To go or to be... that is the question

 

Whilst the General Synod rolls on... the sense of thinking 'outside the church' gets stronger. Last night in our Home Group we debated the question: "How would you answer someone who said: 'I can be a Christian without being a part of a church'?". My immediate thought was one of enormous sympathy! Overnight I mused that it is actually the question that is wrong, it should be about 'being church' rather than being 'part of', then I would field a completely different and affirming response. Then this morning I was intrigued to read David Keen's blog which had a link to 'Don't Go To Church Sunday', the content with which I obviously concur.

Earlier in my blog I drew attention to Walthamstow's Farmers Market run by a church, they moved their regular Sunday service to a different day to enable them to serve their community better. recently Joe Haward picked up the BBC story about a church buying the local ten pin bowling alley.

Above all this over the last year I have met and shared fellowship with committed Christians who simply don't attend church... the scary thing was that even though I am a regular churchgoer (a Church Warden has little choice!) I am possibly more cynical than they are... shame on me, in a way, but while the C of E and the Anglican Communion seem intent on beating themselves up, what would anyone expect?!

From Candleford with Love...

From the ASBOJesus Blog, inspired by the very wonderful latest BBC series of Lark Rise to Candleford. Last night's edition was quite emotionally draining yet remaining uplifting. The demonstration of the folk from socially and economically upmarket Candleford showing compassion to their neighbours and family in the adjacent hamlet of Lark Rise is a challenging example of what the church should be doing for the relative poor. It means getting our hands dirty and moving outside our comfort zones... even outside our churches, perhaps?

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Art and Christianity Part Three - Music

This my third post on the Art and Christianity meme commenced by Jonathan Evens.

Artwork: Antony Gormley - 'Field for the British Isles'
Drama: Film 'Chariots of Fire' (1981)
Music: J S Bach - St Matthew Passion
Novel: Victoria Hislop - The Island
Poem: Wilfred Owen - The Parable of the Old Man and the Young


Music: J S Bach - St Matthew Passion. I remember filing in the Royal Festival Hall at 10:00am on a Good Friday to experience Bach's epic Passion and wondering what to expect having been told by my hosts that we would not be leaving until 3:00pm! On advice I had managed to obtain a choir score from Upminster library to help me navigate my way through Bach's interpretation of Matthew chapters 26 and 27. Now whilst I still don't read music I would say it was pretty essential to peruse the score to be able to greater appreciate the composer's genius in using motifs and phrasing to highlight activity and mood.

I was familiar with the beautiful hymn, 'O, Sacred Head! Sore wounded', (also known as the Passion Chorale) yet as soon as the double choir launched into their opening chorale I was transported heavenwards by the breathtaking and all enveloping wall of sound undergirded by the massive double orchestra and pipe organ. There appeared to be around 10 soloist parts and I came across the word Recitative for the first time... had already heard of Arias!

However, it is not an easy piece to listen to in its entirety and despite the sublime chorales the tension Bach creates musically is tangible. Nowadays we are so used to a high solo violin scraping away to semaphore impending doom in a film or tv drama but this would have been very early examples of this sort of technique. Whenever Jesus has narrative or 'speaks' there is a 'sound' Bach has scored a special full violin section sound to emphasise what we can consider to be Jesus' 'Spirit', the pre-Pentecost Holy Ghost. This musical effect, which is referred to as Jesus' 'halo', is conspicuously absent as Christ utters 'Eli, eli, lama sabachthani' and I found this deeply moving.

Here is the moment of utter desolation (and multiple Recitative performances) that narrates 'Now the Lord is brought to rest'. Then in the finale chorale, as per the youtube example above, the choirs can be heard 'answering' one another and the stereo effect of the double orchestra can clearly be heard... as the final chord resolved and faded I do not recall whether there was applause or not as I made my way out, I had been transported to another place, I do remember tactfully averting eye contact so folk around me would not spy my wet cheeks.

It took me until Sunday to recover physically. I ached from feeling the palpable tension, from concentrating on the passage, the sense of loss as the Passion unfolded (such a vital part of the Easter weekend) and I will never, ever forget...

