Tag: Church of England

Will the Church Survive the Coronavirus Challenge?

The challenges of the past year have indeed been heavy and obvious – apart from the terrible loss of life caused by the coronavirus and the pain felt by grief-stricken families, we are all aware of the immense stresses and strains that have been placed upon other sectors of society, ranging from the NHS and schools, and through to the economy. But recently people’s thoughts and attention were directed by various news articles and items to the state of ‘the church’. This is because the church, like the rest of society, was strongly encouraged to ‘stay at home, protect the NHS and save lives.’ With a natural concern for their communities and indeed their congregations, many of whom are elderly and vulnerable, the church wanted to do the right thing and protect its members. Unfortunately, this meant that the public ‘face’ of the church was strongly curtailed, as many churches felt obliged to close their churches for public worship, and numbers for weddings and funerals were heavily restricted. In many ways this posed a serious challenge, as many usual church activities, home, fellowship & prayer groups, lunch clubs and school activities came to a halt, and along with it all the usual fund-raising activities. However, surprisingly, for churches here within the Necton Benefice, we have managed to provide a pre-recorded online service every week since last March which has been very well received, with folk who aren’t online able to request a DVD or audio CD. Parochial Church Council meetings have continued via Zoom, and most wonderfully people have continued to meet, support and pray with and for each other and their communities weekly by Zoom since last March, which has been a great source of fellowship and encouragement.  However, churches across the benefice have seen a drop in their financial income because of the pandemic, and this is true both at diocesan and national levels as well, leading to press speculation that the church is in decline and will find it hard to survive post pandemic. When articles such as the one that appeared in the Church Times (4th December 2020) report that Chelmsford Diocese had formally proposed to cut 61 stipendiary clergy post by the end of this year, it is clear that the national Church is having to ask itself some difficult questions, prompting The Spectator (6th February 2021) to ask whether the Church of England would become a ‘Holy Relic’ post-pandemic.  This led to a spirited response by both the Archbishops of Canterbury and York (Justin Welby and Stephen Cottrell) in the next issue, who whilst acknowledging the financial difficulties of the current situation, rightly reminded the reader how its priests have buried the dead, comforted the bereaved and both prayerfully and pastorally supported families throughout this pandemic. Yes, the times are changing, and no doubt the parochial system as we have known it will have to change too, and some stipendiary posts will be lost, but the church is not dead, nor dying. There have been more people turning to God and finding faith in Jesus Christ than ever before. “This year, we have seen the biggest rise in ordained and lay vocations for a quarter of a century,” the Archbishops said – which of course neatly reminds us of the church’s greatest asset and ‘not so secret weapon’ which is of course it’s laity. The church is not a building or even a collection of buildings – it’s people, a people who together do not simply put their faith in mere structures or some lauded institution, but in God and his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.    

So, will the church survive the coronavirus challenge? Yes, of course by the grace of God and with your help!

“I long to see you … so that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other’s faith.” Romans 1.11-12

Would You Recognise A Slave If You Saw One?

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Whilst many of us were enjoying the Summer holidays and watching the World Athletics, a darker side of our society also came to the fore last month. The BBCs Home affairs correspondent Dominic Casiani reported how the NCA (National Crime Agency) had revealed that victims of modern day slavery were being forced to work in every large town and city in the UK in far higher numbers than was previously thought – “from the person who washes your car, to the worker who picks your fruit, to the labourer who helped build your house, more people would be coming into contact with them every day” he said. “These are people who are forced to work against their will, under the threat of punishment or as a form of debt repayment. Some of them may not even realise that they are the victims of crime – in many cases they are victims of criminal gangs”.

These are all incredibly vulnerable people who are usually disadvantaged, poor or from other countries who are being repeatedly ill-treated, abused and exploited. The NCA sadly described how the more they looked at the problem the worst the figures became, so much so that they have now asked the public and the general community to help them by reporting any form of this sort of exploitation that they may come across.

