Meet, listen and Pray (February 2022)

Dear Friends

I recently had the privilege of attending an online prayer gathering. It ran from 7:00am, which was somewhat challenging! It was the first such gathering I’ve attended but it turns out to be something that happens about three times each year. Clergy and local church leaders from across Bristol spent time listening to, and praying with, our Mayor, Marvin Rees.

Marvin Rees became Mayor of Bristol in 2016. He was the first mayor of black African heritage to be elected in any major city in Europe (he describes himself as the mixed-race son of a Jamaican father and white mother). As a still-newcomer here I don’t know all of the ins and outs of the mayoral political game. I do know that, after motions by several parties other than Rees’ Labour, Bristol is heading for another referendum on whether or not the city wants a directly elected, and thus powerful, mayor rather than the more honorary figure head sort of mayor. The role Rees has may well end with him, and Bristol may return to leadership by counsellors in cabinet and committee. I’ve dipped into enough of the local media to know that Marvin has no shortage of critics even as he has plenty of fans.

I was struck by many things as I listened to him and then prayed with him. Let me share just a couple.

We’re in the midst of a time of real anger, frustration and suspicion surrounding politics. Divisions are deep, wounding and bitter. As I write, Downing Street is in the eye of a storm about the breaking of rules in lockdown. By the time you read this, that particular story will have moved on; for better or worse. But this is just part, albeit for me an appalling part, of bigger and wider unease and despair about politics. Across many democracies there seems to be a deepening of division and hardening of position. Extreme politics, coupled to surging nationalism and public debate without any room for nuance, seems to be framing politics as a zero-sum game. We are in an era that only sees winners and losers and in which the arts of compromise, collaboration, honesty about mistakes, room for saying “I don’t know” and statecraft are pushed aside and often derided. Leadership has to be couched purely as strength. Anything else is weakness. At least, this is my sense of things.

Interesting, then, to spend time listening to a politician who is also a very devout Christian as he reflected upon his experiences. What came across to me was his sincerity and his recognition of the weight of the issues Bristol must grapple with. I was reminded that there are many who serve in politics at all levels from the most local to the most international who are good people, sincere in their beliefs and convictions, doing their very best for the good of the people who gave them whatever power they have. The temptation to label a whole group based upon the actions of a few is just a further step down into mistrust and misrepresentation; the very things politics at its worst fuels. As Christians, I think we have to do better and see more clearly. That well worn text from the prophet Jeremiah comes to mind. Writing a letter to the people of God in exile in Babylon, the prophet offers God’s guidance:

“…seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” (29: 7, although the whole chapter is a fascinating look at living well in a place that is not easy to live in).

This is incredible stuff really. From Jerusalem comes a letter to those most dislocated from where they think God wants them to be. They might expect to be told to keep alive revolution and dissent, to fight against their captors and seek freedom. Instead, they are told to become the best citizens they can be. They remain in exile. This isn’t the home they most want or long for. But, for now, this is where God wants them to be.

Praying and working for the good of where we are seemed to me to be what this early morning prayer gathering was all about, with a local politician who wanted the same.

The second thing that struck deep chords for me was Marvin’s reflection upon recently meeting the Colston Four after their acquittal for toppling the slaver’s statue. He noted the long and hard conversations surrounding how a city so steeped in the transatlantic slave trade can come to terms with its history and find ways to express this publicly. Recently, I shared some art I created with the Council for World Mission that was the beginning of my own reflection upon this part of the history of my home. Elsewhere in this newsletter, you’ll find an initial introduction to the work the URC has been doing with CWM on the legacies of slavery and the links between the slave trade and racism.

To meet and listen, and then to pray, is surely always a good thing to do. There are huge and hard issues to explore, injustices to attend to, needs to meet and possibilities to negotiate. My prayer is for those, of any political party and of none, who are doing their best to lead communities and nations on right paths. I think Marvin Rees is one. And I hope that the Church will, in Jeremiah’s terms, always pray and work for the good of the place God places us. I am very aware of, and inspired by, the work so many of you do and have done for years to seek the good of our communities. It is a real honour to have joined you in the work that God lays out before us.

Yours in Christ,

Neil