Representation of The People by The People

 

I once served as an MP.  Let me explain that!

I sat in my School Parliament as an elected representative of my class; these were heady days you understand and I loved it for we all took it very seriously.

This was my school’s way of instilling a love of democracy among us, and I continue to be grateful for their efforts. 

Of course, to anyone who even casually dips into history it’s obvious that democracy, to misquote Churchill, is the worst form of government except for all the others.

I often think of that whenever I get the chance to visit parliament at Westminster.  I know its architecture is gloriously ‘over the top’, yet perhaps it was quite deliberate of Pugin to give both the Commons and Lords the feel of a cathedral, for there is something reminiscent of the ‘sacred’ in this citadel dedicated to democracy.

One of my favourite scenes from the American political drama series The West Wing is a visitation to the White House of a new democracy recently carved out of The Eastern Block.  The President drafts in an eccentric history professor to facilitate them in drawing up a constitution.  They gather in the Roosevelt Room day after day till long into the night seemingly getting nowhere, with not a page of the new constitution drafted.  Eventually an aide challenges the wise professor who says it matters little that nothing has been written, that can all be done when they get home, for now these few days have been focussed on discussing democracy, getting a feel for it and beginning to have a deep appreciation of what it means, he called it a ‘beautiful process’!

Such thoughts have filled my mind over recent days because it seems that the Russian system of government has enabled dictatorship and an evil tyrant to triumph and wreak terror on its neighbour without the slightest reference to the wishes of the Russian people.

The Bible tells us we have an ongoing responsibility to pray for our leaders.  Today we pray for those leading Ukraine that they will be sustained, even as we continue to pray that those leading Russia will stop this bloodshed.  And longer term, we carry the hope that a more effective dialogue will emerge in Russia so that one day there may be a true representation of The People by The People.

Lord, look upon our broken and blooded world, sustain those who are fighting for their lives and show, we pray, those who would act with aggression the way of peace.
Lord, have mercy.