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Art and Christianity Part Two - Drama

This my second post on the Art and Christianity meme commenced by Jonathan Evens.

Artwork: Antony Gormley - 'Field for the British Isles'
Drama: Film 'Chariots of Fire' (1981)
Music: J S Bach - St Matthew Passion
Novel: Victoria Hislop - The Island
Poem: Wilfred Owen - The Parable of the Old Man and the Young

Drama: I have chosen the film Chariots of Fire - Pleased to say I saw it way before the Oscar nominations and other plaudits poured in, so I was an early 'adopter' of this great period piece set around the 1924 Olympics (so expect to see it on the box a few times over the next couple of years!).

There are many issues tackled in the film which revolves around the counterbalance of ambitious Englishman Harold Abrahams, who is Jewish, and Eric Liddell, an instinctive Scottish sprinter who, as a devout Christian, makes the wonderful statement 'I believe that God made me for a purpose (i.e. supporting his mission work) but He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure.'

The story doesn't end with the film, Eric went on to become a respected missionary in China and despite his athletic physique still died at a young age during incarceration in the Japanese Weihsien Internment (read concentration) Camp from a brain tumour. However, it was the film that nudged my interest to read more about him and Sally Magnusson's excellent book, The Flying Scotsman, was where I turned first in those pre-web days.

This film has so many resonances for me and refreshed me when the church simply didn't or couldn't. Athletics was the sport I was best at plus I had a relatively strict upbringing which meant we kept the Sabbath (Sunday!) holy. Creatively I love the daring combination of a period drama with the symphonic and quirky synthesiser music soundtrack composed by Vangelis on devices I know my way around. However, it is the example of Jesus that Eric clearly was that is so moving and challenging that gets to me everytime.

He did not get out of China when he could because it would desert friends and family. For example he was able to support his exhausted brother in a rural mission station. He was also fiercly anti-class and to demonstrate the importance of equality shared out some extra food with everyone that had been bought by oil company inmates who'd bribed their guards.

His example was remarkable and sacrificial, despite much personal hardship he never stopped putting others first and whilst passionate about his faith he led by example rather than proselytisation or seeking any glory for himself. This was highlighted in a recent revelation that when he was offered, as a former high profile athlete, an opportunity to take part in a prisoner exchange he gave his place to a pregnant woman. During his time in the camp he even took part, as referee, in a football match on a Sunday to prevent the teams from fighting because he was trusted to be completely impartial...

Today I award the Tag to: MadPriest

Art and Christianity Part One - Artwork

I have been troubled that I had not responded to a couple of Meme requests back in 2009 so am now trying to catch up and Epiphany is a good day to give this post.

This Meme was started by Jonathan Evens and his proposal is here:

To list an artwork, drama, piece of music, novel, and poem that you think each express something of the essence of Christianity and for each one explain why. Then tag five other people.

Artwork: Antony Gormley 'Field for the British Isles'

I have actually been working on it for a while, it took a lot longer than I imagined when I first saw I had been tagged. Therefore I have decided to split the sections across five posts in this order:

Artwork: Antony Gormley - 'Field for the British Isles'
Drama: Film 'Chariots of Fire' (1981)
Music: J S Bach - St Matthew Passion
Novel: Victoria Hislop - The Island
Poem: Wilfred Owen - The Parable of the Old Man and the Young

I was privileged to stumble across Antony Gormley's 'Field for the British Isles' installation at The British Museum when my son was in theatre undergoing major surgery at Great Ormond Street hospital 7 years ago in 2002. Was just wandering around in a daze and landed up in the museum... was horrified at the vandalism our imperial nation had casued to many locations in the name of archaeology, what wicked crimes? Then there in the central Great Court was Gormley's 'Fields'... totally amazing!

I will never forget it, the sea of faces that so reflected humanity looking up at me and with the emotion of the day it all caught up with me. It felt like I was God! There I could see 'all people that on earth do dwell' and had abundant compassion and love for all of them, light clay, dark clay, large, small, friendly, angry, happy, sad, quirky, whatever. I had no favourites, in my strange mental state it was as though each were my son and not inamimate objects. Part of this was each piece was unique, individually created by a volunteer from a starting point of simply being given a ball of clay and basic instructions.