Previously, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby alongside the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople at a conference in Istanbul had observed that slavery is more rampant today than at any other time in human history and called it an “abomination to human dignity”. “There is no religious basis or justification for a practice that commodifies human beings” he said and suggested that the church with a presence in every parish was uniquely placed to help spot, confront and challenge those who seek to exploit others in this way. The Prime Minister, Theresa May welcomed the subsequent declaration that came out of the Istanbul conference saying that “modern slavery is one of the great human rights issues of our time, subjecting people around the world to experiences that are horrifying in their inhumanity. We have a duty, as human beings and as Christians, to bring it to an end. The UK is leading the way…but governments alone will not be able to stop it. It is vital that all parts of society do their part”.

The Christian will recognise that as human beings, we are all made ‘in the image of God’ and all equally of value and worth before him. Indeed, Jesus not only summarised the Jewish faith as ‘loving God’, and ‘your neighbour as yourself’, but capped it in his own unique way by giving his disciples the ultimate command that they should ‘love one another as I have loved you’ (John 13.34). In other words, selflessly, sacrificially, compassionately and with a generous spirit as ultimately displayed in his own death upon the cross.

These are sentiments, I believe, that whether we be religious or not, we can all sign up to as marks of our common decency and shared humanity. The challenge is of course, would we recognise this sort of exploitation if we saw it – and if we had a suspicion would we have the courage to report it? I truly hope so, for this sort of problem will only get worse if people ‘turn a blind eye’, ‘mind their own business’ or try to ‘sweep it under the carpet’. Ultimately, we always need to put ourselves in the place of the victim, and treat others as we would like them to treat us – with common decency, dignity, value and respect. That’s part of what it means to ‘love one’s neighbour as one’s self’.

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” Galatians 3.28

Tennis, Time And Timelords – A Reflection

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The numbers and the superlatives were certainly flying around Wimbledon’s Centre Court on Men’s Finals Day when Switzerland’s Roger Federer beat Marin Cilic from Croatia 6-3 6-1 6-4. Not only was it a gloriously sunny day but it was a glorious occasion, marking the BBCs 90th anniversary since its first radio broadcast from Wimbledon; its 80th since its first television transmission, and its 50th in colour. At 35, Roger Federer was striving to win the tournament for a record 8th time, being his 19th ‘Grand Slam’ which would easily make him the most successful male tennis player in history. Despite injury Marin Cilic fought gamely on, but at the end the plaudits were all Federer’s. “He’s just given a ‘master-class’; ‘he’s poetry in motion’; ‘he’s an artist and a gentleman’ the commentators remarked, comments that were all no doubt amazingly and wonderfully true. At the age of 35 Federer appeared to be the man who ‘defied time’.

Which was ironic, because there was another number flying around on that day, which broke into the tennis commentaries and conversations and it was the number 13, for the BBC had decided that this would be ‘the right time’, the right moment, to introduce Jodie Whittaker to the general public as the 1st female actor to ever play Doctor Who (after 50+ years). The speculation was rife as to whether she would be ‘the right choice’ – would the public take to her? In an age which is very conscience of equal opportunities many thought her appointment was long overdue – while many others viewed it as a terrible break with tradition and simply an exercise in PC (‘political correctness’). “I want to tell the fans not to be scared by my gender” Jodie tweeted from the BBC (which in the light of the Church of England’s various discussions about human sexuality seemed to be the subliminal slogan for our day). No doubt Jodie Whittaker will make a magnificent Doctor, but will she spell the end of ‘crotchety old men’ playing the Doctor as originally cast? Only time will tell!

