The cost of conscience and our Members of Parliament.

The portrait that we have of Jesus in Luke’s gospel chapter 14: 25-33 is one in which Jesus is clearly feeling the weight of responsibility of his calling. The challenge that he gives to those who would follow him is one which is mirrored in his own experience of walking the path set for him, in obedience to the Father. Discipleship is costly – let there be no doubt. “Whoever does not carry the cross… cannot be my disciple.” There is a certain heaviness of heart here, following in the footsteps of Jesus is to travel a journey that involves deep questioning of conscience and loyalties.

Jesus himself has wrestled with these same questions. Where does your heart truly lie? What is your real motive? Jesus has agonised over these same questions – not least in the desert for forty days before embarking on his own ministry. He has had to face himself – as it were in the bathroom mirror. It has taken him thirty years of growing-up and preparation before being able to take on the mantel of being the Messiah. And even through the early days of what is to be his life’s saving work there have been doubts – even on the cross. They don’t entirely leave him. It is hard to be human.

But in this text, there is a clear sense of certainty. He has examined himself. He has come to terms with what it is he is called to – the cross and crucifixion. Having examined himself, Jesus is now clear about the path he must tread, and Luke has him turn to his followers and demand the same. The agony of conscience and the agony of the persecuted Early Church become one and the same. To follow in the footsteps of Jesus is to abandon the norms of the crowd and to set out on a different road – even if that means facing the lion in the Roman Amphitheatre – as some of our mothers and fathers of our faith were called to. To be a Christian was to take the risk of being isolated and abandoned for following a different set of values, a different way of living out this life.

We live in extraordinary times at present. As one politician said this week, “It’s not so much with keeping up with where we are as struggling to keep up with where we’ve been.” Events are moving so fast it is difficult to keep up. Part of the unfolding of this chapter of our history has seen both of the Members of Parliament who represent constituents in the Lower Dever Benefice, Steve Brine and Caroline Nokes, having the whip withdrawn from them –being expelled from their parliamentary party, leaving them isolated and estranged from their colleagues. Wherever you stand on the political spectrum and whatever your view on Brexit – and we will all have different views and opinions – and that is fair enough – I want to make this point – and it isn’t a political point – it is a moral point – that both Steve and Caroline should be lauded by local people for bravely standing up for their consciences and personal integrity, placing what they believe to be right and true before any personal gain. Standing up for what they believe to be right has cost them both dearly in terms of their careers. In their own way, both have modelled what it means to pick up the cross for conscience sake.

A number of people have approached me recently to talk about what has happened in parliament and the pain and bewilderment that so many are left feeling – a clear sense of impotence – that sense that those of us watching from the side-line can do nothing about this. As Rector, I took the unprecedented step, for me, to write to both Steve and Caroline, to acknowledge that what they have done has not gone unnoticed in the Dever Valley.

Amidst the unfolding of the drama in London – and we will see more of it in the days ahead – it isn’t difficult to conclude, as many do – and I know this because I’ve heard this a lot in our villages – that politicians cannot be trusted because they are all looking out for themselves. Amidst current turbulence, I think we have to try and remind ourselves that there are some good people in parliament – and we are fortunate in being able to point to our own MPs here in Winchester and in Test Valley who have both shown this to be true.

There is hope amidst the current uncertainties and that hope is manifested in the character and integrity of those who hold to the ideal that to serve as a Member of Parliament is to serve – it isn’t to self-serve – but is a calling to serve those you represent. In a Christian State it is to have the courage to place your feet in the footsteps of Our Lord.

Whatever your political views, whatever political party you affiliate yourself with – there must be place for those who have placed their consciences before anything else. I know that the personal cost to Steve Brine and Caroline Nokes, and their families, has been very high this week. And so, it is right that we hold them and their families, before God, in our prayers.

Revd Mark Bailey

8th September 2019