Mutuality.

I had a post planned for this evening, but then I checked in on Google Reader and saw this thoughtful piece from Alan in Belfast on the travails of the Presbyterian Mutual Society.

I’m inclined to describe his comment as containing a little of the prophetic — in the sense of the Biblical prophet speaking out to identify both what has gone wrong and what can put it right.

Alan cuts deep, identifying the inconsistencies in the actions of the Presbyterian members of the Mutual, whose Presbyterian identity is surely built around notions of grace, community and mutual concern.

Instead the mess at the Mutual has come about thanks to the same thing that has been happening on a global scale: “If I put my money over there then I might come out of things with just a few pennies more,” and we’d rather not think about the consequences of all this. The problem is that we’re all too connected to and dependent on each other for that to work…