If you get the chance, go and watch The Misanthrope, currently at the Liverpool Playhouse till 9 March then on tour. It's Roger McGough's adaptation of Moliere's 17th century satire of French society. Very clever script and very funny. The poet Alceste hates the world in which he lives, with all its pretence and affectation, but in the end cuts a rather lonely figure as he dissociates himself from it.
I wrote last time about Lent as a time for engagement. How does one engage with a world which at times seems so far from what the Creator intended? Separation, like Alceste, is not really the answer. Christians are 'citizens of heaven' (next Sunday morning's reading from Philippians 3.20) living, as it were, in exile here on earth. Like foreign ambassadors, we extend the courtesies due to the host culture but also bring something of our own.
The current 'horse meat' scandal is revealing I think, fuelled by much media hype. Actually, there's nothing wrong with eating horses is there? - not if you're a carnivore anyway, and the meat is not contaminated in any way (yet to be proven, I think). Mind you, there's a strong argument for vegetarianism in the book of Genesis, and more of us may be turned that way after this! It's just that a) we Brits seem to have a love affair with the horse which makes the thought of eating it distasteful (though it was ok during the War I gather) and b) we have been misled by sharp practices in the food industry. I wonder whether the fuss is greater because of a rather deeper issue: we idolise food. We seem to be satiated with thoughts of food as much as we are by images of sex: most magazines have recipes in them (often with obscure and expensive ingredients), there are countless books about food, and there is endless advertising offering us more and more choices, seasonal and otherwise. Meanwhile, 1 in 8 people in the world still suffer from chronic hunger. Christian Aid (www.christianaid.org.uk) have just launched a new campaign: ENOUGH FOOD FOR EVERYONE IF, which says it all.
If our love of food is a kind of idolatry, then we will not only pay any price to get it (note the prices charged in fancy restaurants - although we prefer it cheap!) but we will also care little for those who go without. We lose our sense of perspective. Most idols are good things in themselves but have become perverted by assuming an importance greater than they are worth. And in our culture, one idol after another is falling: money (the banks), power (politicians), sex (the media - of a certain kind), celebrities (e.g. Oscar Pistorius) and even religion (the Church). Who or what can you trust?
I heard yesterday of the latest diet: the 5:2, which involves 5 days a week eating what you like and the other 2 a severe calorie restriction. Also known as the 'intermittent fasting' diet, because the 2 fast days are not to be consecutive. Although this could be a diet of ridiculous extremes - gorging one minute and almost starving the next - the more serious-minded are looking carefully at the discipline of fasting, which religious people do know a thing or two about: Muslims, Buddhists, Jews and Christians in particular. The virtue of this diet seems to be that of restoring some kind of balance to one's eating habits, if considered seriously.
Abstinence makes the heart grow fonder? The key to the balanced life is to ensure that one's centre is healthy. As Jesus said, 'if your eyes are good your whole body will be full of light' (Matthew 6.22) so be careful where you fix your sights. No idols!
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