The local (New Zealand) blogoverse is a flutter today. The male co-leader of the NZ Green Party, Russel Norman has indicated he will step down, This has led to a number of bloggers talking about Russel, and what will happen next. The female leader (The Green Party Constitution requires a male and female co leader) has not stood down, though it would probably be a smart move for the party.

Well, this will keep those of us who follow the politics of a small Island nation in the Antipodes amused for a while. What is more interesting is that Russel used the term “Vanguard of Change”. He was a communist for years, and should know that the Cheka were the vanguard of the revolution: he is saying that the Greens have this position, complete with their tendency to micro regulate us peasants for our own good.

Without referring to the righteous law. Micro regulation has never worked, and causes evil as an unintended consequence. This has been the experience of the reformed (Calvin ended up arguing continually with the Geneva Council — and not always for more rigour, He was happy to call someone heretic and exile, he did not want Servetus burned). But enough Church History. This leads to the text for today.

Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly, holding to the tradition of the elders, and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.) And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“‘This people honours me with their lips,
but their heart is far from me;
in vain do they worship me,
teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)—then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

(Mark 7:1-23 ESV)

There are many ways in which we fall into error: and there are many symbols that had great meaning when built that no one can now decipher. The burning bush, in the photo (of a photo that I’ve just got back from the printer) was a symbol of reformation: that we will not be consumed as a church, as we continually purify ourselves.

In many times we have deluded ourselves. That purifying the externals will make us somehow better. That we can become a righteous community by regulation: if we get rid of the weed dealers, the methamphetamine merchants, the brothels, the prostitutes, the salesmen and those who promote hatred our society will be good.

Ignoring that hatred and passion and lust and covetousness that remains within us. We are not righteous, none of us. And we cannot build a new Jerusalem by a series of statements denouncing the current anxieties of the day as some kind of phobia or cool hashtags.

The failure of the Greens is that they have inhaled the form of an apocalyptic religion, but deny the power of it. They see a perfect society, formed by micro regulation and a precautionary principle that removes the need for duty, for honour, and for standards. (Or they want their standards, and those are not those of righteousness). These ideas, particularly the politics of identity and the worship of tolerance, have infected other parties, making the Greens the vanguard of dysfunction and societal destruction.

I’d rather have a coffee with the guys from Charlie Hebdo who frequently produce anti papist and frankly blasphemous cartoons. They often stand against crooks and hypocrites, as should we all. (Provided I can brew the coffee. I’ve drunk what the French think is coffee: it is worse than their beer).

And us? Look not to the fineness of regulation, the length of hem, the size of hat, the shade of the burqa, the fabric of the shirt, the place of manufacture, the wearing of a suit or lack thereof. Look not to the regulations. Look for the love of the kirk for each other, look for correction of faults, and a congregation showing righteousness by their actions.

At that point, words are not needed.