Russell Brand is now starting a 10.5 year prison sentence for crimes against women, including rape. At his sentencing his barrister argued for leniency on the grounds that Brand was now a changed man compared to when he had committed his offences; this largely rested on Brand’s claim to have embraced Christianity. I have no idea if this is true; that is probably known only to Brand and God. Brand’s apparent faith clearly did not motivate him to accept his guilt and spare his victims the court case. The judge recognised this when he passed sentence. I never found Brand funny and was revolted when, many years before he left lewd and offensive messages on the telephone of the actor Andrew Sachs; he had always seemed to me to be a particularly unpleasant individual and so I am not surprised at his crimes and lack of remorse. But despite that, I can believe that he may have had a genuine encounter with God and perhaps is starting to discover some truths about himself. At the heart of Christianity is a recognition that all fall short, sometimes very far short. We say confession at the start of our services because we also know this is a lifelong condition. Faith does not magically stop us repeatedly doing wrong and being in denial about what we have done. But whatever we do cannot invalidate that we are all made in the image of God and all of us are on quest to find ourselves in God, whatever word or term we use for the divine. I do not know whether Brand has even started that path of discovery but perhaps over the next decade he may face up to his own evils and the human being he is really called to be.
Rev David Poyner