Gavin Shuker MP, a former church leader who at 28 became the MP for Luton, spoke
about the need for Christians to be confident in their faith and to stand in solidarity
with each other. The meeting itself embodied this - as well as the references to justice,
there were many references to Jesus. It illustrated a significant spiritual confidence in
Christians on the Left to be explicit about the person we seek to follow. We cannot be
shy about our faith – we need to be confident about using both ‘J words’ because our
commitment to justice is rooted in our commitment to follow Jesus.
All this was drawn together in a closing speech by Andy Flannagan, the Director of
Christians on the Left, who warned against people who wanted to see change come
instantly and easily in a flash and a bang.
“In first century Palestine, many also came looking for fireworks. An oppressed people came looking for
liberation.
They were hoping for a mighty explosion of
energy and light that would restore their
status as God’s chosen
people,
in charge of their own
destiny. And it looked
like
this carpenter
of
Nazareth
was going to
li
ght the
touch
-paper.
They came
looking for fireworks, but they
got a story
about something
practically invisible. What they got was a
man who said “The
Kingdom of heaven is like a
mustard seed”. He
said, “This isn’t going to be fast. This is going to be slow. He
said, “This isn’t going to start huge, it’s going to start infinitesimally small”.
We must not get sucked into the instant culture of the 21st
century, where everything is about overnight sensations
and next big things. We must be prepared to do the hard
yards of relationship building. Change in political thinking
and practice is rarely fast, but we must believe that that
mustard seed will produce fruit. There is also something of
sacrifice and death about that seed. We will not necessarily
be lauded for what we do, but unless a grain of wheat falls
to the ground and dies…”