Flags, Faith, and the Via Media

Reflections on Welcome and Belonging

All these flags. As an immigrant myself, all be it a legal one with legitimate access to citizenship, I find the present preoccupation in the United Kingdom of painted and flying flags deeply unsettling and intimidating; even fascist. 

Equally, having grown up under the Apartheid regime in South Africa pre-1994, I find the Christian Nationalist overtures of recent gatherings deeply disturbing.

As an Anglican I have always been drawn to the 'via media' - the 'middle way' - not as a means of sitting on the fence but as a dynamic position holding the extremes of the day securely in both hands while finding that path that affirms our common humanity and human dignity, our belonging to something bigger than ourselves, which from a faith perspective might be termed 'the people of God', a human community that is inclusive - always inclusive - of others.

There are no easy answers in an anxious world where our common security is sought increasingly in the exclusion of others who leave us disturbed, of others whom we perceive in some manner to lessen or put at risk our present and our future wellbeing. 

The Christian faith calls us always to a generous welcome of others, even at great cost. This welcome is not shown in the waving and proliferation of flags; it is demonstrated with wide open arms and broad smiles; and an open invitation to conversation and debate.

Anything less is intrinsically evil.

Mark R D Long

Rural Dean of Leominster | Diocese of Hereford
Team Vicar | Leominster Team Ministry

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