tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63222227940842734962024-03-20T08:29:55.386+00:00Lay AnglicanaThis blog dovetails with the website layanglicana.org, which aspires to be the unofficial voice of Anglican laity worldwide and to offer a place to exchange news and views from the pews.
The pieces here are the opinionated (possibly wrong) views on the vagaries of life and the Anglican Communion of a feisty English sexagenarian. Proceed at your own risk...Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.comBlogger39125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-16323652478741039192011-12-21T09:08:00.000+00:002011-12-21T09:08:27.610+00:00Waxing my Knees: What good can come out of Nazareth?<a href="http://kneewax.blogspot.com/2011/12/what-good-can-come-out-of-nazareth.html">Waxing my Knees: What good can come out of Nazareth?</a>Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-75414519464744488582011-07-30T11:52:00.000+01:002011-07-30T11:52:00.696+01:00Lay Anglicana Is On The Move<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN9RSQrN2lgOUBBKGZeNxjGaEC2Q7yzQN5Xi-7Jp0EPJZuZQrAAEJ_2Diqfd-UbKH-rnKUWmO4MzpDZ8lo4vCyfeSw5l7XF2dN5MVxrKrlQS85D_FLWU0D_RDvgaognv3Oa1jh0o3zgh0/s1600/shutterstock_81321835.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgN9RSQrN2lgOUBBKGZeNxjGaEC2Q7yzQN5Xi-7Jp0EPJZuZQrAAEJ_2Diqfd-UbKH-rnKUWmO4MzpDZ8lo4vCyfeSw5l7XF2dN5MVxrKrlQS85D_FLWU0D_RDvgaognv3Oa1jh0o3zgh0/s400/shutterstock_81321835.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>The Lay Anglicana blog has moved and now has its own section on the <a href="http://www.layanglicana.org/blog/"> main Lay Anglicana website.</a><br />
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<a href="http://networkedblogs.com/kJ1qw">The Revd Lesley Fellows</a> and <a href="http://mrcatolick.wordpress.com/">Mr CatOLick</a> have both taken the lead in moving to Word Press, and the occasional breakdowns of Blogger are part of the reason for the move. But there is also a story attached. In the immediate aftermath of the Rapture, some of my twitter friends were claiming to be tweeting from their New Abode Above. I jokingly asked if someone could send me 'a geeky angel' to sort out my foray into cyberspace. <a href="http://pmphillips.posterous.com/">Peter Phillips</a> evidently recognised this as a classic cry for help which needed to be taken seriously; he forwarded it to <a href="https://www.facebook.com/david.wynd?sk=wall">David Wynd</a>, who also has an online presence as <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/phoce">@Phoce</a> on twitter. David really is an angel - as part of his ministry he helps people like me who are either too nervous to dip their big toes into the social media swimming pool or, at the other extreme, have cheerfully jumped into the deep end and are now splashing around doing doggy paddle in all directions. Thanks to him, I do not know whether I shall be doing a racing crawl any time soon, but I hope to offer a rather more co-ordinated and elegant spectacle. It is also good to have a guardian angel (Christians are such nice people, aren't they!) <br />
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The first of his recommendations, which makes perfect sense, is that I should switch to Word Press and move the blog into the main Lay Anglicana website. This I have done - with the kind help of the webmaster, James Briggs. Neither David nor James, though, could help with the other part of this move, and that is overcoming my nesting instincts on Blogger. I like my page here, I have made lots of friends and had some wonderful conversations. '<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Partir c'est toujours un peu mourir</span>' even when you know it's the right thing to do - with gritted teeth if necessary. But will people like the change? I jumped into the deep end readily enough, chancing my future. Now it just needs a deep breath to jump out again...<br />
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Thank-you for sharing the journey with me this far. I do hope you will join me on the next step - there are hyperlinks above to the new blog address and the main website, but here it is again anyway:<br />
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http://www.layanglicana.org/blog/Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-72956584175310093162011-07-21T17:48:00.002+01:002011-07-23T09:47:34.481+01:00Marcus Aurelius and the Brambles<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeDOW8jX-xCFKN9lVpqx9d-vKRc-zaDYXbQh-fuT9hmL-40EUpFolztPItV9zHI69OLtM8w-z1HaVQMQyBXbCIqmYiT74WG2u12NcqKePQ0dJCeumBwd6QeV7x_9R0J7AaXfQZHcO8t-g/s1600/1024px-Marcus_Aurelius_Glyptothek_Munich.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeDOW8jX-xCFKN9lVpqx9d-vKRc-zaDYXbQh-fuT9hmL-40EUpFolztPItV9zHI69OLtM8w-z1HaVQMQyBXbCIqmYiT74WG2u12NcqKePQ0dJCeumBwd6QeV7x_9R0J7AaXfQZHcO8t-g/s400/1024px-Marcus_Aurelius_Glyptothek_Munich.jpg" width="248" /></a></div><br />
<div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/marcus/">Marcus Aurelius</a>, the Roman Emperor from 161 to 180 CE, was good at multi-tasking. He is thought to have written his '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meditations">Meditations'</a> </span>in his spare time between conducting a military campaign in central Europe (<i>c.</i> 171-175)<span style="font-size: small;"> and holding on to his seat as emperor.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Christians have no difficulty in recognising that the words of someone nearly 2,000 years ago can still have meaning for us today and Marcus Aurelius would be my other nominee for this title. Books on</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">how to keep calm and carry on when surrounded by conflict still become instant bestsellers. Do you know '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Wilson_%28meditation_teacher%29">The little book of Calm</a>'? Marcus Aurelius said it all first, and in the opinion of some, better.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;">When I went to university at the age of 17, my mother having just died, my father was about to be posted to India. He presented me with a leather-bound copy of the New Testament and three small books which he had acquired when he went up to Balliol thirty years earlier: the meditations of Marcus Aurelius, the thoughts of Pascal and the maxims of the Duc de la Rouchefoucauld. These books, which are still with me four continents and forty years later, are one of the reasons why I hope Kindle will not take over the world. I treasure the books not just as paper and print but because of my father's annotations - he had sidelined many of the 'thoughts' which he found particularly fine with a 1-4 grading system. It is always fun seeing where I agree - and disagree - with him.</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"> </span><span style="color: black; font-size: small;"><a href="http://heathen-hub.com/blog.php?b=1244">Gurdur (Tim Skellett)</a> and I were having a conversation, as you do, about life's minor irritations and debating what one should do about them. I reminded him of my favourite Marcus Aurelius quote:</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Is a cucumber bitter? Cast it away. Are there brambles in the path? Turn aside. No more is needed. Do not go on to ask: 'why was the universe burdened by creations such as these?' </span>(viii.50)</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;">One of the reasons I know this by heart is because I find it very difficult advice to take, while seeing that my life would be simpler and less fraught if I could. My husband is a constant reminder of this advice, as every time I begin a sentence with 'Why do they...' or 'Why don't they...?' he stops me and reminds me that these expressions of irritation are pointless: people either do or don't have a reason for their behaviour but are unlikely to change it just because it annoys me. He's right:</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">'Turn aside. No more is needed. Do not go on to ask....'</span></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
My penultimat<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: small;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">e post recommended Maggi Dawn's 'Accidental Pilgrim' as a book to keep by your bedside forever. I now nominate Marcus Aurelius's 'Meditations' to be added to this list (don't worry, both are quite slim volumes).</span></span></div><h2><span class="editsection"> </span></h2><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Notes</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The illustration is a bust of Marcus Aurelius from the Glyptothek, Munich via <a href="http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Aurelius_Antoninus_Augustus">Wikimedia</a></span>Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-13532166173327056082011-07-17T17:38:00.001+01:002011-07-23T09:48:19.724+01:00The 'All-Age' Church of England?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ8OptStAD4JPiKpUyD27WXZ5MtktKBL9S5QjssM2_VBtW1vQkw9LUR-_nhwfXnoq3OItP84qi8LGSOzb83vwqW9I1PJ6pkzclJFGAcH1svxyFCHG46_Pm8mamC9kJFx-8EjOt64f0e9k/s1600/FAmily.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="330" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJ8OptStAD4JPiKpUyD27WXZ5MtktKBL9S5QjssM2_VBtW1vQkw9LUR-_nhwfXnoq3OItP84qi8LGSOzb83vwqW9I1PJ6pkzclJFGAcH1svxyFCHG46_Pm8mamC9kJFx-8EjOt64f0e9k/s400/FAmily.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="firstPar">There is a buzzing in the ether at the moment about the ability or otherwise of the Church of England to attract all age groups, and the consequences for its future. <br />
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<a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/religion/8633540/Ageing-Church-of-England-will-be-dead-in-20-years.html#disqus_thread">Tim Ross in The Telegraph</a> on 12 July reported that The Revd Dr Patrick Richmond, a Synod member from Norwich, told the [York General Synod] that some projections suggested that the Church would no longer be “functionally extant” in 20 years’ time.<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">“The perfect storm we can see arriving fast on the horizon is the ageing congregations...The average age is 61 now, with many congregations above that...These congregations will be led by fewer and fewer stipendiary clergy … 2020 apparently is when our congregations start falling through the floor because of natural wastage, that is people dying.</span> <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Another 10 years on, some extrapolations put the Church of England as no longer functionally extant at all.” </span></blockquote></div><blockquote style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></blockquote>Nelson Jones in the <a href="http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/nelson-jones/2011/07/church-ageing-congregations">New Statesman</a> on 13th July cited this and added:<br />
<blockquote style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">An ageing congregation is not necessarily a dying one...the established church has always been most popular among an older demographic... women of mature years remain the backbone of the Anglican church...Active people with time and money to spare - exactly the sort of people the church should be trying to attract. Some will find their thoughts turning towards more spiritual matters after a hectic career and family life, and thus far more responsive to the church's message than the typical teenager, career-focused twenty-something or stressed-out parent. At the upper end of the age-range, people will be preparing for death and will be especially open to the comforts of religion.</blockquote><br />
Nelson Jones exaggerates his point, and has his tongue firmly in his cheek when he later suggests that in future the Church seek sponsorship from <i>Saga,</i> distressing 'Red' in her <a href="http://pickingapplesofgold.blogspot.com/2011/07/dying-church.html">apples of gold blog</a> on 14th July. <br />
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But the Church has in recent years increasingly adopted the language of marketing, as if the Church were selling some kind of soap powder that we claim washes [sins?] whiter! <a href="http://changingworship.wordpress.com/2011/07/13/a-dead-church/">Robb, of the 'Changing Worship' blog</a> commented on 13th July:<br />
<blockquote><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">...there have been some unfortunate soundbytes such as the need for a “recruitment drive”. There has also been the use of business model type language to describe the impending fall or rise of the good old CofE</span> ...</blockquote>Not a million miles from where I live, the new vicar's first sermon announced to the congregation that his 'target audience' was mothers of young children, who would bring their children and their husbands to church. Those not in his dream demographic (85% of the existing congregation, and 95% of those attending e.g. the APCM) would be catered for, eg with occasional services from the Book of Common Prayer, until they died off, hopefully leaving the Church large sums of money.<br />
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Hold on a moment! Don't you think this is all putting the cart before the horse? Even if we admit to caring more about the Body of Christ as a whole than its current individual members, or the hive more than the bee, surely the best way of safeguarding the whole is by considering the needs of its component parts and then trying to meet them?<br />
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Many reams have been written about the differing spiritual needs that people have at different stages of their life. In Hinduism, life is believed to comprise four stages, <a href="http://hinduism.about.com/od/basics/p/fourstages.htm">each with its own spiritual dimension</a>. In the first, which lasts until the age of 25, the <i>brahmachari</i> begins seeking enlightenment, with the help of a spiritual director (<i>guru</i>). At the second stage, <i>Grihastha, </i>which lasts until about the age of 50<i>, </i>people get married, have children, earn a living and accumulate wealth and property. It is not regarded as an important period for spirituality. Next comes <i>Vanaprastha</i>, when one's duty as a householder comes to an end. One should renounce all physical, material and sexual pleasures, retire from social and professional life and spend one's time in prayers. Finally, the <i>sannyasi</i>, or wandering ascetic, having renounced all desires, fears and hopes, duties and responsibilities, is virtually merged with God as he concentrates on attaining <i>moksha</i>, or release from the circle of birth and death.<br />
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Of course, Christians are not Hindus, but people are people and perhaps there is a fundamental truth about human nature here. Carl Jung, in 'Modern Man in Search of a Soul', wrote: <br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Every civilized human being, whatever his conscious development, is still an archaic man at the deeper levels of his psyche. Just as the human body connects us with the mammals and displays numerous relics of earlier evolutionary stages going back to even the reptilian age, so the human psyche is likewise a product of evolution which, when followed up to its origins, show countless archaic traits. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span> <br />
Gail Sheehy wrote her original book 'Passages' in 1977, but in <a href="http://www.utne.com/2004-07-01/the-new-rites-of-passage.aspx">a 2004 interview with Jon Spayde</a> she offers a useful summary and update. She too makes the point about human spiritual development, stressing that the enquiring child, who asks 'why?' about everything, turns again in old age to matters eschatological.<br />
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We are, perhaps, doomed to disappointment if we concentrate on 25-50 year-olds, just at the point where, as <a href="http://public.wsu.edu/%7Ewldciv/world_civ_reader/world_civ_reader_2/wordsworth.html">Wordsworth said</a> - admittedly in a different context -<br />
<blockquote style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The world is too much with us; late and soon,<br />
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers;</blockquote><blockquote style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></blockquote> <br />
Colin Coward writes on 15th July about<a href="http://changingattitude.org.uk/archives/3824#comments"> 'The two halves of life'</a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<blockquote><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Second-half-of-life issues are concerned with the birth of God in the soul, with the need to deepen and grow in “wisdom, age, and grace” (Luke 2.52)</span></blockquote>But it is also a period when, as long as physical health allows, people need to be needed. The recently retired are the obvious people to shoulder most of the day to day load of physical management of our churches. <a href="http://revjph.blogspot.com/">Jonathan Hagger ('Mad Priest')</a> commented on the apples of gold blog on 15th July:<br />
<blockquote style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">...it would be common sense to prioritise that age group in respect of our mission. I'm not saying we ignore the youth. I just don't think they are the answer to the Church's need for more bums on pews. I think the over 40s are...</blockquote> To state what is perhaps obvious, just because the 'sannyasis' among us are individually nearer to death than the 25-50 year-olds, a congregation predominantly composed of sannyasis does not in itself make the Church close to death. But equally the Church must obviously continue to target the 'brahmacharis', offering Christianity as an answer to the questions posed both by the young and the old. <br />
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I cannot improve on <a href="http://willcookson.wordpress.com/2011/03/22/is-religion-about-to-become-extinct/">the conclusions that Will Cookson draws</a>:<br />
<blockquote><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I think that we live in one of those tipping points of history where our efforts and care will tip the balance. Carrying on with business as normal will lead us into a c</span><i style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">ul-de-sac</i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">...The Anglican prayer book has as one of its statements in the Declaration of Assent about the Church of England the great phrase: 'It professes the faith uniquely revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds, which faith the Church is called upon to proclaim afresh in each generation.' That is the mission of our church. We are called upon to keep looking at how we present the great truths of the Christian faith to each generation anew. it is not enough that these ways worked in the past. For each generation we need to find ways to make the Gospel understandable and relate-able to them</span>.</blockquote><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> Note</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The photograph is courtesy of Shutterstock, and issued under a creative commons licence.</span>Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com31tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-19727191878340406672011-07-13T17:30:00.024+01:002011-07-18T08:00:44.437+01:00'The Accidental Pilgrim' by Maggi Dawn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdr-bBK8avi3yphpgGieReLjV7LuUjkhq8HkRg1poLasbh8I2sg-QDv24Xq_VXAH5RDvNCNqy7Q3ck1mBSL6uBCf6vkbwBxiGP-YEzMg3hP84KoXtTeFSHsqvv-fPbrYNNCMqVa8l8h9A/s1600/345061112.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdr-bBK8avi3yphpgGieReLjV7LuUjkhq8HkRg1poLasbh8I2sg-QDv24Xq_VXAH5RDvNCNqy7Q3ck1mBSL6uBCf6vkbwBxiGP-YEzMg3hP84KoXtTeFSHsqvv-fPbrYNNCMqVa8l8h9A/s400/345061112.jpg" width="248" /></a></div>This is a beguiling book. I'm not quite sure what I had expected, but as Maggi Dawn teaches theology and is chaplain at Robinson College, Cambridge (though she is about to move to Yale as Associate Professor), I did anticipate a possible struggle. She quotes from <a href="http://www.stjohns-nottm.ac.uk/revd-dr-dee-dyas/">The Revd Dr Dee Dyas</a>'s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pilgrimage-Medieval-English-Literature-700-1500/dp/0859916235">Pilgrimage in English Medieval Literature</a> (p45), which is indeed a scholarly work, but I needed a tail wind, several espressos and a towel wrapped round my head to absorb that. Fear not. You are in different territory here. With the lightest of gossamer touches, in her first two sentences, she draws you into the narrative of what is in effect a journal:<br />
<blockquote><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">'Standing on the cool, bare tiles in the shade of the wooden shutters at the window, I squinted into the bright light. Directly below was a military checkpoint, and to either side the road was lined with tumbledown buildings. Beyond them the sandy landscape was cobwebbed with olive trees and far away in the distance some new buildings on the upper slopes of the hills shone dazzling white in the late afternoon sun'.</span></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Impossible not to read on. It moves at a cracking pace and, at only 147 pages of double-spaced type, I would have finished it in one sitting were it not for an annoying person from Porlock who interrupted me.<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Pilgrimage-Medieval-English-Literature-700-1500/dp/0859916235"></a> Although I have never met the author, I feel I know her well from our conversations on twitter. But even if I had never had any previous contact, in this book I would have felt her lead me by the hand on her physical journeys, whether to the Holy Land, Spain or nearer to home, answer questions about the meaning of what we were seeing without my needing to voice them, and suggest other questions of her own for me to think about. In short, I would feel I had made a friend.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZvpEtuhgrSGm4uphdMDe6D1XjchHqZKlKCeG2N56OjBDW_qQhi6kpWTC1zFMwmbQmTtiy7RQiLc0TVbZpzB9Q6udjkJUgSP2RF2p-BF2znYaO8TzecP0apYh6nXYk_FyFnKf-KBxsPns/s1600/maggi+dawn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZvpEtuhgrSGm4uphdMDe6D1XjchHqZKlKCeG2N56OjBDW_qQhi6kpWTC1zFMwmbQmTtiy7RQiLc0TVbZpzB9Q6udjkJUgSP2RF2p-BF2znYaO8TzecP0apYh6nXYk_FyFnKf-KBxsPns/s320/maggi+dawn.jpg" width="257" /></a></div>It is very Anglican - and English - in tone. She is out of tune - as I would have been - with the unseemly histrionics (my phrase) of some of the other pilgrims in the Holy Land, and the religious souvenir shops at Walsingham.<br />
