Holy muddle

Last week the newspapers reported on a priest and his congregation who have decided to leave the Church of England and join the Roman Catholic church.  I wish that congregation well on their Christian pilgrimage but I won’t be joining them.

In an interview this week their criticism of the Church of England seemed to rest on it’s  accommodations to the modern world and current controversies around women bishops and gay clergy.  They suggested that this was indicative of a Church that was no longer true to the faith once received.

I have to say, however, that much of what was criticised are qualities which I celebrate.  I am glad to be a priest in a Church that can debate doctrine openly.  I am glad that this Church finds its way in the modern world by weighing Scripture, reason and tradition.  And I am glad that we believe that the Spirit of Christ will continue to guide us into all truth.

From Jerusalem to Constantinople and from Rome to Canterbury the history of Christendom has been one of a meandering pilgrimage exploring what it means to be the Body of Christ in the world today.  If church history teaches us anything it is that the answers to that question are seldom straightforward.

For the Church of England this has meant that we have ordained women to the priesthood for the past seventeen years.  It has also meant that over twenty years ago, our House of Bishops report was able to recognise the gifts and the blessing of gay clergy and repent of homophobia.  And for these reasons and many more I’m staying in a messy, flawed and holy Church of England.

Dewi Sant

My father was born above his parent’s hat shop in south Wales and his father was known as ‘Davies the hat’ to distinguish him from all of the other Davies. If he were still alive, he would be proudly wearing a daffodil on Tuesday to celebrate St David’s Day.
 
Dewi Sant died around 601 and was remembered as a holy priest and Bishop who set up a dozen monasteries. The most famous of these was the one at Menevia where St David’s Cathedral now stands. The monastery was so austere that it was said to rival the saints who lived in the deserts of Egypt. Little is known of his life although he did attend an important meeting of the Synod of Brefi where, according to tradition, he spoke so well that he was made Primate of the Cambrian Church.

His fame may also have something to do with the desire of the Welsh church to assert their independence from Canterbury; a tradition that continues today with the campaign to make St David’s day a public holiday in Wales.

Along with Columba, Ninian and Patrick, David is one of our early Celtic saints whose faith was intimately connected with the world around them. They saw the presence and power of God in creation and in appreciating this, they also had a sense of their own fragility. One Celtic prayer that sums this up well and can be used by anyone feeling overwhelmed by the world around them is that of a Breton fisherman who prayed:

Dear God, be good to me;
the sea is so large,
and my boat is so small.

A good read

I was recently asked to recommend reading material for someone wanting to deepen their Christian faith and, having flicked through my bookshelves, I came-up with the following shortlist, all available from Amazon. The emphasis is on introductory books for busy people.

‘Reflections for Daily Prayer’ Reflections on Bible readings for every day of the year written by a solid selection of Anglican luminaries. Good for commuters.

‘Lift up your hearts’ edited by Rev Andrew Nunn, sub-dean of our Cathedral this is a lovely collection of prayers for Anglicans.

‘This is our faith’ written by Jeffrey John, Dean of St Alban’s, this is a good adult overview of the Christian faith and often used for confirmation courses.

‘How to pray’ written by Stephen Cottrell Bishop of Chelmsford, it gives a good grounding in what prayer can be and how we can fit it in to our daily lives.

‘The Hitchhiker’s guide to the Bible’ by Colin Sinclair, a Church of Scotland minister. A bite size introduction to the differing books of the Bible.

‘What is the point of being a Christian?’ written by the Roman Catholic Dominican Timothy Radcliffe this is more upbeat than it sounds and is a very good read.

‘A very short introduction to Anglicanism’ by Anglican theologian Mark Chapman, does what it says on the cover.

I would be interested to hear what Books others would recommend and may well produce a longer list in due course.

What price love?

With the shops full of expensive chocolates, fluffy red hearts and a dozen red roses a snip at £40, Valentine’s Day is once again upon us.

