The Wardman Wire

Following Matt’s challenge, and having zero track record as a pundit, here’s the Touching Base Janus Horribilis (after the 2-faced Roman god of the new year , which as I’m sure you all know we get ‘January’ from)

Face 1: 2007

Moment of the Year was Sam Tyler jumping off the roof in Life on Mars . In the words of his fellow Mancunian, Morrissey “tried living in the real world instead of a sham/but before I began/I was bored before I even began.” (Shoplifters of the World, Unite. For information, we are officially the worst shoplifters in Europe, therefore by the law of averages immigration should reduce the crime rate….)

So ended the best TV series of the 21st century so far, on the nightmare thought that if you thought the 70’s were boring, they ain’t nothing compared to the anyodyne forms-in-triplicate risk-free parody of life that passes for the noughties.

In the end Tyler, having spent most of the series in a coma in 2005, dreaming he was in the 70’s, opts for the dream over the real world.

Who am I?

In the meantime, the series brilliantly plumbed the question of identity: how do you hold on to who you are, when you live in a place which challenges all of it?

Tyler is an alien in a strange land, and struggles to remember where he comes from, whilst beginning to adapt to and feel at home in where he is. The past is another country, and so is tomorrow - we are constantly (unconsciously) all going through the same process as Sam Tyler.

As a nation and as individuals, all that we are comes from the past, but we have to adapt to life in the present, and every value system, whether informed by the past, or by faith, or by philosophy, has to find ways to relate those values to reality.

Who are US?

The USA is currently having its 4-yearly test of values against reality, and realising it has some catching up to do. Meanwhile in the UK the Bishop of Rochester’s recent comments are wrestling with a nation has forgotten where it’s come from, and which has many communities which aren’t making much attempt to adapt to the country where they are.

And who are UK?

This is the big debate of UK politics in the 21st century so far. Whilst Labour and the Conservatives offer minor variations on capitalism with a conscience, the bigger question of the nature of British identity is in the melting pot. We talk about British values, but have forgotten what they are (if we ever knew), and struggle to relate them to a changing world.

In a sense Blair was the first 21st century politician because he realised that old Labour values needed to catch up with reality. He also embodies the danger: that pragmatism takes over entirely from principle, and we forget what principles we had in the first place .

The Christian principles undergirding British law and society are currently up for negotiation - the blasphemy law being a case in point - and everyone from Richard Dawkins to the Roman Catholics have a view.

Face 2: 2008

Okay, it’s another picture from 2007, this time showing the Transfiguration of Dr. Who (strangely, another TV programme involving John Simm) in response to the prayers of the world.

Okay, that’s not exactly what happened, but it’s close (all the people of Earth calling on the name of the Doctor at the same time, channelling energy through the ‘Archangel’ - wink wink - satellite network to restore the Doctor to his full powers. Once he stops glowing and floating above the floor, the Doctor embraces his gibbering foe, the Master, and says ‘I forgive you’.)

Spirituality Adrift?

One of the big issues for Christians and others in 2008 is to what degree we recognise that the spiritual genie is out of the bottle?

Whether it’s the resurrected Doctor, Anthony Gormley’s angels on London rooftops, or Banksy’s prophetic art on the walls of Bethlehem, issues of spirituality, identity, soul, justice etc. are buzzing around in culture right now.

Sci Fi is leading the way - from the Doctor, the resurrected Harry Potter, or the Jesus-like Spiderman who wrestles with the devil under the cross and forgives his enemies.

Who Owns My Soul?

The soul of Britain is no longer the property of the church, but at the same time as secularists are gleefully pointing up church decline, the UK is becoming more spiritual than it has been for generations.

Research by David Hay (detailed findings here), comparing surveys in 1987 and 2000 of people’s reported spiritual experiences, found a significant rise in an awareness of all of these:

• the presence of God
• answers to prayer
• a patterning of events
• a sacred presence in nature,

and several other ’spiritual’ indicators.

At the same time, from The Monastery to Extreme Pilgrim, there is a growing fascination with what makes the spiritual life tick. Why else would Blair’s comments on his faith get more column inches than anything else in the Blair Years?

Returning to which tradition?

Meanwhile, the traditional delivery system for spirituality - the institutional church - is (with quite surprising speed) beginning to rediscover a geniune spiritual dynamism - and where this is not happening it is dying.

As more people have spiritual experiences, increasing numbers are also looking for significant times (e.g. Christmas) or significant spaces - (e.g., Cathedrals) - where they can connect with God. Meanwhile creative forms of church - for skateboarders, clubbers, Goths - are springing up in many places.

In a strange way, as institutional religion becomes less powerful, there is more openness to geniune Christianity (and other faiths too).

However I watch with dismay as conservatives and liberals battle for the steering wheel of the Anglican Titanic, when there are lifeboats to crew and people screaming in the water.