I am so grateful this moment happened, I might have steered clear of potential crowds had I known beforehand. It helped to ease the agony of wondering how my boy was at that very time, a spiritual distraction!

Read more about the 'Fields' project here.

Despite the risk he has already been nobbled I tag: Mike Todd

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Weirdos and outcasts unite...

Today we celebrate Epiphany when the 'wise men' arrived to give the baby Jesus some gifts, a combination of the valuable and scary. Checking around the various knowledgeable bloggers it's emerging these guys were pretty quirky and not the sort of folk made very welcome in the established church. Ok, they arrived late, initially nearly screwed up everything by going to the wrong place and yet they are significant. The early church re-branded them as kings because they wouldn't fit the mould of power and respectability as astrologers and possibly trans-gender eunuchs....

Weirdos that mess up and arrive late? Sounds like musicians to me!

Caught in the thicket...

A challenging article in eXaminer.com where a church makes Mission a higher priority than Monument...

The congregation of First Baptist Church in Vermont when faced with four times the number of homeless folk to feed this year decided to put up for sale a Tiffany's stained glass window worth around $75,000 to meet the bill. This sacrificial act was noticed and drew wider attention when ABC ran a local news report. As a result the church received donations from all over the US raising enough funds for the urgent needs thereby enabling the window to be retained...

Faith in action, just like Abraham! h/t Gavin Richardson

O Magnum Mysterium...

An absolutely breathtaking version of Morten Lauridsen's piece by the Nordic Chamber Choir that puts King's College to shame with its sheer beauty, control and heavenliness. You haven't lived until you hear angels sing, this comes so very close! In my opinion, humble or otherwise, one of the most amazing choral pieces ever...

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Stand by your man... (NOT!)

Anyone in the UK cannot have missed the story today of Father Tim Jones, parish priest at St Lawrence and St Hilda in York, who has been pilloried not only by the media but by his Archdeacon as well. Unbelieveable... well, maybe it isn't so surprising.

It is well worth reading the full transcript of Fr. Tim's excellent sermon on Sunday 20th, based around the Magnificat which includes the sentence: 'My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, my spirit rejoices in God my saviour.' Now although Fr. Tim does actually concede that shoplifting could, in extremis, be a solution, the context is clear in his sermon. Over and above that is the point he made so clearly on BBC Five Live today that the 'tut tutting' contempt of the relative wealthy (who spend 100s or even 1000s on 'utter tat for Christmas') for some poor unfortunate who has just taken a can of ravioli worth 80p is a 'grotesque indictment of who we are'. I am minded of the established Biblical principal of allowing certain of our crops at the side of our fields to be gleaned by the poor... there is a precedent for taking only what you need, remember the Manna in the wilderness?

What was really encouraging was to listen to some of the callers who had shown enormous and generous compassion, some simply turning a blind eye to some transgressors and others simply paying for the goods that someone had tried to liberate. In stark contrast the Archdeacon of York was condescending and dismissive, promising to give Father Tim a good talking to to put him straight. How ironic that, once again, the establishment is so readily prepared to undermine someone acting in a Christlike manner and, in a corporate sense, not stand by their very own?

Respect Fr. Tim, keep up the good work... oh that we (read I) may learn how to be as dangerous as Jesus too.

On the side of the Rebel Jesus...

This amazing song from Jackson Browne is one of my fave Christmas pieces with so much truth and depth compared to other commercial stuff and what we sing in church. Verse two is really hard hitting linking 'Temple Trading' to both the church and environmental issues way back in the early nineties:

Ah, they call Him by the "Prince Of Peace"
And they call Him by "The Saviour"
And they pray to Him upon the seas
And in every bold endeavor
And they fill His churches with their pride and gold
As their faith in Him increases
But they've turned the nature that I worship in
From a temple to a robber's den
In the words of the rebel Jesus

In the last verse he apologises for appearing to be judgemental (which I wonder if that's another sideswipe at the established church!) before closing the song with the fantastic proclamation:

So I bid you pleasure and I bid you cheer
From a heathen and a pagan
On the side of the rebel Jesus

More and H/T from Steve Stockman's Blog.

