It took one of those three for two deals at Waterstone’s just before Christmas to persuade Cranmer’s Curate to purchase a modern novel with anything to do with the Booker Prize on the front-cover.
Your curate has just got round to finishing Ian McEwan’s prize-winning Amsterdam on an afternoon off.
It would be burlesque of your curate to attempt a literary review of Mr McEwan's masterpiece. Though published in 1998 on the eve of the Millennium, the post-Christian decadence it so powerfully describes is all the more real in Britain now. It is his 'Ecclesiastes' work, portraying fallen human society as it really is and reading it drove your curate to confess his manifold sins and wickedness.
Mercifully, Ecclesiastes is not the last word in God's unfolding revelation. There is the New Testament Gospel of redemption through our Lord Jesus Christ, so beautifully summarised in the 1662 Prayer Book absolution at morning and evening prayer:
'He pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel. Wherefore let us beseech him to grant us true repentance and his Holy Spirit, that those things may please him which we do at this present, and that the rest of our life hereafter may be pure and holy; so that at the last we may come to his eternal joy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.’
It is this Gospel that allows for the possibility that the prefix in post-Christian Britain could be swept away by an Evangelical revival, leaving a future Amsterdam to describe the deep moral ambiguities of a sub-culture rather than mainstream society.
For fallen man of Amsterdam this is impossible but not for the almighty God of the Gospel.
Wednesday, 28 January 2009
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
CRANMER'S TAKE ON 'GROWING LEADERS'
Cranmer’s Curate has noticed in the past few years an increase in the number of Evangelical conferences aimed specifically at ‘growing leaders’ who can ‘multiply ministries'.
He would date the increase in these leader-targeted conferences from the UK tour in early 2003 of the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen.
These are quite dynamic-sounding events so your curate is in a sense honoured to be included in the mailings. But the fact that he has definitely had more of them since 2003 has caused him to ponder the nature of the pastoral calling.
The Ordinal according to the Book of Common Prayer describes those ordained priest as ‘messengers, watchmen, and stewards of the Lord’ charged with the responsibility ‘to teach and to premonish, to feed and provide for the Lord’s family; to seek for Christ’s sheep that are dispersed abroad, and for his children in the midst of this naughty world, that they may be saved through Christ for ever’.
Remarkably absent from this is any reference to the priest being a leader or ruler of Christ’s Church. Does that mean that Cranmer did not believe that those ordained priest were to be leaders in the sense that the organisers of these Evangelical conferences understand the term?
That would be to over-state the case. Certainly, some kind of leadership role is implied in the way Cranmer describes the office of the priest – it is a pro-active role involving real responsibility, hence later on in the bishop’s exhortation Cranmer describes Christ’s people as being committed to the priest’s ‘charge’.
Certainly, the New Testament speaks of ministers of the Word as having authority. Cranmer’s Curate does not wish to flash his limited knowledge of New Testament Greek but in 1 Thessalonians 5v12, when the church is urged to ‘respect those who labour among you and are over you in the Lord and who admonish you’ (RSV), the word translated ‘over you’ does denote authority.
Indeed both the Ordering of Priests and the Consecration of Bishops in the Ordinal speak of the 'authority' given to the priest or bishop by virtue of the fact that they are called to proclaim God's Word.
So Cranmer as a Bible-believing Christian clearly believed that ministers of Word and Sacrament had a responsibility to lead God’s people, but he does not explicitly call the priest or the bishop a leader or a ruler because he is giving due weight to the main biblical terms used to describe the pastoral office.
Cranmer thus teaches us that the idea of being a leader or a ruler of God’s people is not to feature too much in the self-understanding of those called to be ministers of Word and Sacrament. If it does, then problems can arise due to our fallen natures.
Your curate wonders about the dynamic of an army of apprentices trailing around after a celebrated Evangelical leader in a mega-church or a church plant. It is surely not only ministers addicted to the hand-holding model of ministry who can be guilty of ministering to their own needs.
Your curate also wonders about the dynamic involved in the emphasis on ‘growing leaders’. Unfortunately, in practice the ‘leaders’ being grown are often not leaders at all, but constitute a fan-club and in some cases henchmen for The Leader.
In questioning this heavy emphasis on leadership in the missives he has been receiving, your curate is not advocating the post-modern notion of consensus management with its endless talk of listening. The very thought makes his stomach churn. In practice, ‘consensus’ means he or usually she who shouts loudest gets their way on the church council or the lowest common factor is pandered to. That is not good enough for a great God.
But Cranmer’s Curate wonders whether the current emphasis on ‘growing Evangelical leaders’ who will ‘run the church’ and 'multiply ministries' as the solution to the weakness of UK Christianity owes a little more to the world than to the Word.
