On Monday 15th November, along with 200 others, I was invited to tea at the House of Commons. The invitation came from Swindon South MP Robert Buckland and the occasion was a presentation about the Hop Skip and Jump charity’s planned development at Lydiard Park, which was given planning permission in January.
Hop Skip & Jump will open a centre for children with a range of disabilities. The aim is to provide a safe play haven for children, where they can happily play & have fun, giving parents some much needed respite & support.
Mr Buckland spoke of how he recognises the value of such a place as he is has a daughter with special needs. He said he expects to use the new centre in Swindon when it has been completed. And he commented on how the provision of the Hop Skip and Jump centre is an example of how the Big Society can make a difference.
Like many charities – though not all of course – Hop Skip & Jump has Christian connections. One of the founder trustees Celia Carter is a Church of England vicar in Gloucestershire.
Christians have a long had a tradition of providing for the disadvantaged. This might be through charities or it may be at a more local and personal level perhaps through a church lunch club. We do things such as this because Jesus challenged all his followers to care for their neighbours just as he did.
A couple of months back Robert Buckland talked at a meeting organised by Churches Together in Swindon on what The Big Society meant. I came away none the wiser because even Mr Buckland admitted he wasn’t entirely clear what David Cameron meant by The Big Society.
In fairness, at the Conservative Party Conference a few weeks later David Cameron did set out a bit more clearly what he means. He said:
“It's about government helping to build a nation of doers and go-getters, where people step forward not sit back, where people come together to make life better.
A country defined not by what we consume but by what we contribute. A country, a society where we say: I am not alone. I will play my part.” [1]
I hear those words about the Big Society and I think of something Jesus frequently spoke about - the Kingdom of God. And Jesus made it clear to his followers – citizens in God’s Kingdom - that we all have a part to play in building the Kingdom of God.
The citizens of the Kingdom of God are called to follow the Law of the Kingdom of God: To love the Lord God with all our hearts, minds and souls and to love and care for our neighbours as much as we love and care for ourselves.
At the time of Jesus and ever since, people have asked “What is the Kingdom of God?” At the time of Jesus people thought it literally was a Kingdom. But in a passage in the Bible found in Luke’s Gospel Jesus said:
20 ... "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, 21nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within[a] you." Luke 17:20-21
There are some similarities between the Big Society and the Kingdom of God as both aim to see people involved in their creation and in the community around them. But the Big Society is not the Kingdom of God. Because for starters the people of the Kingdom of God – the followers of Jesus – are not necessarily the go getters Mr Cameron is referring to.
Nor are the followers of the Kingdom of God inspired by government to care for the widow, the prisoner, the hungry, the homeless, the outcast, all people Jesus cared for. All people the citizens of God’s Kingdom are challenged to care for.
Rather for over 2,000 years the citizens of the Kingdom of God have been inspired to show compassion as a way of showing how much we love Jesus and wish to serve him by caring for those around us. Not because a politician tells us to do so.
Comment
After my thought, the presenter of the show asked me whether I thought it was possible to have a foot in both camps. That is be part of the Kingdom of God and part of the Big Society. I said that I thought it was possible and there are some overlaps. (A bit like a Venn diagram - I never did understand those.) But there are distinctions.
And here, as opposed to on air, I feel I can say that I feel the Big Society is nothing more than a way of making the voluntary sector take on things the state should be doing.
No comments:
Post a Comment