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Away in a (bus shelter) manger..

After our local Christmas Market here on Mersea my son and I were 'walking' the crib back to the church when I thought I would quickly snap our local bus shelter with the manger inside... this links in with the bus stop ad that's running. Then today I read Ship of Fools co-editor Steve Goddard's tweet about the nativity cribs abandoned in London to draw attention to the plight of the 100,000 children that sleep rough each year. This is a campaign launched by the charity 'Railway Children' which champions the welfare of street children.

Encouraging yet deeply challenging stuff...

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It doesn't have to always be this way...

This article on Jonny Baker's Blog caught my eye today... initially because I know Walthamstow well and had many happy years living there and my son Sam was born in Whipp's Cross round the corner.

Just when I was getting a bit despondent along comes news of a bit of 'proper' church which made changes to their regular routine enabling them to become missional where the community is. The word re-invent is often applied to church. My preference is to use the verb re-imagine and this scheme, by ordained C of E vicar Revd Tony Cant, currently at St. Lukes, is spot on. Jonny Baker takes up the story here:

...he has been looking for ways to get involved in the community rather than get the community involved in the church. one that came up was the start of a farmers market on sunday. the market was looking for a manager so tony took the role. so as a vicar he works at the farmers market every sunday instead of leading worship in the church building! it's relational stuff... then every market has a stall for a community project. tony as manager said that st lukes church would take it. every week they brew teas and coffees all day and give them away and chat with people and stall holders. so instead of being in church on sunday they are in the market place with the community.

The article goes on to highlight the typical age profile issues of many churches, it was strangely re-assuring that this applies to an urban area as well as our rural one here out in the sticks.

Check out the full post here: Church on the High Street

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Advent inspiration two...

I'm liking this idea! Creative stuff from St. Thomas the Apostle church, Gosport near the South Coast (and my birthplace)...

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Holy mischief...

This mag, Geez, is a bustling spot for the over-churched, out-churched, un-churched and maybe even the un-churchable. Hmmm, I'm liking it already!

Includes contributions from Shane Claiborne whom I blogged about recently.

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What If Jesus Meant All That Stuff?

Now this made me sit up and take notice! How amazing (and, I would venture to suggest, how Christlike?) that regular Greenbelt speaker and author Shane Claiborne has this hard hitting article in the mainstream blokey magazine 'Esquire'? It starts with a challenging apology:

To all my nonbelieving, sort-of-believing, and used-to-be-believing friends: I feel like I should begin with a confession. I am sorry that so often the biggest obstacle to God has been Christians. Christians who have had so much to say with our mouths and so little to show with our lives. I am sorry that so often we have forgotten the Christ of our Christianity.

Forgive us. Forgive us for the embarrassing things we have done in the name of God.

As we accelerate towards Christmas it pains me to sing some of the choral stuff we do, gorgeous tunes and harmonies, yet words that bear no resemblance to the real thing. Shane doesn't miss making this point either:

It is this Jesus who was born in a stank manger in the middle of a genocide. That is the God that we are just as likely to find in the streets as in the sanctuary, who can redeem revolutionaries and tax collectors, the oppressed and the oppressors... a God who is saving some of us from the ghettos of poverty, and some of us from the ghettos of wealth.

Go read the full article!

h/t Greenbelt Blog

I don't understand your love...

On Sunday 22nd we welcomed Lily Hope ....... into the church family through the sacrament of Holy Baptism. So why do I choose to impart this to Blogworld you may ask...? I'm very glad you did!

It was special! Not the service itself, certainly the all too well used phrase 'the worship did nothing for me' could justifiably be applied as it was relative chaos with musical mistakes aplenty (aka Jazz!) and the usual undercurrents that happen in churches all going on....

So why was it special? We started with the blockbuster 'Crown Him with many Crowns' (celebrating 'Christ The King') blasted out on the organ and I was delighted to see the Baptism family guests enthusiastically singing along for starters. As the service moved along we sang 'The River', with its provenance of inspiration from tragedy and forgiveness. The sermon was a familiar message (albeit with theology that makes me squirm somewhat) then the ceremony was lovely, kids running around, a 'Happy Christening Day' balloon floating aloft and the Junior Church singing.

