The memory (or anticipation) of family weddings is usually one of the most joyful events in our lives, though far fewer of these are celebrated today in churches- less than a quarter, compared to about half in the 1970s, and 85 percent in 1900. Perhaps another sign that Britain is no longer a “Christian” country by default.
In some places that gradual erosion in the direction of a more “secular” culture has happened more forcefully. In his book about Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer (translated in 2019 into English) the East German theologian Wolf Krötke (1938 to 2023), who was imprisoned in 1958-9 for “incitement and propaganda subversive to the state, and the production of inflammatory literature”, describes the post-WW2 experience of the Protestant Church there. Traditionally a “People’s Church” (Volkskirche), to which nearly everyone belonged, under the Communist regime many turned instead to the State’s “quasi-religious” ceremonies, leaving a far smaller church, which later could become a “haven” for people’s questioning and resistance.
Earlier Protestants had been thoroughly identified with nation and government. Their 1914 rush to support the Kaiser horrified Barth (then a pastor in Switzerland), and also later in Germany in the Hitler years with Bonhoeffer. Both saw that over-identification with national culture could distort a church’s understanding and grasp of the Gospel. The same holds true for Orthodoxy today in Russia and Ukraine. It is clear that a choice between loyalty to country or to the Gospel can be the hardest a Church ever has to make.
Our reading was from Luke 4, the “manifesto of Jesus” in Nazareth as he began his ministry, quoting Isaiah chapter 61. The congregation’s initial pleasure turned to anger as Jesus placed foreigners (a widow from Sidon and a Syrian leper) before his own people, contradicting Isaiah’s promise to the Israelites escaping from oppressive exile in Babylon that “strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, foreigners shall till your land and dress your vines; but you shall be called priests of the Lord, you shall be named ministers of our God; you shall enjoy the wealth of the nations, and in their riches you shall glory” (verses 5 and 6). They would have known that well and expected to hear it again. Like many Christian churches today, they were in “tune” with their national aspirations for liberation from foreign (Roman) rule, rather than to any idea that their task was to be a “light to the nations” (Isaiah 49, verse 6). That Jesus can push through the crowd threatening to throw him over the cliff (verse 29) reads like a miracle in Luke’s telling, but may simply be an example of a strong personality able to challenge a mob.
Putting foreigners (including so-called “illegal” asylum-seekers) beside “our people” provokes the same reaction today that Jesus experienced, as evidenced by the rash of Union Flags and St George’s crosses in many communities (though not all). In some places churches or refugee associations have lessened tensions by building up strong personal links with newcomers, though where there are many hotels used for asylum-seekers this may be less easy. Local councils sometimes are reluctant to give support, and Government seems more willing to echo rhetoric than to challenge it (presumably in the hope of winning a few votes).
Misunderstanding about the realities of international migration (for example that of 78 million displaced people in the world most are in their own or neighbouring countries, and relatively few come to Europe) leaves a vacuum which can easily be filled by simplistic claims and solutions. What appears to many to be obvious “common sense” is hard to counteract, despite evidence such as Hein de Hass: “How Migration Really Works” and Hans Rosling: “Factfulness”, both of which deserve to be much better known and used.
Wolf Krötke: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Kr%C3%B6tke “Karl Barth and Dietrich Bonhoeffer: Theologians for a Post-Christian World” https://www.amazon.co.uk/Karl-Barth-Dietrich-Bonhoeffer-Post-Christian/dp/0801098173
Hein de Haas: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/455478/how-migration-really-works-by-haas-hein-de/9780241998779
Hans Rosling: https://www.samuelthomasdavies.com/book-summaries/business/factfulness/ https://www.hachette.co.uk/titles/hans-rosling/factfulness/9781473637498/