Blake, The Blitz and Brexit

I wasn't at-all surprised to hear that according to a 'Songs of Praise' ballot, Britain's favourite hymn is 'Jerusalem'. Although it's actually not a hymn at-all, but rather a poem set to music, 'Jerusalem' is frequently sung in Church, not least at weddings and funerals, and continues to be a firm favourite at 'The Last Night of The Proms'. In Brexit Britain, it is, I suppose, inevitable that its apparently patriotic sentiments resonate with a jingoistic nostalgia that longs for the halcyon days of the British Empire.

As a so-called hymn, from a theological perspective, 'Jerusalem' is pure drivel. Rather than praising God or making a strong statement of faith, it actually poses a series of questions:-

And did those feet in ancient times
Walk upon England's mountains green?
And was the Holy Lamb of God
On England's pleasant pastures seen?

And did the countenance divine
Shine forth upon our clouded hills?
And was Jerusalem builded here
Amid those dark Satanic mills? 

The answer to each of these questions is, of course, a resounding 'No'.

Whilst some have tried to link Blake's words to a legendary visit to England by the child Jesus accompanied by Joseph of Arimathea or (more realistically) to the vision of the heavenly Jerusalem outlined in the book of Revelation, many more suspect that Blake's tongue was very much in his cheek as he wrote.

As with so many other things, our individual interpretation of 'Jerusalem' is largely dependent upon the particular lenses through which we look.  For those who perceive England (rather than Great Britain) as a very special nation, the words will have profound meaning. If only Jesus had indeed walked upon these shores, it would have validated our sense of superiority, including our assumed God-given right to troop into other nations and tell their people how to live their lives. (These days, of course, there might be some competition here with Trump's America, and the fact that such a parallel can be drawn is in itself profoundly disturbing.)

Whatever one's views on the rights and wrongs of Brexit, I for one am firmly convinced that for some Brixiteers at least, a yearning for the old glory days of the empire underlies much of their thinking, whether consciously or subconsciously. They see the empire through rose coloured spectacles, turning a convenient blind eye to some of the atrocities that were committed in the building of that empire.

It seems that as a nation, we seem to have an exceptional capacity to develop collective 'false memories'. This is expressed when people talk about how the 'Blitz Spirit' will get us through any crisis resulting from Brexit. Interestingly, those who genuinely lived through the horrors of the blitz are the ones who most passionately want to avoid any recurrence of such hardship. They look through the lens of reality and painful memory. 

In any event, I'm afraid I'm not convinced that the modern Brit is capable of such stoicism and community spirit. After all, if there's the slightest hint of a shortage of any particular commodity, most people immediately panic buy and hoard. It's everyone for themselves, and I see little evidence of the Blitz Spirit at work there.

The recent collapse of Thomas Cook and the resulting repatriation operation reminds me of how Jeremy and I were 'stranded' on the Greek island of Kefalonia when XL Travel went under in 2008. We too had to be rescued by ATOL and ended up having three extra days of holiday. The attitude of our fellow holidaymakers was as fascinating as it was bizarre. Many complained and whinged about 'lack of information'. We had been notified that we would be repatriated and (ironically) that the Thomas Cook office on the island would be co-ordinating the operation at our end; but, until Jeremy and I stepped into the breech, no-one wanted to accept responsibility to contact the office to check what flights were being arranged, nor did they see why they should do so. There was no sense of people being ready and willing to do something to help themselves in this crisis. Indeed, the over-riding attitude was one of righteous indignation, and people kept saying, 'THEY should be talking to us. THEY will have to do something. THEY will have to contact us to let us know when our flight's leaving. It's a disgrace that THEY are leaving us here like this.'

'Who' I eventually asked 'are THEY?' It turned out that 'THEY' were the UK government and ATOL, or put another way, 'Mummy and Daddy'. THEY were the people who would shield us from the crisis and make everything alright.

Sadly, I am not at-all confident therefore, that the British People would cope well with any kind of major crisis. Far from the Spirit of the Blitz I think we would witness selfishness and passivity as our nation waited for 'THEM' to sort out the mess for us. I desperately hope that I am wrong. I hope even more so that we won't need to find out.

Some time ago, on a TV debate about Brexit,an audience member said this:-

"Great Britain is the largest (sic), greatest and most powerful nation on earth.We were once a mighty empire and we can and should be again. We don't need anyone else for anything." 

Whether these words express arrogance or naivete - or perhaps both - I find them positively chilling.

No doubt there will be those who will accuse me of being unpatriotic. I firmly and utterly refute that suggestion. I believe I am a patriot.  I believe there is much that is good about our country and that we have a great deal to celebrate and to be proud of, but I also believe that if healthy patriotism is to be prevented from morphing into an unhealthy nationalism, we need to look at ourselves and our modern world through the lens of reality and at our past through the lens of truth.

It is one of the roles of the church if not to be the conscience of the nation then at least to prick it. If Blake's 'Jerusalem' has any religious value at-all it lies in the challenge of his final lines:-

I will not cease from mental fight
Nor shall the sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem 
In England's green and pleasant land. 

The challenge is to make our country look more like the Kingdom of God. To do so, we need to look forward and move forward and not to yearn for the past, least of all a past that never really.existed.