Rector's blog

Clearing the desk before taking a summer break has absorbed all my energy this last week.  The inspiration to write this blog has rather dried up as I have focussed on filing those pieces of paper which seem to have no home, and answering those intractable e-mails which have become stuck at the bottom of the inbox.

I have found it both challenging and exciting preparing a regular contribution to this blog, seeking to avoid superficiality and over-earnestness.  Appreciative comments have really helped me to find the right level.  But, August now beckons.  So I am signing off for a while, to allow the mental reservoir to fill once again.  Wherever you are, at home or abroad, at work or outside your normal routine, may you be freshened once again.

An obvious closing line that matches this mood of laying down a daily burden is “Be still, and know that I am God”.  The world is safe in God’s hands.  Now may be a good time to sit back and appreciate that.

I got my timing wrong.  One evening this week, I had invited the clergy team to supper for a thanksgiving at the end of the academic year.  But a few extra phone calls delayed my preparation of supper, so I realised I was running out of time to have everything settled before they arrived.  I like to have all in order – which is coded language for admitting to being something of a perfectionist.  This is not a virtue: the most recent book I have read called it “the prison of perfectionism” which is a trap that can turn the world grey (things never living up to the perfect ideals I unnecessarily carry around in my mind), or it can be a burden for others which squeezes joy out of most relationships.  But these were my friends and colleagues coming for an informal supper – so I tried to escape the trap of my own making.

With only 10 minutes to go before they arrive, realising I can not finish off every duty, what must I do?  First, I hoovered up the ant powder.  There had been a swarm of flying ants the day before which required radical remedy.  Leaving ant powder around would be dangerous for any guests who might inadvertently mistake it for icing sugar.  Secondly, I completed the washing up, not because I am enormously house-proud – but rather this created the work space so that others could help with hulling the strawberries, or opening the wine. 

This is a familiar enough situation to all of us.  Yet I mention it as it exemplifies an evocative phrase which I heard recently: “creating the conditions of flourishing”.  The emphasis is not on my own flourishing or what I can do for/to others.  Rather ask: what can I do to create the conditions, the setting or environment, so that others can make the world a better place?  In my kitchen, it involved protecting others from danger, and pushing back the debris (a good image of forgiveness) so that there was a positive clear space for others to help make supper a happy occasion.  I believe something of this lies at the heart of what David Cameron means by the Big Society.  But it is not easy to do, for it involves creating conditions so that others can achieve.  Politicians, and clergy, like to do the achieving themselves.  We are all called at times to set the right tone so others can be creative.

In both Old and New Testaments one image of heaven is the final banquet when all faithful souls can rejoice at a feast together.  Jesus too talks about being welcomed into heaven and being served (and in other places, he reminds us that we will do the serving).  Either way, this does not capture something vital: that the heavenly banquet will happen by our joining in the creating of the feast, not simply consuming it.  We will be welcomed into heaven for who we are; what we bring and what we do will also be welcomed.  Thank God for those moments when we catch a glimpse of heaven in advance, here on earth, in the kitchen!

We are going to hear a lot more about John Henry Newman as 2010 goes on.  It is likely that Pope Benedict will beatify Newman during his visit to Britain in September.  Originally this service (which is the final step before being declared a saint by the Roman Catholic Church) was to have been held in a car park near Coventry – apparently because it was the largest space they could find.  This seemed such a shame not to be using some of the places in Birmingham and Oxford which are closely associated with the man.  Newman was an Oxford don, and after his conversion to the Roman Church, taught in Birmingham, before becoming a cardinal in 1879.  I fear that this occasion might be used for the Roman Church to claim Newman specifically as one of  their own.  Any tribe wants heroes or saints which are specifically theirs, who thereby act as a sort of identifier for the tribe.  But Newman was a faithful Anglican for over 40 years before his conversion.  One of his special gifts to theology was to understand and explore how doctrine develops over time.  Indeed, the 2^nd Vatican Council held in the 1960s is sometimes referred to as “Newman’s Council” because its key achievement was to enable the Roman Church to engage more positively with society, renewing the structures of the church, re-writing liturgy in the vernacular rather than Latin, and valuing the contribution of lay people.  Perhaps that is why there are many working in Rome who now are suspicious of Vatican 2, and regard it as an unfortunate episode.

Amongst other works, Newman wrote 2 beautiful hymns that we regularly use today.

“Firmly I believe and truly” is a robust expression of some basic Christian doctrine.  I have always enjoyed singing this to its simple and powerful tune.  When I was vicar in East Molesey, we used only to have a dozen people attend evensong, including one couple who were very strong singers.  I was glad of their presence to keep the service going – yet will never forget one evening service when I had chosen this hymn.  They could not cope with verse 4 which goes

And I hold in veneration

For the love of him alone,

Holy Church as his creation,

And her teachings as his own.

The wife stopped singing at line 2; the husband sang line 3 but not line 4.  They were so devout and particular in their belief that they could not sing what they did not believe.  Admirable in some ways – yet disconcerting for others as the volume of the singing lurched from forte to piano, and back again.  I admire the use of our critical faculties as we think and talk about our faith; but the other side is that when we worship we are doing an essentially corporate activity.  I certainly do not believe that the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church are equivalent to the teachings of Jesus – but I will sing this hymn in its entirety for it is an expression of a great spiritual writer, not an articulation of my personal belief.

“Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom” is an evocative and honest poem about trust.  Compare the recognition that as a youth “I loved to choose and see my path” with the humble acceptance now that “one step (is) enough for me”.  Yet, here I have difficulty with the end of the final verse.

