I’m loving angels instead...

Sometimes when attending the theatre you feel you already know something about the story or the author and then it's a further delight the way everything is brought to life in a way you had previously never imagined. Last night's performance of the relatively unknown play 'Assumption' at Colchester's Mercury Theatre meant there were additional unknowns in the artistic equation to engage the audience en masse. Written by established playwright Simon Turley, this is a brilliant romp which manages to trash an array of sacred cows by tackling topics including religion, prejudice, hypocrisy, abuse, misogyny and Irish Roman Catholicism with a robust yet gentle comedic touch.

The script is wickedly brilliant and multi-layered. For example you could interpret the core theme of the justified dig at institutional religion as the overall message or you could readily be seduced by the revelation of something deeply spiritual and therefore more transcendental.

The plot centres on Gabriella, played by Emily Woodward, who is a straightforward, down to earth, 'girl next door' type who falls pregnant 'without having committed the requisite sin'. She then has to suffer the terror of facing up to her busybody, 'never does anything wrong' mother, to 'confess' that the father is actually an angel. Meanwhile her friend, Anna, played by Nadia Morgan, has suspicions that Gabriella is also carrying a torch for Sean (never seen on stage), whom Anna is determined to marry. As a result, during confession, she 'lets it slip' to Father Farrell (also never seen!) about Gabriella's condition. The first act revolved around setting this part of the story, with riveting performances from the compact cast of just five actresses plus a cameo from a young girl.

The pace is consistently sedate, befitting the period the costumes suggest. As always with Colchester Mercury's productions, the standard is exceptional, respect due to Dee Evans for the sensitive direction. The faultless technical production and brilliant lighting design counterbalanced what appears to be a simple set, providing both subtle surprises and one jaw dropping moment early in the 1st act that provoked a collective gasp from the audience. Whilst it is difficult to single out a single performance from the cast, as the seamless combination of them all makes this production really solid, Christine's Absalom's performance as Gabriella's mother was captivating along with Amanda Haberland as the androgynous angel. They formed a counterpoint to the hapless Gabriella who also had to contend with the Reverend Mother, played by Gilian Cally. However, it is Emily's performance as Gabriella that engenders an affection that means you long for things to work out for her and in that respect she is utterly convincing.

As for special moments, there are many. I loved the way the script is an allegory of the Christmas Nativity story and presents Gabriella with similar challenges to the Blessed Mary. The 2nd Act sees Gabriella unceremoniously despatched off to the exploitative Sisters of Mercy for 'correction' from her unspeakable sin ('for the best'). This yielded the most poignant moments, betwixt Gabriella and the subservient nun Assumpta, as the play takes on a further dimension and embeds the audience with unforgettable tenderness. This ability to combine humour and pathos to tackle essentially a religious storyline in a way that oozes charm rather than offense is so special and this production nails it.

I sit and wait
does an angel contemplate my fate
and do they know
the places where we go
when we´re grey and old
´cos I´ve been told
that salvation lets their wings unfold
so when I’m lying in my bed
thoughts running through my head
and I feel that love is dead
I’m loving angels instead

Assumption runs until Saturday 11th June 2011, it's definitely worth making the trip to Colchester to experience that something extra the Mercury's productions have, this is definitely one to see and remember.

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Losing it in church...

Received a link to this video today and felt considerable resonance to thoughts concerning church worship and services that I have been struggling to articulate after much reflection. It seems what happens in churches is often very inflexible and Mark Pierson, author of The Art of Curating Worship: Reshaping the Role of Worship Leader, unpacks that concern in a compelling and concise way...

h/t Clayfire Curator

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Icons that rock...

It's taking me a while to understand how religious icons could enhance the mystical experience of worship... the question is does this help or hinder any progress in my thinking?!

h/t Father Simon

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...

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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

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Take me higher... Lent 2

A wonderful short film from which so much can be drawn - especially for the church ;-)

h/t Sam Davidson

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Let me through, I'm an Anglican...

If, like me, you are NOT a member of the Anglican / C of E clergy, a fairly stalwart church goer, even serving on various committees, then I expect you are pretty fed-up with most of what is going on in Anglican world. Part of the trouble is that it all seems so inward looking and therefore exactly opposite to how we are supposed to be as followers of Jesus, caring for the poor and challenging the status quo... I, along with many others, simply don't get what's happening!

