Rev Dr Sam Wells - 30/10/26

Available for over a year

Good morning. A year ago, the Labour MP Sir Chris Bryant spoke in my church’s Autumn Lecture series. He outlined three dimensions of politics. First, profound moral convictions, a vision of the world you yearn for and a clear sense of the boundaries you would not cross to realise it. Second, the skill and dedication to turn that passion into policy and legislation. Third, building a coalition of interest, horse-trading and compromising, teamwork and motivation, resilience and taking the initiative. I recalled these three dimensions as the Israeli election unfolded this week. The protagonists have about the same number of seats, but seem unlikely to form a government without some sort of partnership or by doing a deal with the Arab parties – something they’ve consistently ruled out. It would be a gripping reality show; if the consequences weren’t so deadly serious. It’s common to hope or assume one can go through life in general or experience religious faith in particular without having to engage the third element of politics. Phrases like, ‘It’s all getting very political,’ or ‘It’s come down to grubby political bargaining’ express the assumption that life should be about unsullied moral conviction and wise policy decisions and everyone should just rally behind those. Christians can give a theological name to each of these three dimensions: the vision part, they call faith; the plan part, they call God’s kingdom; the alliances part, they call church. It’s common to say, ‘I get Jesus – but I’ve no time for church’; but that’s really saying, ‘I want the vision and programme, but I lack the stomach for finding ways to work with and be with those with whom I profoundly disagree.’ Meanwhile it’s also a somewhat sentimental understanding of Jesus. Jesus certainly was about retreating to the mountains to pray. But he was also about a liberating agenda of freeing captives and cancelling debt. His disciples were a broad coalition of zealots, working people and collaborators. And we can read the stories of him disputing with the reigning powers about tax and authority and arbitrary punishment as precisely the kind of horse-trading an idealistic faith disdains. Of the three dimensions of politics, perhaps nobody’s outstanding at all three. In truth, we tend to default to the one that comes most naturally to us. There’s no denying when public life becomes horse-trading to the exclusion of policy or vision, it can be an ugly business. But politics isn’t about turning everyone into a version of ourselves. If it’s fair to say politics is about vision, policy and compromise, the mistake arises when we forget we need all three.