The Sour Faces of Those with Faith

And another thing ...

We in the world of faith and all that would tell the world that we fear secularisation. Indeed, the likes of Lord Carey and the 'Ashamed' brigade would lead us to a place where we proclaim, from our rooftops, that we are not at all ashamed. 

Recently, the BBC did something remarkable. It set aside much valuable schedule time to the end of improving the lot of people with less than the typical British Christian in material terms, in terms of hope, and in terms of basic human survival. Aunty's employees gave of their time to add to the event of Comic Relief in its 25th year and to the end that they corporately raised shy of £80million. Marvellous; thank you; great! Is not Comic Relief as a venture something very much in the vein of the mandate of Christ to feed, clothe and protect?

It was with no small measure of sadness, then, that I read that after such a significant charitable act, helping many countless nameless children and families, that the BBC was caused to make an apology. To the dictators of the Third World? To the regular viewers of Eastenders?

No. The BBC had to issue an apology to God-botherers; Christians. 

The report said that 2,200 people complained at Rowan Atkinson's portrayal of the Archbishop. I watched it, and I thought it was hilarious. It was alarmingly close to the mark at times, but - and lest we forget - it was comedy, satire, humour, wit. One can only reasonably assume that the 2,200 people who complained were Christians. Christians without a sense of humour. Christians without a sense of joy. Christians who are afraid because their belief in God is somehow too fragile to contend with humour.

If ever a ball were to be kicked into one's own net - then this is the equivalent. Comic Relief made fun of almost everyone in what seemed to be a gentle, affectionate, harmless way. Yet it seems that Christians are so afraid that Rowan Atkinson joking that prayer doesn't work, a claim made in a programme of conspicuous comedy, comedy aimed at alleviating suffering, might just have done some harm to our cause. 

I doubt that Rowan Atkinson wearing red horns and speaking in demonic tongues could do more harm than the simple fact that 2,200 Christians complained. Ashamed of my faith? No. Ashamed of the people who would judge the efforts of others to raise money to save kids from death? Most definitely. 

There is a very very small gap between this and seeking to kill those who dare to satirise our Prophet of choice. A very small gap indeed. 

Re-Calibrating with Justin

For those of you with young children who are resident in the Great British Isles, you may be forgiven for thinking that I am about to talk about Mr. Tumble. It may be that time will tell, but it is not my raison d'embarkation!

Today is an important day. Today we greet, with a joyful heart, our new leader and Uber-Shepherd - one Justin Welby as he starts his ministerial journey at the wheel of the Church of England, and also to the Anglican Communion around the world. May God bless him richly, each and every day.

Today is an important day because we, the Holy Tenants of God, have a new landlord. For priests, this is our equivalent (sort of) of that which our parishioners experienced when we processed into our new churches after the last interregnum. It is a time of uncertainty, gladness certainly, but a sense of wonder as to who this geezer is. 

For me part, all I know about ++Welby is that he can't wear a collar properly and that he is apparently owned by the Alpha movement (their words, not mine: "our man, Justin Welby"). As a sacramental and liturgical Christian, perhaps that ought to be setting me teeth on edge. However, I also believe God is behind all of this, so I am at peace and instead find find myself wondering what sort of shower he is assuming the leadership of from his new abode in Lambeth Towers.

The Church of England is, I think, at an important point in its own story. That isn't because of the many issues that nip at its/our gaitered ankles. It isn't because we are so broad that we are like a flimsy balsa wood aircraft - apt to collapse under the weight at any moment.  It isn't because no two Anglicans are alike or because the deistic view of the Other is much mitigated by what church you go to (which is to say that for some, the Spirit is to be adored, other Jesus Christ, and others the Father - and rarely in combination if I am honest). What will determine the future of our beloved Church of England, now led by a man whose collar doesn't fit, is how we learn to disagree. 

The shenanigans of the last few months tells me that the carcinogen in our cells is self-created. In the hands of bloggers and tweeters, article writers and pulpit be-moaners a church is being gentle dissected into unhappy cohorts of the mutually self-supportive. Maybe it was always the case - but it is clear that now the self-destructive appetites of English Anglicans is made manifest to all eyes.  Archbishop Justin will probably lead me into my fifties - and if he does one thing, I will age peacefully. If he can teach his little lambs some of that grace that seems lacking these days, he will have spent his decade well. If I or others can stand across a room in a decade and say, "I know you are different to me, but let's exchange the kiss of peace because I love you anyway", then we will be home and dry. 

In very simple terms, Archbishop: teach how to get along again. And may God be with you every step of the way. Amen.

The Next Archbishop of Canterbury

If we get past the means of the disclosure of this, the worst kept secret ever - it is important to note that the next out-working of God's calling in another human life is now before us. 