Maggi has some serendipitous narrative surprises, which I do not want to spoil for you, but let me just say that there are one or two nudges along the way which a more evangelical writer might feel obliged to use to hammer the point home. But there is no hammer in her armoury; reading this book is a two-way process between author and reader in which the meaning is what you make it. I found several important messages for me, even at a first quick reading, but I am still not sure whether the clues were deliberately placed for the reader to draw specific conclusions, or whether even the clues are in the eyes of the beholder. It is very cleverly written, but with an art that conceals art. Perhaps it is like the labyrinth on the book jacket? We travel without being certain that we will ever reach the centre, but different travellers on the same road, and the same travellers at different times, will all find something different. <br />
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I will not end by telling you how the book ends, tempting though this is because it is such a good conclusion. But I will tell you that, now I have read it from cover to cover, I am about to start again at the first page. And then I will leave it for a while, perhaps, before reading it all over again. It is a book to keep by your bedside forever.<br />
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These two<a href="http://heathen-hub.com/blog.php?b=1234"> photographs of the launch were taken by Tim Skellett ('Gurdur')</a> on Friday 15th July at All Hallows On The Wall, London and are reproduced with his kind permission.<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Notes</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The two photographs in the text were kindly provided by Maggi Dawn herself. I should make it clear that this review was unsought and was not seen by the author before publication</span>Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-15422014838645875062011-07-10T12:10:00.001+01:002011-07-23T09:49:27.852+01:00The Sound of Silence<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ol9dogVcC98?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"></div><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="font-family: inherit;"><i></i></b><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b>Introduction </b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;">I have made a new friend. In the early hours of this morning, as I was tweaking my posts and twittering on twitter, as you do when you can't sleep, I started chatting online to the friend of a Facebook friend whom I had befriended (still with me?) because we shared common interests in Flanders and Swann and that marvellous quote by Alice Roosevelt "If you haven't got a nice word to say about anyone, come and sit next to me." And though I may not be at exactly the same altitude as him on the church candle, his description of himself as 'High Church Latitudinarian Anglican' sounds pretty compelling to me. He writes like an angel, with that gift of establishing an immediate bond of sympathy across the ether which any writer trying to communicate with an audience would envy. He has no blog of his own at the moment, but has kindly allowed me to offer the following as a guest post. We would both appreciate your comments. Over to the Revd Richard Haggis:</span><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><blockquote style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>The Sound of Silence <span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"></span></span></b></span><br />
"How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given” we sing at Christmas time, and yet Easter time is much the same – there is silence from the tomb as the great and extraordinary event of the Resurrection actually happens. If it actually happened. Of course it did – we’d half of us be out of a job otherwise! Oh wait, I am out of a job! Christian art generally engages with the risen Christ – standing boldly atop the tomb or with Mary Magdalen in the garden or at the barbecue on the beach - but we read nothing of the moment, presumably glimpsed only by angels, when life was restored to death. <br />
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On this day sixteen years ago I was ordained a deacon of the Church of God. On this day eleven years ago, I was licensed as a parish priest to Saint Giles-in-the-Fields. Both make me think of silence. Some of the evangelicals on our ordination retreat struggled a lot with the rule of silence. One said she thought it was “rude” to be amongst strangers and not talking to them. Saint Giles had a congregation which appreciated silence in the intercessions, probably, on average, the most mature congregation, spiritually, I ever ministered to. Chequered times since, but I do not for one moment regret the privilege of ordination, nor the greater privilege of serving some very wonderful people. And even the less wonderful were pretty wonderful. <br />
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I was talking to a charming young lady at a party lately swapping notes about how much we liked walking alone in the dark, preferably in the rain, and it was the silence we agreed we both enjoyed, a sort of blanket of privacy, making the world and its woes irrelevant, and allowing and encouraging us to think our own thoughts. So many people these days fill up the silence with music, piped straight into their ears – Joyce Grenfell wrote a prescient song about that, when she noticed that piped music was broadcast in the ladies “and into the gents … they tell me”. (Bring Back The Silence And Deserve Our Thanks.)<br />
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I’ve known a few priests who are terrified of silence. This seems a shame. How else will they ever hear the “still small voice”?<br />
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But silence is a two-edged sword. There’s the mutual silence of calm content between friends or partners, and the silence of unexpressed grudges and sorrows; the warm silence of contemplation in the small of the night, and the silence of terror at real or imagined horrors; the silence of the aquarium and the sleeping cats, and the silence of the empty nursery, the deathbed vacated; and the silence that draws us towards the silence of God, into the transfiguring quiet of that emptying tomb. <br />
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Then there’s the silence when the bloody telly is switched off.<br />
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So, I’m broadly in favour of silence, but I know there’s a downside.<br />
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</div></blockquote><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
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</div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i></i></span></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Richard</i></span></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>Littlemore, Oxford</i></span></div><div align="right" class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: right;"><span style="font-size: small;">2 July 2011</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Notes</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">The video is attributed to i-church,which you can find online <a href="http://www.i-church.org/gatehouse/">here</a></span><i><br />
</i></span></div>Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-76878575743741765262011-07-09T17:34:00.003+01:002011-07-23T09:50:08.164+01:00Archbishop Rowan's Thoughts on Lay Ministry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzKKQ8IfPunFKWR-RSPStRbcSWr9KLXRTsJGVd-xHDVgKY0S5xEYS3xapU9UZw_iIKeJaSOF6J3qiHvKDySbllMwz7jK-tCUIUDC5p-J8UObvkwvz8O_c6MloKyIKJ-1GOm2txzRZqY4/s1600/Rowan_Williams_-_by_Brian.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzKKQ8IfPunFKWR-RSPStRbcSWr9KLXRTsJGVd-xHDVgKY0S5xEYS3xapU9UZw_iIKeJaSOF6J3qiHvKDySbllMwz7jK-tCUIUDC5p-J8UObvkwvz8O_c6MloKyIKJ-1GOm2txzRZqY4/s320/Rowan_Williams_-_by_Brian.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>The title to this post is a sort of music-hall joke. The answer to the question: 'what are ++Rowan's thoughts on lay ministry?' is<br />
'but ++Rowan doesn't have any thoughts on lay ministry, does he? Does he?' Boom-boom.<br />
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You must judge for yourselves. You can read the whole text of his address to Synod of 9 July 2011 <a href="http://bit.ly/pP6Ssn">here</a>.<br />
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The following extracts give a flavour of the speech (but please read it in its entirety before coming to any conclusions).<br />
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<blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">‘’ Effective ministerial presence is essential if people are to be in touch with the faithfulness of God through the Church. It is more than just the presence of the worshipping community, vital as that is: this community has to have its presence focused and personalised in a way that makes it accessible. And that is a central aspect of the role of the ordained, both directly (as the identifiable face of the worshipping community) and indirectly, as the catalyst that prompts worshippers into service by the repetition of the news of the gospel... We are never likely to return to the mythological past beloved of some critics when every small parish had its resident full-time pastor. But – to pick up ideas and experiments that are being explored at the moment – sometimes what matters is having a person (literally a ‘parson’) in each small community who is genuinely recognisable as the focus of the Church’s presence, ordained or not; so that the ordained minister is there as friend and support for a number of such ‘presences’, and trained to recognise their giftings. But this is not just a matter of encouraging people to ‘do jobs’ for the Church. It is also about the way an ordained person can keep alive and impart to others ways of giving thanks, drawing together the prayer and aspiration of a community. So how far do we currently think about an ordained minister as someone who can as a real priority communicate what the worship of the Church really is and help others to animate it? The ordained minister as co-ordinator, as liturgist and trainer in liturgy, as well as teacher and inspirer in the more usual ways, the ordained person as celebrant of the community in a very full sense, and one who helps others learn how to celebrate in the name of the Church – this is surely one dimension of where we are being led today..."</div></blockquote> The speech is 3447 words long. The archbishop uses the word <i>ordained</i> 14 times; <i>ministry</i> 4 times; <i>ministerial</i> twice; and<i> lay</i> and <i>laity</i> not at all. He makes two oblique references to the contribution of lay people to worship: he talks about '<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">effective ministry (ordained or otherwise)</span>' and this curious idea of identifying people of God, exceptionally holy and well-behaved people presumably, in each parish who are to serve as what the archbishop calls '<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">presences</span>' and I think I would call '<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">teacher's pets'.</span><br />
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Archbishop Rowan is a gifted orator, and it is clear from the twitter reactions to his speech that it was well-received overall. For the bishops and clergy present, I can see that 'heart spoke unto heart'. But what about his listeners from the House of Laity? What about other lay people, looking on? What about the LGBT community, as David Goss reminded us on twitter?<br />
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I see nothing here for any of us except a desert and waste land. <br />
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Luckily, my experience of God is more or less the opposite of what ++Rowan appears to have in mind as the 'correct' way for lay people to experience Him, and that is solely as demonstrated by the ordained. Kindly meant, no doubt, but if, after 60 years of Christian worship, I had to rely on the priesthood to explain to me what was meant by Christianity, it wouldn't say much for their effectiveness over a lifetime, now would it?<br />
One priest who has shown, and continues to show me the way is the Revd Lesley Fellows. Here is an extract from a <a href="http://revdlesley.net/2011/07/08/helloooooo/">recent post of hers</a>:<br />
<blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The church sometimes draws me towards God and sometimes away from God. Sometimes I wonder whether there is more darkness than light in the church. However, I find myself connected to God through the Eucharist and even if it is that one sacrament alone that the church offers as light, that still leaves me committed to the church for my spiritual refreshment, however infuriated I sometimes get.</div></blockquote> Thank-you, Lesley. I couldn't have put it better myself!<br />
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Notes</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">1. The photograph of Archbishop Rowan is via wikimedia under CCL. The photographer was 'Brian.jpg'</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2. My assertion that the Archbishop has no views on lay ministry, or at least no affirming ones, is based on previous searches of the speeches on his website and the fact that there is no mention of my tier of ministry on the main Church of England website, and scant reference to Licensed Lay Ministers. I would be very pleased to be proved wrong on this inference.</span>Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-16511024636553513772011-07-07T21:31:00.001+01:002011-07-23T09:51:02.267+01:00Summoning Up The Ghost of Elizabeth I<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy66sstO3o9KIcwxQ9uiAI-jDzVUhr2zVDwoJm9QxLT1VYhCwBMOk_B4n69dyyAXZ58hqMYBEXcbK7mbBMApCQjZ4Q9AJJmOt5wO2L8zdFNsk5gzqobFxz8v8Zl08Mw-wjJRHMo5ncW0w/s1600/500px-Elizabeth_I_%2528Armada_Portrait%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="317" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy66sstO3o9KIcwxQ9uiAI-jDzVUhr2zVDwoJm9QxLT1VYhCwBMOk_B4n69dyyAXZ58hqMYBEXcbK7mbBMApCQjZ4Q9AJJmOt5wO2L8zdFNsk5gzqobFxz8v8Zl08Mw-wjJRHMo5ncW0w/s400/500px-Elizabeth_I_%2528Armada_Portrait%2529.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Desperate times call for desperate measures. Inspired by MrCatolick's parallel with Henry VIII (</span><a class="twitter-timeline-link" data-expanded-url="http://mrcatolick.wordpress.com/2011/07/06/the-anglican-covenantupholding-the-traditional-values-of-the-church-of-england/" href="http://wp.me/p1CTyH-7H" rel="nofollow" style="font-family: inherit;" target="_blank" title="http://mrcatolick.wordpress.com/2011/07/06/the-anglican-covenantupholding-the-traditional-values-of-the-church-of-england/">http://wp.me/p1CTyH-7H</a><span style="font-family: inherit;">), I conclude that what the Anglican world needs now is intervention by his daughter, Elizabeth I. </span>It did not take much to summon her ghost - she had been waiting impatiently for just such an invitation. All of what follows <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">in quotation typeface</span> is from the actual words of Good Queen Bess in her lifetime.<br />
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<b>Preamble</b> <br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Princes have big ears which hear far and near,</span> and word has reached me that all is not well in my realm. As the first Defender of the Faith who was a sincere Protestant, with no considerations of personal advantage, <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I shall desire you all, my lords...to be assistant to me that I, with my ruling, and you with your service, may make a good account to Almighty God and leave some comfort to our posterity on earth.</span>..<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">There is one thing higher than Royalty: and that is religion, which causes us to leave the world, and seek God...There is nothing about which I am more anxious than my country, </span>and the Anglican Communion,<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> and for its sake I am willing to die ten deaths, if that be possible.</span><br />
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<b>The Anglican Covenant</b><br />
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">There is only one Christ, Jesus, one faith. All else is a dispute over trifles...</span>Where minds differ and opinions swerve there is scant a friend in that company...My mind was never to invade my neighbours...<b></b>I do consider a multitude doth make rather discord and confusion than good counsel...<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">You lawyers are so nice and precise in shifting and scanning every word and letter that many times you stand more upon form than matter, upon syllables than the sense of the law...</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</div><b>Moving from an Exclusive Church to an Inclusive Church </b><br />
Know that I wish you from henceforth to follow the example of your monarch, and many monarchs before her, in knowing that each court must have its queanes as well as its Queen for, as ye should surely know, all are equally loved by God...<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I have no desire to make windows into mens souls,<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span>still less<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span>their nether regions.<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span> I am greatly displeased at the sanctimonious hypocrisy that has recently arisen in my Church in this land of England...<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Those who appear the most sanctified are the worst</span>...<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I would rather go to any extreme than suffer anything that is unworthy of my reputation, or of that of my crown</span>..and I wish you to follow the example of the Americas, where... <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">it is the Lord's doing, and it is wonderful in our eyes.</span>.<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The past cannot be cured</span>...<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">God forgive you, but I never can.</span><b> </b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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</div><b>Anglican Mission In England </b><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The stone often recoils on the head of the thrower.</span>..You, who were fully strong enough to bear the suffering of our well-beloved American cousins, will shortly endure a similar stone-throwing yourself.<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Do not tell secrets to those whose faith and silence you have not already tested...</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">There is an Italian proverb which saith, From my enemy let me defend myself; but from a pretensed friend Lord deliver me.</span><b style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </b><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We are of the nature of the lion, and cannot descend to the destruction of mice and such small beasts...</span>ourselves; we trust you have a plan?<br />
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<b>The Elevation of Women to the Episcopate</b><br />
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I know I have the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart and stomach of a king, and a king of England too </span>...</div>Is it that you fear to admit the distaff side to your ranks because you know many share my heart and stomach, as well as my learning and my devotion to God? <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">It is a natural virtue incident to our sex to be pitiful of those that are afflicted,</span><br />
and I am sure that my sisters<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span>in Christ will find it in their hearts to pity you for your pettiness, but mindful as I am of the need for gifted bishops, I cannot allow it to continue.<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Let this my discipline stand you in good stead of sorer strokes, never to tempt too far a Prince's patience.</span><br />
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<b>The Ministry of the Laity</b><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I regret the unhappiness of princes who are slaves to forms and fettered by caution.</span>..<br />
It is as clear as the day to even the meanest intelligence in the land that the <i>hoi polloi</i> are no longer of lesser education than the clerks in the pulpit. Knowing of the scant numbers of clerks, action is needed this day to allow the people to read Morning and Evening Prayer. <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">One man with a head on his shoulders is worth a dozen without...</span>Verily, I do fear that without such action, the churches themselves are in real danger:...<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">A fool too late bewares when all the peril is past.</span><br />
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<b>Envoi</b><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Though the sex to which I belong is considered weak you will nevertheless find me a rock that bends to no wind</span>.<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">..</span>.<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> It is true that the world was made in six days, but it was by God, to whose power the infirmity of men is not to be compared.</span><br />
I will allow you fourteen days in which to accomplish all the tasks I have set you this day.<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all...</span>..<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> Proud Prelate, you know what you were before I made you what you are. If you do not immediately comply with my request, I will unfrock you, by God!</span><br />
