the late Jonathan Sacks used to refer to as “the moral limits of power”.
Around 3,000 years ago the Hebrew Proverbs asserted that “fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” – not the fear of terror, but what we might term ‘awe’ and ‘ultimate respect’. Such fear assumes a reference point beyond me and my interests; it takes responsibility for the consequences of decisions made and priorities set. And I think this applies not only to individuals like me, but also to whole societies which must choose whom they worship – that is, to whom or what they give ultimate value. Pragmatic reflex is not enough.
And there’s the rub. Character is shaped by the habits of a lifetime and must always be held against some commonly-owned measure of what society claims to believe about truth, love and justice … if you like, what we wish to teach our children about how to live well.
I was thinking about this on Sunday when celebrating Candlemas in two parishes in Yorkshire. Candlemas marks the transition from Christmas and Epiphany towards Lent and Easter. Christmas offers us the mystery of God coming among us in the vulnerability of a baby; but, we move on in the story to the child who grows up, makes choices, and ends up on the gallows.
The remarkable thing is that this child, Jesus, never wavered, even when the cost of leading others towards a radical change of life led, in the end, to his own death. Choices, consequences, costs. The victory of power is a sham.
The Christian story speaks of forgiveness for failure; but, it also speaks of repentance and change. Not for reasons of pragmatic convenience, but because ethics matter for both individuals and society together.
We live in challenging times on many fronts. The question to be faced is: what sort of a society do we wish to be?
Nick Baines's Blog 
February 1, 2022 at 2:11 pm
Good question. The populist rabbit hole Johnson has been leading us down is not a good place to be. The politics of division does not end well, but it does need to end. As a start the removal of a PM who brings Parliament into disrepute would be good. The next step would be voting for a government that actually works in the national interest. That includes inoculating society from populism, and divisiveness, i.e. fostering the politics of belonging. I have lived here since 1987 and this is most definitely the worst UK government of my time here, despicable.
February 2, 2022 at 2:51 am
I actually feel that lately it’s the dark before the dawn. Jesus was unwavering and how he lived his life. I feel like the times are changing so much and people concentrate on what they feel is right or wrong for society. The Great educators priests leaders in Jesus who didn’t just walk the walk the idea that Jesus came to spread the word it’s not just blind faith I think it’s more a less than that no matter what century you’re born in or what section of the world you’re born in everyone might be different but there is a common thread or heartbeat as human beings that we can all fall the Golden rule instead of worrying about policies and how much each other has. Anxious society’s always look to the Stars until their ancestors to help figure out how to get through life and it’s trials and tribulations. I personally have been through so much in the past 3 years and some days it’s hard to pick myself up and get going and other days I feel like I’ve been blessed with the knowledge that I can pick myself up and I can help somebody else up at the same time not because it sounds good in a post but because I’ve actually got to see all the love I put into other people has come back to me most people don’t get to see that I’ve seen it twice and it’s not about material things I think Jesus ate with them poor and crazy and the beggars and everything just to keep the message basic about love forgiveness it didn’t try to crowd it with money jewels popularity. On a lighter note I noticed that every person who has a different opinion than someone else is really sure they know what they’re talking about . Where I see Jesus in these times is the fact that when people are together the love that they have for each other usually squelches all negativity and people just get brave online. But when I see my good friends face to face there’s still the same great people who really would help anybody out and follow the Golden rule so these times can be proof that there is strength in love not numbers. Sorry for the run-on sentence. Love you Aunt Maryanne Grammy Margie is a strong force looking out for me… The kindest person I’ve ever known.
February 2, 2022 at 10:40 am
I think from Johnson’s Jimmy Savile slur of Keir Starmer it can be discerned what sort of society Johnson wants. He has gone full Trump with spreading fake news, this time in Parliament. He needs to go. The longer he stays the further he brings Parliament into disrepute, and damages the political process in the eyes of the public.
February 2, 2022 at 4:50 pm
Well said. Will repost this on our distinctive deacons’ Facebook page and on my own, too.