This, for those who have been living in a lead-lined box in the last week, is the Rt Revd Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham and man selected to be the next Archbishop of Canterbury. He will, of course, succeed Rowan Williams to a job which places him at the nominal or actual spiritual head of the Anglican Communion and our own blessed Church of England. 

I know little of this man, and what I know I will state. He was ordained in 1992, is from the evangelical tradition, takes a biblically-based worldview, held a successful career in the oil industry before priesthood, itself perhaps precipitated by the tragedy of the death of his baby daughter. A bishop a mere year, he has shown promise on the international front, coming as he does with an instinct and knowledge for the world of finance and commerce. I don't own any of his books, or know if he has written any, so know little else about this man beyond what is stated above.

I hope that this appointment bring some things to pass:

• That the church can start to look to the future
• That we learn afresh to live as one church defined by a generosity among our internal differences
• That we acquire a leader who is first a man of prayer and conspicuous humility and holiness but also a credible man of the world who is gifted in the language of the world we live in now.
• That we acquire a spiritual leader who has the courage to be authentically himself, and not a puppet in the unfolding drama of the church
• That we acquire a leader who, among us all, has the most hope for our shared future

The Church of England in particular appears to be such a divided place these days. The ambitions that surround 'self' and 'rights' seem to dominate the agenda for us as an organisation for whom the notion of 'self' is better framed in the language of 'selflessness', that 'rights' are matched and exceeded by Christian responsibility. Whatever the rights and wrongs of each individual case, we have fast become a group of people synonymous with infighting, yet a group of people mandated by Christ to look beyond ourselves to meet the needs of a world in so much peril. 

I pray for this man, doing a job that will afford him little thanks. I pray for this man to whom I must be loyal, that his ministry be fruitful, that God's work be done through him and the sacred office he will hold. I pray for this man (and his family) who will, for the next decade or so, will be one of the most visible humans on the planet. I pray for those whose call was not to this office, despite their own private hope or belief and for those whose job was to discern God's will in this process. I pray for the Communion he will soon lead, that we all find the grace to puts God's will first. 

The Death of Prayerfulness

The world will not have failed to note that ++Rowan Williams, the 104th  Archbishop of Canterbury, is to release the poisoned chalice and do something else altogether more pleasant. For many of my own theological and ecclesiological persuasion this news is received with much sadness.

++Rowan, in the many little gobbets of opinion that now span the globe is already being regarded as woolly, detached and other-worldly. Put another way, he hasn't played to the press with snappy one-liners, has always remained a man of holiness and not a headline gatherer. Yes, he looks like a druid, and yes, his bonce is capped off with a barnet from another age, but so what?! I think that ordained people are, in some small way, meant to be other-worldly while ministering to the world in which they live. Are we not meant to embody the common perception of holiness in some small and meagre way? I believe that ++Rowan did and does. I doubt that he will become a back-seat complainer like his predecessor, and for that I thank the Lord, or become an irritating millstone around his successors neck. 

What perhaps saddens me most of all is that void he has now already created is become the cadaver-consuming feeding ground of the Campaigners. The pro-Bishops-with-Boobs are manoeuvering, as are the anti-Bishops-with-Boobs. The pro-Covenantalists and already twitching with the same eye-flickering rapidity with which the anti-Covenantalists are twitching. Pro-gay and anti-gay drum-thumpers alike are starting the blaze a trail for 'their man for the top'. and the Blogosphere ... I see flames even now as keyboards go overtime. 

Put another way, the campaigners are now working to overload so that the best man (and this time it can only be a man) gets the job? No - they want their victory and this change of Primate will seal the deal in minds of many of them. 

I wonder how much praying will be done as the process unfolds? And I mean proper praying and not "God, please give me what I want"  type of prayer. Sadly, my own cynicism compels me to believe that not as much as their should be. 

But Farv, I hear you cry, this is just the way the world is. These causes are important and the right choice of archbishop is important to those causes and those involved in their direction. Don't get me wrong; I am not naive and I know that Primates have much power to do good or ill. People will judge the next man on his record as they do this one - but I hope and pray (fervently, earnestly and often) that every single Christian will pray for an archbishop that will, first and foremost, lead us as a Church towards a more Christ-like life where divisions are attended to with grace on all sides and those whose aspirations are dashed by the choices we are all called to make will still feel that our wonderful Church of England can still be their home and haven of prayer. 

For my part, I pray thankfully for ++Rowan's ministry as our Shepherd. I can't imagine the cost to him and family life (knowing how much a mere priest sacrifices for his/her ministry), but I give thanks that we have been led by a man of conspicuous prayfulness and outwardly, at least, unlimited faithfulness.