A Broken Society?
The Archbishop of York, Dr John Sentamu, gave his public lecture last week entitled "A Broken Society?". I guess everyone would be expecting him to talk about society as a broken, alientated thing. Of all the spokespersons of the Church, he has been as much in the press as anyone speaking out for those who have been victims of crime or injustice.
But what he actually had to say is that the gospel of Jesus Christ is full of the hope of redemption; that the way that we commonly talk (in the UK) about our society is excessively negative; as if everything is broken beyond repair. It’s one thing to acknowledge our need of redemption. But in many ways – and the press in particular – we have a tendency towards a negative mindset, and we need to take on a view of our society not as irrectrievabl;y broken, but as living in the hope of redemption.
It was my job to introduce the Archbishop and take care of the question and answer sessions. Archbishop Sentamu was struggling with a seriously sore throat, but he managed despite that to convey his message of hope and redemption.
My personal reflection is that it was fantastic to see hundreds of people at a time encounter both the Archbishops as thoroughly human. So often we see them represented (or misrepresented) in the press – a photograph and a clinical account that gives nothing of the humanity, the tone of voice, the smile, the light touch with some laughter, or the deep and compassionate concern that will cross their face as they listen to human pain and suffering. I think our Cambridge meetings engaged people with the fact that the Archbishops are people just like us: people who are thoroughly human, and determined that the good news of Jesus Christ will not be smothered by images of bland clergy, naughty vicars, buffoon priests.
16 Responses to “A Broken Society?”
Comments
Reply
-
author musician theologian
Maggi has kept a blog since September 2003, writing about theology and faith, the arts and literature, and a little about life and random nonsense...
In an increasingly secularised society few people have a good working knowledge of the Bible. Yet a great deal of our culture is built on stories or ideas that come from the Bible. Literature, art, music, language and even the fabric of our society - such as our justice system - are built on Christian concepts and biblical references. The Writing on the Wall provides a fascinating introduction to the Bible's best-known, and most influential, stories. Each chapter gives some background to the text of the Bible, and shows how the stories have become enmeshed in Western culture. Adam and Eve, the ten plagues of Egypt, The Prodigal Son and Mary Magdalene all feature - along with how the Bible has influenced everyone from Shakespeare to Monty Python, and Caravaggio to Banksy. 
Giving It Up explores the Lenten idea of 'giving up', taking it beyond the traditional idea of simply abstaining from something, and suggesting instead that what we need to give up is our existing ideas about God. With a daily readings for each day of Lent, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, it follows the heroes of the Bible who had to give up their own too-small ideas about God.
This is Maggi’s bestselling book of daily readings for each day of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. Advent is the beginning of the Church year, and marks the anticipation of the coming Messiah. These readings explore how beginnings and endings in our own lives are illuminated by the different Gospel narratives of Christ's coming.
-
Search
-
-
I loved Andy’s positive comparison with Tom Wright’s for everyone’s books. “Greater praise than… “even though I disagree with Bish Tom over a couple of other things. I’m going to try and buy it at Hereford’s SPCK’s shop tomorrow having failed at Cardiff’s – only then will I buy online (see Dave walker’s Blog about the demise of SPCK shops- not publisher)
I ordered today from Amazon US; look forward to reading it. I am an author myself. I write a weekly humorous/religious newspaper column in NH.
Bob
If you look closely, Amazon US says it takes 3-6 weeks for delivery. You’d get it quicker from Amazon UK – I got mine in a couple of weeks.
I gave my first two copies away, ordered three more
mine has arrived and, like jonny, i will read and reflect through advent….looks good though!!!
church house bookshop – delivery 48 hours
http://www.chbookshop.co.uk/product.asp?id=2398693
Just for the record there are Christian bookshops which have your book on the shelf! – I run one in North London. Website at http://www.cornerstone.co.uk
I’m enjoying ‘Beginnings and Endings’ and getting Advent out of the way before it gets caught up with Christmas!
Our local independent Christian bookshop (The Sycamore Tree), supplied by Crown Books, got the book for me within the week.
Well, FYI for American Amazon.com users – delivery is far off. I ordered this on October 6th and was expecting delivery mid November. Now they are not expecting delivery until mid-late December. So much for an Advent devotional. I have not found another American or state-side distributor or publisher who is offering this book.
I am quite excited to read this book with my colleague group, but the disappointment that most of us are experiencing with the shipping is disheartening.
CLC Bookshop in Birmingham has them on their seasonal book display – bought my copy and will start on 1st December! Looks good after a sneaky peek inside !!
Just bought it today… its on display in Glasgow!! Looking forward to reading it through Advent.
It looks good, Maggi. I’m looking forward to it.
Just to say that I ordered the book from the publishers (BRF, web address in Maggi’s post) via their website on Sunday night and it arrived on Wednesday morning!
Catherine
Vivement le 1er décembre, qu’on puisse commencer à le lire et à le méditer !
)
Merci, A-K! Tu es tres gentille! A la prochaine…
it came, it came!
I’m so excited.
can’t wait til saturday.
(oh and I ordered it last thursday from the link that Maggi gave)
I’ve so enjoyed the book and found many chances to reflect on the characters and stories you wrote about in new ways. Thank you. I wish I could have blogged my way through it instead of doing just 2 posts. (Having visitors and a bad cold for a couple of weeks set me back.) I will also encourage more people to read it next year.
hi maggi
just to let you know that I was asked to write a short book review for your book for the UKCBD website – it’s only a short one, but I thought I’d let you know.
http://www.christianbookshops.org.uk/reviews/beginningsandendingsandwh.htm
I loved it, obviously, and am looking forward to working through david winter’s lenten series.