Standing on the cliff-edge of doom

It is said that there are three things British people don’t talk about:  money, sex and politics. Now there are only two.  Both before the referendum vote and especially afterwards, politics was a frequent – and at times the only – topic of conversation.

Like many people across Europe, I woke with a sense of disbelief on the morning the results were announced.  In the weeks immediately following there was a sense of surrealism as political leaders resigned (or didn’t) and others rose to take their place.  And people who had said beforehand they would vote leave no longer admitted to doing so. 

Among our church small group, prayer points reflected our concerns. One friend is being made redundant from a large multinational company. Another, from India, said she has experienced increased racial discrimination at work – a large bank in a city known for its ethnic diversity. And our small group leader, who works for a large Christian development charity, reported that £5 million was wiped off the value of the support they could give to projects overseas, because of the exchange rate with the dollar.

With the summer and the distraction of the Olympics it feels like things have quietened down and Brexit has not been quite so high on the news or conversation agenda. 

As the autumn approaches I am sure it will come to the fore again.  Everyone has a different opinion of what was going on, informed by their newspapers, blogs or TV programmes of choice. But there is also the sense that nobody really knows what is going on, it is all so complex and the negotiations removed from our everyday life which seems to continue regardless.  I may have opinions, but do they count and can they make a difference?

And so how should I as an ordinary Christian with not a lot of power or influence on the wider national agenda, act now?

On the Sunday after the vote our church congregation read together Psalm 46 from the Message version.  There were wry smiles exchanged as we read the second verse:

We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom, courageous in sea storm and earthquake,

Before the rush and roar of oceans, the tremors that shift mountains

But it’s true. Even though we may feel we are at ‘the cliff-edge of doom’, we can stand fearless, because God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him (v1)

The future looks uncertain. People will be impacted in different ways over time, and it will not all be negative.  But I am convinced that what I can do is to not let fear of the future overcome me and to continue to pray and act as God leads.  The context may end up being different than what I thought it would be, but God is still God. 

As Psalm 46 reminds us:

Attention, all! See the marvels of God! 

He plants flowers and trees all over the earth,
Bans war from pole to pole, breaks all the weapons across his knee.

“Step out of the traffic!
Take a long, loving look at me,
your High God, 
above politics, above everything.”

Jo Appleton