Ranting about Christians and Social Action!

For the younger reader....

This week I have been interviewed by 'The Leamington Courier' because 'Piper' will be published on Oct 31st and launched at Myton School on Nov 2nd. I waffled on hopelessly - it's very difficult to talk about a book without giving too much away - but I did say it raised some difficult issues that I was concerned about - the divide between rich and poor, over-population, the way we share out food resources, slavery, damage to the environment. It probably sounded terribly heavy - so I kept stressing that it is also romantic! But I was very interested to be asked if I thought young people were interested in such questions.' Yes,' I said. 'Of course. The young people I meet are very interested - especially about the environment and human rights issues.' Last week I went on the 'Cut the Carbon' march with a daughter and her friend; only today a young chap I know, told me he had written to Cadbury's to ask about where they got their cocoa beans and whether they could guarantee the workers were treated fairly and no child labour had been involved. So I think I'm right and young people are interested. But am I? What do you think? What issues do you really care about?

For the more wrinkly reader....


Today, someone very politely suggested to me that I should hold off on any further suggestions for social action to the members of my church. Sharp intake of breath. Mad battle to stop the red mist descending. Quick rant at husband. Quick rant at daughters and their helpless friend who now probably thinks they have completely demented mother (well - it wouldn't take long for her to work that out anyway) - but no help. Will still have to rant at unsuspecting public in the hope of a good night's sleep.

I would love to say that I can see my friend's point. But I can't. There are some things where, however hard I think about them, I cannot see where the other side is coming from. This is one. I look at the world and its endless, overwhelming neediness and I think of the paltry amount of time that I can spare for addressing it and I read or hear of opportunities for us all, Christian or non-Christian, to do our little bit and I think that the least I can do is to share them with the people I know. This little bit, this small opportunity that has come to my notice, might just be the one that someone is waiting for. They hate on-line petitions, they're too busy to volunteer regularly, their work is too inflexible to go on a demo, they can barely make ends meet so certainly can't sponsor anyone - but they can spare one afternoon to rattle a tin outside Sainsbury's - or whatever!

I'm not suggesting for a moment that I'm up to speed myself on social action - I'm not. Anita Roddick's words, 'Do something, do anything, but do something!' ring accusingly in my ears far too much because, of course, I could do more. My approach is too scattergun, too random, I suspect, to be truly effective. There have been times in my life when I've put my social action eggs in one basket for a while and perhaps then they've had more chance of survival - but there are so many issues and so little time and how can we prioritise? I have been working on a novel for young teenagers for a long time now in which the central character is an eco-worrier - she's into saving toads and badgers and the environement, she's into fair trade and organic, she's a staunch supporter of Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and Amnesty International. I'm still working on it - it's not quite right yet - but one criticism which surprised me was that no one can be worried about quite so much and perhaps I need to make my character focus on just one of two issues? Well, I'm sorry but I certainly worry about all those issues and more besides! How can you not?

But maybe that's where my friend is coming from too. It's all just too much. It's not actually that we can't worry about it all, but we don't want to. We will burn out. And in terms of the church members, they will feel so overwhelmed that they will feel unable to do anything. Or it will become like water off a duck's back; they will cease to be moved.

I can see that. I'm there, every Saturday morning, struggling to make the right decisions over buying fruit for my family. There are so many things to consider - fair trade, local, organic, price and will my kids actually eat it?! I could buy lovely locally grown Coxes apples at a reasonable price - but no one would eat them! It's exhausting and dispiriting andoverwhelming - but I don't see that I have a choice. I cannot say that I am a practising Christian and not take the care of the environment and the welfare of the world's farm workers seriously. Can I?

But I confess myself a wimp - I ceased subscribing to the 'New Internationalist' because I couldn't cope with facing a new world crisis, a new major injustice, a new issue I felt compelled to do something about, every single month! So you see, I'm getting there. I'm beginning to see my friend's point of view....

No. Hold it right there. Go any further along that route and surely, we're on the slippery slope to inertia and apathy. Helplessness. Standing by and wringing our hands. And Jesus would do that? Yeah, right.

I have a postcard pinned over my desk. It says, 'I wanted to change the world but I couldn't find a baby-sitter.' It's there because, to an extent, that's how I feel. I am too busy with the cares of my work, my family and friends, to be as socially active as I would like to be. But it's there too, to remind me that I do not want to find myself with that excuse on my lips on my deathbed. Those words should challenge us as Christians too. We want to change the world but actually we're pretty comfortable how we are. It's an effort to find a baby-sitter and, supposing we did, we'd have to get out there and do something. We wouldn't be able to be nice and cosy in our house groups and prayer meetings and worship services with our lovely Christian friends. We'd have to sacrifice some of that. I don't like the 'mission' excuse either - our chief role is to evangelise, to concern ourselves with the immortal soul. I'm with Christian Aid with their splendid slogan: 'We believe in life before death.' If I were a non-Christian, I would be far more impressed with someone who put themselves out to meet my physical or social need first and then allowed me to ask them about what motivated them, rather than someone who was only out to save my soul.

So it's no good. We can't cry, 'Enough! No more, please, God! We can't take it!' We have to relentlessly do whatever we can, whenever we can, however we can, even if, as it is in my case, pathetic and small and weedy. We cannot shut ourselves off from it. OK, we have to look after ourselves - keep ourselves healthy - not drive ourselves crazy. But I think the majority of us in British Churches, are a long way from doing that. We're not, like William Wilberforce, damaging our health because of our decades of campaigning or like Lord Shaftesbury, dying with the words, 'But there is so much more to do!' on our lips. Jesus withdrew to pray on occasion, setting us a good example in taking time out from all this. But he didn't always succeed - and he didn't then turn round and tell people to go away because he'd had enough! And I may be wildly wrong here but I'm pretty darned sure that he dealt with people's physical and social needs alongside their need for forgiveness.