Maundy Maunderings

The Archbishop of Canterbury, who lives in a palace where he worries about women and homosexuals, has been speaking truth to power in his own inimitable way. He suggested that a new law compelling the great and good to do menial or unpleasant work for "a couple of hours every year" might remind them of "what the needs really are at grassroots level". As one would expect of a Government employee, it seems not to have occurred to the learned Archbishop that many or even most of our lords and masters might have a very good idea of what the needs really are at grassroots level, but might have more pressing priorities than the welfare of others. This lack of insight is all the more surprising in a self-proclaimed follower of Jesus of Nazareth, who clearly stated at his last supper that the needs of the poor were insignificant compared to his own glorification. The Archbishop went on to recommend that we take note of "this startling idea that the goal of the supreme power in the universe is that we should be nurtured, respected and loved". In a Christian context the idea is certainly startling, but not quite in the sense Dr Williams intended. It would no doubt be churlish to suggest that presuming to know the mind of God is inconsistent with Christian humility, and it is certainly not for me to question what the modest Archbishop may have heard in his private conversations with his ineffable playmate; but according to the putative founder of his church the goal of the supreme power in the universe is to exalt a small fraction of the Jewish people and condemn evil-doers (i.e. everyone else) to wailing and gnashing of teeth for eternity.