Reader Writes August 2024
The junior minister folded her copy of The New European and slipped it carefully into her briefcase for the return journey. She didn’t know her Minister very well and certainly didn’t wish to give the impression that she was a hysterical Remainer. She’d only been in Parliament since 2019 but had a reputation, as the barrister that she was, for savaging the party opposite. Her constituents had given her a mandate, and she was used to calling out her opponents robustly. But being in Government suddenly presented new challenges for balanced judgements; how do you present your department regarding Western weapons in Gaza for example? Okay, she thought, I’ll keep off that issue for the time being.
But what about her Christian faith? Not everyone is going to feel comfortable with that. The argument is that religion is private, and you don’t impose it on colleagues, and certainly not on your staff. But at the same time, if her faith didn’t guide her judgement and motivate her courage, then it was no faith worth having. Politicians often criticised Justin Welby for straying too far, as they saw it, from church issues. But as Archbishop Desmond Tutu said, if you think faith and state can’t be mixed, then you’ve never opened the bible. Okay, so judgement and tact required!
She had, by some God-arranged chance, been invited by a constituent to attend a church course. She thought she’d make short thrift of that, but on the introductory session she’d been challenged by the question “Is there more to life than this?”, and other questions like “What am I doing on earth?” A lot of excellent stuff came up in that company; how could you not appreciate CS Lewis, of Narnia fame, who said “I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen; not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else.” It was a profound point, and made complete sense.
So among new friends, several searching for answers as urgently as she was, she made a decision. Jesus said (John14:6) “I am the way and the truth and the life.” Well if that is true, I’d be a fool not to invite him to come into my life. And that’s what she did; and then a day came when she asked God to fill her with his Holy Spirit. She seemed to walk in the air, and her heart was bursting with hope. New life, no longer just her own. Hope! Confident hope!
She contemplated the large and bare leather-topped desk; what letters, what power, had been winged to the far corners of Empire. This department, her new responsibility, had a long history. No, put concerns out of your head. You have a serious job to do, and you need your wits, and God’s wisdom and guidance. This office will be a constant meeting room, a coming and going of civil servants, the Minister himself needing to talk issues over and make decisions. Along with a picture of her children she placed a rather new looking bible on the desk next to one of the phones; handy for her and a signal to others. She’ll be praying, a lot; I wonder who will be first to share that they too are people of prayer and confident hope.
Robert McCurrach
