The thinker, author, social analyst, and Orthodox Christian, Paul Kingsnorth, is an Englishman living in Ireland, and he has newly come across my path. In consuming a few things he has written, I also came across a talk he gave which emphasises the ways in which he believes a rediscovery of ‘people, place, and prayer’ will be the antidote to our radically disintegrating society. He sees that ‘modernity’ (the world system/ satan’s societal attacks) have targeted these wholesome things given by God and disrupted them. He says, ‘whilst the old values were based around people, place and prayer, the new ones were centred on science, sex and the self.’
I think tonnes could be written about that idea alone, but for now, let me say this. For the church, if we are to be a force for transformation, I believe that attending to relationships, a commitment to the transformation of our communities for the gospel, and for the god of the culture to be dethroned and replaced by its true King, we’d do well to understand these priorities.
Let’s start with people: We are a relational species, but we are being invited to despise our neighbours, not love them. Our rampant individualism (which shows up as much in the church as much as it does elsewhere) sets us on a course for a ‘what I want’ society which means we no longer remember what it looks like to prefer others above ourselves. The root of this is a narcissistic greed whose sneaking tendrils are sensed everywhere. Community is what we have been designed for, and community is what we are ultimately headed for – God want’s for himself a people amongst whom he will dwell.
A world of individuals never creates anything like what God intends. The church are called to be a people possessed by God who are a sign pointing to the reality of that Great Community who will gather around the Throne. A world turned towards each other in love, whilst never fully matching the perfection of glory, is a high Kingdom value which demonstrates undoubtedly the rule and reign of God in the here and now. More than that, nurturing the things that make up a people, and stepping back from the world’s desire to make us into monochrome globalists to exploit us so that the ‘market’ can advance, is a resistance to the dehumanising of people made in the image of God. You might be able to imagine the implications of this.
And what about place? We are the most rootless society for generations, and so not only have we turned away from people, we have created a sizeable cavern of confusion around identity because we don’t know where we belong. We are placeless. Kingsnorth, reflecting on a 97 year old neighbour who recently passed away, says there were a generation who knew who they were because they knew their people and knew the community they lived in. For them, identity had an address, and whilst it was never limited to a place, it was at least a nod to the concept of being ‘at home’, even if you were away from it. Today, however, you have to make your identity up – what a baffling thing to do, and no wonder we’re adrift.
It is possible to exist now almost entirely in a digital world. Post-COVID, we life in one building and work in another country without leaving the room through technological advance. That’s good if it means you have more time for family, community, nature and God…but it’s a terrible master if it leaves you divorced, lonely, trapped inside, and in despair.
It is possible to have an address in a place and have nothing to do with it – and then complain that your place is going down the pan. This is especially true in the big cities, but also on Arran. There are some folks who live locally who could do what they do living anywhere, and fail to be a part of the transformation of the communities where we live. This has an ultimate gospel implication – we’re not connected.
And then, prayer. By this, Kingsnorth means the enthronement of God in a world who think they’ve killed God and who, because of the nature of human beings, now need to find something else to worship. First, we worship ourselves, and then we worship the next biggest thing. This could be technology, the Labour Party, or your bank balance. But without God, idolatry raises its perennial head.
The Westminster Confession begins by declaring that the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him for ever. Our lives must continue to point to God…or at the very least, the rumour of God in a world that has forgotten him, There’s no point shouting at the world who’ve killed God – they’re quite pleased with their progress. Instead, we live the reality of his existence by our love, our worship, or lives and or naming his name.; that which we are told to have on our gates, our foreheads, around our hands, and in our homes (Deut 6). The implication is a life of obvious devotion whilst we can still live that way.
There’s so much practical outworking of that set of ideas, but there is a faith to be passed on to generation after generation so that, when we fall, there’s someone to pick up the flag because we’re rooted in a place amongst the people God is calling together. Big ideas for a Monday night, but enough to keep you going for the rest of your life.
Andrew S M Clark 