He would date the increase in these leader-targeted conferences from the UK tour in early 2003 of the Archbishop of Sydney, Dr Peter Jensen.
These are quite dynamic-sounding events so your curate is in a sense honoured to be included in the mailings. But the fact that he has definitely had more of them since 2003 has caused him to ponder the nature of the pastoral calling.
The Ordinal according to the Book of Common Prayer describes those ordained priest as ‘messengers, watchmen, and stewards of the Lord’ charged with the responsibility ‘to teach and to premonish, to feed and provide for the Lord’s family; to seek for Christ’s sheep that are dispersed abroad, and for his children in the midst of this naughty world, that they may be saved through Christ for ever’.
Remarkably absent from this is any reference to the priest being a leader or ruler of Christ’s Church. Does that mean that Cranmer did not believe that those ordained priest were to be leaders in the sense that the organisers of these Evangelical conferences understand the term?
That would be to over-state the case. Certainly, some kind of leadership role is implied in the way Cranmer describes the office of the priest – it is a pro-active role involving real responsibility, hence later on in the bishop’s exhortation Cranmer describes Christ’s people as being committed to the priest’s ‘charge’.
Certainly, the New Testament speaks of ministers of the Word as having authority. Cranmer’s Curate does not wish to flash his limited knowledge of New Testament Greek but in 1 Thessalonians 5v12, when the church is urged to ‘respect those who labour among you and are over you in the Lord and who admonish you’ (RSV), the word translated ‘over you’ does denote authority.
Indeed both the Ordering of Priests and the Consecration of Bishops in the Ordinal speak of the 'authority' given to the priest or bishop by virtue of the fact that they are called to proclaim God's Word.
So Cranmer as a Bible-believing Christian clearly believed that ministers of Word and Sacrament had a responsibility to lead God’s people, but he does not explicitly call the priest or the bishop a leader or a ruler because he is giving due weight to the main biblical terms used to describe the pastoral office.
Cranmer thus teaches us that the idea of being a leader or a ruler of God’s people is not to feature too much in the self-understanding of those called to be ministers of Word and Sacrament. If it does, then problems can arise due to our fallen natures.
Your curate wonders about the dynamic of an army of apprentices trailing around after a celebrated Evangelical leader in a mega-church or a church plant. It is surely not only ministers addicted to the hand-holding model of ministry who can be guilty of ministering to their own needs.
Your curate also wonders about the dynamic involved in the emphasis on ‘growing leaders’. Unfortunately, in practice the ‘leaders’ being grown are often not leaders at all, but constitute a fan-club and in some cases henchmen for The Leader.
In questioning this heavy emphasis on leadership in the missives he has been receiving, your curate is not advocating the post-modern notion of consensus management with its endless talk of listening. The very thought makes his stomach churn. In practice, ‘consensus’ means he or usually she who shouts loudest gets their way on the church council or the lowest common factor is pandered to. That is not good enough for a great God.
But Cranmer’s Curate wonders whether the current emphasis on ‘growing Evangelical leaders’ who will ‘run the church’ and 'multiply ministries' as the solution to the weakness of UK Christianity owes a little more to the world than to the Word.
Sunday, 18 January 2009
LEARN TO LAMENT FOR THE CHURCH OF THE NATION
The vultures are swirling above the severely wounded creature that is the Church of England.
Her wounds are largely self-inflicted since the end of World War II – the leadership infested with theological liberalism resulting in failure to proclaim the biblical Gospel; multiple-choice liturgical changes that sowed confusion; compromise with the permissive society; latterly the ordination of women. All these have contributed to the desperate state we are in.
But that does not excuse the mockery and gloating over the plummeting attendance trajectory and the desire to exploit the hiatus left by the retreat of the Church of the nation.
At a recent conference on church planting in London, a well-known church planter, who identified himself as an Anglican, was reported in a reputable Evangelical publication as saying that the fact that denominational structures were failing opened up more opportunities for church planting.
In other words, yippee – the older denominations such as the CofE supporting churches serving local communities are having to retreat, giving us the opportunity to move in with more yuppie church plants.
Your curate also heard the incumbent of a university mega-church declare at a conference that the recession would lead to false teaching churches closing down leaving the orthodox churches stronger.
Cranmer’s Curate is as passionately opposed to false teaching as this gentleman but from experience can testify that the Church of England allows false teaching pulpits to be occupied by Evangelical preachers and thus for those churches to be reclaimed for Christ. Dioceses potentially going bankrupt because of the credit crunch will lead to the loss of these opportunities - so why crow?
What will happen to the elderly when the Church of the nation collapses? Will they be expected to commute to a large suburban church or a city centre church plant? Or will they be expected to have their own grey-generation church plant in their old people’s home or their sheltered accommodation, cut off from the younger people they might otherwise inter-act with in a parish church?
