Resist the worldly pressure to always pick a side. Jesus shows us a better way

As division over immigration and social cohesion grows, Bishop Philip North says Christians should reject the temptation to take sides, and instead choose the path of prayer and reconciliation 

Once when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing before him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you one of us, or one of our adversaries?”  He replied, “Neither; but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.”(Joshua 5:13-14).

Whose side are you on? That question seems to be one that confronts all of us right now.

A polarised people

We meet against a backdrop of serious threats to national unity and social cohesion. One of our priests described to me a few days ago how his community has become a “town of two flags” with one half festooned with the flag of St George, the other with the flag of Palestine.

We have seen huge marches for Palestine or against immigration. We are seeing growing anger with politicians and the political establishment and the accelerated rise of populism. So many people seemed to be locked into a mood of anger. Then, three weeks ago, two people were killed in a terrorist-inspired attack on a synagogue in Manchester. 

Against such a backdrop, a world that understands only binaries demands that we take sides. But of course, for us as Anglicans, such binary choices are incredibly difficult to take. We are on the ground in every community so we hear and try to understand every voice.

We understand the desperate fear of asylum seekers driven from home, often for professing Jesus as Lord, and we want to offer a safe place.