OK, Tony, let’s make a start on that - with a few more theoretical observations, just for the sake of clarity.

It means that the church’s first task is to demonstrate righteousness (justice, compassion, love, integrity) internally, in its own communal life, as a global entity. That is what the Law was intended to do; it is what the Holy Spirit now does.

We then need to recognize that our righteousness is always imperfect, and that the good that we do is as much a sign of how things should be and eventually will be - and indeed of who God is - as it is a lived reality. That is what I mean by the prophetic function of the church - even in the good that we do we act out the greater goodness of God’s new creation.

That also applies, I think, for the good that we do to transform the world around us. We cannot help but want to do so - it should be an inescapable expression of God’s love within us. But again it is as much symbolic action as real transformation. In principle, at least, whatever we do to make the world a more just and peaceful place should always have that prophetic, signal character about it: it is an acted statement about the creator and his creation.

I see in that a marvellous invitation to the church now to re-imagine with all the inventive power of the Holy Spirit how the full scope of new creation can be brought to life in the world. I don’t think we’ve begun to scratch the surface of what that might entail, what it means to draw out the dramatic potential of our actions.

The other aspect of this whole thing is the ‘priestly’ function of the Christian community. How do we - no less imaginatively - mediate as communities the reality of the creator God to others? Not by meeting in cosy isolation behind closed doors every Sunday morning. How do we position ourselves socially in order to be a real channel of God’s original creational blessing to the world?

Any suggestions?