Today I heard a friend recite the famous poem, 'The Vicar of Bray' which implies that fickleness has been around for a while amongst clergyfolk and I will return to that later.

I am now struggling to recall the innocence of my faith... at the moment so much of what has just transpired in the recent Synod seems to bear little relationship to real church. Additionally, the recent research which revealed the sermon is the 'best bit' of a church service even skirts the point that church services, generally, are very, very naff!

I know there are some churches that are exploring new ways of enhancing worship (Fresh Expressions being one such initiative) and I think that is brilliant, however, where the church is really part of (or becomes) the surrounding community that is what really encourages me to think all hope is not lost. Ok, there was a Synod presentation about Mission covering Fresh Expressions and there was Revd David Gamble's interesting 'offer' from the Methodists, which actually hid both a reproach and a challenge of priorities.

But whilst endless debates continue about all the current obsessions (whichever way you look) then us 'lay' folk lose more faith, both in the established church and the clergy. The trouble is the whole system is run by differing strata of... yet more clergy, ranging from humble deacons to Archbishops. That immediately means there are issues to deal with including:

• Inequality: This is usually manifest in the clergy / non clergy divide.
• Superiority: Why do C of E clergy give out the impression they are 'above' other ordained clergy/pastors in other denominations (except, maybe, Catholics priests?!!)?

And there is the theology! I am an avid reader and love listening to audiobooks. I have enjoyed many great talks at Greenbelt and at other 'thin places'. Those talks capture you within the first few minutes, frankly the 'sermon' style in most churches, regardless of Biblical content, simply does not challenge or inspire and is a mixture of platitudes and anecdotes.

At the risk of sounding old (rather than mature, of course!) I used to love going to conferences and gatherings where we listened to a proper preacher and sang our hearts out! I now learn the evangelical nature of those meetings is seriously frowned upon by Anglo-Catholics and Liberals... it seems faith has to be liberalised, have more doubt, more skepticism, no longer enjoyed, kept to one denomination and it seems we are not even allowed to describe ourselves as a 'Christian' anymore. Don't completely dis the evangelicals, though, they come in many shapes and sizes!

This leads me to my final point: why is the church so demonstrably partisan? It seems the C of E thinks it is different to 'free' churches and the mounting divide between those declaring Catholic 'tendencies' and steadfast C of E communicants is hardly new? The Vicar of Bray actually kept his post through a series of major varieties of governance, perhaps, after all, he was more of a servant to his flock than the humour in the poem implies as he 'cheerfully' reversed his principles?

I have never felt I was one denomination or another, despite worshipping in various denominations as geography dictated. I cannot understand why some folk filling forms with 'C of E' in the 'Religion' field? Surely we are simply Christians? So why does it feel as though I have to declare I am Anglican / C of E? Nope, that is never going to happen!!!

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Fundamentalism versus Curiosity...

'curiosity' from Nic Askew on Vimeo.

A beautifully shot black and white film of one of my Blog heroes Seth Godin talking so much more sense than churchy types tend to pontificate on at such length and mediocrity... I have learned so much from this man's thoughts and writings. h/t Mike Todd

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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?!

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!

Frozen Rivers...

Seems Delboy has visited Italy and created a hi-tech holy water dispenser...

Making sense...

I should prefer that these vestments might be abolished, not because I believe that there is anything about them which in itself is wicked so that godly men could not use them with a clear conscience, but because I observe that owing to a chronic shortage of suitable teachers in the churches they are a source of superstitious belief to very many people: and also because they have now been seized upon as ground of contention more damaging than anyone has been able to explain. Moreover it is consistent with our profession of the Cross of Christ that we should aspire to the simplicity of Christ the Saviour and the Apostles in all external matters, including the outward dress of ministers...

Martin Bucer ~ 1550

þ

The way we think...

I have been longing to photograph this ever since I saw it for the first time! So yesterday my camera and my body were in the same location. Of course it makes me smile and I know this is not a deliberate deterrent to potential worshippers! However, it is a subtle deterrent in that it illustrates how we often think as regular churchy peeps - how much more sensitive would it be to have a sign that says 'Stay safe, please use the next entrance' or similar. And I think this is more of a rural, traditional chuch phenomena.

A good article in the Guardian by Theo Hobson expanding this here

Lots more to say about this... soon!