Jesus Would. Would you?

“What would Jesus do?” says the sign at the foot of the steps to St. Paul’s Cathedral.

I’m not sure that this is quite right. I think the organisers of the demonstration ought to be bolder than this and say, “We know what Jesus would do”.

Now I appreciate that Jesus is not here, and in writing such a statement they would be making assumptions as to what he might have done rather than knowing for sure, but sometimes we just have to trust ourselves.

Jesus, I believe, would be wholly supportive of this demonstration outside this incredible building that is such an iconic monument within the City of Plenty.

So perhaps the sign ought to say “Given the context of Jesus’ life, we strongly believe that he would be with us demonstrating against injustice and greed” – not very succinct I know, but probably more honest.

For I do believe that Jesus would have been out there, saying what he needed to say, giving people cause for consideration and making them stand up and discuss the diabolical nature of the social and economic injustice of organised capitalism around the world. And I don’t think I am alone in thinking that Jesus would have been there either. Dr. Giles Fraser, the Canon Chancellor of St. Paul’s has resigned today as he is very concerned about the possibility of violence occurring in the name of ‘protecting’ the church building.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giles_Fraser

http://twitter.com/#!/giles_fraser

The Rev. Giles must be congratulated. He’s a good man. He is an honest man and he is living by and with his principles. He may have taken the cloth but it is clear he has not been smothered by it.

There is another sign outside St. Paul’s which states, “Insisting on socialism is to insist to be human” – Abdullah Ocalan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdullah_%C3%96calan

I know that this is an exceptionally controversial statement but I am not sure that you can be a Christian, living by and with the ethics of Jesus’ words and deeds, and not be a socialist. I think that what Jesus had to say was very much in line with socialism, humanism and a general notion of equity.

When I was younger, I attended church regularly. I was exceptionally fortunate that there was a large group of young people who attended and we had a regular discussion about some contemporary and historical issues with a Christian interpretation – Was it right for Eric Liddell to refuse to run for his country on the Sabbath? Was it right that people should be tested for HIV without their permission? What should we do about the situation in Ethiopia when we can see children dying in front of our eyes?

I was astounded, I repeat, astounded by the responses from some of my peers. Their comments, egotistical and irresponsible in nature, seemed to have no place in my interpretation as to what Christianity was all about.

Jesus was far from selfish.

As a younger person, I was a little in love with Jesus – well the Robert Powell version anyway.

Oh those eyes! I’ve always been a sucker for eyes, and in the Franco Zeffirelli mini-series version of his life, Jesus had the most piercing blue eyes which even at that young age struck me as somewhat peculiar. Surely, being born in the Middle East, Jesus was more likely to have deep brown eyes.

But I digress.

“Jesus of Nazareth” was a brilliant spectacle of a drama irrespective of your belief in Christianity. It was spell-binding with an impressive cast of excellent actors. There are, however, some scenes that still stick in my mind and one of them is indeed the scene where Jesus enters into the Temple and overturns the tables in disgust at what they greedy powerful ones have done to this place of holiness.

Robert Powell managed to capture the anger and revulsion that Jesus must have felt. Sometimes, injustice and avarice is so contemptible that even people as good as Jesus can find their emotions overtake them in destructiveness.

“Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer’ and you have turned it into a den of thieves!””

Matthew 21 v12-14

Jesus was livid that this holy place of worth could be used to line the pockets of the greedy. He was appalled that this place, where there should be nothing but peace, could be used to house those who thought only of themselves in what they sold to others for inflated prices beyond the reasonable.

Jesus wanted them out of there so that he could pray and think and eventually provide some miraculous offerings to the people who were following him to be healed in body, mind and soul.

This was my Jesus, or my Robert Powell, whatever the case may be. This was my Jesus. He was with me, fighting injustice, demonstrating against the greedy, the selfish and the thoughtless, for even at a very young age I could not cope with unfairness and injustice.

Oh yes, it is very much my belief that Jesus would definitely have felt more at home on the steps of this cathedral supporting those who were actively demonstrating against the greed of the 1% than turn his back and find his gilded throne within.

At the beginning of this year, I had the pleasure of taking my sister and niece around London for the day. Having shopped around, we found ourselves at the gates of St. Paul’s. I hadn’t been in there for years so was quite looking forward to walking around. Only when we got there, it was too late to get a ticket to go in, and thank goodness for that because they wanted £14 per person to get into the place, and that is before additional costs of climbing up to the dome or entering into the crypt.

I am sorry but I cannot possibly condone this sort of payment to enter into a place of worship.

Did they carefully choose to ignore that quoted passage from the bible?

And now they are using the same monetary excuses to try and move the protestors away from their steps; that they are losing money – important money that they will allegedly put to good use - due to the fact that the cathedral has had to be closed for health and safety reasons and the possible obstruction that this makeshift camp is causing.

Before I went down there today, I had little sympathy with this move from the Ecclesiastics but having now visited the site, it is even more apparent that this is vindictive and petty on behalf of the church.

The camp is relatively small. Admittedly, there are the culture vultures like myself swarming around the place, taking photos, reading the signs – some of us giving our support in our presence, but there is no way that this peaceful temporary home of canvas is any way causing a major obstacle to either getting in or out of the cathedral.

The cathedral should be open. It should be free too in my opinion. It belongs to us, the nation. It is a church – a big one yes, but there is no way that Jesus would condone payment to walk through the oaken doors of any place of worship.