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Notes <br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The illustration is a portrait of Elizabeth I at the time of the Armada via wikimedia under CCL. </span>Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-4077647045977734322011-07-03T22:06:00.002+01:002011-07-04T10:48:22.521+01:00Beware! The Golden Rule May Have Unintended Consequences<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_o6V4JOUtGkgOSv_OnmpqNPOHUcmxVoUhZef5u5ApSagcZlZHjvM9x2mZg9jinZ7QqmFE-Dgt_GXOynODvuKCcfUSXRK_SnDM13Hq3DTMfNiJu4qKVET1WXOvZVlGUZVsChe1XnGmVbM/s1600/485px-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_022+The+Good+Samaritan+via+wikimedia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_o6V4JOUtGkgOSv_OnmpqNPOHUcmxVoUhZef5u5ApSagcZlZHjvM9x2mZg9jinZ7QqmFE-Dgt_GXOynODvuKCcfUSXRK_SnDM13Hq3DTMfNiJu4qKVET1WXOvZVlGUZVsChe1XnGmVbM/s400/485px-Vincent_Willem_van_Gogh_022+The+Good+Samaritan+via+wikimedia.jpg" width="323" /></a></div><br />
<b style="color: black;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Rule">The Golden Rule</a></b> <br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">'One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself</span>'. Its corollary, '<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">One should not treat others in ways that one would not like to be treated</span>' is sometimes called the Silver Rule. Both were part of the religions and philosophies of ancient Babylon, China, Egypt, Greece, India, Judaea and Persia. There are three well-known passages in which Jesus preaches the rule:<br />
<sup class="ww">Matthew 7.12</sup><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.</span><br />
<sup class="ww">Luke 6.31</sup><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Do to others as you would have them do to you. </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span><span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><sup><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">Luke 10.25-28</span></sup><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Just then a lawyer stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he said, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What do you read there?” He answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbour as yourself.” And he said to him, “You have given the right answer; do this, and you will live.”</span><br />
The passage continues with Jesus answering the question, "Who is my neighbour?", by telling the parable of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Samaritan" style="color: black;">Good Samaritan</a>, indicating that "your neighbour" is anyone in need.</div><br />
So far, so uncontroversial. But I want to inject a cautionary note at this point, along the lines of:<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">'All that you're liable to read in the bible, it ain't necessarily so!'</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/7SxyR16pG0Y?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Before you complain that I am being disrespectful to the bible, consider St Paul's advice to the Ephesians (4.26), '<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">let not the sun go down upon your wrath'</span>. I <a href="http://layanglicana.blogspot.com/2011/05/advice-to-those-about-to-marry.html">have already suggested</a> on this blog that you might do better to sleep on it and this view has been endorsed by <a href="http://penelopepiscopal.blogspot.com/">Penelopepiscopal </a>, and <a href="http://willcookson.wordpress.com/2011/06/30/why-do-we-do-conflict-so-badly/#more-2793">Will Cookson,</a> both priests. We of course agree with the general point that one should not let anger harden in one's heart, but in practical terms a short 'cooling off' period overnight may help the healing process. <br />
<br />
The Golden Rule, in my view, comes into this category. The first - and main - problem was identified by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Bernard_Shaw">George Bernard Shaw</a>:<br />
'<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Do not do unto others as you would that they should do unto you. Their tastes may not be the same.'<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><br />
In the case of the Good Samaritan, he was presumably pretty sure that his help would be welcome. In Maslow's 'hierarchy of needs' (see diagram below), the needs that he was seeking to meet were basic physiological and safety needs.<br />
As you move up the pyramid into psychological and self-fulfilment needs, it is much less certain that outside involvement would be welcome; indeed it may be perceived as unwarranted meddling. As most of us know to our cost, this does not seem to prevent some of our most well-meaning friends from jumping in to give good advice because in our place they would like to receive it. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzJ_3k1MTlH3WR2cMGhtgqyakYTkOvh5hXcUonx75lhaO9gWenp7sCC3MVKahOj-_anJQ5gycoYRiL463jekRdgckZf2BJAhb0mHLpaSmVHwVigqbgjTobXnPGlDbzCpv2allMSS1wU0g/s1600/maslows-hierarchy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="238" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzJ_3k1MTlH3WR2cMGhtgqyakYTkOvh5hXcUonx75lhaO9gWenp7sCC3MVKahOj-_anJQ5gycoYRiL463jekRdgckZf2BJAhb0mHLpaSmVHwVigqbgjTobXnPGlDbzCpv2allMSS1wU0g/s320/maslows-hierarchy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="font-family: inherit;">Foreign aid is an example of good intentions occasionally having unfortunate unintended consequences, as set out in <a href="http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/the-sorry-record-of-foreign-aid-in-africa/">this paper</a>, which - though simplistic - nevertheless has some good points. I will take Tanganyika/Tanzania as an example, as I lived there from 1993-97 with my husband who, as British Council director, had oversight of several British government aid programmes. I hasten to add that the micro-projects in health and education in which he was involved were all very well-managed but in 1951 the then Attlee government introduced the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanganyika_groundnut_scheme">Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme,</a> a macro-plan to cultivate large tracts of what is now Tanzania with peanuts. It was soon abandoned because:</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"ground nuts require at least 500 mm of rainfall per year; the area chosen was subject to drought". </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;">In 1967, Presiden Nyerere introduced '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ujamaa">Ujamaa',</a> a macro-policy which was in many ways disastrous.<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;">In 1969, the brilliant economist,<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2003/may/22/guardianobituaries.highereducation"><span style="font-size: small;"> Bevan Waide</span></a>:</div><blockquote style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">'advised on Tanzania's second five-year plan, during the turbulent years when Julius Nyerere was consolidating his country's socialist stance to development, and the World Bank was less concerned than today about nationalisation and substantial state expenditure... <br />
<br />
From 1984 to 1988, he was chief of the [World] bank's resident mission in India. <br />
He left the bank to become a partner in the management and economic consulting firm of Coopers and Lybrand in London, specialising in privatisation and public enterprise restructuring work in developing countries...<br />
From 1993 to 1996, Waide was seconded to the government of Tanzania, this time as lead adviser on privatisation... and played a crucial part in unwinding some of the excesses of the earlier socialist period.' </blockquote>He, more than anyone, relished the irony of being the foreign expert put in charge of nationalisation when it was the fashion in the 1960s, and then privatisation when it became the vogue policy in the 1990s. <br />
<br />
I do not know what the present mood is amongst Tanzanians, but they are entitled to feel a certain cynical world-weariness and perhaps a wish that, however kindly meant, large-scale macro-economic projects be shelved in order to allow the country to find its own salvation (albeit with help at the local, micro-level).<br />
<div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;">So, if you wake up tomorrow morning with a burning desire to do good to your neighbour, may I respectfully suggest that you consider 'this above all, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Primum_non_nocere">primum non nocere</a>, 'first do no harm'.<br />
......................................................................................................<br />
Postscript: Ivor Stolliday just tweeted President Reagan's famous line: "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help.'" <a class=" twitter-hashtag" href="https://twitter.com/#%21/search?q=%23Reagan" rel="nofollow" title="#Reagan"><span class="hash">#</span><span class="hash-text">Reagan</span></a></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Notes</span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">1. The illustraton of 'The Good Samaritan' by Vincent Van Gogh is via wikipedia. </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2. The YouTube version of 'It ain't necessarily so' from Porgy and Bess is by the Ranot Vocal Ensemble uploaded by <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/eldadindustrialmovie">eldadindustrialmovie</a> on Jun 20, 2010 </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">3. The diagram is of <a href="http://www.vaughns-1-pagers.com/psychology/maslows-needs.htm">Abraham Maslow's 'Hierarchy of Need</a>s'</span></div><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">4. The quotation from George Bernard Shaw is from 'Man and</span> Superman' (1903) </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">5. The description of Bevan Waide's role in Tanzania is an extract from the Guardian obituary by Roger Cooke of 22 May 2003</span> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">(follow hyperlink). I wrote a <a href="http://books.google.com.bz/books/about/Dar_es_Salaam.html?id=8CkuAQAAIAAJ">book about Dar es Salaam with his wife, Uma.</a></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"></span>Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-51477433148548290702011-06-30T19:04:00.001+01:002011-07-23T09:52:45.119+01:00A Spiritual Dick Whittington<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_SsGl7hlqLeI/TdaeaoCwMgI/AAAAAAAAACY/YBkaMrC9Xeg/s1600-h/Purver-bible---on-shelf4.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Purver bible - on shelf" border="0" height="449" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_SsGl7hlqLeI/TdaebWG43WI/AAAAAAAAACc/x0-NvVZB8Eo/Purver-bible---on-shelf_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Purver bible - on shelf" width="221" /></a>All good stories begin 'once upon a time' and what I am about to tell you is so fabulous (in its true sense) that it deserves no less.<br />
<br />
Once upon a time, then, by the chalk streams of a tributary of the River Test in Hampshire, there was born a child called Anthony. He was the illegitimate son of Sarah Purver, and was christened at St Peter's, St Mary Bourne on 28 December 1702, it being then the local custom to baptise all 'base born' children in the days around Christmas. No father is named in the register (or has ever been identified). Although the Purver family had been solid merchants or farmers in the area going back to at least Tudor times, this was a very unpropitious start in life. The baby Anthony was handed over to be brought up by an uncle, Thomas Purver, a farmer from the neighbouring village of Hurstbourne Tarrant. His mother Sarah was married off in 1711 to an Andover merchant, Christopher Treadgell.<br />
<br />
<br />
Anthony attended the village school for a while, but obviously soon outgrew the local schoolmaster: when he was<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> …prevented by illness from attending school, he did not suffer the time to remain unimproved, but applied himself with such diligence and success to the study of arithmetic that upon his return to school he was able to explain the process of evolution to his master, whose attainment had not then been great. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span>A similar account of his childhood says that at the age of ten he '<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">taught his master the doctrine of square and cubic roots’.</span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuv95ylo18OmdyftSbYn59vTgxsou3aPYnb3uXxhSGwvhdnKilQOkPikxdqjqC10fj25Z4xr8EaIJLtgorFKqRuf673IUGSpeWYEI6YO3X793vRBZgOxWMg16xOp4uPxkrrZbXqZeQkkk/s1600/Copy+of+Tom+Sharpe+valley+view.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuv95ylo18OmdyftSbYn59vTgxsou3aPYnb3uXxhSGwvhdnKilQOkPikxdqjqC10fj25Z4xr8EaIJLtgorFKqRuf673IUGSpeWYEI6YO3X793vRBZgOxWMg16xOp4uPxkrrZbXqZeQkkk/s320/Copy+of+Tom+Sharpe+valley+view.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>Although of course, 'the process of evolution' meant something else in the 1700s, he must have been a rather un-nerving pupil, and Anthony was soon sent to the Free School in the nearby town of Andover, where he lived with his mother and her husband until the age of 15, at which point he was apprenticed to a shoemaker back in Hurstbourne Tarrant. His task as an apprentice involved looking after the shoemaker's sheep on the hills above the village. While he tended the sheep, Purver read <i>Rusticos ad academicos</i> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Rowland_Fisher">Samuel Fisher</a>, the Quaker from Philadelphia who fulminated against existing translations of the Bible.<br />
<br />
<b>Purver decides to re-translate the Bible.</b><br />
At this point, Anthony Purver decided that the language of the King James Bible was too difficult for 'the common man'. The fabulous part of the story is what happened next. Having decided that he was called by God not just to simplify the English of the Authorised Version but to re-translate it from the original Hebrew<a href="file:///C:/Users/Laura/Documents/Hurstbourne%20Tarrant%20Book/Families/L-R/Purvers/#_edn5" name="_ednref5"></a>, he was lucky that at that moment there passed through Hurstbourne Tarrant ‘a wandering Jew'<a href="file:///C:/Users/Laura/Documents/Hurstbourne%20Tarrant%20Book/Families/L-R/Purvers/#_edn6" name="_ednref6"></a> who, even more luckily, was able to stop wandering long enough to teach Purver Hebrew (at that time there were of course no published Hebrew-English dictionaries or grammars)<a href="file:///C:/Users/Laura/Documents/Hurstbourne%20Tarrant%20Book/Families/L-R/Purvers/#_edn7" name="_ednref7"></a>. During his apprenticeship to the shoemaker, he also learnt Aramaic, Syriac, Greek and Latin.<br />
<br />
<b> What is it about shoemakers?</b><br />
Thomas Dekker’s play of 1599, '<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Shoemaker’s Holiday</span>', tells the story of Simon Eyre, who by virtue of industry and good luck, rises to become lord mayor of London. Several writers have drawn attention to the number of non-fictional shoemakers who have also subsequently achieved eminence, often as preachers or teachers. Is this because a shoemaker works on his own at tasks which occupy the hands but not fully the brain?<span style="font-family: inherit;"> Professors Hobsbawm and </span><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 12pt;">Rudé point out that</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">:</span> <br />
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">‘<i>Village radicals – as often as not the shoemakers, whose literacy and intellectualism were proverbial – provided a link with the wider world and formulated ideas and programmes which the labourers sometimes made their own</i><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6322222794084273496&postID=5147743314854829070" name="_ednref22"></a>’ </div>In an 1883 survey of successful men who had begun life as shoemakers<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6322222794084273496&postID=5147743314854829070" name="_ednref23"></a>, William Winks points out that they: <br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">‘were generally referred to by men of their own social status for the settlement of disputed points in literature, science, politics or theology. Advocates of political, social or religious reform, local preachers, </span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Methodist class-leaders and Sunday-school teachers, were drafted in larger numbers from the fraternity of shoemakers than from any other craft.’</span><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span></span><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvIhrmz3-IyUFjEUT8cpKTuEhyphenhyphen-l66xQ3Yv6TI99TwSsuz3TcKxvz-W8Hlw8DFHnmyUMoXofP6Y5x8ccOMsSch-ZB9fpyeHPW_DwFnEnpMRniN4xIjmI5MdCdJPwniM7QQI1b_U9OSscA/s1600/220px-Fothergill_John+via+wikipedia.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvIhrmz3-IyUFjEUT8cpKTuEhyphenhyphen-l66xQ3Yv6TI99TwSsuz3TcKxvz-W8Hlw8DFHnmyUMoXofP6Y5x8ccOMsSch-ZB9fpyeHPW_DwFnEnpMRniN4xIjmI5MdCdJPwniM7QQI1b_U9OSscA/s320/220px-Fothergill_John+via+wikipedia.jpg" width="196" /></a><b>Purver moves to London and becomes a Quaker </b><br />
Unsurprisingly, Purver decided he was better suited to teaching than shoemaking, and so in 1722 opened a school at Hurstbourne Tarrant, which occupied him until he moved to London in 1725 or 1727, possibly in order to meet scholars of Hebrew, who could deepen his knowledge of the language. We know he met John Wesley at this time but, instead of becoming a Wesleyan, in 1727 joined the Society of Friends. He made the acquaintance of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fothergill_%28physician%29">Dr. John Fothergill,</a> the plant collector, philanthropist and Quaker, who later became a Fellow of the Royal Society, and so impressed him that he eventually gave Purver £1,000 for his translation of the bible, which in 1764 Fothergill published at his own expense.<br />
Purver returned to teaching for ten years, this time in Andover on behalf of the Friends, and became an established member of the local Meeting. It was at this period that he began his translation of the bible. He then set off again as a travelling preacher, supporting himself as a private tutor. On 17th August 1738 he married Rachel Cotterall<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6322222794084273496&postID=5147743314854829070" name="_ednref15"></a>, although Purver was thirty four and she was thirty nine. She was a fellow Quaker whom he had met at Frenchay, near Bristol. The Cotterall sisters ran a school and as Rachel was - again luckily- a woman of ‘some property’, it may have been through her financial support that Purver was able to devote so much time to his bible translation. No doubt Dr Fothergill’s assistance was also of prime importance<a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6322222794084273496&postID=5147743314854829070" name="_ednref16"></a>. He described Anthony Purver as<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">‘a man of great simplicity of manners, regular conduct and a moderate reserve; steadily attentive to truth, hating falsehood, and having an unconquerable aversion to vice’</span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6322222794084273496&postID=5147743314854829070" name="_ednref9" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">. </span><br />
<a href="file:///C:/Users/Laura/Documents/Hurstbourne%20Tarrant%20Book/Families/L-R/Purvers/#_edn14" name="_ednref14"></a> <br />
<br />
<b>The Text of Purver's Translation </b><br />
It would be nice to be able to relate at this point that his translation was published to rave reviews, but unfortunately this was not the case. Contemporary critics were on the whole unimpressed by the literary style of Purver’s bible but all seem grudgingly to have agreed that he could not be faulted on its closeness to the original Hebrew text. Purver’s own explanation of his approach was: <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFAvy6xRDP9su46oj7JIIhsgmM_X_1lI4xuz9_u9XrvUO64YgobWbiEkw44MzkHpOJhJFSp0KsEkiV70amVngAYNdmMuoaHN_lrmgZsIyW04eeVLyN4yJpkCcbIII4YbERR13DRbtKWSc/s1600/Purver+Bible+-title+page+of+vol+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFAvy6xRDP9su46oj7JIIhsgmM_X_1lI4xuz9_u9XrvUO64YgobWbiEkw44MzkHpOJhJFSp0KsEkiV70amVngAYNdmMuoaHN_lrmgZsIyW04eeVLyN4yJpkCcbIII4YbERR13DRbtKWSc/s320/Purver+Bible+-title+page+of+vol+1.jpg" width="206" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Axiom I: A translation ought to be true to the original. Axiom II: A translation should be well or grammatically expressed, in the language it is made in. It is well known that those called the living languages do alter, especially ours, who are such a changeable People. Hence it is necessary that new Translations should be made from one Time or Century to another, accommodated to the present use of speaking or writing. Corollary: When a translation is well made, yet some Explanation and Defence of it may be necessary.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Laura/Documents/Hurstbourne%20Tarrant%20Book/Families/L-R/Purvers/#_edn17" name="_ednref17"></a> <br />
<br />
Genesis<b><br />
</b><br />
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">God created the Heaven and the Earth at the beginning. The Earth, however, was vacant and void, and Darkness overwhelmed the Deep, but the Spirit of God hovered atop of the water…Lastly God looked on all that he had made, and lo it was very good. It had then been Evening and was Morning. </div><br />
Job, chapter 14<br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Man who is born of a Woman is of Short time and full of Disquiet. He comes forth, and is cut off, as a Flower; nay, flees away without remaining, like a shadow.</div><br />
Psalm 23 <br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Lord is my shepherd; I do not want. He makes me lie down in Pastures of fresh grass: leads me by still waters. He restores my soul, guides me in the Roads of Righteousness, for his Name’s sake. Nay, though I go through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I fear no Ill, since thou art with me; whose Rod and Staff comfort me. Thou furnishest a Table for my presence before my Adversaries, makest my Head wet with oil, my cup is quite full. Certainly Goodness and Kindness will follow me all the Days of my life, and I shall rest in the House of the Lord a long time.</div><br />
