Our Refuge

Does Team GB's Olympic success prove that Britain is still 'Great'?

In the aftermath of the Brexit vote, Britain is undergoing something of an identity crisis. Our news media are populating our screens with stories that reassure us in some way that Britain still has lots to offer.¹ We do have potential, we do have a future – we are still Great Britain!

Olympic Fuss

Newspapers and TV screens are filled with Olympic success. Never have our athletes done better! Next week they will be coming home with pockets full of gold and silver and bronze. Our ranking in the medal tables has exceeded all expectations. Team GB has done brilliantly, but has the media coverage been excessive? It is as if the rest of the world has stopped turning for two weeks!

Five-year-old Omran Daqneesh, rescued in Aleppo. See credits below.Of course, it is the 'silly season' for news when politicians are all at their beach resorts trying to forget Westminster, the economy, the world and all the other things that fill their minds through the rest of the year. But do we risk shutting our eyes to the horrors of war still taking place in Syria? Dare we turn a blind eye to the little boy in the ambulance in Aleppo, his blood-stained face in deep shock, too traumatised even to cry – his home just blown from around him by a Russian or a Syrian bomb?

Perhaps, as a nation, our confidence has been so greatly shaken during the past three months that we are trying to focus upon something which increases our sense of security and self-worth. The removal of the EU crutch by the Brexit vote left us suddenly feeling wobbly and vulnerable, in need of something else to grab onto to steady ourselves. The Olympics came at just the right time!

The news media has seized the moment to rejoice in a new wave of patriotism² – it's a bit like the last night of the Proms as we watch our athletes getting gold and the world listening to our national anthem! Is this heralding a return to the old nationalism – the patriotic sentiment that much of the media were ironically so keen to dismiss during the Referendum campaign as old-fashioned and backward-looking, compared with the glamourous, cosmopolitan lifestyles promised by the EU?

Suddenly Britain's national 'greatness', our position relative to all other nations, has become all-important again – at least for the Olympic fortnight.

Our national confidence has been so shaken during the past months – no wonder we are trying to increase our sense of security and self-worth.

The Search for Fulfilment

It is human nature to seek security and safety, identity and fulfilment – and this is true at a national level as well as for individuals. For Britain, we are at a very special juncture in our history: trying to come to terms with the imminent removal of that which has given us a major sense of security and identity - of 'who we are' as the United Kingdom - for more than 40 years of EU membership.

Of course, the shock of Brexit might ultimately be good for our island's entrepreneurial spirit – forcing us to go it alone and prove that we Brits 'have what it takes' to succeed in the modern world, instead of riding on our past colonial successes or our membership of the EU bloc.

But ideally, the shock will also encourage people to ask deeper questions about our direction as a nation, rather than just grit their teeth and struggle on.

Blessed Assurance

Whether they are quite conscious of it or not, many people are feeling shaken and unnerved by the current volatility – politically, economically, socially, culturally - both at home and abroad. All bets are off; our previous 'way of life' can no longer be taken for granted. Nobody knows what the future holds.

Given this state of affairs, it is not surprising that the mainstream media is scrabbling around desperately for something else to lean on, something seemingly stable. But as the nations are shaken, God's loving intention is that people turn to him – not to some other definition of identity that revolves around our own strength and prowess as human beings. Ultimately, we were designed to seek and find our fulfilment in the God of Creation, before anything and anyone else.

Many people are feeling shaken and unnerved by the current volatility – all bets are off.

There may be a strong sense of anti-climax when the Olympics are over but if those who do have a faith in God can use this opportunity somehow to present a more hopeful vision for the future, we could see the nation gaining a new sense of purpose and direction – a newly-strengthened identity in God! We should not overlook the fact that a huge amount of prayer for the nation preceded the Referendum - the opportunity is there now for Christians to share their faith in God with others.

The only ones who have access to true stability and peace in these difficult days are those who have found their ultimate security, fulfilment and protection in the immovable Rock of Ages, the Lord Jesus. Our fellow Britons will not find genuine stability from any other source – so we MUST make sure that they see him in us! We have a mandate to declare and live out the truth that God alone holds the key to all unknown – and will be a sure foundation for all who trust in him.

References

1 Perhaps they are assuming that those who voted Remain are still in the depths of despair, and/or hoping that those who voted Leave have since changed their minds!

2 See similar analysis from Alan Cowell of the New York Times, 18 August 2016.