The headline in London’s Telegraph declares, “Archbishop backs William and Kate’s decision to live together.” The article goes on to explain that Dr. John Sentamu, Archbishop of York, the “second most senior cleric in the Church of England,” takes a casual approach to pre-marital co-habitation, having seen a great deal of it as a “vicar in South London”: “We are living at a time where some people, as my daughter used to say, they want to test whether the milk is good before they buy the cow,” he said. “For some people that’s where their journeys are.”
Actually, I’ve heard the proverb go just the opposite direction, as in “You may think that boy will marry you because you’re willing to sleep with him, but why should he buy a cow if he can get milk for free?” And the evidence points to the greater wisdom of this latter observation. Whatever Miss Sentamu might have thought, those who decide to play house before wedlock are asking for trouble. (We have several articles on “The Myths of Cohabitation” on our Kairos Journal web site, and our May 4, KJ Daily News feature connects to a Baptist Press article citing five studies which show a high correlation between premarital sex and eventual divorce.)
Archbishop Sentamu’s junket to the land of worldly wisdom reminds me of another “homespun philosopher,” Benjamin Franklin. Remember his aphoristic offerings in Poor Richard’s Almanac? Here are a few:
Better slip with foot than tongue.
No man e’er was glorious, who was not laborious.
Three may keep a Secret, if two of them are dead
Not bad. Better than the Archbishop’s. And Franklin made no pretense of Christian ministry, or even Christian faith. His calling was a far cry from that of John Sentamu, whose work is supposed to reflect the “watchman on the wall” in Ezekiel 33 and the “plumbline” in Amos 7. Instead, we get a tattered and comic flag blowing in the wind.
I understand that Prince Harry has a bit of a drinking and drug problem and that he’s spent some time in rehab. Perhaps a chuckling Archbishop could weigh in with a dismissive, “I’d rather have a free bottle in front of me than a pre-frontal lobotomy.” And if an over-indulging, belligerent, well-connected Harry gets off lighter than the common bloke, Dr. John could reassure his fellow Englishmen, “It’s not what you know, but who you know.” Then, should William and Kate slip into marital strife, he could be ready with the counsel, “Don’t get mad. Get even.”
Why not when you’re fashioning and borrowing “wisdom” with breezy indifference both to the Bible and to your high calling?