Psalm 137 <i><br />
</i><br />
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">By the rivers of Babylon there we sate as also wept, when we remembered Zion. We hung our harps on the willows within it…how shall we sing a song of the Lord in a foreign country. If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill.</div><br />
<b>Critical reception </b><br />
A hundred years later <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Leadbeater">Mary Leadbeter</a> writes that: <br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Leadbeater">Aldborough Wrightson</a>…was provoked at Purver’s translation of the Bible. (No wonder. Whatever the claims of Purver’s translation to correctness, it is strangely deficient in the pathos and beauty of the authorised version.) ‘This’, said he, taking an old battered Bible in his hand, and looking with disdain on Purver’s two volumes in folio, ‘this book, which one would think scarce worth taking out of the gutter, is worth a dozen of that.</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Laura/Documents/Hurstbourne%20Tarrant%20Book/Families/L-R/Purvers/#_edn18" name="_ednref18"></a> <br />
<br />
The poet <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Southey">Robert Southey</a>, writing in 1812, says: <br />
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This book is curious for its Hebrew idioms. By adhering to these, Anthony has in some rare instances excelled the common version; but when he alters only for the sake of alteration, he makes miserable work. </div><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge">Samuel Taylor Coleridge</a> quibbles with Purver’s alteration of<br />
‘<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">I am that I am’</span> to <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">‘</span>I am he who am’</span><a href="file:///C:/Users/Laura/Documents/Hurstbourne%20Tarrant%20Book/Families/L-R/Purvers/#_edn19" name="_ednref19" style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></a><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span> <br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12pt;"> </span>Winks damns Purver with faint praise: <br />
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">‘in his own way, he completed the Herculean task single-handed; and if his translation was not of any general and practical utility, it none the less deserves mention as a monument of self-acquired learning and honourable industry.’ </div><br />
<br />
Crushing though some of these comments are, most writers would be thrilled that their work was still being reviewed nearly 120 years after publication.<br />
<br />
Anthony Purver’s achievement, first in translating the bible and then in finding someone prepared to sponsor its publication and pay him £1,000 for the copyright, remains astonishing for someone born with the stigma of illegitimacy, in the depths of rural Hampshire, at the beginning of Queen Anne’s reign, into a family of minor merchants and farmers, where his upbringing was left to an uncle, who apprenticed him to a shoemaker.<br />
<br />
He was buried in the Quaker burial ground in Andover. There is no headstone, no statue of him in Andover, or memorial to his name in St Mary Bourne or Hurstbourne Tarrant. There is no permanent trace of him left, except his descendants (some of whom still live in the valley). And, although the massive volumes of his translation never made it into paperback, it is still called 'the Quaker Bible'.<br />
<br />
Notes.<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">1. This post is written as a story: I have ironed out some nuances for the sake of the narrative, but it remains true in essence. If you would like to see it as a proper academic document with supporting footnotes, it is based on an article called: 'Anthony Purver 1702-1777: Andover's Spiritual Dick Whittington' which I wrote for the September 2009 edition of 'Lookback at Andover', the journal of the Andover History and Archaeology Society.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>2.</i> The illustrations are kindly provided by the library staff of th<i>e <a href="http://www.friendshouse.co.uk/">Friends House in London</a></i></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>3. </i><i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">Captain Swing</span></i><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> by E J Hobsbawm and George Rudé, Lawrence and Wishart 1969</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif";">4.<i> Lives of Illustrious Shoemakers</i>; William Edward Winks, London, 1883</span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> </span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i> </i></span><br />
<h3><a class="url" href="http://www.linkedin.com/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eahas%2Ehampshire%2Eorg%2Euk%2Fpublications%2Ehtml&urlhash=vUEf" name="publicationsite" target="_blank" title="New window will open"> <cite></cite></a><span class="edit"><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/profile/edit-publication?publicationID=9&locale=en_US&goback=%2Enpe_*1_en*4US_*1_*1_*1"></a> </span> </h3>Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-79309544272846524282011-06-27T11:20:00.000+01:002011-06-27T11:20:27.859+01:00'Fate And The Younger Generation' by D H Lawrence<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8I129v625jwOC_8OaWpPFnF9wIWD8EDFQvSY4sUXIIXsBLJWFpPxIopOdMgS-JTwd-Ey0fg4XrLoYvLvfyFUFAs-tNLZKl-I5i4Les9CbwEe_X6fK11Uw7YxMsxjB8LswaxviAop8dn8/s1600/DH-Lawrence.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8I129v625jwOC_8OaWpPFnF9wIWD8EDFQvSY4sUXIIXsBLJWFpPxIopOdMgS-JTwd-Ey0fg4XrLoYvLvfyFUFAs-tNLZKl-I5i4Les9CbwEe_X6fK11Uw7YxMsxjB8LswaxviAop8dn8/s320/DH-Lawrence.jpg" width="197" /></a></div>Hoping that <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._H._Lawrence">D H Lawrence</a> is by now out of copyright (he died in 1930), I offer the following poem of his from my trusty commonplace book, which according to Google is not readily available on the web.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://layanglicana.blogspot.com/2011/06/it-is-not-necessary-to-change-survival.html#comments">Erika Baker and I had begun a conversation</a> in response to my previous post about the quality of Anglicanism and Ivor Stolliday tweeted me about "the delicate melancholia of the educated anglican".<br />
<br />
Here is D H Lawrence's take on this delicate melancholia:<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<blockquote><b>Fate And The Younger Generation</b></blockquote><br />
<blockquote>'It is strange to think of the Annas, the Vronskys, the Pierres, all the Tolstoyan lot<br />
wiped out.<br />
And the Aloyshas and Dmitris and Myshkins and Stavrogins, the Dostoevsky lot<br />
all wiped out.<br />
And the Tchekov wimbly-wombly wet-legs all wiped out.<br />
Gone! Dead, or wandering in exile with their feathers plucked,<br />
anyhow, gone from what they were, entirely.<br />
Will the Proustian lot go next?And then our English intelligentsia?<br />
Is it the 'Quos vult perdere Deus' business?<br />
Anyhow the Tolstoyan lot simply asked for extinction:<br />
'Eat me up, dear peasant!' - so the peasant ate him. <br />
And the Dostoevsky lot wallowed in the thought:<br />
'Let me sin my way to Jesus!' - So they sinned<br />
themselves off the face of the earth.<br />
And the Tchekov lot: 'I'm too weak and lovable to live!'-<br />
So they went.<br />
Now the Proustian lot: Dear darling death, let me<br />
wriggle my way towards you<br />
like the worm I am! - So he wriggled and got there.<br />
Finally our little lot: 'I don't want to die<br />
but by Jingo if I do!'<br />
- Well, it won't matter so very much either.'</blockquote><br />
David Herbert Lawrence 1885-1930Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-11136409023225123332011-06-26T21:32:00.000+01:002011-06-26T21:32:55.499+01:00'It Is Not Necessary To Change. Survival Is Not Mandatory'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7K3lGF4msQNOrVEWpMOls25MD75g6R0dlh3y-lhSzSCK9cTWF0dSOZU2ix7vTADcV_ZUg0Ayrz_BuZwbD5he8NSrY9nxf2F0v1exp-eVs9isy77zq3E57STylSW4E1w5aRQ-UIdyMUZ8/s1600/The+only+way+to+get+people+to+change+their+minds.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="313" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7K3lGF4msQNOrVEWpMOls25MD75g6R0dlh3y-lhSzSCK9cTWF0dSOZU2ix7vTADcV_ZUg0Ayrz_BuZwbD5he8NSrY9nxf2F0v1exp-eVs9isy77zq3E57STylSW4E1w5aRQ-UIdyMUZ8/s400/The+only+way+to+get+people+to+change+their+minds.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
If all the words that have been written about the <a href="http://www.anglicancommunion.org/commission/covenant/final/text.cfm">Anglican Covenant</a> were laid end to end, they would surely circle the earth several times over. And we seem no nearer getting the hierarchy to consider whether it is, after all, possible that the Communion is being led down a blind alley, cul de sac, impasse or dead end.<br />
<br />
The powers that be refuse absolutely to consider how insanitary it is never to change their minds. Presumably they change their socks and underpants at regular intervals; now we have to find a way of persuading them that their minds need frequent laundering also (particularly considering their obsession with 'who does what and with which and to whom').<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://noanglicancovenant.org/pr1.pdf">No Anglican Covenant Coalition</a>, an international group, was launched on 3 November 2010,<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">"the date the commemoration of the sixteenth century theologian Richard Hooker. “Hooker taught us that God’s gifts of scripture, tradition and reason will guide us to new insights in every age,” according to the Canadian priest and canon law expert, the Revd. Canon Alan Perry. “The proposed Anglican Covenant would freeze Anglican theology and Anglican polity at a particular moment. Anglican polity rejected control by foreign bishops nearly 500 years ago. The proposed Anglican Covenant reinstates it.”</span><br />
<br />
The NACC convenor, the Revd <a href="http://blog.noanglicancovenant.org/2011/01/letter-to-archbishop.html">Lesley Fellows, wrote to the Archbishop of Canterbury</a> explaining why the NACC and its supporters are opposed to the Covenant. After a delay of three months, she got the equivalent of <a href="http://revdlesley.blogspot.com/2011/02/reply-to-my-letter-to-rowan-nocovenant.html">'the bug letter' from the Revd Canon Joanna Uda</a>l, the Archbishop's Secretary for Anglican Communion Affairs.<br />
<br />
There have been articles in the press, and the Church Times of <a href="http://www.ukpressonline.co.uk/ukpressonline/database/search/advSearch.jsp;jsessionid=BB76D0DFA9C07F56019CA0E6343B895F">18 March 2011</a> was devoted to it. Many of us have blogged about it, and I'm sure we have all prayed about it. Some are more exasperated than others, but few can match the exquisite courtesy of <a href="http://jintoku.blogspot.com/2011/06/anglican-communion-bovarism.html">Tobias Haller.</a> Overall, I am very proud to be associated with such a reasoning, courteous group of people. We have covered every angle, and have put our arguments most persuasively. <br />
<br />
But it seems to be of no avail. I sense battle-fatigue setting in, and no wonder. What can we do next?<br />
<br />
Well, perhaps we should go for some form of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_action">direct action</a>? I did consider modelling myself on the suffragettes, but admit to being too much of a coward to relish the prospect being trampled to death at Ascot or force-fed in Wandsworth gaol. I thought of chaining myself to 'the railings' at Lambeth Palace, but unfortunately there are no railings, only a high and solid wall. I could chain myself to the gates, but would have to run backwards and forwards every time they opened or shut, which would be hard work in this heat and rather undignified. <br />
<br />
Thanks to our own Church Mouse, we now know that the Archbishop is defended by <a href="http://churchmousepublishing.blogspot.com/2011/05/ninja-nuns.html">a team of Ninja nuns</a>, so unfortunately my chances of emulating the girl in the cartoon above must be considered poor to nil.<br />
<br />
Another suggestion: we get a ghetto-blaster and put the following song on perpetual repeat outside the walls of Lambeth Palace until we get a change of heart:<br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/Wqa14H9EsFc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />
<br />
My considered solution is as follows. We brainwash both Archbishops with Fortune Cookies. The plan is as follows:<br />
<ol><li>We order a large number of fortune cookies, with the mottoes below enclosed.</li>
<li>We recruit anti-Covenanteers from amongst the domestic (and possibly office) archiepiscopal retainers.</li>
<li>Said retainers hide these at regular intervals in the biscuit tin, sock drawer, bathroom cabinet etc. </li>
</ol><br />
Well, all right, all right. I'm sure you can come up with a better plan. The comment box below would be a good place to offer your ideas for better plans or - failing that - better mottoes for the fortune cookies.<br />
<br />
<blockquote style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">He who rejects change is the architect of decay. The only human institution which rejects progress is the cemetery. ~Harold Wilson<br />
<br />
They must often change, who would be constant in happiness or wisdom. ~Confucius<br />
<br />
There is a certain relief in change, even though it be from bad to worse! As I have often found in travelling in a stagecoach, that it is often a comfort to shift one's position, and be bruised in a new place. ~Washington Irving<br />
<br />
Faced with the choice between changing one's mind and proving that there is no need to do so, almost everyone gets busy on the proof. ~John Kenneth Galbraith<br />
<br />
Life is its own journey, presupposes its own change and movement, and one tries to arrest them at one's eternal peril. ~Laurens van der Post<br />
<br />
Growth is the only evidence of life. ~John Henry Newman,<i> Apologia pro vita sua</i>, 1864<br />
<br />
The circumstances of the world are so variable that an irrevocable purpose or opinion is almost synonymous with a foolish one. ~William H. Seward<br />
<br />
The man who never alters his opinion is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind. ~William Blake<br />
<br />
You can avoid having ulcers by adapting to the situation: If you fall in the mud puddle, check your pockets for fish. ~Author Unknown<br />
<br />
Stubbornness does have its helpful features. You always know what you are going to be thinking tomorrow. ~Glen Beaman<br />
<br />
<br />
We would rather be ruined than changed;<br />
We would rather die in our dread<br />
Than climb the cross of the moment<br />
And let our illusions die.<br />
~W.H. Auden<br />
<br />
Those who expect moments of change to be comfortable and free of conflict have not learned their history. ~Joan Wallach Scott<br />
<br />
All change is not growth, as all movement is not forward. ~Ellen Glasgow<br />
<br />
Oh, would that my mind could let fall its dead ideas, as the tree does its withered leaves! ~Andre Gide<br />
<br />
The bamboo that bends is stronger than the oak that resists. ~Japanese Proverb<br />
<br />
God grant me the serenity to accept the people I cannot change, the courage to change the one I can, and the wisdom to know it's me. ~Author Unknown<br />
<br />
Things alter for the worse spontaneously, if they be not altered for the better designedly. ~Francis Bacon</blockquote><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Note</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> 1. The headline quote (It is not necessary to change...) is from <a href="http://deming.org/index.cfm?content=6">W. Edwards Demers</a>, the American management guru.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2. The illustration/cartoon is from www.sangrea.net and is covered by a Creative Commons Licence</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">3. The You-Tube video is 'Change Your Mind' (3.38 minutes) by the 'All-American Rejects'</span>Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-10595770607859685922011-06-23T17:31:00.001+01:002011-06-23T17:36:48.211+01:00Organists and Churches<div class="postnav"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil78Qa6ezA-y05wBpTUaFrdEbRL8YsdxEZalUETIDRpGyW7vqKCRshz5uWPJZvujlDeNaYaKg0Vb6iFwxP-1bUTL2peSwp18owK9hxVOyZjMC_e_mGU6aCRt9BWzmYwcF7ErbPg2qhBBY/s1600/3633835580_5cdf0b7088+M+V+Plante+via+flickr.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="288" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEil78Qa6ezA-y05wBpTUaFrdEbRL8YsdxEZalUETIDRpGyW7vqKCRshz5uWPJZvujlDeNaYaKg0Vb6iFwxP-1bUTL2peSwp18owK9hxVOyZjMC_e_mGU6aCRt9BWzmYwcF7ErbPg2qhBBY/s320/3633835580_5cdf0b7088+M+V+Plante+via+flickr.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="alignleft">Those who have been following the discussion about the relationship between organists and ministers may like to see two posts in particular from <a href="http://doctorhuw.wordpress.com/">Dr Huw Clayton's blog</a>: '<a href="http://doctorhuw.wordpress.com/2010/08/23/organists/">Organists', from 23 August 2010</a>, and <a href="http://doctorhuw.wordpress.com/2011/06/23/organists-and-churches/#comment-2156">'Organists and Churches</a>' of today, 23 June 2011, which comments on the discussion on these pages:</div></div><div class="posttitle"><a href="http://doctorhuw.wordpress.com/2011/06/23/organists-and-churches/#comment-2156"></a><br />
<blockquote style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">...Of particular interest is the suggestion that clergy, lay readers and all relevant musicians should actually meet to discuss the liturgy and theme for a service, then try to match the music to it. I’ve been to a number of meetings like that, and they can work. <br />
<br />
However, there are snags. They begin when there is no incumbent in the church, or when the incumbent has about six churches (and yes, I do play in a benefice where the incumbent has six churches) and therefore cannot pick the music for all of them except on rare occasions. It then devolves onto whoever is willing and able to do it – that might be the organist, lay reader, choirmaster, even the churchwarden. Moreover, under such circumstances the incumbent doesn’t always have time to decide on a ‘theme’, and you have to second-guess from the lectionary as to what it might be...<br />
<br />
It’s rather sad that there is such a clash of egos in so many places that prevents systems like this from working. Perhaps the best way forward is simply to talk more often in a bid to gain mutual trust and respect – with or without full-blown meetings. And if that can’t be arranged, then really, the question should be asked as to whether the organist is right for that church – with or without the desperate shortage of organists at the moment.</blockquote></div>(Do follow the hyperlink to read the whole article)<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Note</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The illustration, which is mine, is by M V Plante, via Flickr and issued under Creative Commons Licence</span>Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-16046632207617850302011-06-22T17:17:00.002+01:002011-06-23T18:40:16.128+01:00The Lectionary, Music and Words: The Via Media<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia1YbBb4uLqp-5X8Szs6qVyuYV41RX7BGfB8PLyAAx-R3iTdzUdm3NEw9lN0uPrsWkAHfwHT6KrlVZygT8NlvFtdS2Ob069wElsXFBQU_TPFgd1nA6I9dGT7T6Rc7N8PLOYf4UHhy4RKI/s1600/Newman77.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEia1YbBb4uLqp-5X8Szs6qVyuYV41RX7BGfB8PLyAAx-R3iTdzUdm3NEw9lN0uPrsWkAHfwHT6KrlVZygT8NlvFtdS2Ob069wElsXFBQU_TPFgd1nA6I9dGT7T6Rc7N8PLOYf4UHhy4RKI/s320/Newman77.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><b>'Mad Priest' is not so mad after all </b><br />
The Revd Jonathan Hagger may call himself mad, but he <a href="http://shakespeare.mit.edu/hamlet/hamlet.2.2.html">knows a hawk from a handsaw</a> and (despite his tease) a <a href="http://revjph.blogspot.com/2011/06/highly-recommended_22.html">tart</a> from a <a href="http://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849">Tartar</a>. Maybe he is 'but mad north-north-west: when the wind is southerly' he seems to me to have the wisdom of Solomon himself.<br />
<br />
As I read Kathryn Rose's beautifully expressed piece on the <a href="http://layanglicana.blogspot.com/2011/06/organists-view.html">point of view of the organist</a>, I saw my own <a href="http://layanglicana.blogspot.com/2011/06/can-lay-worship-leaders-and-organists.html">problems with 'Drisella</a>' in quite a different light. She may have been a tiresome woman (she was) but I do begin to see the situation from her standpoint. <br />
<br />
Our not-so-mad priest identified in the comments on Kathryn Rose's post that the problem was chiefly one of <b>communication</b>, together with a little <b>good will</b>.<br />
<blockquote style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">... the ideal way to plan the music of a church is for the worship leader, organist (or whatever) and, if there is one, the leader of the choir, to come together to decide on the hymns. The worship leader is usually word orientated and meeting together allows a greater number of hymn texts to be used because the musicians will be able to suggest tunes that they and the congregation know when the set tune for a hymn is unknown or just plain bad. At these meetings the worship leader can explain the theme he or she wants to dominate the service (which may be different to the recommended theme). Then I believe it to be good manners for the worship leader to allow the musicians to choose any anthems etc...Both worship leaders and musicians must never lose sight of the fact that they are doing it for the congregation which, if they are not pleased, will not bother turning up again.</blockquote><a href="http://layanglicana.blogspot.com/2011/06/organists-view.html#comments">This dollop of common sense</a> needs to be circulated to every parish church in the land, in my opinion.<br />
<br />
Of course, knowing what the answer is is not the same as being able to apply it. But it is a start.<br />
