Christian Comment with Rev Stephen Harrison Rector of the Stroudwater Team of parishes

THANK you for this opportunity to share some thoughts with you in this forum.

Thank you too for taking the time to read this article, which I hope will give you something to ‘chew’ over and to challenge you.

One of the biggest threats to the integrity of the Christian faith through the centuries has been an overemphasis on one aspect of the faith which should be held in tension with another aspect.

When I use the word integrity its in the sense of cohesion rather than reputation, although we do lose our reputation when we lose this tension.

I am an immigrant from South Africa and one of the great debates in the church in the dark days of Apartheid was around this tension of resistance to an unjust government, and Paul’s injunction to obey the authorities because they rule by God’s permission.

Liberation theologians and conservative theologians would have radically different interpretations of what the Bible says on this issue.

In fact holding the tension between these extremes called us to obey the laws which create social contract while resisting the unjust laws of racism.

Almost all theological crises have developed around the tension between two poles, and they have of course often polarised Christians as a result.

These tensions confront us all the time in Christianity.

Biblically, the tension between Paul’s incredibly enlightened verse in Ephesians where all are proclaimed equal despite social status or gender, and his controversial writings on women being silent in church; the tension between the extremes of opinion on human sexuality, the tension between wealth and poverty, and so it goes.

The secular polarity in the church also offers us a tension, between traditional and contemporary music; between preservation of buildings and fit for use spaces; polarity in liturgy, I will stop there.

We cannot escape this tension, and we shouldn’t.

A clear sign of intelligence is the ability to hold that tension, to keep one’s convictions without sacrificing relationship, to avoid the temptation of stridently creating a citadel of conviction which makes enemies of those who are equally convinced of the rightness of their opinion.

Does this mean we all occupy a grey middle ground of stunted opinion and muted conviction?

Not at all.

It means we hold to our convictions with grace, acknowledging that no matter how much we may disagree with someone they may just hold a kernel of truth and that beyond our firmly held beliefs are people who God loves as much as He loves us.