The editorial from the T4CG Newsletter, Lent 2024. To view full version click here
Again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain, and showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, “All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.’ ”
Matthew 4:8-10
Last week I was in Rome. I found myself standing outside the Pantheon, a vast and imposing building. I remembered it had been a pagan temple. It was overbearing and conveyed a terrifying power. Around me in the sunshine I watched people busily worshipping the modern gods: brands, self image, consumerism. I remembered too, that Christendom is dead. And I realised that without Christ, the world will descend into chaos.
You might think this is overly dramatic. But this is a very strange time. More and more forms of disturbance are emerging: social, economic, and especially psychological symptoms in relation to identity. The great unravelling is affecting how people think. In this age we are not seeing the loss of religion: the turning away from God merely means people are worshipping something else.
In Lent, we think of Jesus withdrawing to the desert. Having been baptised by John, he goes to a remote place to be alone with God. There he is tempted by the devil who offers him “all the kingdoms of the world.” He refuses this offer of power and control. He resists and rejects the great deceiver. He then returns to Galilee, finds his followers and introduces people to the real kingdom, the kingdom of heaven.
Our temptations may be less obvious. We may be tempted to look to the world and to imitate the zeitgeist. But instead we are called to provide a witness as prophetic leaven in the world. We are called to seek the peace of the city where we have been exiled, to pray to the Lord for that city, for in its peace we will find peace. We are called to be outward-facing, joyful, to engage with our neighbours, to build a shared life.
This decaying culture is scarred by individualism and identitarian ideologies, by social and economic dysfunction, by cultural and covenantal breakdown. There is a vacuum where political leadership ought to be. Populations are demoralised and multiple pathologies indicate human distress. But these are great and wonderful days to be alive. This is a time when as God’s people we find ourselves in increasing opposition to the world yet called to live abundantly within it. This position of opposition can and should be a joyous opportunity to do as Jesus did, to participate in God’s great creative participation, in the way we live.
There are opportunities to be a blessing on our culture, to bring to life again the infant Church described in the Acts of the Apostles. There are roles for God’s people to play in spiritual and civic renewal. We have a story more compelling than individual autonomy, more meaningful than power and wealth, more beautiful than the cult of self. All around us are people desperate for meaning, and our tradition has an answer: a story of justice, truth, beauty and communion. A story that gives us the authority to reject the temptations of power in inhuman systems, the dull compulsion of markets and the commodification of human beings and the natural world.
There is a work to be done. This work is about restoring community, about defining and defending the place of the family in society, about protecting the innocence of children, about good business practices, about solidarity with poor communities, about just and covenantal relationships, about trust, responsibility, mutual obligation and belonging, about what it means to be human. To do this work, we must reject the false promises of both collectivism and individualism, the divisiveness of identity politics and the corruption of neoliberalism.
We start always by seeking first the kingdom of God. This means living God’s economy and cultivating relationships of loving friendship with our neighbours, building the common good across class, opinion, race, sex, age and educational background. We are called to be prophetic, countercultural, to resist structures of sin and to build structures of grace.
So this Lent, in a world falling apart, let us take time in the desert, away from the noise: to be close to God, to be tested, to reject the temptations of the world and get ready to join in with building the kingdom.
***
As ever, the work of T4CG goes to the heart of these challenges and opportunities, and seeks to inspire and support you. This edition includes a outstanding lecture by Matthew Petrusek on the common good response to identity politics, plus you will also find two short talks from me – one on justice, and another about T4CG’s mission. Then there are two moving grassroots stories, one by William Taylor about the purpose of the parish, and another by Karen Reed on what it means to be a good neighbour. And to serve our young people, we have developed a free Lent resource for schools prompting them to consider who is my neighbour. You’ll also find links to the latest episodes from our Leaving Egypt podcast, in which we explore what it means to be God’s people in an age of unravelling, along with details of our new monthly discussion Forum. Finally we include our latest selection of articles to read the signs of the times, and some recommended books.
Jenny Sinclair
Founder and Director, Together for the Common Good
Like what you are reading? More inspirational content from Jenny Sinclair can be found here: https://togetherforthecommongood.co.uk/news-views/from-jenny-sinclair
This is just the editorial from the T4CG Newsletter, Lent 2024. To read the full content, click here