<br />
Thank-you, Jonathan.Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-36648119550647013672011-06-21T21:45:00.003+01:002011-06-21T21:49:52.425+01:00The Organist's View<b>Note by Laura Sykes, Lay Anglicana.</b><br />
In response to my post called '<a href="http://layanglicana.blogspot.com/2011/06/can-lay-worship-leaders-and-organists.html">Can Lay Worship Leaders and Organists Make Music Together</a>' I invited the organist, Kathryn Rose, to submit her reactions in the form of a guest post on this blog. She too has a blog, <a href="http://artsyhonker.blogspot.com/"><u>The Artsy Honker</u>.</a><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzyInaLWgaY6C1rFRwBvq2Gka20dN9Cpj3P5UitGUqHAAS-q65LKV2ZM5vkxy93ZBwop6prHjX_joIn9axOaS2RSjetE24WYSpn38oAe4lCs8zhz8InxSHa28lK3CZcp6fGBxFWk_CjVE/s1600/artsyhonker_blog.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzyInaLWgaY6C1rFRwBvq2Gka20dN9Cpj3P5UitGUqHAAS-q65LKV2ZM5vkxy93ZBwop6prHjX_joIn9axOaS2RSjetE24WYSpn38oAe4lCs8zhz8InxSHa28lK3CZcp6fGBxFWk_CjVE/s320/artsyhonker_blog.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I am an organist. I think I have a good working relationship with my vicar. For our choir, as well as for my organ-playing skills, it would be inappropriate and unrealistic to choose music on a week-by-week basis depending on what the vicar has decided to preach on. I draw up a music list a month in advance and send it to the vicar, we have a chat about what is required and debate whether there need to be changes. That certainly diminishes any sense of being a human juke-box. I've been given a great deal of freedom in some areas, but I remain conscious that the incumbent really does have the last word. I bear in mind that this also means he bears any responsibility for things which turn out to be grossly inappropriate! I'm new to this parish as well as to the instrument and I do value the vicar's advice as well as acknowledging his legal position as the one with whom the buck must stop. In turn he recognises that I have far more musical training and experience than he has (even if I am relatively new to playing the organ) and does not ask for the impossible or disparage my musical ideas, and that goes a long way toward me being happy to be flexible on some things. I try to be generous, and so does he, and it seems to work out. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I am fortunate in that the vicar does have musical taste that is similar enough to mine that I am not often asked to play something I loathe, and that we understand each other fairly well in theological terms. I am sure that in a parish with a very evangelical worship style I would be deeply unhappy! Context is very important. Similarly, in some contexts it might be appropriate for the minister to choose hymns the day before, based on the sermon -- though I suspect that is rare and that in many places where this is routinely done the quality of the liturgy suffers because the musicians have not had adequate preparation time.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I think a lot of friction between ministers and organists is due to unrealistic expectations on either side, not recognising the reality of the resources available or the needs of the congregation.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For me, this is a labour of love, and a ministry. I am doing work that is liturgically important, theologically important, having had no formal theological training. I am responsible, to a degree, for pastoral leadership of the choir though I have no formal pastoral training. My musical training (which started in childhood) was not paid for by the good old C of E the way most ordained ministers' theological training is, my work as an organist prevents me taking more lucrative work elsewhere, both because of the specific times and because of the ten to twenty hours per week I put into parish work. I am paid on a per service basis for playing, but it is very much an honorarium, and my impression is that this is the case in most parish churches. There are many places where the organist comes in and "makes a fist of it" while working a full-time day job (and in some cases this is appropriate -- again, context is everything!), but that doesn't really change the fact that there are a good number of organists for whom this work is a vocation, not a job, and who apply considerable professional and personal resources to serving God through leading the choir and congregation in musical aspects of worship.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> So, being an organist can be a ministry, and it can be a lonely one. I am blessed to have a good working relationship with my vicar, but I know there are ministers who somehow cannot take an organist's ministry seriously. The congregation I work with is mostly supportive -- there will always, always be people who complain about any music they "don't know", but I also get positive feedback, which helps a lot. Sadly that is not the case everywhere. The choir are small but mighty and they are absolutely wonderful in terms of trusting my leadership and encouraging one another, which is absolutely crucial as most of them do not read music at all; I have known of choirs which undermine rather than support their organists, or situations where someone in the choir will try to play the vicar and organist off against one another. I can easily see how in a less supportive situation it would be easy for an organist to feel taken for granted, or to feel that the others involved in leading worship simply do not care about the liturgy. That's a heavy burden for anyone. The church provides little or no support for organists, the RSCM provides some training but without a supportive church it can be unaffordable and it is always fairly technically focused (which is great, but offers little recourse for an organist who feels undervalued). Organists are likely to get frustrated, bitter and controlling in such situations, and though some can be particularly difficult I would encourage anyone with "organist trouble" to take a step back and look at what systemic factors may be contributing to such distress. In the case of an organist who has outlasted several clergy this may be very difficult to determine but I think it is worth an honest effort.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"At the same time, members of both professions normally enjoy being centre-stage and have a flair for performance — and in churches, as in any other theatre, there can generally be only one star."</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Perhaps the reason we manage as well as we do at St Andrew's is the deeply held conviction that indeed there can be only one star at church, and that is not me, or the vicar, or a visiting priest or preacher, but God. If that is forgotten then I respectfully submit that a parish may have much worse problems than organist trouble.</span><br />
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<b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Kathryn Rose, Organist.</span></b><br />
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<br style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;" />Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-52234781166526456212011-06-21T00:17:00.003+01:002011-06-21T22:13:31.977+01:00Can Lay Worship Leaders and Organists Make Music Together?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioZPXtFAhzxxdujSWcasFttVCm_SoBMVDsiWrdn1rF4tLqqXRwLmiwEmhPxhkcL1lZJ2HnpxVfO2oJ7POecOvdel9IypvHrXPOkynCC_TERrjRqr8IkZQcC9sMoOeOr8dcYzuu-GFDJTw/s1600/Organist_und_Mesner+18c+anon+Italian+wikim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="278" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioZPXtFAhzxxdujSWcasFttVCm_SoBMVDsiWrdn1rF4tLqqXRwLmiwEmhPxhkcL1lZJ2HnpxVfO2oJ7POecOvdel9IypvHrXPOkynCC_TERrjRqr8IkZQcC9sMoOeOr8dcYzuu-GFDJTw/s400/Organist_und_Mesner+18c+anon+Italian+wikim.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh76tqaWnMmBJproG-wSDm11ZOEJSrhWr-Def_BB0mOE0Qztzh1Y9Of8eHrEY3N1GMBGqzWZcQIo-yf_yWAsVB5bA0cUa-NK1osfbBKFWiEMS_IdQomrO3nPPcEvHDYx7F83Rc4SlWpLe8/s1600/Organist_und_Mesner+18c+anon+Italian+wikim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The relationship between the clergy and the organist is laid down in canon law:</div><blockquote style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.webcitation.org/5rLMDYLDh">B 20 Of the musicians and music of the Church</a><br />
1. ... the functions of appointing... and of terminating the appointment of any organist, choirmaster or director of music, shall be exercisable by the minister with the agreement of the parochial church council...<br />
2. Where there is an organist, choirmaster or director of music <b>the minister shall pay due heed to his advice and assistance</b> in the choosing of chants, hymns, anthems, and other settings, and in the ordering of the music of the church; but at all times<b> the final responsibility and decision in these matters rests with the minister</b>.<br />
3. It is the duty of the minister to ensure that only such chants, hymns, anthems, and other settings are chosen as are appropriate, both the words and the music, to the solemn act of worship and prayer in the House of God as well as to the congregation assembled for that purpose....</blockquote><br />
In '<a href="http://users.ox.ac.uk/%7Erobin/waiaech0c.html">Weary and Ill At Ease</a>', Robin L D Rees wrote in 2001:<br />
<blockquote style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">In recent years, many have written of a breakdown in relations between clergy and organists. While still organist at Exeter Cathedral, Lionel Dakers [later director of the Royal School of Church Music] was already expressing his concern:<br />
<blockquote>There is something in the make-up of clergy and organists which on occasion impels them to behave both irresponsibly and irrationally. Obvious to all are the repercussions of two apparently responsible adults, both in prominent parochial positions, being unable to see eye to eye. Much harm can be done to the cause of the Church by the inevitable tongue wagging which accompanies such incidents.</blockquote></blockquote><blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"></div></blockquote><br />
<a href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article569231.ece">Ruth Gledhill wrote</a> in <i>The Times</i> on 22 September 2005:<br />
<blockquote><blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Too many clergy use organists as “human jukeboxes”, demand impossible working hours and refuse to bow to their superior musical knowledge...</span>Now two leading organists have produced a guide...Robert Leach... has written the book with Barry Williams...[they] estimate that two thirds of the country’s organists refuse work in churches because of problems relating to the clergy... </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The book, <i>Everything Else an Organist Should Know,</i> gives advice on what to do when relations break down with the vicar...</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfHtdUymENfH13YaHzPn3xb6XDqi40CNMlpL3r3U1Cc_ihhmasyo4oTRQmEPta9r4mk7D7i9ejZIKfhqS0oB44huQDi0XWPbejI-qnV7AsDu-hw10-vilZAedAE3juKvSM6xB6eNGiLlI/s1600/640px-Vouet%252C_Simon_-_Saint_Cecilia_-_c._1626+wikim.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfHtdUymENfH13YaHzPn3xb6XDqi40CNMlpL3r3U1Cc_ihhmasyo4oTRQmEPta9r4mk7D7i9ejZIKfhqS0oB44huQDi0XWPbejI-qnV7AsDu-hw10-vilZAedAE3juKvSM6xB6eNGiLlI/s200/640px-Vouet%252C_Simon_-_Saint_Cecilia_-_c._1626+wikim.jpg" width="146" /></a>And they urge organists to be realistic about the abilities of their choirs. “Four old ladies, three children and a grumpy old man cannot sing the <i>Hallelujah Chorus</i>.” </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">At the same time, members of both professions normally enjoy being centre-stage and have a flair for performance — and in churches, as in any other theatre, there can generally be only one star. </div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">“The minister must not treat the organist as a human jukebox, and the organist must recognise that the minister has final authority in matters of worship,” Mr Leach says.</div></blockquote></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In our illustration, St Cecilia looks as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth, but she also looks as if she were taking her instructions direct from the Almighty: if it takes a brave incumbent to intervene in this cosy conversation, for a lay worship leader to do so is brinkmanship of a very high order.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The first organist I encountered on becoming a Lay Worship Leader was called, shall we say, 'Drisella'. (The alias is necessary to protect the -possibly litigious- guilty). She had seen off many priests in her time, and presumably anticipated I would present no problem. A month in advance, I emailed Drisella (very politely) with my choice of hymns for the service I was due to take. The reply was instant, and deadly. <b>She</b> would make <b>her</b> choice, based on the theme and hymns suggested in the Royal School of Church Music's 'Sunday by Sunday' booklet. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">You will immediately detect the flaw in this arrangement: any theme that I might glean from the lectionary readings might or might not coincide with the RSCM's interpretation. Although the theme is occasionally obvious, it often isn't, and there is the added difficulty that, as a lay worship leader, I did not want to fall into the heffalump trap of expounding on doctrine. I appealed to the priest-in-charge, who saw my point and agreed to back me. His sole condition was that it would fall to me, not him, so to inform Drisella. I took a deep breath, and (perhaps rashly) telephoned her. The reaction was electrifying, if ungrammatical:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">'You're trying to get one over on me with the vicar!' </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">She then refused to play at any service taken by me<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">. </span>Luckily, at that point my dear husband (and churchwarden) intervened. Although the last time he had played the organ had been in Dacca Cathedral in 1971, he would fill the gap. And so he did, for the next three years, the lovely man.<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> </span>At that point, a new priest-in-charge arrived: to the relief of all, Drisella did not survive the initial conversation about their future relationship. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We moved to a rota system, whereby a series of local organists took on, say, 'the third Sunday of the month'. There was no 'Prima Donna', only a foursome who took it in turns to play in various benefices in the deanery. All that was needed was a little good will, with no jockeying for position. Harmony was restored. All for the greater glory of God. Amen.<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><br />
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</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Notes</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">1. The main illustration is 'Organist und mesner' by an anonymous Italian painter, 18th c via wikimedia. 'Mesner' = sacristan. The two seem to be to be eyeing each other distinctly warily. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2. The second illustration is 'Saint Cecilia' by Simon Vouet c. 1626 via wikimedia.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">3. You can read Ruth Gledhill's story in full if you click the hyperlink, as it was written before the pay wall.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">4. Kathryn Rose, of the<a href="http://artsyhonker.blogspot.com/"> Artsy Honker</a> blog, has been invited to post with her reactions at <a href="http://layanglicana.blogspot.com/2011/06/organists-view.html">The Organist's View. </a></span></div>Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-37889896856699553162011-06-18T11:27:00.004+01:002011-06-20T17:55:25.391+01:00'Another Roll Of The Dice?'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUpMpMjt12QT220dxxShLX0ckw-x7kyf-ZHpp5iz1z9i0WTjL9vim__o7XY3QuWB16OD4mL_oLWqxJLZFykHkaa_nWtca2hRobR8-FHUtaKAaJq_1qcGRsd5arFQwcp2-rCNY4hnGYxIs/s1600/Coral+Pink+Sand+Dunes+Utah.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUpMpMjt12QT220dxxShLX0ckw-x7kyf-ZHpp5iz1z9i0WTjL9vim__o7XY3QuWB16OD4mL_oLWqxJLZFykHkaa_nWtca2hRobR8-FHUtaKAaJq_1qcGRsd5arFQwcp2-rCNY4hnGYxIs/s400/Coral+Pink+Sand+Dunes+Utah.jpg" width="270" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">We have been thinking a lot lately about the trio of Old Age, Illness and Death. We live in a village of 750 people, and a large proportion of us (who met when we were in our early fifties) are all gradually growing old together. It has been a difficult couple of weeks to watch television: first, the agonising story of sadistic treatment of the elderly by their carers, as reviewed by Bishop Alan in <a href="http://bishopalan.blogspot.com/2011/06/dickens-lives-bullies-rule-ok.html">'Dickens Lives! Bullies Rule OK!'</a>. Not that this was regarded as exceptional by any of us who had watched elderly relatives die in nursing homes. Then on Monday we had Terry Pratchett's programme, equally ably reviewed by the Church Mouse in '<a href="http://churchmousepublishing.blogspot.com/2011/06/helping-people-to-die-showing-it-on.html">Helping people to die and showing it on the telly</a>' and Charlie Peer in '<a href="http://charliepeer.blogspot.com/2011/06/terry-pratchett-on-dying.html">Terry Pratchett on dying</a>'.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD9pYIY6L6asVyE-OL2mVfHxa8Y5oB8sO76m0EWgzGcVz5fU5sgmsxro1u3hs6yHr8otvibGk6gq_cPsfgwa7SVToCk5181p5Ls3rkbKZocH2NsK6UJ0v1eenJikQ7EzREPxan1D7uWGs/s1600/bedford.offside.w600.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="137" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhD9pYIY6L6asVyE-OL2mVfHxa8Y5oB8sO76m0EWgzGcVz5fU5sgmsxro1u3hs6yHr8otvibGk6gq_cPsfgwa7SVToCk5181p5Ls3rkbKZocH2NsK6UJ0v1eenJikQ7EzREPxan1D7uWGs/s200/bedford.offside.w600.jpg" width="200" /></a>We discussed these programmes, and the realities of life behind them, at a parish lunch. In the circumstances, it is natural perhaps to concentrate on honing one's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gallows_humor">gallows sense of humour</a>. How would we all cope, when the time came to face that '<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Bourne, from which no Hollingsworth returns</span>'? To cheer ourselves up, we concocted a parish plan. When that day arrived, we would make a party of it, hire a <a href="http://agespast.co.uk/bedford.phtml">charabanc</a> and set off for Switzerland. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Naturally, we would need to spend the night somewhere en route. What about Paris? Since it was going to be our last night on earth, no expense need be spared. There was some debate about where to stay, but eventually we fixed on the Belle Époque splendour of the Ritz Hotel.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE5GE5jo79nHse108yFkAiBQ-cqeKoOH5u3lzmPY7ev1OGaIgEKrg8yfmZR2ZWnkKqmdBjbRRMa2VUgyX6xiQX_56mK-Tqk8E2NlC2kbMMqLu6tiPMf2hTfMNUWLSR34GWXHKYR3gTx3I/s1600/hotel_ritz_paris_dining.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="171" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiE5GE5jo79nHse108yFkAiBQ-cqeKoOH5u3lzmPY7ev1OGaIgEKrg8yfmZR2ZWnkKqmdBjbRRMa2VUgyX6xiQX_56mK-Tqk8E2NlC2kbMMqLu6tiPMf2hTfMNUWLSR34GWXHKYR3gTx3I/s200/hotel_ritz_paris_dining.jpg" width="200" /></a>We would be tired, of course, so there was no need to make an early start the following morning. In fact, if we had enjoyed our dinner the first night, why didn't we spend a second night in Paris and set off for Switzerland the next day? It would be fun to have one last potter around everyone's favourite foreign city. There was some talk of shopping, which tailed off. There was a moment of quiet at this point. Then someone piped up, voicing what we had all been wondering:</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; text-align: left;">'The thing is, if we are enjoying ourselves in Paris, and spinning it out, why are we going on to Switzerland exactly? Maybe we should just come home?'</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">In the words of the taxi-driver in Terry Pratchett's programme, who had decided to trust his fate to the hospice, 'why not try just another roll of the dice?' </div><blockquote><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Grant us, O Lord, the royalty of inward happiness, and the serenity which comes from living close to thee. Daily renew in us the sense of joy, and let the eternal Spirit dwell in our souls and bodies, filling every corner of our hearts with light and gladness; so that we may be diffusers of life, and meet all that comes with gallant and high-hearted happiness, giving thee thanks always for all things. Amen</span></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: inherit; text-align: left;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Notes</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">1.The illustration is 'Sand Patterns' by Royce L Bair, taken in Coral Pink Sand Dunes, Utah. Issued under CCL.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2.The jumbled quote is well-known to anyone over the age of 50 who remembers the old department store <a href="http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=45098">Bourne and Hollingsworth</a> but is a parody of the lines from <a href="http://www.monologuearchive.com/s/shakespeare_001.html">Hamlet's famous soliloquy</a>:<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">the dread of something after death,</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> That undiscover'd country from whose bourne</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> No traveller returns, puzzles the will</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> And makes us rather bear those ills we have</span><br style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;" /><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"> Than fly to others that we know not of?</span><br />
