I’m writing this before the General Election takes place, and by the time you read this, it will all be over. Or will it?

My impression is that the lead-up to the election was marked much more than others by a widespread sense of frustration. But different people were frustrated by different things! — some by the seeming stalemate about Brexit, some by the way in which supposed ‘facts’ turned out not to be true, some by the single issue of Brexit taking over the whole agenda … and so on.

There’s a big job to do, in restoring our political life as a nation. But it would be wrong to leave that to people who are now members of Parliament. Politics, after all, is how we live in the polis, in society. It’s a job for all of us.

We won’t all think the same way about particular policies. It’s often said that as Christians we should show what it means to disagree well. That’s important and it’s right: respect for those who don’t agree with us is a virtue.

But not everything in public life, every opinion, attitude or action, has an equal status. Faith demands that we are more discerning.

In Psalm 85 we read ‘Mercy and truth are met together: righteousness and peace have kissed each other.’ Without mercy — compassion, especially for those who are vulnerable and poor — our common life becomes self-seeking. Only with truth, free from manipulation and misrepresentation, can trust flourish. Righteousness — justice and the balance of rights and responsibilities — is the foundation of sound economics as well as of a fair legal system, and critically, addresses how our actions and decisions now affect the planet and the environment that future generations will inhabit. Peace is more than the absence of conflict: it is the shalom, the health and wholeness of individuals and nations, internally and in relationship.

All this is more than ‘professional politicians’ can do themselves. Are we ready to look beyond the aftermath of an election and all take our part as people of faith in our stewardship of the future?

+ Paul Whitby