Listening

The Church of England has elected their new General Synod, which will deliberate and legislate for the Church until 2020.

As the results of the elections came through, there was much talk as to who had ‘won’. Lists of new members were scrutinised, their potential allegiances to liberal or conservative causes were discerned where possible, and statements were made that sounded rather like politicians after a General Election.

Yet, the words of 1 Samuel 8 return to my mind. Verses that were quoted in the final debate concerning the introduction of women bishops back in July 2014 by a speaker prepared to vote in favour, despite his own beliefs.

‘But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you: …” ’(1 Samuel 8.6-7a).

Defining moment

His willingness to ‘listen to the people’ was described by others in the speeches that followed as ‘self-sacrificial’ and ‘poignant’ – he was one of only two individuals commended by name by the Bishop of Rochester as he summed up the debate. It was a defining moment. It is a moment that also defines the situation in which the new General Synod finds itself.

In Samuel’s day the people of God were under pressure. The world around them threatened them from every side and in their eyes a king would make all the difference. With a king they would be just like the other nations. With a king they could hold their head up high and engage with the world around them on equal terms. With a king they could hold on to the land of Israel.

Except that Israel already had a king. Their king was the Lord Almighty, who had rescued them from slavery, led them into battle and given them their land. But having God as their king was not enough for Israel, or perhaps you could say it was too much. For the verse quoted at Synod was left unfinished, and had we looked carefully we would have seen that God continued: ‘… it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king.’ (1 Samuel 8.7b).

When under pressure, the temptation for God’s people is always to look to the world’s authority, wisdom and power and seek to bring those methods into the church. It is easy to believe that we need new ideas and that we can only win the battles of our day with the weapons of our day. So, in a Postmodern world, focused on individual experience, it is, perhaps, unsurprising that ‘listening to the people’ is likely to remain the approach of this coming Synod. We will be encouraged to listen to one another in debates or shared conversations; to listen to one another’s experiences and opinions.

In God’s hands

And I’m sure that this is a temptation that faces us all, whatever our denomination. It can be hard to remember that our future is not in the hands of the people and that our security does not lie in our numbers or our political tactics. So, I wonder, as the politics of the Church of England play out in the public eye, will you join me in praying that we will all remember that our future and our security is in the hands of the Lord Almighty and that we reject his kingship and authority at our peril? Most of all, will you pray that we would listen first to the God who has spoken?

(In thinking these things through, I heartily recommend Martin Lloyd Jones’ sermon, ‘An Earthly King’ www.mljtrust.org)