3. Prayer used at the annual service of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_St_Michael_and_St_George">Order of St Michael and St George</a>, adapted from a prayer of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Louis_Stevenson">Robert Louis Stevenso</a></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Louis_Stevenson" target="_blank">n</a>.</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></div>Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-73558425174605588852011-06-14T11:51:00.002+01:002011-06-14T19:23:40.070+01:00A Meditation for Trinity Sunday on Andrei Rublev's Icon<div style="font-family: inherit;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip1ogDERawkeoaTrQd6IS3vQ6XK3w75ctgfCLomGK-Q7_pnS5_O91Go9yRYSACLibCTPm5_ua0gJ3kzqIKDnzk0ir4Aw22VtqcakvxJpYDzcLTncwKo5AIFA81tnqmNq7g02N9CNoYom0/s1600/481px-Angelsatmamre-trinity-rublev-1410.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEip1ogDERawkeoaTrQd6IS3vQ6XK3w75ctgfCLomGK-Q7_pnS5_O91Go9yRYSACLibCTPm5_ua0gJ3kzqIKDnzk0ir4Aw22VtqcakvxJpYDzcLTncwKo5AIFA81tnqmNq7g02N9CNoYom0/s400/481px-Angelsatmamre-trinity-rublev-1410.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>Lay worship leaders are unlikely to be asked to take services on Christmas Day, Good Friday or Easter, but I have twice found myself taking a Matins on Trinity Sunday. In these circumstances, it would be foolhardy to launch into one's own explanation of the Trinity (although one 'kind' suggestion was that I should use a pot plant as a prop to expound on Trinitarian doctrine). </div><div style="font-family: inherit;">A<span style="font-family: inherit;">t the last Year A Trinity Sunday, I drew heavily on a sermon by the Dean of Durham Cathedral, the <span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Very Revd Michael Sadgrove</span>, and a meditation by <span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Dr Andr</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">é</span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Boguslawski</span> on Andrei Rublev's icon of </span> the three Angels being hosted by Abraham at Mamré.</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><blockquote><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Holy God, faithful and unchanging:enlarge our minds with the knowledge of your truth, and draw us more deeply into the mystery of your love, that we may truly worship you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.</span></blockquote><span style="font-family: inherit;">The nation's favourite hymn begins:</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><blockquote style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Immortal, invisible, God only wise</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">In light inaccessible, hid from our eyes...</span></blockquote></div><div style="font-family: inherit;">It reminds us, if we need reminding, that God is beyond our understanding. Part of the point of today is to celebrate His mysteries, which are not the same as puzzles. Puzzles, however difficult, can be solved, but the more you explore mysteries, the more their mystery deepens. To contemplate them is more like prayer than intellectual analysis: </div><blockquote style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
<div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">‘Great music,’ said the pianist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artur_Schnabel">Artur Schnabel</a>, ‘is music that is better than it can ever be played’…Worship, too, is something that is performed. The words we say and sing this morning are like a musical score: only in the performance, in the doing, do they come alive. And we realise that however good the words, however honest our intentions, our worship always falls short of what it proclaims…On Trinity Sunday, we realise the impossibility of ever doing God justice by talking about him. We ask too much of language when we expect it to carry this profoundest mystery of all…For how can we speak about the God who is both high and deep; beyond us, yet within; encompassing all that has been, and is, and is yet to come? ‘To whom then will you compare God?’ asks Isaiah.<sup>40:18</sup></div><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">I can barely comprehend the mystery of another human being, my own self even, let alone the mystery of God.</div></blockquote><blockquote style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">As the Welsh priest-poet <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._S._Thomas">R.S. Thomas</a> writes: </div><blockquote><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">'For one like me God will never be plain and out there, but dark rather and inexplicable'.</span> </div></blockquote><div style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">But Trinity Sunday means more than what we can’t say. This ‘more’ is about what we can do, indeed must do, if we are to live as Christians. In the Trinity, we see a pattern of relationship that speaks of how we are to be towards others and towards the world. The threeness of Trinity means community, a society of persons moving constantly out towards one another in self-giving, living and being in that perfect oneness we call by the name of ‘love’. </div><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Sadgrove">The Very Revd Michael Sadgrove</a>, <a href="http://www.durhamcathedral.co.uk/schedule/sermons/69">Trinity 2005</a></blockquote><div style="font-family: inherit;">Among the world’s most influential religions, only Hinduism shares with Christianity the concept of incarnate deity. Although one thinks of Hinduism as having a multitude of gods, they are all avatars or incarnations of one of the <a href="ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trimurti">Trimurti</a>: Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver or Shiva the destroyer. Sometimes shown as one body with three heads, these three are engaged in the same triune cosmic dance that Michael Sadgrove describes in the last passage – ‘moving constantly out towards one another’. A single god is but a single point in the universe; two points would only allow for movement backwards and forwards between them, but three points form a triangle, the essence of a circle- Three in One and One in Three, in fact- which suggests perpetual movement.<br />
<br />
But we are getting into deep waters. The Russian Orthodox Church invented icons as a way of focusing on the deep truths behind our faith without the barrier of words, putting into colours and shapes what cannot be grasped by the intellect. Perhaps the most famous is the <a href="http://tars.rollins.edu/Foreign_Lang/Russian/trinity.html">icon of The Trinity</a> by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrei_Rublev">Andrei Rublev</a>.</div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
<a href="http://tars.rollins.edu/Foreign_Lang/alexweb.html">Alexander Boguslawski</a> leads us through his interpretation:</div><blockquote style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">This icon takes as its subject the mysterious story where <a href="http://tars.rollins.edu/Foreign_Lang/Russian/trinity.html">Abraham receives three visitors</a> as he camps by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oak_of_Mamre">oak of Mamre</a>. He serves them a meal. As the conversation progresses he seems to be talking straight to God, as if these ‘angels’ were in some way a metaphor for the three persons of the Trinity. <sup>Genesis 18:1-3</sup><br />
In Rublev’s representation of the scene, the three gold-winged figures are seated around a white table on which a golden, chalice-like bowl contains a roasted lamb. In the background of the picture, a house can be seen at the top left and a tree in the centre. Less distinctly, a rocky hill lies in the upper right corner. The composition is a great circle around the table, focusing the attention on the chalice-bowl at the centre, which reminds the viewer inescapably of an altar at Communion.<br />
On one level this picture shows three angels seated under Abraham’s tree, but on another it is a visual expression of what the Trinity means, what is the nature of God, and how we approach him. The three angels show a paradoxical equality and dissimilarity, so much so that commentators disagree on which represents the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit [but in my view] reading the picture from left to right, we see the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.<br />
On the right, the Holy Spirit has a garment of the clear blue of the sky, wrapped over with a robe of a fragile green. So the Spirit of creation moves in sky and water, breathes in heaven and earth. All living things owe their freshness to his touch. The Son has the deepest colours; a thick heavy garment of the reddish-brown of earth and a cloak of the blue of heaven. In his person he unites heaven and earth, the two natures are present in him…The Father seems to wear all the colours in a kind of fabric that changes with the light… that cannot be described or confined in words. And this is how it should be. No one has seen the Father, but the vision of him fills the universe.<br />
The wings of the angels or persons are gold. Their seats are gold. The chalice in the centre is gold, and the roof of the house. Whether they sit, whether they fly, all is perfect, precious, and worthy…The light that shines around their heads is white, pure light. Gold is not enough to express the glory of God. Only light will do, and that same white becomes the holy table, the place of offering. God is revealed and disclosed here, at the heart, in the whiteness of untouchable light.<br />
The Father looks forward, raising his hand in blessing to the Son…This is my Son, listen to him… The hand of the Son points on, around the circle, to the Spirit. In this simple array we see the movement of life towards us, The Father sends the Son, the Son sends the Spirit. The life flows clockwise around the circle. And we complete the circle: we are invited and sent to complete the circle of the Godhead with our response.<br />
The Spirit touches us, even though we do not know who it is that is touching us. He leads us by ways we may not be aware of, up the hill of prayer. It may be steep and rocky, but the journeying God goes before us along the path. It leads to Jesus, the Son of God, and it leads to a tree. A great tree in the heat of the day spreads its shade. It is a place of security, a place of peace, a place where we begin to find out the possibilities of who we can be. It is no ordinary tree. It stands above the Son in the picture, and stands above the altar-table where the lamb lies within the chalice. Because of the sacrifice this tree grows. The tree of death has been transformed into a tree of life for us.<br />
The tree is on the way to the house. Over the head of the Father is the house of the Father. It is the goal of our journey. It is the beginning and end of our lives. Its roof is golden. Its door is always open for the traveller. It has a tower, and its window is always open so that the Father can incessantly scan the roads for a glimpse of a returning prodigal.</blockquote><div style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henri_Nouwen">Henri Nouwen</a> sums up: </div><blockquote style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Through the contemplation of this icon we come to see with our inner eyes that all engagements in this world can bear fruit only when they take place within this divine circle. It seems to beckon. It seems to say, 'Join us. Join us in the circle of true love, where there is joy for evermore.' </blockquote><div style="font-family: inherit;"></div><div style="font-family: inherit;">A prayer of<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_of_Siena"> St Catherine of Siena</a>: </div><blockquote style="font-family: inherit;"><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Eternal Trinity, you are a deep sea, into which the more we enter the more we find, and the more we find the more we seek. The soul ever hungers in your abyss, longing to see with you with the light of your light and, as the deer yearns for the springs of water, so our souls yearn to see you in truth. Amen.</div><br />
</blockquote><hr style="font-family: inherit;" /><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">1. Grateful thanks to Dr Alexander Boguslawski and Dean Michael Sadgrove for their generous permission to quote at length from their copyright work as above.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">The extracts from Dean Michael Sadgrove are in Courier font, the extracts from Dr Boguslawski are in Georgia font, and my own narrative is in the default font. (I'm sorry it is still a bit muddling!) </span></div><div style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2. Postscript: 'The Circle of Love: Praying with Rublev's icon of the Trinity' by Ann Persson is reviewed by the Revd Peter McGeary in the </span><a href="http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=106284"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Church Times of 7 January 2011</span></a><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">3. The illustration is</span><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> Rublev's icon showing the three Angels being hosted by Abraham at Mamré via Wikimedia</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">4. The first prayer is an Additional Collect for this Trinity Sunday. </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></div>Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-7188990250883490612011-06-10T07:16:00.005+01:002011-06-20T17:58:41.016+01:00A Role Model for Archbishop Rowan?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrdOeKEWqh3uVIVULs9NhZp1hF8FLLxj69wL3wwbwy-WvBk_zfwksJ3M464_FdnLsVuWC4fUgQod7iUWiROQ9MienqLWKd7T1xI8hzZFtaHA1jxlLXaiJeSqil8l_NlsBh5l-hqxMTaDA/s1600/Queen+and+commonwealth+leaders.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrdOeKEWqh3uVIVULs9NhZp1hF8FLLxj69wL3wwbwy-WvBk_zfwksJ3M464_FdnLsVuWC4fUgQod7iUWiROQ9MienqLWKd7T1xI8hzZFtaHA1jxlLXaiJeSqil8l_NlsBh5l-hqxMTaDA/s400/Queen+and+commonwealth+leaders.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>Archbishop Rowan has been in hot water again, and there has been some questioning of his role in British politics. Serendipitously, this coincided with the publication of Daniel Gover's report for <i>Theos</i> on the <a href="http://www.theosthinktank.co.uk/Turbulent_Priests.aspx?ArticleID=4651&PageID=6&RefPageID=5">politics of Archbishop<b>s</b> of Canterbury:</a><br />
<blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">A recent review of the office, published in 2001 and led by the former Home Secretary, Douglas Hurd, identified six distinct roles: Diocesan Bishop of Canterbury; Metropolitan for the Southern Province of the Church of England (giving him authority over 30 dioceses mostly in the south of England); Primate of All England (making him the most senior bishop in the Church of England); leader of the Anglican Communion (a loose affiliation of Anglican churches worldwide with approximately 77 million adherents); an ecumenical figure in relation to other Christian churches; and a Christian leader with interfaith responsibilities. (p14) </div></blockquote>Many of the commentaries have defended the ABC's right, as Primate of All England, to express his views, whether or not they agree with those views, as indeed would I. I would only add that he might consider whether to emulate the monarch in aiming to <a href="http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-archive/public-administration-select-committee/pasc-no-12/">advise, encourage, and warn</a> in his dealings with government. There is plenty of advice and warning in what ++Rowan says, but a little encouragement also might not come amiss.<br />
<br />
But it is in his role as 'Leader' of the Anglican Communion in particular where I suggest it might behove him to take our monarch as an example. This is what the website of the Anglican Communion says about the role of the leader:<br />
<blockquote style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">'The Archbishops of Canterbury<a href="http://www.anglicancommunion.org/communion/index.cfm"> are seen by the Anglican Communion</a> of churches as their spiritual leader. He is <i>primus inter pares</i>, first among equals of the other Primates (Chief Archbishops, Presiding Bishops) of the various provinces...The Archbishop of Canterbury is the Focus for Unity for the three Instruments of Communion of the Anglican Communion, and is therefore a unique focus for Anglican unity. He... chairs the meeting of Primates, and is President of the Anglican Consultative Council...The Primates of the Anglican Communion are the chief Archbishops, Presiding Bishops, Chief Pastors of the various Provinces of the global church. Their churches are autonomous yet inter-dependent in their relationships with each other. The Archbishop of Canterbury chairs their meetings, which are held at varying intervals at various places in the Anglican World. The primates have no authority as a "body" and their own national churches determine how their ministry is carried out in their own context. The customs and responsibilities vary from Province to Province...The Lambeth Conference of bishops meets every 10 years solely at the personal invitation of the Archbishop of Canterbury. In 1867 Lambeth Palace hosted the first meeting but as the numbers grew the conference moved to Canterbury... <a href="http://www.aco.org/communion/primates/resources/downloads/prim_scpurpose.pdf">'Towards an Understanding </a>of the Purpose and Scope of the Primates’ Meeting' produced by those Primates present in Dublin in January 2011'</blockquote>It is worth comparing this with the role of the British monarch as 'head' of the Commonwealth. According to the official <a href="http://bit.ly/jr9aKx">website of the British monarchy</a>: <br />
<blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">This is an important symbolic and unifying role. As Head, The Queen personally reinforces the links by which the Commonwealth joins people together from around the world. One of the ways of strengthening these connections is through regular Commonwealth visits..The Queen keeps in touch with Commonwealth developments through regular contact with the Commonwealth Secretary General and his Secretariat. This is the Commonwealth's central organisation...Her Majesty also has regular meetings with Heads of Government from Commonwealth countries...Modern communications technology allows The Queen to speak to every part of the Commonwealth through her annual Christmas and Commonwealth Day messages... to the peoples of the Commonwealth as a whole. They are unique in that they are delivered on The Queen's own responsibility, drafted without ministerial advice. Every two years a meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government (CHOGM) is held, at locations throughout the Commonwealth.The Queen is normally present in the host country, during which she has a series of private meetings with the Commonwealth countries' leaders...In all these different ways The Queen, though not part of the machinery of government in the Commonwealth, acts as a personal link and human symbol of the Commonwealth as an international organisation.</div></blockquote>It wouldn't take a genius to re-write this as a job description for the leader of the Anglican Communion, with which there are many similarities. One of the differences is the recognition of the significance of what Hindus call '<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dar%C5%9Bana">darshan</a>' or 'auspicious viewing'. One of the functions of the leader should simply be to show himself, and to try and spread a little sweetness and light.<br />
<br />
But I have left the best until last:<br />
<blockquote><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">The Queen often attends the <a href="http://bit.ly/jr9aKx">Commonwealth Games</a>, a major sporting occasion which brings together young people from all over the world in friendly competition. </span></blockquote>This is creative genius! Why don't we have an 'Anglican Games', perhaps run along the lines of a school sports day? Instead of spanking the Yanks, why don't we teach them how to play cricket? In exchange, they can teach us how to play baseball. And we can have indaba after indaba discussing the finer points of football (what shape is the ball? Do you kick it or pick it up?) What about three-legged races with Anglo-Catholics tied at the ankle to Evangelicals? Egg and spoon races for those involved in 'Children's Ministry'? High Jump for curates? Sack races for vergers? Obstacle races for Archdeacons? Diocesan Relays? If it is objected that most of the bishops are too old for football or baseball, what about competitive whist or cribbage? The possibilities are limitless.If '<a href="http://www.realisticforeignpolicy.org/archives/2006/07/jawjaw_is_bette.php">jaw, jaw is better than 'war, war</a>', what about 'More, More'!<br />
<br />
Let us make God '<a href="http://www.bartleby.com/101/489.html">smile, his work to see</a>'.<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<div class="cap"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Note. The illustration portrays HM Queen Elizabeth II at the opening ceremony for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) on Nov. 27, 2009, in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad & Tobago. <cite> (Photo by Pool/Getty Images) </cite></span></div>Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-56374734018854847002011-06-07T17:08:00.009+01:002011-06-08T20:24:33.109+01:00The Mirage of Social Media Metrics?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMWv00pCFgqfLU1Gj7-2Qu3tTa_TzplIZZT_muAsXCJd9emya_bYZ1ua6GIh6N2vb_uunaSAo5UK4kfBjQQlyeusuqEPcjPwjWRA1iqoghcDkLKkuWL1qyMKDs98_zdqa-U8xlWjRkoso/s1600/will+o+the+wisp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="372" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMWv00pCFgqfLU1Gj7-2Qu3tTa_TzplIZZT_muAsXCJd9emya_bYZ1ua6GIh6N2vb_uunaSAo5UK4kfBjQQlyeusuqEPcjPwjWRA1iqoghcDkLKkuWL1qyMKDs98_zdqa-U8xlWjRkoso/s400/will+o+the+wisp.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><blockquote style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_992863808">Life is a jest and all things show it;</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Gay">I thought so once, and now I know it.</a><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_992863803">If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster</a><br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If%E2%80%94">And treat those two imposters just the same</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bartleby.com/108/21/1.html">Vanity of vanities, all is vanity</a>. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sub_specie_aeternitatis">Sub specie aeternitatis.</a>..</blockquote></div><br />