…and with the morn those angel faces smile

Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

As an expression of regret that there are times when our path through life is less clear than it once was, this is fine.  We all are likely to experience that time and time again – partly because identifying God’s presence alongside us is nearly always easier with hindsight.  But if this is interpreted as a mournful lament that, in adult life, nothing can ever be as easy it is with the simplicity of a childhood faith, I am left uneasy.  Some take these lines that way; and so this bolsters their view that faith today is compromised, accommodating itself to the spirit of the age, and half hearted.  I do not share this attitude.  So I value Newman highly, but remain cautious about how his writings can be used today.

Since there was no Choral Evensong yesterday at Holy Trinity, I took an easy chance to go to St Saviour’s Church.  I haven’t been there for quite a few years.  When I arrived in Guildford 14 years ago, there was still a lingering suspicion within many members of our two parishes that we had nothing in common.  Though I couldn’t stay for the whole service, it was very good to be there for one hour.  I offer two observations (the second of which is far more important):

St Saviour’s offers a lively and warm welcome, with hosts standing outside the front doors, and worshippers being offered tea and a strawberry upon arrival.  There is a clear buzz of anticipation before the service, with many conversations and much movement all around the building.  The congregation is mainly within the 20-45 year old age bracket, with a dress code to match.  The service starts informally – at least 5 minutes late (your time-obsessed Rector notes).  From then on, so much is unfamiliar: the style of songs, unknown tunes, no prayer books in hand, the use of technology (TV screens relaying the words of the “hymns”, cameras focussed on the worship leaders)……. So at this stage I am chuckling to myself: it would be easy to scoff, but, at the same time, I am also realizing how quaint, formal and reserved we must appear when St Saviour’s people attend our parish worship.  What is good is that I reckon most people of either parish now no longer feel that “we” are doing it right and the other place is not doing it properly. But the gap between our styles seems wider than it was 10 years ago.  One aspect is particularly noteworthy to my eyes: the preacher uses a quite conservative approach to the bible in his preaching, within the context of a modern style of worship; whereas Holy Trinity and St Mary’s has much more traditional worship that provides a context  for greater exploration, experimentation and freedom with scripture and its teaching.

Secondly, the quality of the people is what matters.  I happen to know the priest leading the worship is about to leave St Saviour’s to become a vicar elsewhere in the diocese.  Although she has a minimal role in this first hour, Debbie Sellin comes across with great presence: calm, gentle, strong, prayerful.  This quality is remarked upon by a friend who has never met her before: such spiritual presence is immediately evident.  The preacher, Phil Mann, whose last Sunday it is at St Saviour’s, is another priest to admire.  He has led and developed the children’s and youth work there for the last 10 years in an exemplary way.  However much his preaching style is not my own, I recognise and respect all that he has done for hundreds and hundreds of Guildford families and children.  We should be honest about our different parish styles; but it is the quality of discipleship that really matters.

But it would be unfair to paint a picture only of divergence.  The monthly service that has been established this year at St Mary’s called “St Saviour’s @ St Mary’s” has been a great blessing for both our parishes.  There is so much ground we have in common.  I mean that literally: it is good being in the same space.  But also, when we share time together in prayer, as well as sharing bread and wine, we will recognise how much we belong alongside one another.  This has been a really positive story of the last year.  I believe that even more is possible with our neighbours in the years ahead.

I suppose that, after 5 gruelling says at General Synod, my ears were particularly attuned to issues of gender.  But I rejoiced when, on Thursday evening in HolyTrinityChurch, with Anne Milton MP talking about her current work and roles, the issue of gender arose.  Before the recent General Election, Anne was a member of the all-party group of MPs that worked on post-conflict resolution.  Now that Anne is a minister she has had to let go this involvement.  But she said that in the last 5 years she has felt it to be one of the most important things with which she has engaged.

In particular, I relish the phrase “gender sensitive bridges”.  After conflict, it frequently is bridges that need to be re-built, putting villages and regions in touch with one another again.  Such bridges are often planned by men, checked by men, and built by men.  But men so often focus on driving trucks, tanks or cars; women, on the other hand, walk their children to school, walk to markets, and walk to their neighbours in the next village.  So women need pavements on bridges, otherwise they are unsafe to cross.  A simple yet significant fact!  This is not saying that all merit is in the women’s position, and all blindness in the men’s.  Yet experience shows that women are so often the leaders in re-building community life, and ensuring people feel they belong together.  So it is worthwhile noting what women need.  This is an excellent example of how blind we can be to such simple things that matter.  And, on the positive side, once we’ve been persuaded to take this seriously, how easy it is to enable more to join in the process of healing.

Anne also spoke movingly about the importance of faith.  Speaking against prejudice, she claimed that the particular faith does not matter.  We should not be prejudiced against those of other faiths, nor should we presume that those who share our faith are “on the side of the angels”.  What matters is “the richness, breadth and depth of our commitment and practice” (I believe these were her exact words).  What we do with our faith matters.  After all, Jesus warned some Jews against simply claiming that they had Abraham as their father.

Well, overall this was a fantastic evening.  Anne spoke movingly, powerfully and fluently about her work and aspirations for Guildford and this parliament.  I believe we are fortunate to have her as our MP.

Though I will ask: why (as Anne told us), when the churches arranged 2 pre-election hustings, 200 people turned out on each occasion?  And last Thursday attracted only 35 people.  Is it that, having elected her, we trust her to get on with the work?  Or is it that we sit back in comfort, ready to criticise and expect her to sort everything out?  So as well as writing to her, questioning or challenging her on various topics, I believe we should support, encourage and value all that she is and does.  Governing the country is too important to leave to MPs alone; it belongs to all of us to play our part.