The historical origins of St Valentine are, however, sketchy to say the least. There are various early Christian martyrs called Valentine, one of whom was buried in Rome on 14th February. Medieval writers didn’t allow a lack of ancient fact to get in the way of a good legend. Stories developed that the martyr Valentine had been a priest secretly performing marriages against the wishes of the Emperor. For his pains he was imprisoned where he performed a miracle curing the daughter of his jailer. He later fell in love with this young maid and the night before his execution wrote her a note signed, ‘from your Valentine.’

Fact or no, an annual celebration of romantic love strikes me as a good idea. The Bible has a lot to say on the subject famously describing Christian love or ‘agape’ in 1 Corinthians chapter 13. My favourite passage on love, however, is from the Song of Songs. At just eight chapters it is a book which can easily be overlooked but it is packed with beautiful and erotic imagery that speaks powerfully of yearning love and passionate embrace. It reminds us that love is not to be played with and that it’s value should never be underestimated. A timely reminder if you are still to go shopping for that special someone.

“Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm; for love is strong as death, passion fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, a raging flame. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If one offered for love all the wealth of one’s house, it would be utterly scorned.”

Tree hugger

As the days begin to lengthen, Oscar (my Spaniel) and I have enjoyed listening to the Woodpeckers drumming out their territorial claims in Dulwich Woods.

So it is with concern that I read of plans to sell off hundreds of thousands of acres of British woodland.  It seems I’m not alone, a new poll suggests that the overwhelming majority of the public are against it and a recent letter of  protest in the Telegraph was signed by over ninety influential figures, including our own Archbishop.

Down the centuries, forests have served Britain well, from our Navy to our railways they have been a vital contributor to our island’s story.  In their latest incarnation they provide green lungs to our communities, diverse habitats and much needed places for rest and relaxation.

The sacredness of trees may well sound a dubious, hippy or even pagan idea but it is worth remembering that trees also feature at vital moments in our Christian story.  It was the tree in the Garden of Eden from which Adam plucked the fruit when humanity turned its back on God.  Christian mystics have often remembered that first tree and seen the cross on which Christ died as a second tree through which we turn back to God.  This ‘tree of beauty’ is one whose deep roots and spreading branches reunite heaven and earth, the world and it’s creator. 

A similar connection may well be made when we stroll through woods, climb trees and look up at the sky through a hundred shades of green.  At many levels, some of them barely understood, trees have a hold on us and we would do well to keep a hold on them.

Woodland Trust

38 degrees petition

Save our Forests Campaign

Teenage mum claims son is God's gift to the world

I sometimes wonder how the newspapers would cover Christmas?

The Guardian:
Shepherds’ union claims night shifts to blame for hallucinations

Daily Telegraph Court Circular:
HRH Herod the Great, represented by Their Excellencies Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar, will be received by Mr & Mrs Joseph, (Son of David). Dress code swaddling bands.

Daily Mail:
TEENAGE MUM CLAIMS SON IS ‘GOD’S GIFT TO THE WORLD’

The Sun:
STARS ON SHOW IN STRICTLY STABLE SHOCKER!

If this were the coverage then we might be forgiven for missing what it is all about. Fortunately over the next few weeks we get an opportunity Sunday by Sunday to get the beyond the headlines. This season is called ‘Epiphany’ and in it Christ is revealed for who he really is.

Firstly we discover that he brings salvation not only to the Jews but to all the nations of the world, as the wise men come to worship him. Today we are told that this child is none other than the Son of God. Then over the coming weeks we discover that he is to be the leader of a movement as he calls the first disciples, a worker of miracles as attends a wedding at Cana and an answer to prayer as he is presented at the Temple.

This may not rival wiki-leaks but these are revelations which really ought to shock our world.

Doing Christmas properly

I’m a great believer in a traditional Christmas. One in which the Advent wreath comes from the woods, the he Christmas tree is as large as possible and the lights on it are real candles.

My enthusiasm for tradition has of course been helped this year by our snowfalls creating those traditional Christmas card scenes and giving me the ideal opportunity to snowball the choir. In short, I believe Christmas needs to be done properly.


