Rev Richard Coles: Don't leave us this way!

The Rev. Richard Coles is, according to The Guardian, ‘Britain’s top media vicar’. Known for his appearances on QI, Have I Got News For You and Radio 4, he’s been all over the airwaves in recent weeks publicising his ‘out in time for Christmas’ book – Fathomless Riches. What makes him particularly interesting is that, along with Jimmy Somerville, he was formerly part of the Communards – whose 1986 release ‘Don’t leave me this way’ was the biggest selling UK single of that year. Richard Coles’ life story is one literally full of ‘sex, drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll’ and his book by all accounts is a no-holds barred telling of all three. A story which, of course, makes his current vocation as a Church of England vicar all the more intriguing.

Coles comes across as decent and personable. He is articulate, expresses himself humbly and has ‘seen life’ in a way that makes his current pleasantness all the more admirable. He is, however, impeccably liberal in his theology – his move into ministry driven it seems by a search for purpose and moderation rather than any deep repentance or radical conversion. Indeed, you suspect, it is precisely his subversion of many traditional Christian teachings that makes him such a darling of the media. His is the voice of Christianity as the BBC would like it to be; it is the teaching of the Bible if it had been written by Harriet Harman.

So what exactly is the Gospel of Richard Coles and indeed all those other Christian clergy thought passable enough for Radio 2’s Thought for the Day? A good example of it was his short contribution to an edition of This Week (4/12/14) which began with an observation that our society is too preoccupied with material things and consequently other important but non-financial aspects of life are often not valued enough. The finish was, as befits a songwriter, beautifully poetic – ‘This is my Autumn Statement: at the year’s end and in gathering darkness let’s look beyond Black Friday, Cyber Monday and the fading digital radiance of a discounted 50 inch TV, to a wholly unimaginable light breaking in an wholly unexpected place’.

Sadly the subsequent studio discussion offered no explanation about that light or that place – instead we got Coles arguing for enshrining in Law the UK’s overseas Aid budget at 0.7% of GDP, while Michael Portillo pointed out the increasing irrelevance of the Church of England in the nation. Richard, of course, was charming and affable throughout all this – but therein lies the Gospel of today’s media-endorsed clergy. It is the Gospel of ‘let’s all just be a wee bit nicer to each other’. Now nothing wrong with encouraging folks to up their game in being patient, civil and thoughtful – but the Gospel it is not! A fruit of the Gospel yes, but the message that got Jesus crucified and the apostles persecuted – really?

Nevertheless, endlessly repeated on ‘God Slots’, the newspaper columns written by Ministers at weekends, and the invited religious input on ‘the topic of the day’ - is the Gospel of ‘God is nice, He thinks you’re really nice, so let’s all be a bit nicer, Amen’. Thus establishment Christianity has become little more than Comic Relief without the jokes.

VIRGIN RECORDS

Coles’ parish is ‘St Mary the Virgin’ (in the Diocese of Peterborough) so we might hope that he would realise more than most that the ‘wholly unimaginable light… in a wholly unexpected place’ is much more radical, edgy and indeed confrontational than a better citizenship programme. For the Virgin Birth, at the centre of that event, was not a gentle nudge to greater philanthropy but a crashing indictment of humanity’s utter helplessness and its need of total rescue.  The Virgin Birth of Jesus Christ was a declaration by God that no amount of human endeavour, however well intentioned, can come close to dealing with our fundamental problems.

Sadly though the ‘Virgin Birth’ is an aspect of that ‘unimaginable light breaking in’ that Coles seems to find genuinely unimaginable[1]. After all, how primitive, naïve and consequently embarrassing to believe such old fables – far better to understand it as a later embellishment giving a pious veneer to a more earthly reality. But the Virgin Birth cannot be put away without putting the stark truths of the Gospel away – because in it is revealed the reason why Christianity exists.

The Virgin Birth is a sign of our utter helplessness

In the centuries preceding the birth of Christ and in the centuries since, the story of

humanity has been an endless cycle of conflict, suffering and failure. The 20^th century began with huge optimism that the future would be one of progress towards greater harmony and happiness throughout the world. Instead of which it was the bloodiest and costliest century of war and killing ever experienced. The 21^st century has begun with 9/11, conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Ukraine, not to mention the ever present ravages of disease and poverty. Today’s children will not do better than their parents – they too will ultimately fall foul of the same incurable human weakness, greed and pride as every generation before them.

The Virgin Birth announced that there is no hope inside our humanity – our only hope is outside intervention. Thus in Bethlehem a new humanity was born – not of the old flesh but conceived of God’s Holy Spirit. No increase in the Overseas Aid budget, no charity single, no legislation, no social taskforce, no political settlement – can ever put right the catastrophe of the human heart. The Virgin Birth puts paid to any illusions of human self-help or improvement.

The Virgin Birth is a sign that we too need a supernatural new beginning

The message is clear – and should be self-evident – that old humanity, our humanity, is a dead-end. That, of course, is not a message people like to hear, indeed it is a message that Rulers fear, because it confounds our pride and displaces every political claim to be our saviour. The Virgin Birth, however, cuts open history with the introduction of a new humanity – born not of ‘natural descent, nor of human decision, or a husband’s will’ – but born of God.

The Virgin Birth was nothing less than the demolition of our delusional self-sufficiency. Being a bit nicer or even a lot nicer will not suffice – what is required is nothing less than being born again. It’s as total as that! In Bethlehem’s manger, given at a cost to be paid 33 years later, was our second and only chance to live the life we were created for.

To make the Gospel of Jesus Christ little more than a call for moderation and bit more effort is simply to perpetuate the tragedy of lost, floundering and dying men and women.

Praise God, that in the gathering darkness, He did not leave us that way.

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[1] Of the Anglicans I’ve spoken to during the course of my tenure at New Humanist – the Rev Richard Coles, Francis Spufford, Linda Woodhead, Richard Holloway – I have yet to find one who doesn't accept evolution and the Big Bang, who seems really to believe the virgin birth or the Assumption, or who puts great stock in miracles or angels. 

https://newhumanist.org.uk/articles/2912/editorial-woman-trouble