For the last hymn we brought on a late sub, swapping a trad hymn for a song the baptism parents had sung at their wedding, 'Give me oil in my lamp'. Again, that was belted out with obvious joy and exuberance despite, in many quarters, being thought of as naff and passé.

Even though this family have only been coming to church relatively recently as part of their Baptism preparation they had laid on abundant munchies and cake, choosing to celebrate with our worshipping community in the church hall during our regular coffeetime... what a spread! It was during this that I was completely floored by a comment from the mum... 'this (as in 'coming to church') is my constant at the moment'... wow, suddenly that little phrase made everything worthwhile. And, unsurprisingly, it also made everything else a total nonsense, all the other church crap we worry and obsess about. Through our flawed efforts and imperfections this had become Holy!

I was recently reminded, when listening to a talk Frank Schaeffer gave at Greenbelt 2008, about how we attempt to rationalise the sacraments. Therefore we assume, in human terms, that it is not 'right' for a child to receive Holy Baptism until they can make up their own minds yet we acknowledge a mother whispering to her newly born 'I love you' is fine despite knowing the babe is unable to actually understand what is being said. It came home to me so powerfully to allow God to act in a 'mysterious way' we need to forsake our human rationality.

And God saw (to it) that it was good!

5 Deeply De-Christian Doctrines meme...

Thanks to Joe H for tagging me with 'List 5 doctrines that are taught within the Christian church that you believe to be deeply de-Christian'... I know only have a loose grasp of what the context of the word doctrine should be here ;-)

I think most folk have completed this so forgive repeats: Alice, Richard, Maggi and would love to know what Bishop Nick would write but Liverpool still have injury issues...!

Here are mine and must say it has taken me ages, have had to work so hard to get down to just 5(ish)!

1. That Worship is more (or less!) important than Mission and justice and, even more dangerous, that by solely worshipping you are being missional by default.


2. Judgementalism - seems we are trained to be experts! At a local home group when the question was posed 'why are Christians so judgemental?' a good mate piped up: 'practice'!


3. Consumerism - this claim that the church teaches consumerism should not be a surprise! The first definition of consumerism I found when googling is: 'the theory that an increasing consumption of goods is economically beneficial'. How many times do we hear that by buying this CD, book, service that we support the ministry of this individual or organisation? What happened to tentmaking?!


4. Sentimentality - includes the dumming down of art and music to wellmeaningless bibledygook (new words warning!) which we are told is fine because it has the word God/Jesus (but it looks like a squirrel) somewhere on/in it... (or something about setting captives free, exalting, lifting names up high, putting tongues in... sorry, I cannot go on, it is TOO upsetting!). Check out this entry from Stan the Man again which includes some language of the immortal bard!


5. Discrimination - anyone in the public sector, business or society would be in serious trouble and not get away with with what the wider church teaches about women, gays and minority groups including the physically disabled. The current stuff about flying bishops (still only male) to serve twitchy C of E communion celebrants so they can receive from a man is highly de-Christian.

Oh, and something extra: Apostolic Succession - well, that's all a bit Dan Brown DaVinci Bollocks stuff isn't it?!

We remember them...

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In 1944 Major John Pott was shot on the battlefield in woods near Arnhem. Struggling to write what he imagined was a final letter to his new wife he was discovered nearly 20 hours later by German troops and subsequently incarcerated for the rest of World War Two in a Prisoner of War camp until released by American in 1945. His grandson, Joel Pott, lead singer of rock band Athlete has penned Black Swan Song which the band will be performing at the Royal British Legion Silence in the Square event on the 11th Nov 2009.

I saw Athlete perform at this year's Greenbelt Festival 2009 and when they performed this song it was one of those special moments when, despite the conflict of emotions the song deals with, you are lifted up to another place. This morning I read the lyrics as a form of Intercession in our Family Service which preceded our main Remembrance Day service.

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It's High Fashion...

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A gentle video which so ably articulates many of the fears and concerns I have about church and worship... Stan's the man!

Links in to my post about the 2009 Greenbelt Festival Communion nicely!

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Servant king...

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Matthew 25 v40: The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me...

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