Spoiling the story

How did your church react to Brexit?

The vote on 23 June to leave the European Union seems to have surprised most people. We voted 52% to 48% to go. The Prime Minister, who had campaigned passionately to stay, stepped down to be replaced by Theresa May. The Labour Party, which had rather languidly encouraged us to stay, went into a leadership civil war. The financial markets swung wildly. I liked the cartoon which summed things up with one person saying to another: ‘Aliens have not landed, Elvis has not been found alive, but everything else has happened!’

Spirit of unity

On the following Sunday our own congregation was predictably divided on the matter, but we got over it. Some had felt that to come out was too much of a financial risk, would give the wrong impression to foreigners among us and might damage missionary links with Europe. Others, especially the older ones, wanted out because they were worried by the pace of immigration and what they saw as a lack of democracy at the heart of the EU. I think the veiled threats of some EU leaders about how they would treat us if we left backfired and actually worked to the advantage of the Leave Campaign. Saying ‘Stay in this marriage or else!’ is so wrong at so many levels. But despite different views among God’s people, no one fell out. Ultimately of course, we have something more important to unite us. We are privileged to be part of a much bigger kingdom under the benign government of our loving heavenly Father who holds all the political ups and downs of our world in his hands.

It’s a spirit of unity which post-Brexit Britain needs too. But once the result was known those who had voted to leave took quite a hammering from the media elite. The vote seemed to get under their skin in an extraordinary way. More generally, there was even an angry protest march through London on the first weekend of July. This attracted many thousands and called for another referendum, because those who had voted Leave were obviously senile or off their heads.

Who are we? Who am I?

Why were the Remain supporters so angry? We don’t get such voluble protest from losers at a General Election. Why such rage? No doubt there are many answers to that question. But perhaps one is that, unlike a General Election, the question posed in the referendum came down to a question of identity, which touched on who some people see themselves to be as human beings. For Christians, we find our identity in Christ as God’s children. But for those with no faith they must look elsewhere to understand who they are.

Two quotes from a recent Cambridge Paper by Glynn Harrison are helpful. ‘The right to identify oneself – “I identify as” – is fast becoming one of the defining features of modern life.’ And if we ask exactly what we mean by identity, he writes: ‘Personal identity is the story we tell ourselves about ourselves – the constantly revised plot-line that explains the nature and purpose of our life and imbues it with meaning.’

Perhaps many people tell themselves the humanistic story of the upward ascent of brave, innovative mankind, challenging prejudice and culminating in one united and joyous world towards which the EU was a step. Maybe the anger comes from Brexit spoiling the story and so undermining people’s identity and therefore meaning in life. In fact ‘the world we all want’ is only possible in Christ (Ephesians 1.10).