Now I do realise that on closer inspection many of our most cherished traditions have more to do Victorian Britain than first century Bethlehem. And therein lies the danger. For in our enthusiasm, we can turn Christmas into an ideal of yesteryear. Worse still it can become a child’s fairytale that could never true in any age.

To avoid such traps, to do Christmas properly, we need to pay attention to the details of what we have just heard in our gospel reading. So- who have we met? A Roman Governor, worrying about the state of the public finances. An anxious father, trying to keep a roof over his families’ head. A pregnant teenager, wanting the best for her child. And shepherds, struggling through the night shift. And then finally, there is a child born into poverty and homelessness. These are real people, facing everyday experiences. This, it seems, is no Fairy tale...

But the real surprise in this story is not how human they all are but that one of them is so much more. The real miracle is that on this Holy night, God became human in Jesus Christ. That same God who created us to be in relationship with him, who saw us turn our back on him in the Garden of Eden and who sent the prophets to call us back to him. This God now sends his son to become one of us.

And in doing so all those divisions are overcome, all that separates us from God is wiped away and we are re-united with our creator and renewed in his image. On this Holy night God made his home among us that we might for ever dwell in him. And as he shares in the poverty of our flesh so we share in the riches of his divinity.

So on this Holy night come- join with the angels in their praise, the Shepherds in their worship and Mary as she treasures all these things. Because if we are really to do Christmas properly, we must share in this Holy Communion through which we are once again reunited with Christ. For all of this was made possible by the mystery of Christ’s incarnation wrought for us and for our salvation on this Holy night.

Amen.

Shocking scenes in Westminster

On the news last night I saw four sights that I have never before witnessed.  The first shock was seeing protestors breaking-in to the Treasury on Whitehall.  The second was to see fires burning in Parliament Square and the final shock was to see members of our Royal family coming under attack. All of which is deplorable.

Earlier in the day I had tweeted that I hoped their would be a rebellion tonight but this wasn’t what I had in mind.  I was, of course, hoping that enough Lib Dem and Conservative MPs would rebel against the government and that the huge increase in tuition would not be passed.  Tragically, it was. 

As I watched Nick Robinson’s report on the government, ‘winning the vote in the chamber but losing the argument outside’, it seemed a bit of an understatement.  I am in the happy position of having three degrees.  I can’t help feeling that this is a privilege that few students leaving school this Summer will be able to enjoy.

My tuition fees were covered by my local authority for the first degree in Biblical studies, by a scholarship for the second one in systematic theology and by the Church for the third one in Pastoral Theology.  Now you are probably thinking that these are pretty useless and self-indulgent and I remember my father being uncertain whether I would ever find gainful employment.  But I did, indeed in the twenty-two years since I first graduated (is it that long?!) I have never been out of work.  Over that time these degrees have fuelled my imagination and have been the bedrock of a career in the voluntary sector, often in faith based organisations.

The vote last night means that students starting degrees in September are likely to graduate with a debt of around £30,000 (according to the Institute of Fiscal Studies) and will spend the next thirty years paying it off.  The NUS have led the way in pointing out that such debts will deter students from poorer background and that the mitigating strategies of government are unlikely to have a significant effect.  This is, of course, not really news and previous government reports have acknowledged that potential debts are a particular disincentive to poorer students, lone parents and ethnic minorities.

So this then was the fourth and most troubling thing that I witnessed last night- the privatisation of higher education in the UK.  To be more accurate it was probably the spending review on the 20 October that brought this about.  Last night, however, the reality hit home. 

For school leavers this Summer, I imagine fewer will consider studying for abstract degrees like theology, let alone higher degrees, and faced with huge debts they may well think twice before embarking on a career in the voluntary sector- supporting something called the big society.

BBC question and answer on student fees

The Institute for Fiscal Studies
NUS

Christingle Service 2010

Children, candles, carols and christmas, all in one fun packed service!

Of Gods and Men

A wonderful film exploring the dynamics of community, dialogue and struggle.