Cigarette Vicarage? Rev mini review...

Cartoon from The (very wonderful!) Ongoing Adventures of ASBO Jesus

Well, have to confess I really enjoyed the recent BBC series, Rev, and yet to find anyone other than 'vicarage' types that didn't which, in turn, adds to the amusement value! Of course the ending was really special and each episode had a bit more momentum as the series progressed. bearing in mind that blog discussions earlier in the year seemed to bring the sermon out as the best element of a service this was also reality check time, generally sermons are dire too, so a score of -1 would be high praise indeed!

In the last episode there was a classic representation of the church carrying on with all its frippery whilst effectively shunning the young guns cavorting around the war memorial. What an opportunity to join things up by linking the current conflicts our soldiers endure with some war history thereby making the act of commemoration meaningful for everyone rather than just themselves? That's just one example of where the series was hard hitting and justifiably so.

Anyway, a great series, lots of profound and challenging moments...

P

Bastions of Boredom

Was reminded of this Video recently from 'Work of the People' and so post it to respond to Lesley's post earlier today: 'What do you think of Jesus and the church'. Also, in some way, to give some background to another reason why people land up leaving church, when they just give up on attempting to contribute. This adds to Suem's post a little while ago on the 'Leaving Church' topic.

It seems the world of blogging which ordained folk have so taken to heart is populated by alarming entries wondering what the church can do to arrest the problem of declining numbers and also delusions that sermons are actually good because a survey revealed they were the least unpopular moments in a service!

Whilst it is always easier to suggest solutions rather than fully defining what the problems are, it is becoming increasingly obvious that letting go of traditions, rituals and preferences (and all the etcs.) that, in the main, are held onto by clergy, is actually both the problem and the solution.

So many of the issues with church come down to the 'what' and 'how' we do things rather than the real meaning contained in the 'Why'. A key lies in re-developing a sense of curiosity and imagination in all of us that longs to share Why?

P

The Anglican Matrix

Some of the things I'm beginning to learn about the Church of England with help from various sages:

clergy	jews
laity	gentiles
choirmaster	god
choir	trying
robes	robes
flower guild	see above
psalter	rare book
book of common prayer	red book
common worship	read book
hymn book	new book
sunday school	lambs
baptised (C of E only)	sheep
the rest of us	goats
administrator	donkey
treasurer	bankrupt
PCC	deluded
eastenders	never watch it
cleaners	angels
wardens	heroes

With respect to the lamented Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley

P

To preserve or be preserved....

As I have already demonstrated I am an avid reader of Seth Godin's excellent blog... yeah, yeah, yeah, I know! This quotation from Andrew Carnegie in yesterday's entry struck me:

"Take away my people, but leave my factories and soon grass will grow on the
factory floors......Take away my factories, but leave my people and soon we will
have a new and better factory."

This can clearly be applied to the church despite, it seems, obsessional efforts made to preserve our crumbling edifices... so in some ways it is brilliant that a church would readily survive their building, however, I wonder if we should challenge ourselves to question how essential 'church' buildings really are? After all the first Eucharist was celebrated in a rented room... no faculty required for that!

Check this out for inspiration! Church from Scratch Video Diary h/t Jonny Baker