During the EU referendum debate a lot of words have been written and spoken. It’s an issue that has aroused the strongest passions on both sides, and it has been far from edifying watching adversaries lay into each other in less than complimentary ways! Strange new alliances have been formed between those normally on opposite sides of the political divide, and friendships have been strained at best, damaged at worst.
Now that the decision has been taken one question that arises is whether those who opposed each other will now be able to work together, or whether those who ‘lost’ will seek to make life as difficult as possible for the winners, and exact political revenge – such is the way of the world.
Worth remembering then that whatever the shape of the EU now, the visionaries who founded it were united in Christ and shared in a prayer retreat at a Benedictine monastery before signing the Treaty of Rome in 1951. The French Prime Minister declared that rebuilding the European community would only be possible if it was ‘deeply rooted in basic Christian values.’ One of those values must surely be the willingness to forgive and be reconciled to one another – something generally only possible once we have experienced personal forgiveness and reconciliation to Christ.