I don't need to go on, do I, I am sure you have got the drift! Anthologies of quotations are full of similar advice handed down through the ages. <br />
<br />
Despite this, many of us who are perfectly capable of cultivating a little amused detachment in the rest of our lives find ourselves obsessively checking and re-checking our listings in <a href="http://beta.klout.com/#/layanglicana">Klout</a>, <a href="http://www.peerindex.net/">PeerIndex</a>,<a href="http://twittergrader.com/"> Twittergrader</a> and <a href="http://www.wikio.co.uk/blogs/top/religion_and_belief">Wikio</a> (listed in alphabetical order to discourage the competitive spirit) as we seek the illusory will o'the wisp of enlightenment. If I have missed out any vitally important social media performance analysis sites, please, please do not tell me about them as I am having a hard enough time as it is trying not to become addicted to the ones I already know about.<br />
<br />
You may well ask by what right I, a novice, presume to address my fellow bloggers and tweeters after less than three months' experience. I will reply by offering you the old saw about foreign writers in India:<br />
New arrivals excitedly tell all who will listen that they intend to write a book about the sub-contintent; after a year of fact-finding, they have decided that an article is all that they feel capable of; and after five years they hesitate to utter even a sentence, knowing that its opposite is likely also to be true.<br />
<br />
I casually said on twitter that I thought all this social media needed to be treated as a game; <a href="http://levine.sscnet.ucla.edu/general/whatis.htm">to be any fun games need to be taken quite seriously</a>, of course, but perhaps not as a matter of life and death. I was tempted into four successive tweets on this, to the surprise I think of my recipient, and one of my fellow tweeters suggested (hinting perhaps that I had delighted my audience long enough) that I should turn it into a blog post.<br />
<br />
Some strange features of the blog and twitter assessment sites have emerged recently. Klout, for example, says that the Revd Pam Smith is an expert on beards and the Revd Maggi Dawn is an expert on coffee. Both deny these allegations. Unfortunately for Pam, the bearded Pete Phillips has taken the opportunity to give her a 'K' for her expertise on beards, saying that she has recently influenced him in this field. (I put it to the jury that I am not the only one who thinks this is a game).<br />
<br />
I thought I would take a dozen of my colleagues and subject them to scrutiny by these four analytical websites. It seemed only fair to include myself (but if anyone objects to being included, I will of course remove their name). I began with the top 100 Wikio scores for May in the Religion category, and chose a dozen people whom I knew also to be members of Twitter because I follow them.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrCNoAkUlzMN-5TLRdmOCwJJW0VkW7mSnByyCtYsjylFul-nzV9zUSACeDry59IgdlI-jeAGLt-cKZQ-Cfd8s4vHuc_TOWnQ7FTaRIIvpfLkQ-LNi0BLjZMvkZRfbZykQnHmHHxZIgb18/s1600/ritholtz-fancy-charts-and-graphs.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
<br />
Here are the<a href="http://beta.klout.com/"> Klout</a> rankings for some people who both blog and are on twitter. <br />
<ol><li>Pete Phillips (62)</li>
<li>Maggi Dawn (62)</li>
<li>Peter Ould (59)</li>
<li>Church Mouse (56)</li>
<li>Lesley Fellows (55)</li>
<li>Stuart James (eChurchBlog) (52) </li>
<li>Richard Littledale (49) </li>
<li>Bishop Alan Wilson (49)</li>
<li>Laura Sykes (48)</li>
<li>Charlie Peer (44) </li>
<li>Doug Chaplin (39)</li>
<li>Lucy Mills (37)</li>
</ol><br />
For comparison, here are the respective <a href="http://www.peerindex.net/">Peer Index</a> rankings: <br />
<ol><li>Church Mouse (58) </li>
<li>Pete Phillips (49) </li>
<li>Maggi Dawn (47)</li>
<li>Peter Ould (47) </li>
<li>Bishop Alan Wilson (32)</li>
<li>Lesley Fellows (28)</li>
<li>Doug Chaplin (22) </li>
<li>Stuart James (eChurch Blog) (22)</li>
<li>Laura Sykes (14)</li>
<li>Charlie Peer (9)</li>
<li>Lucy Mills (9) </li>
<li>Richard Littledale (8)</li>
</ol><br />
Now, the same list according to <a href="http://twittergrader.com/">Twittergrader</a>:<br />
<ol><li>Church Mouse (100) </li>
<li>Bishop Alan Wilson (100) </li>
<li>Maggi Dawn (98.3)</li>
<li>Stuart James (eChurch Blog) (97.3)</li>
<li>Peter Ould (97.3) </li>
<li>Lesley Fellows (95.4)</li>
<li>Pete Phillips (95.4)</li>
<li>Richard Littledale (89) </li>
<li>Charlie Peer (89)</li>
<li>Lucy Mills (87) </li>
<li>Doug Chaplin (86)</li>
<li>Laura Sykes (77) </li>
</ol><br />
And finally, <a href="http://www.wikio.co.uk/blogs/top/religion_and_belief">Wikio</a>: <br />
<ol><li>Church Mouse (1)</li>
<li>Stuart James (eChurch Blog) (4)</li>
<li>Lesley Fellows (5) </li>
<li> Doug Chaplin (Clayboy) (8)</li>
<li> Maggi Dawn (13)</li>
<li>Bishop Alan Wilson (17) </li>
<li>Peter Ould (20)</li>
<li>Lucy Mills (34)</li>
<li>Richard Littledale (39)</li>
<li>Pete Phillips (43)</li>
<li>Charlie Peer (45)</li>
<li>Laura Sykes (still not listed)</li>
</ol><br />
As you will see, the rankings vary widely. Let us single out Pete Philips (whom I don't somehow think will mind). Out of a field of 12 he comes 1st (Klout), 2nd (Peer Index), 7th (Twittergrader) and 10th (Wikio). Triumph and Disaster, the two imposters? Oh yes, I think so.<br />
<br />
<br />
So if it is all a game, how should we, the poor punters, treat it? Well, if you can honestly ignore these rankings - as many actors claim never to read their reviews - you are made of sterner moral fibre than I am, but I congratulate you.<br />
<br />
If, on the other hand, you are made of the same clay as the majority of your fellow members of the human race, may I suggest that you pick the website which gives you the highest score and check no other.<br />
<br />
If that is unacceptable, then you must play the hand that you have been dealt as if you were playing bridge, poker or racing demon, in other words with gusto - while relishing the fact that it really <u>is</u> all a game and while remembering that you want to be able to look your fellow bloggers and tweeters in the eye between games at the next conference of the blogosphere!<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Note</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">1. The <a href="http://allencentre.wikispaces.com/Lanterns%2C+Guernica+and+Pablo+Picasso#Sky%20Lanterns">illustration</a> (author unknown, but issued under creative commons licence) is of a hunt for will o'the wisps. School of Henri 'Douanier' Rousseau?</span><br />
<div id="ff_peerindex_tooltip"></div><div id="ff_peerindex_tooltip"></div>Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-39702755844949928122011-06-04T18:56:00.004+01:002011-06-05T10:01:54.794+01:00To Train Lay Worship Leaders, Do We Need To Start In Childhood?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKk2b7ZY9TxgcVaDi8-TqVtbZG1rh__jf3-fuNvTy3tG2SFqicteKZLrTEU6qqyCNiXSVhs8OyhbC_tGCyZ-BoTut7CbJIULjlqov0BzMFOQ2ncyzvCQGXkLMLdKC3DDaJvCzBrPn6GS4/s1600/Gwen+John_Little-Girls-in-Church.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKk2b7ZY9TxgcVaDi8-TqVtbZG1rh__jf3-fuNvTy3tG2SFqicteKZLrTEU6qqyCNiXSVhs8OyhbC_tGCyZ-BoTut7CbJIULjlqov0BzMFOQ2ncyzvCQGXkLMLdKC3DDaJvCzBrPn6GS4/s400/Gwen+John_Little-Girls-in-Church.jpg" width="312" /></a></div><b>The Body of Christ </b><br />
When I was eight, my father gave me 'the talk'. Maybe you know the one? He draw a sketch of our house, with pin men for its inhabitants. '<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">What does Daddy do'? 'He goes to work to make money to keep the family</span>'. He went through the house's inhabitants, one by one, until he got to me. '<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">What does Laura do?' </span>I couldn't think of anything, except doing my best to enjoy life. Somehow I knew that wasn't the right answer, so kept quiet. '<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">You need to go away and think about what you can do to play your part in family life.'</span> His tone was loving, but carried a hint of menace, I thought: he definitely meant business.<br />
<br />
If the Church is to find volunteers among the adult congregation for all sorts of jobs, we need to have the equivalent of this talk with children at a similar age. We need to explore with them the part they might play in the Body of Christ. <br />
<br />
In the Church of England, whether called Children's Church or Sunday School, Children's Ministry seems chiefly to mean ministry <u>to</u> children, not ministry <u>by</u> children. In contrast, The Episcopal Church's webpage on<a href="http://www.episcopalchurch.org/109433_ENG_HTM.htm"> Children's Ministries </a>says it seeks to engage children in the exploration of <u>their own</u> ministries:<br />
<blockquote><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">'Children are innately spiritual. Given the opportunity, their lively and passionate expressions of faith can help transform the church'.</span></blockquote>In the words of Booker Washington:<br />
<blockquote><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Few things help an individual more than to place responsibility on him and to let him know that you trust him.</span></blockquote>Many churches already do give children a role in services such as asking them to distribute hymn books and service sheets to the arriving congregation and to take the collection. Booker Washington's advice is implicit in this allotment of tasks, but maybe it also needs to be stated explicitly. Perhaps we should copy the '<a href="http://www.schoolbadges.com/html/monitor_badges.html">monitor</a>' idea from school? Just a thought!<br />
<br />
<b>Are Christians guilty of 'brainwashing'?</b><br />
Before going any further, we need to deal with the accusation often levelled at Christians that we 'brainwash' our children. The idea that parents themselves damage their children by raising them as Christians is presented in this video (3.57 mins) by <a href="http://www.thethinkingatheist.com/">'The Thinking Atheist</a>'. (The 'Christianity' described is of the 'weird and wonderful' variety, with a God in the clouds that takes care of everything. Unsurprisingly, when this version of Christianity is spurned as unreal, religion as a whole is also rejected).<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/4zZytbe1a9s?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><span class="bodysi"></span><br />
<span class="bodysi"><b>Secular advice on parenting </b></span><br />
<span class="bodysi">Well, are we guilty? Anyone wanting to be a good parent these days might naturally turn to the web for advice. Here is</span> Dr Stuart Crisp, a paediatrician, <a href="http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/health_advice/facts/upbringing.htm">on net doctor</a>: <br />
<br />
<blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">'Each person's knowledge of how to bring up a child usually comes from their surroundings and their own upbringing...Parents should express their unconditional love for their children, as well as provide them with the continued support they need to become self-assured and happy...Discipline is crucial when bringing up a child. All children need and want reasonable boundaries. Through discipline your child learns that some kinds of behaviour are acceptable and others are not. Setting boundaries for children's behaviour helps them to learn how to behave in society...Children like to have special days reserved for special activities...Such rituals and routines build strong families'.</div></blockquote>This, although from a non-religious source, sounds very much like a prescription for Christian parenting, doesn't it? Let us agree to regard the case against Christian upbringing as, at the very least, unproven! <br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal"><b>Back to the question of training lay worship leaders</b> </div><div class="MsoNormal">As we have seen in <a href="http://layanglicana.blogspot.com/2011/05/how-do-you-find-lay-worship-leaders.html">How do you find lay worship leaders from the congregation</a><span style="line-height: 115%;">?, in many cases it is too late to train adults to be Marys, although it is much easier to find Marthas, serried ranks of whom down the centuries have polished the brass, laundered the linen and dusted the pews. Others have read the lesson or served as churchwardens. But finding potential worship leaders among the congregation is an uphill task. Why is this? </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Well, partly perhaps because churches have always had steps dividing the chancel from the nave and those in clerical garb from those in ordinary dress: roles have been clearly defined. People have not been brought up with the expectation that they may have to take on liturgical roles as part of their lives as Christians. Is it a case of the herd instinct? If people accept that it is a case of ‘all hands to the pump’ and regard it as a matter of course that they may be called upon to take their turn, they will not stand out by doing so. But if it is seen as an esoteric calling, as it largely is at present, people are perhaps unwilling to look too 'holy' by joining this group? If, wherever possible, children are encouraged to take part in worship, they are more likely to take it in their stride as adults.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><u><span style="line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></u></div><div class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">Education, education, education</span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal">'Doing God in Education' was the subject of a recent <a href="http://campaigndirector.moodia.com/Client/Theos/Files/DoingGodinEducation.pdf">Theos report by Trevor Cooling</a> which I recommend. If the training is reinforced at school, taking even a<span style="line-height: 115%;"> small part in leading worship is likely to be of great potential benefit to the children. First and foremost, it promotes their spiritual development: having to choose prayers around the readings for the day and even, with help and perhaps in groups, filling the ‘sermon slot’, teaches active participation rather than passive observance. But leading worship is also a great privilege and a great responsibility: fostering the personal growth needed to fill such positions of responsibility is in itself a definition of the 'leading out' that is at the root of the word 'education'.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;">Notes:</span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">1. The illustration is 'Little Girls At Church' by Gwen John, via wiki gallery under creative commons licence. </span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">2. Part of t</span></span><span style="font-size: xx-small;">his blog is based on an article by me in 'Conference and Common Room' Vol 48 #2, Summer 2011 called 'Send not to know for whom the bell tolls'; grateful thanks to Alex Sharratt of John Catt Educational Ltd for copyright permission.</span><i><br />
</i><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></span></div>Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-60358053454090175282011-05-31T21:54:00.012+01:002011-06-05T10:00:57.841+01:00How Do You Find Lay Worship Leaders From The Congregation?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAjNgeomzVQsTl7yWIU7bDS1j8nq1AffmftiwQHzjl2K9GQwuze1oznHETazFepEFjUzO1PToW5sk2-ssJq6sPgEHvSTEzPM-5bsBOGYFJFit1abO-DY8g6lvIjPDiD7d31E4AfKNlfYI/s1600/Thomas+Rowlandson_A-Sleepy-Congregation.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAjNgeomzVQsTl7yWIU7bDS1j8nq1AffmftiwQHzjl2K9GQwuze1oznHETazFepEFjUzO1PToW5sk2-ssJq6sPgEHvSTEzPM-5bsBOGYFJFit1abO-DY8g6lvIjPDiD7d31E4AfKNlfYI/s400/Thomas+Rowlandson_A-Sleepy-Congregation.jpg" width="307" /></a></div><br />
Pity the poor clergy, going up into the pulpit to preach on a Sunday morning, and looking down at the motley crew that is their congregation. Presumably on a bad day we look to them something like the vision of Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827) above or Hogarth (1697-1764) below? Both of these artists fixed on sleeping congregations, but the problem of sleep may be as much metaphorical as actual. <br />
<br />
If we accept the argument of the previous two posts in this series, <a href="http://layanglicana.blogspot.com/2011/05/for-want-of-nail.html">For the Want of a Nail</a> (1) and <a href="http://layanglicana.blogspot.com/2011/05/best-is-enemy-of-good.html">The Best is the Enemy of the Good</a> (2), it is a matter of urgency to identify potential lay worship leaders from this rather unprepossessing bunch. In case there is any doubt that this is a pressing problem, 'Church Ferret' <a href="https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100001653527768&sk=wall">pointed out</a> on 10 May that 40% of clergy (in England) are retiring in next 10 years. Mind you, our Lord must have faced a problem in trying to find his 12 apostles. I am grateful to the <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/revpamsmith">Revd Pam Smith</a> for her link to the <a href="http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0MKY/is_3_28/ai_n6244914/">imagined recruitment consultants </a>who produced this report on his candidates:<br />
<blockquote><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">...most of your nominees are lacking in background, education, and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the "team" concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability. </span><br />
<div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty. Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale.</div><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew has been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau. James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus definitely have radical leanings...</div></blockquote>Of course in the biblical accounts, we are not told of anyone refusing to become an apostle. Yet priest after priest has attested to the difficulty of persuading any of the congregation to take on the worship-leading role. What is clearly not comparable is the pent-up demand to become priests by women who, thank God, put themselves forward for ordination once they were allowed to do so. I think the Church must take some responsibility for the lack of impetus by the laity to take on this role: there is scant indication that the Church would welcome them. If the Church agrees that lay worship leaders may help to save the day, there needs to be a central policy. You will search in vain (at least I have) for any mention on the new Church of England website of lay worship leaders (or other local variant). It would help for a start to decide what they should be called!<br />
<br />
So, if congregations were made aware that people were wanted to lead worship (if deemed suitable - a sort of mini-BAP might be necessary, though until now selection has taken the form of recommendation by the clergy and PCC), they might begin to come forward. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhwhNfvihnCD-I-RBFH1e5s-KnKjSoqWwg_TsReT45U6NuVVKM65r7Cr4gKtlMNqF_4OzHwVpapBZcN-HugwA-ANy1AWVxE-WTAY9dSPU_o3WIOM3pBsohgideTxwsN-QAQX_9vP7QFgE/s1600/Hogarth+sleeping+congregation+wiki+gallery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhwhNfvihnCD-I-RBFH1e5s-KnKjSoqWwg_TsReT45U6NuVVKM65r7Cr4gKtlMNqF_4OzHwVpapBZcN-HugwA-ANy1AWVxE-WTAY9dSPU_o3WIOM3pBsohgideTxwsN-QAQX_9vP7QFgE/s320/Hogarth+sleeping+congregation+wiki+gallery.jpg" width="248" /></a>One of the problems may be that our formation as 'ho laos' -from Sunday School upwards- emphasises the story of Christianity, worship and leading a good life. In my life, anyway, there has been absolutely no emphasis in one-to-one situations, such as confirmation classes, on our role as individuals in the Body of Christ. I suspect this is less of a problem in the Episcopal Church, because of its recognition of the ministry of the laity and its practice of congregational repetition of their baptismal vows three or four times a year.<br />
<br />
In my case, my recruitment was simple and, in retrospect, an example of the Holy Spirit at His sneakiest! Our benefice had an 'awayday' to consider future plans. Afterwards, we were asked to fill out a form saying what we were prepared to do for the church. Top of the list was brass-polishing (my least favourite job). Making the coffee (already plenty of competent people). Holy Dusters (hate housework). Churchyard working party (not my thing). Flowers (existing rota slots jealously guarded).Taking monthly services of Matins (the existing lay worship leader was moving to London, and without a replacement, this service would lapse). Eureka!<br />
<br />
I signed up because there was a gap. I signed up because leading worship was the most attractive of the options on offer and I felt I should do something as part of the church community. I signed up pretty casually. I then started attending the 'evening classes'. The sessions were typically Anglican - 8 different people spoke to us on aspects of worship, all saying something different on, for example, the thorny issue of lay people 'preaching' (we were not allowed to, but we still had to fill the sermon slot). But something happened in the course of these evenings, nevertheless. I found myself 'surprised' by God and being changed, inexorably. By the time the Bishop commissioned us at a service that was charged with the glory of God, I discovered I had a mission. <br />
<br />
