Turbulent, Seditious and Factious

At the moment I’m reading a biography of John Bunyan. It’s not a standard type biography. It’s written by the historian Christopher Hill and seeks to explore how Bunyan’s personality and writings were influenced by the context in which he lived. The sub-title of the book is “John Bunyan and his Church”. But the title is “A Turbulent, Seditious and Factious People”. Is that a description that we ought to seek to live up to. Are we a turbulent, seditious and factious people? Ought we to be so? It might seem the answer should be ‘no’, but I want to suggest a bit of ‘yes’. A turbulent people. I think that the church could do with a dose of turbulence. Now, of course, anything in the wrong measure is going to go wrong – but, in the right measure, I think we need this. Something that is effected by turbulence is something that is stirred up. And I think we could do with being stirred up. Wasn’t that precisely what the Spirit did on the Day of Pentecost? I have always seen that as a rather turbulent experience for the first disciples – and, precisely for that reason, it shook them into action. I don’t think we’ll come to any harm if we let God shake us into action. And then a seditious people. My dictionary defined sedition as ‘conduct or speech tending to rebellion or breach of public order’. Maybe we don’t want to engage in breaching public order – but would a little bit of rebellion move us in the right direction, sometimes. I believe that we can learn a lot from the way in which the church has been to the forefront of rebellions that have transformed history in a positive way. Wilberforce and others rebelled against slavery. Martin Luther King and others rebelled against racism. There are plenty of issues around still that need people to speak up – and I Christians are often to the forefront of those who do precisely that – examples include the Jubilee 2000 campaign and the ongoing programme to encourage the cancellation of debt, allied, for example, to ‘Make Poverty History’ and the 2007 Set All Free Campaign addressing questions of ongoing slavery. I think we need a bit of sedition. I think there are plenty of issues around that need the critique of a Christian challenge. And then what about the third element – a factious people. Here my dictionary definition is “characterised by or pertaining to a faction or factions”. Now again you might think that would be something I wouldn’t advocate – but it is all a question of what we mean. If our faction is a case of being faith-based, then I am all for it. If our faction is a case of being Christian, then I am all for it. Being an effective church in today’s society is not necessarily an easy task but, with God’s help, and that is always available to us, it is certainly a possible one.