It should be open because this is precisely the place where people should be free to demonstrate. The church is supposed to be a sanctuary. Why should this not extend to those who feel they need protection from the establishments that they are so vehemently protesting about? Shouldn’t they be able to turn to the church in such circumstances?

The protestors did not want to park themselves in the small area outside St. Paul’s. Ideally they would have plonked themselves in the middle of Threadneedle Street, or outside the Stock Exchange to really demonstrate their disgust at the corporate prostitution in our midst. But they sensibly decided that there was no way on earth that they would be allowed to stay there (so how did the American version of the protest manage to stay put in Wall Street?).

They decided that they would be sensible and set up camp in Paternoster Square but even that was not feasible according to the Bobbies on the beat in the City. So they turned to the church in request, and they were granted permission by the Rev. Giles, who could sympathise with their cause.

Perhaps they might invite the Dale Farm residents along too.

So what are the protestors trying to do?
According to their initial statement it is this.

“Occupy LSX

Initial statement – dated 16^th October 2011

At today’s assembly of over 500 people on the steps of St. Paul’s #occuplylsx collectively agree the initial statement below.

Please note, like all forms of direct democracy, the statement will always be work in progress.

·         The current system is unsustainable. It is undemocratic and unjust. We need alternatives; this is where we work towards them.

·         We are of all ethnicities, backgrounds, genders, generations, sexualities, disabilities and faiths. We stand together with occupations all over the world.

·         We refuse to pay for the banks’ crisis.

·         We do not accept the cuts as either necessary or inevitable. We demand an end to global tax injustice and our democracy representing corporations instead of the people.

·         We want regulators to be genuinely independent of the industries they regulate

·         We support the strike on the 30^th November and the student action on the 9^th November, and actions to defend our health services, welfare, education and employment, and to stop wars and arms dealing.

·         We want structural change towards authentic global equality. The world’s resources must go towards caring for people and the planet, not the military, corporate profits of the rich.

·         We stand in solidarity with the global oppressed and we call for an end to the actions of our government and others in causing this oppression.

·         This is what democracy looks like. COME AND JOIN US.

And come I shall, and come I have.
What intelligent person could refuse?

These are the very causes that I hold dear to my heart and the causes that I have always held dear. Right now, in 2011, they are more prevalent than ever. We are in a situation caused by the greed of people who do not even have the sensibilities, the nerve or the graciousness to hold their hands up and be accountable for their misplaced and misjudged actions. The bankers have done wrong and they have somehow managed to persuade themselves that they are blameless and it is the rest of us who have made some grave mistake in expectation of rational and reasoned behaviour.

Capitalist greed stinks. Injustice is intolerable. Every single bone in my body, every instinct, every thought and imagination cries out against the unfairness in society. This economic dysfunction with a ratio that defies belief merely accentuates my feelings about what is fair and right in so many walks of life.

Our government has got it wrong, economically. I am not an economist. I do not profess to understand it at all but the cuts are going to dramatically affect hundreds and thousands of people. There is no point, no financial point, in stopping all preventative measures to help those less fortunate in society. All that is created is a mess for future generations but in the days of me, me, me, who cares about what has to be picked up later in the century?
We are sitting on a time-bomb of multiple destructiveness with no sustainability, no intelligent thought and a future generation who have had their intuition, thoughtfulness and imagination stifled.

Fee-paying schooling, undemocratic systems, private health care, thoughtless individuals, uncaring organisations, pandering fools – they all need to go, and come the revolution they shall.

There are good people out there at St. Paul’s. There are people who are concerned for others as much as for themselves, if not more. There are people who are prepared to put their freedom and comfort on the line to create a voice, a democratic voice of reason and thoughtfulness.

This all smacks of a very clear path to Enlightenment, referring back to my previous blog, for the greater good of all will truly help you along your own Way, according to Zen.

We all need to find inner strength and light but collectively we can probably do it quicker, ensuring that the greatest talents of the individual form the maximum potential of the conjoined.

There was the most amazing peacefulness, purpose and serenity down at St. Paul’s today.

There are a few places that I have visited in my life where I have been overwhelmed by a presence that is not of this world. It is indescribable, but there is a presence that one cannot possibly explain.

I have felt it in overgrown woods, on islands lost to the why’s and wherefore’s of the living world, but this was rather different.

Today, I found a serenity, and yes a spirituality, in a place that I did not expect – on the pavement outside a massive cathedral that is completely familiar to me.

Bizarrely, that is not where I ever expected to find it.

As I sat on the steps of St. Paul’s this afternoon, I felt quite at peace.

There was all this turmoil going on in the world, and a hell of a lot of doom judging by the apocalyptic messages from the posters around the place, and yet, I felt confident that change can and will come.

Perhaps this Age of Aquarius really is upon us, and I for one, am going to kick it off on the 11^th November 2011, by doing something in stillness and preparing for the prospect of World Change.

Yes, I may be a dreamer but I am looking forward to the approach of 2012, not as an end to the world, but an end to the world as we know it, as we have created since the European Age of Reason.

I’m ready, and I just hope that those I love and care about, as well as those who I do not yet know, are ready too.

Now, if only there was a political party that represented my views and opinions in such a mirrored way that I could sign up and join them. If only there was a spiritual movement that didn’t fill me with unspiritual thoughts.

Perhaps it is time to just invent oneself and hope that the synergy will happen in time, somewhere along the Way.

I’m ready. Are you?