There is a saying: <span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">When baiting a mouse-trap with cheese, always leave room for the mouse</span>! Even if the selection process is as apparently haphazard as it was in my case, surely God can and will work with the material He is presented with, and we must allow Him space to do so. The congregation may appear to be sleeping, but this may be deceptive: perhaps they are just waiting for the call?<br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Notes:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">1. The top illustration is 'A Sleepy Congregation', by Thomas Rowlandson</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2. The bottom illustration is 'The Sleeping Congregation' by William Hogarth.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Both are provided by wiki gallery under a creative commons licence.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">3. In the next post, we will look at how the formation of 'ho laos' might be modified so people are more aware from childhood of the part they need to play in the Church as part of the Body of Christ.</span>Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-17862612095845803902011-05-28T17:25:00.002+01:002011-06-05T09:58:05.344+01:00'The Best Is The Enemy Of The Good'<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8K5AS1ifmZnJ7efEEPcItC7lDCVcQxaLqmT1eqzgGIeJ1i4QyYpbswdL53S5QrMVNOuWGe0HGAa7zlNwHIAg4yClj5YcT21tNl-XeN_zjXluClmUlDnpN85gZUnpv7WCToiGqCUCgG6s/s1600/Fra_The-Institution-of-the-Eucharist.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8K5AS1ifmZnJ7efEEPcItC7lDCVcQxaLqmT1eqzgGIeJ1i4QyYpbswdL53S5QrMVNOuWGe0HGAa7zlNwHIAg4yClj5YcT21tNl-XeN_zjXluClmUlDnpN85gZUnpv7WCToiGqCUCgG6s/s400/Fra_The-Institution-of-the-Eucharist.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><b>Recap </b><br />
In the first part of this 'essay', <i><a href="http://layanglicana.blogspot.com/2011/05/for-want-of-nail.html">For the Want of a Nail</a></i>, we looked at the worst possible scenario for the Church of England if nothing were to be done. It is time to look instead at our glass as if it were half full, rather than half empty. <br />
<br />
<b>Training the laity to lead worship</b><br />
As many dioceses, but by no means all, have seen, the answer lies readily at hand but requires a break with tradition and a leap of diocesan imagination. In several places the Church is making efforts to train a new tier of lay people to a level at which they can be asked to lead some services of the word, without the full 3-year training required to become a licensed lay minister (formerly called ‘lay reader’). <br />
<br />
The spur is necessity (there is a shortage of licensed lay ministers as well as clergy). However, support for this initiative varies from diocese to diocese, within each diocese and also presumably with the spinning of the weather vane on the cathedral roof. Under the headline '<span class="mainheading1"><span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Book Antiqua","serif"; font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal;"><i>With fewer clergy, can lay people get trained to run the church?',</i> the </span></span>Exeter diocesan website <a href="http://exeter.anglican.org/article.php?tabnam=cmuminipdq&artid=98&pagetyp=mini">included</a> until very recently the splendid statement:<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;"><i>"Lay people are the body of Christ on earth, and what they do is Christ’s ministry to the world. The role of professional clergy now is to support and enable lay people to be the church more deeply, more fully."</i></span> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt;"><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This page has now been removed. </span></span><span style="color: #333333;">Winchester diocese has had 'lay worship leaders' in Andover deanery since April 2005, <a href="http://www.winchester.anglican.org/page.php?id=632">but still declines to mention their existence</a> on the lay ministry website page on the grounds that they were only 'commissioned' by the bishop, not 'licensed'.</span></div><br />
<br />
<b>The central role of the Lord's Supper</b><br />
The central difficulty is that, as Edward Green so compellingly describes on his blog, ‘Future Shape of Church,’ the <a href="http://www.future-shape-of-church.org/?e=10"><span style="color: #cc3300;">Eucharist is of primordial importance</span></a>:<br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">'The Prayerbook had the intention of Holy Communion being the main Sunday service and Matins being a daily office. If a Priest was unavailable on Sunday morning the form used was Ante-Communion – the service of the word from Holy Communion. If we are serious about drawing new people into sacramental faith then this needs to be readopted. Lay Family services should follow the shape of Common Worship Holy Communion up to the Peace.'</span></i> <br />
<br />
<b>Well, <u>is</u> the best the enemy of the good?</b><br />
I am grateful to Edward for saying that he supports the idea of the ministry of the laity but I am uneasy about his proposal above for lay worship leaders to take services of 'ante-communion' on the Sundays when a priest is unavailable. <br />
<br />
I apologise for the vulgarity, but this sounds to me like <i>coitus interruptus</i>. I can see the necessity for it when a priest is expected, but does not turn up. But, like all the liturgy, the service of Holy Communion has a beginning, middle and end. To ask the congregation, perhaps on three weeks out of four, to make their way towards the oasis, only to be forbidden to drink is, in my estimation, <b>not</b> likely to draw 'new people into sacramental faith'. <br />
<br />
In this case, it was Voltaire who <a href="http://fr.wikisource.org/wiki/La_B%C3%A9gueule"><span style="color: #cc3300;">said it first</span></a> and best, in <i>La Bégueule</i>: ‘<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">le mieux est l’ennemi du bien’</span>. We know and will always recognise what the best looks like: weekly services of communion taken in every church in the land by a priest. <br />
<br />
But <u>if</u>, as we have seen, 'the best' can no longer be a weekly reality, we have to ensure that 'the good' is as good as we can make it.<br />
<br />
I suggest that worship by, with and from the laity can have its own strengths: it makes the congregation feel part of the worship as spiritual equals with their fellow worshippers in a way that is not possible when it is priest-led. If lay worship leaders involve as many of the congregation as possible in a less formal, non-sacramental service, this in itself can surely lead to the spiritual growth of both led and leader?<br />
<br />
If churchgoers are encouraged to see a role for themselves as leaders of worship, the downward spiral of <a href="http://layanglicana.blogspot.com/2011/05/for-want-of-nail.html">'For the want of a nail'</a> can be re-written as a virtuous circle: <br />
<br />
If there are not enough priests to take weekly communion services in each parish church, lay worship leaders can take services of the word in the intervening weeks. <br />
These may include Matins and Evensong, but also modern versions of these, as priests and laity offer differing but complementary services. <br />
Congregations, and hence church income, will be maintained and should be re-vitalised by the variety of worship on offer. <br />
Churches will consolidate their historic role at the centre of each community as congregations play a greater part in services.<br />
And a central part of the fabric of our national life will be strengthened to continue. <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">Notes:</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">1. The illustration is 'The Institution of the Eucharist' by Fra Angelico c. 1450 under creative commons licence via wiki gallery.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">2. The next blog in this series will examine how to turn a motley congregation into leaders of worship.</span>Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-19731405997638727832011-05-22T11:54:00.001+01:002011-05-22T11:58:44.371+01:00For The Want Of A Nail?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEg6UlHJJKAO3TCDLK28EHouvDuMSD2SwQVfRoRe8V77JwgQR_fTgEuACn3ok2QRJWERQqaz8USMnRHyq9nBINfrBIdpVwEJE5FfNB3QmLVfuSUytyUdU_YxFiwd5jVMd_Ef1-VJVM5PU/s1600/dead_empty_church.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="246" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEg6UlHJJKAO3TCDLK28EHouvDuMSD2SwQVfRoRe8V77JwgQR_fTgEuACn3ok2QRJWERQqaz8USMnRHyq9nBINfrBIdpVwEJE5FfNB3QmLVfuSUytyUdU_YxFiwd5jVMd_Ef1-VJVM5PU/s320/dead_empty_church.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.bl.uk/learning/histcitizen/fpage/elections/election.html"><b>Will the Last Person to Leave the Church Please Turn Out the Lights!</b></a></div>The - admittedly melodramatic - headline is designed to draw your attention to a problem which seems to be creeping up on us in the Church of England almost un-noticed. (Perhaps there is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_House_Situation_Room">Situation Room</a> somewhere in the depths of Lambeth Palace discussing it, but if so, it is a well-kept secret). It may also apply elsewhere in the Anglican Communion? The consequences are readily foreseeable, relentless and reminiscent of a classical tragedy – or pantomime, depending on your viewpoint – the onlooker longs to shout out: ‘look behind you!’<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Dramatic decline in clergy numbers </span></b><br />
The<a href="http://bit.ly/mitCM8"> number of full-time stipendiary priests</a> in the Church of England has declined from over 14,000 in 1959 to 11,076 in 1990, 9,412 in 2000 and 8,346 in 2008. The addition of part-time, self-supporting ministers brings the 2009 figure to 11,691, but (despite <a href="http://callwaiting.org.uk/">strenuous efforts by the Church</a>) the age of ordinands is still steadily rising and now the bishops who have crossed the Tiber are thought likely to take about 50 priests with them. Even were the numbers of applicants to increase in the future, the financial situation means that this steady decline is unlikely to be reversed. These figures are replicated around the world and in most Christian denominations.<br />
<br />
Traditionally, in rural areas each church could boast its own ‘Vicar of this Parish’. However, with every change of incumbent, parishes are now obliged to amalgamate to become benefices; and benefices are remorselessly combined and re-combined to unite up to 10 or even 12 former parishes. Full-time posts become part-time, or held by ‘house-for-duty’ priests. In many places, the incumbent is assisted by self-supporting and retired ministers, but it is a matter of luck whether there happen to be any such in any particular parish. The Revd Mark Bailey wrote to the '<a href="http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=98313">Church Times' on 30 July 2010</a>, correctly identifying the problem (too few clergy attempting to cover too many parish churches, which he says is leading to severe mental stress among the clergy) but his solution - 'draw the line somewhere'- seems hardly a solution on its own.<br />
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">The Decline in Services of the Word </span></b><br />
Fifty years ago, the usual Sunday service was Morning Prayer (Matins), with Holy Communion at an early service (since one was supposed to be fasting) or on high days and holidays. One's obligation as an Anglican was to take communion three times a year: at Christmas, Easter and one other day. In some places, the shortage of priests now means that the priest-in-charge is obliged to scurry from parish to parish in his or her benefice every Sunday in order to comply with Canon law that there shall be a communion service every Sunday in every parish church. This valiant attempt is unsustainable in a mega-benefice. In the 'Church Times' of 30 November 2007 is a<a href="http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=48002" target="_blank"> letter from Kathleen Kinder</a> headlined by the editors '<i>Common Worship and the alienation of the liturgy from the people.</i>'<br />
<div class="bbcode_container"><div class="bbcode_quote"><blockquote><div class="quote_container"><i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">Liturgy to most people today means first and foremost the eucharist, but also any service that can be led only by a priest. I share Canon Wilkinson’s concern at the growing domination of the clergy in the worship area. In recent years, worship practice has greatly enhanced the status of Anglican clergy, while at the same time it has diminished that of Readers, lay leaders, and members of the congregation. It is a tragedy that the services of the word which have contributed so richly to the character of Anglican worship throughout the centuries no longer command the support and recognition they deserve. The Church is the poorer as a result. </span></i></div></blockquote></div></div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>The Cost of Doing Nothing</b> </span><br />
When an irresistible force meets an immoveable object, in the immortal words of Sammy Davis Jr, 'something's gotta give':<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/6Xwl4oVnbhU?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b></b></span></div><span style="font-size: small;"><b style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</b></span> <br />
C S Lewis expressed it well in ‘That Hideous Strength’: <br />
<blockquote><div style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">If you dip into any college or school, or parish – anything you like – at a given point in history, you always find that there was a time before that point when there was more elbow-room and contrasts weren’t so sharp; and that there’s going to be a time after that point when there’s even less room for indecision, and choices are more momentous. Good is always getting better and bad getting worse: the possibilities of neutrality are always diminishing. The whole thing is sorting itself out all the time, coming to a point, getting sharper and harder. </div></blockquote>If there are not enough priests to take weekly services in each parish church, churches will remain empty in the intervening weeks.<br />
Despite episcopal injunctions to drive to the benefice church chosen for a eucharist service each Sunday, people will mostly not travel to services outside their own parish.<br />
If there are only monthly services in each church, the size of congregations will therefore reduce.<br />
If there are only small congregations once a month, income will fall and there will be pressure to close the churches.<br />
If the churches close, people will have to travel miles to go to services and will not be able to be baptised, married or buried in their local churches, which may have been turned into tea-rooms or left to become ivy-covered ruins.<br />
A central part of the fabric of our national life could simply wither away. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Want_of_a_Nail_%28proverb%29">And all for the want of a nail?</a><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><b style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">What is to be done? </b></span><br />
What is to be done? Well, in my view there are solutions closer at hand than you may think and I will suggest some in my next blog. But meanwhile, am I seriously over-stating the size of the problem? Is 'masterly inactivity', so beloved of generations of Sir Humphrey Applebys, the best proposition? <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Notes: </span><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">1. The illustration is 'Dead Empty Church' by David Coleman, courtesy 12 Baskets. </span><i></i><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">2. The statistics up to 2008 were taken from a previous Church of England website page which is no longer there. The 2009 statistics are from the current website page - on hyperlink.</span><i></i><br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">3. This blog is based on an article by me in 'Conference and Common Room' Vol 48 #2, Summer 2011 called 'Send not to know for whom the bell tolls'; grateful thanks to Alex Sharratt of John Catt Educational Ltd for copyright permission.</span><i><br />
</i>Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6322222794084273496.post-9600120710511079442011-05-19T18:29:00.005+01:002011-05-19T21:36:09.673+01:00Clericalism or Laicism<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx_x9lRdcX4tupp2VmQDyLpXgw9PGIv7MOD8EyHfwQXFYKteiq2LbiaxdFCYyjEFfq9jcYtKsFBB2hy2FvxhzdbZxT0KPBs4XA1rA-hkZupLsFF1p2eA2kGiGsXs3QGshaMQdYRyqXpP4/s1600/reverend2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhx_x9lRdcX4tupp2VmQDyLpXgw9PGIv7MOD8EyHfwQXFYKteiq2LbiaxdFCYyjEFfq9jcYtKsFBB2hy2FvxhzdbZxT0KPBs4XA1rA-hkZupLsFF1p2eA2kGiGsXs3QGshaMQdYRyqXpP4/s320/reverend2.jpg" width="199" /></a></div><br />
I must begin this piece with an apology to my several priestly friends (I hope they remain friends after reading it!). There are undoubtedly many places in the Anglican Communion where priest and laity work harmoniously together for the greater glory of God, at all times and in all circumstances. In the early church, such a balance did, one imagines, exist. The Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians and Romans may have moaned a bit from time to time but I can’t remember them actually complaining of being bullied by St Paul. <br />
<br />
But there is also a parallel universe in which things do not always go that smoothly. According to a paper on the website of <a href="http://bit.ly/kRfgB3">The Episcopal Church</a> called <a href="http://www.episcopalchurch.org/documents/Toward_a_Theology_of_Ministry.pdf">Towards a Theology of Ministry:</a><br />
<blockquote><i> <span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: small;">I<span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif;">n 1999, the Zacchaeus Project pointed to a theological truism in our community: when the trained clergy (bishops, priests, and deacons) and all baptized persons work together in mutually empowering service in mission, then the church experiences significant success in ministry. In a wide range of theological settings—Anglo-Catholic to total ministry, progressive to evangelical—the Zacchaeus findings echoed oddly similar themes of mutuality, servanthood, respect, and shared ministry. The old dichotomy between “lay” and “ordained” is fading. It is being replaced with a vision of American religious history. In the Episcopal Church, the decline stopped in the early 1990s and membership has held steady for a number of years around 2.5 million. It should also be noted that in spite of the numerical decline, the Zacchaeus Project data identified greater vitality in terms of church attendance and giving in the Episcopal Church in the 1990s than anytime since the 1960s....</span></span></i><span style="font-family: "Trebuchet MS",sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br />
<i> If mutuality between clergy and lay persons in ministry was identified by the Zacchaeus Project as key for healthy congregations, then two corresponding problems existed in troubled ones:<b><u> clericalism or laicism</u>.</b> Clericalism is an often discussed problem. An inappropriate sense of clergy authority has led, sadly, to a host of issues regarding abuse and malpractice. The opposite problem, laicism, is less discussed. In the case of an inappropriate sense of lay authority, laity conceive of the church as their “property” and the clergy their “employees.” In such circumstances, lay persons commit abuses as well—undermining clerical ministries, refusing financially to support the church, forcing clergy from positions. In either case, clericalism or laicism, the church becomes a battle ground for power issues and any real sense of the mission of church is lost.</i> </span></blockquote>A major difference within the Anglican Communion has been highlighted by the present attempt to introduce the Covenant: whereas the Episcopal Church has since its inception recognised the laity as one of the four orders of ministry by virtue of baptism, the Church of England recognises only bishops, priests and deacons. Other churches in the Communion presumably take one view or the other. On the face of it, one might think that relations between the priesthood and the laity might be more harmonious in those churches which take the same line as TEC, but the above paper suggests this may not necessarily be the case. In a 'Church Times' article in the issue of 17 September 2010, the Revd Hugh Valentine argued that '<a href="http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=100641" target="_blank">Clericalism is the bigger problem for all Churches</a>...ecclesiastical models of power infantilise lay people'.<br />
<br />
The UK's 'Church Times' reported on <a href="http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=66199" target="_blank">the first residential meeting</a> of the Diocesan Lay Chairmen, which was held in 2008. Under the headline 'Unease at attitudes to Laity', Bill Bowder writes: <i>they heard Professor Gordon Stirrat, lay chairman of Bristol diocesan synod, say that “the New Testament pattern of the ‘ministry of the many’ has been turned by the Church of England into ‘the ministry of the few’.” Terms such as “priest-in-charge” and “interregnum” implied clerical supremacy, he said... The co-convener of the meeting, David Hawkins, lay chairman in Worcester diocese, said afterwards that he and some of the others were “very desperate” about the state of the Church. “You only have to go north to see how desperate it is.” There was a problem of dislike. “Some of the bishops don’t like laity, just as some consultants don’t like patients; and the middle ranks of the clergy feel threatened by the laity.” But the laity were “enormously talented". </i><br />
<br />
There is a debate going on at the Lay Anglicana<a href="http://www.layanglicana.org/showthread.php?82-Clericalism-or-Laicism"> discussion forum</a> which gives more detail than I can here, including a successful relationship in Norwich diocese between the <a href="http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/content.asp?id=106303">Revd Fiona Newton</a> and her Lay Elders. <br />
<br />
There is undoubtedly at present a rising demand by the laity for an increased share in the running of the church, perhaps inspired by the increasing democratisation of other institutions. But it also comes down in the end to numbers. Nature abhors a vacuum and so do Anglican congregations around the world: if there are not enough priests to run each parish church, sharing the responsibility with the laity must be a better alternative than simply abandoning the task.<br />
<br />
What do you think? <br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: xx-small;">Note: The illustration 'reverend2' is by Lee Pirie, courtesy <a href="http://www.twelvebaskets.co.uk/">12 Baskets</a>. </span>Lay Anglicanahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16731735543104129849noreply@blogger.com4