So how should we live our lives? Do we do our best to gamefully defy time or should we simply and gracefully embrace the change and go with the flow? Roger Federer is a magnificent example of what can be done if we keep ourselves in the peak of physical fitness, whereas the majority of us look rather wistfully at the Doctor and dream of regeneration. The incredible thing is that Christians worship a God who is not only the ‘Lord of time’ but who, full of loving purpose, has actually stepped out of his own majestic, divine and heavenly space – and stepped into our time, a place of human history in the person of Jesus Christ. His extraordinary efforts to save and rescue our fallen world and its humanity is the most exciting adventure ever, summed up not in regeneration but in resurrection. The prospect of life after death for all who put their faith and trust in him – not simply as a shadow of our former selves or as a passing resemblance to someone we once knew, but as ourselves living life in all its fullness for all eternity.  That’s a glorious prospect! Perhaps it would be best to conclude with a prayer taken from the funeral service: “Give us the wisdom and the grace to use aright the time that is left to us here on earth, to turn to Christ and follow in his steps in the way that leads to everlasting life.” May this be true for all of us as we embrace and enter into the excitement of this adventure.

“He (God) has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men” Ecclesiastes 3.11

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The Church, Gay Marriage & Not ‘Taking Note’

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The Rt. Revd Graham James (Bishop of Norwich) addressing General Synod

Last week (15th February 2017), the media gave the impression that the Church of England had taken another step towards accepting gay marriage after its ‘controversial report’ (as described by the BBC) proposing that only men and women could be married in church was rejected by the ‘house of clergy’ who voted 100 to 93 against. This was seen as a victory for the liberal establishment and a snub towards the Bishops who had not only drafted the report, but overwhelmingly voted in favour of it, 43-1 (although it later transpired that this single vote against had been made in error). The Laity also voted in favour 106-83, but as ever, nothing is quite as straight forward as the news headlines would suggest. Yes, of course campaigners for gay marriage were delighted, seeing it as a ‘victory for love and equality’, but equally it appears that following an ambiguous comment made by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the motion was rejected by some conservatives who feared that ‘pastoral practice’ following the motion wouldn’t be ‘conservative enough’. This is because the paper didn’t actually contain any objective proposals. It was simply designed for ‘taking note’ and once passed would simply form the backdrop to church practice without any further discussion required at General Synod. As it stands, the status quo will prevail as the motion cannot be reconsidered within the life of this synod.

The difficulty is, I suggest, one of public perception. The campaigners for same sex marriage would have us believe that the public cannot understand why the church is so behind the times, and so anti-gay marriage which they see as nothing but antiquated, homophobic and prejudiced. As campaigner Peter Tatchell remarked, ‘the church denies the right of same-sex couples to be blessed in church when they will bless cats and dogs’ – but of course it doesn’t take a moment to appreciate that the cats and dogs in question aren’t seeking a blessing upon their relationship. And it’s this sort of rhetoric which makes life so difficult for all concerned.  The church doesn’t deny that people of the same sex can have very warm and affirming relationships, but it doesn’t believe that sexual relations between two people of the same sex, however loving, can be equated with marriage as traditionally understood and expressed between a man and a woman. However affirming they may be, the two scenarios are not the same or equivalent. The problem is compounded by the weight of theology that is attached to the Christian concept of marriage (so much more than the simple notion of ‘two people loving each other’) which becomes unravelled if marriage isn’t between the two different sexes.

“For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.” Matthew 19.5-6

In a sense, the general public may not appreciate that shouting loudly about ‘inclusiveness and equality’ (which the church has traditionally championed) rather misses the point and doesn’t resolve the dichotomy presented here – for the church can’t really accept gay-marriage without doing fundamental harm or damage to itself or its message. So, however painful it may be to those who wish it was otherwise, it doesn’t seem to me that a loving church can possibly bless that with which it fundamentally, theologically and scripturally disagrees , nor is it reasonable nor loving of others to expect it to do so.

The upshot of all these discussions is that we are still in a difficult place with many people from all sides feeling somewhat unhappy and dissatisfied, and so much prayer, thought and discussion will still be needed. Perhaps it’s best to leave the final words with the Revd Sam Allberry, who is himself gay and went on to remind Synod that Jesus Christ was ‘the most fully human and complete person who had ever lived’ and yet ‘he never married, was never in a romantic relationship and never had sex’. Therefore ‘Sexuality is not a matter of identity for me, and that has become good news”.

“I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men…” Revelation 21.2-3