Curfew of Grace

During our holiday in Perthshire last week, my wife and I visited the tranquil Dunkeld Cathedral situated beside the River Tay. I was intrigued by the reproductions of 16th century wall paintings from the 600-year-old bell tower, depicting Bible stories. 

One was of wise King Solomon resolving a dispute; the second showed Jesus’ gracious response to a women who had been caught in the act of adultery. ‘Go and sin no more,’ he gently told her, having exposed the hypocrisy of those who had been about to stone her.

These old paintings were a reminder of the role the Kirk used to exercise in maintaining ‘godly discipline’ in the community, calling people to account for their behaviour. The presence of the paintings was no doubt a reminder to the Kirk Session to exercise wisdom and grace if they were tempted to be harsh and judgemental.

Christians remain committed to the ethics emerging from the Bible, and especially from the teaching of Jesus – the need for self-discipline in choosing right and rejecting wrong, the folly of greed, the wisdom of seeing sex as a gift to be shared in a committed relationship; the call to love life, to show self-giving love, and compassionate grace for others; the call above all else to do all our living in the light of God’s reality

And we believe – and this is a vital point – that Christian ethics are not given at the whimsical diktat of a kill-joy, authoritarian deity, but revealed by a loving Father because they are best way of living for individuals and for society.

Recently, Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, speaking on The Andrew Marr Show said that in his opinion it wouldn’t do to integrate aspects of Muslim Sharia law into the British legal system. The basic principles of law must be independent of any one particular group.

Of course the English and Scottish legal systems were founded on Christian principles, but Justin Welby tacitly acknowledges that in a plural society not all the convictions of any group – including the Church - will necessarily be enshrined in the law. 

And that’s surely as it should be – for the law expresses the convictions of the nation as a whole, and not just those of any one faith community. No longer are Kirk Sessions responsible for public morality.

Accepting this, many of us as Christian cringe at the passion with which some of our Christian brothers and sisters here and in the USA campaign over certain moral issues – such as abortion – presenting as black and white what many of us see as much more nuanced, while ignoring altogether other issues such as the rape of our planet’s resources.

And we are open to new ways of thinking – to recognise, for example that while marriage has been the traditional way of showing commitment, a resolve to share your life with a partner long-term can express an equal commitment.

But I wonder if I personally have been naïve in assuming that most of us, whatever our beliefs, are basically pursuing the good of others, tempering our selfishness and contributing to community life?

My thinking was focussed by a recent report showing that 57% of 15-year-olds have an absent father. Now I know most single mums do a fabulous job; I know some fathers have been abusive and their absence is desirable. But surely something is wrong when many fathers are not prepared to support their children, and some mums don’t want a partner’s presence.

Something is wrong in this and many other scenarios. For all the beauty and loveliness and kindness in society, much is broken, and as Christians we have a responsibility not to be silent, but to flag up our conviction – in partnership with all who share our views though not necessarily the beliefs they’re based on - that there is a better way, a God-given blueprint for the health of individuals and society.

There’s fear these days of Muslim extremism, of a global caliphate imposing Muslim values. Christians too have a world-view: a vision of a better society where the values taught by Jesus – not imposed by coercion or conflict but freely chosen – shape all our lives. 

And these are not values which we hypocritically proclaim from a soap-box, or wield in judgement like a harsh Kirk Session: they are values we aspire to in our own lives, and express in the same spirit of grace in which Jesus spoke to the trembling woman. There is a better way.

In the Chapter House at Dunkeld Cathedral is the old Curfew Bell which rang out each evening at 8pm until World War I, summoning children home from play. Over the fields and the torrent of the river the insistent whisper of God’s voice summons us home.

(Christian Viewpoint column from the Highland News dated 24th July 2014)