Others also will fall through the nets of the suburban mega-churches and their off-shoots. If parish churches like ours in ordinary communities close, multiple potential rescue boats for the lost will be sunk.
Rather than gloating, isn’t a more godly response to God’s judgement on the visible church found in the book of Lamentations?
‘How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave’ (Lamentations 1v1 – ESV).
Cranmer’s vision expressed in his Prayer Book was of a national Church with parish churches across the land where all and sundry could kneel at the same Communion rail, justified by the same faith in Christ and not presuming to come to this His table trusting in their own righteousness but in His manifold and great mercies.
The potential collapse of that gracious vision is a matter for lamentation not gloating. May God have mercy on the Church of England.
Her wounds are largely self-inflicted since the end of World War II – the leadership infested with theological liberalism resulting in failure to proclaim the biblical Gospel; multiple-choice liturgical changes that sowed confusion; compromise with the permissive society; latterly the ordination of women. All these have contributed to the desperate state we are in.
But that does not excuse the mockery and gloating over the plummeting attendance trajectory and the desire to exploit the hiatus left by the retreat of the Church of the nation.
At a recent conference on church planting in London, a well-known church planter, who identified himself as an Anglican, was reported in a reputable Evangelical publication as saying that the fact that denominational structures were failing opened up more opportunities for church planting.
In other words, yippee – the older denominations such as the CofE supporting churches serving local communities are having to retreat, giving us the opportunity to move in with more yuppie church plants.
Your curate also heard the incumbent of a university mega-church declare at a conference that the recession would lead to false teaching churches closing down leaving the orthodox churches stronger.
Cranmer’s Curate is as passionately opposed to false teaching as this gentleman but from experience can testify that the Church of England allows false teaching pulpits to be occupied by Evangelical preachers and thus for those churches to be reclaimed for Christ. Dioceses potentially going bankrupt because of the credit crunch will lead to the loss of these opportunities - so why crow?
What will happen to the elderly when the Church of the nation collapses? Will they be expected to commute to a large suburban church or a city centre church plant? Or will they be expected to have their own grey-generation church plant in their old people’s home or their sheltered accommodation, cut off from the younger people they might otherwise inter-act with in a parish church?
Others also will fall through the nets of the suburban mega-churches and their off-shoots. If parish churches like ours in ordinary communities close, multiple potential rescue boats for the lost will be sunk.
Rather than gloating, isn’t a more godly response to God’s judgement on the visible church found in the book of Lamentations?
‘How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations! She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave’ (Lamentations 1v1 – ESV).
Cranmer’s vision expressed in his Prayer Book was of a national Church with parish churches across the land where all and sundry could kneel at the same Communion rail, justified by the same faith in Christ and not presuming to come to this His table trusting in their own righteousness but in His manifold and great mercies.
The potential collapse of that gracious vision is a matter for lamentation not gloating. May God have mercy on the Church of England.
Friday, 16 January 2009
PRAYER FOR THE NEW BISHOP OF SHEFFIELD
Cranmer's Curate invites the youth group to pray for Dr Steven Croft as he prepares to be consecrated as the new bishop of Sheffield in York Minster on Sunday January 25th. This Collect is from 'The Consecration of Bishops' according to the Book of Common Prayer:
Most merciful Father, we beseech thee to send down upon this thy servant thy heavenly blessing; and so endue him with thy Holy Spirit, that he, preaching thy Word, may not only be earnest to reprove, beseech, and rebuke with all patience and doctrine; but also be to such as believe a wholesome example, in word, in conversation, in love, in faith, in chastity, and in purity; that, faithfully fulfilling his course, at the latter day he may receive the crown of righteousness laid up by the Lord the righteous Judge, who liveth and reigneth one God, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen.
Most merciful Father, we beseech thee to send down upon this thy servant thy heavenly blessing; and so endue him with thy Holy Spirit, that he, preaching thy Word, may not only be earnest to reprove, beseech, and rebuke with all patience and doctrine; but also be to such as believe a wholesome example, in word, in conversation, in love, in faith, in chastity, and in purity; that, faithfully fulfilling his course, at the latter day he may receive the crown of righteousness laid up by the Lord the righteous Judge, who liveth and reigneth one God, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen.
Monday, 12 January 2009
CAREERISM - A SIN FOR CONSERVATIVE EVANGELICALS TOO
Postcard to Canon Dr Christopher Sugden, executive secretary of Anglican Mainstream
Dear Chris, Your article in January's Evangelicals Now about NEAC5 - 'No one died' - was most helpful. Intelligent, well-argued, packing a punch without being vicious and nasty - classic Sugden. If you ever want to guest prophesy from this little pulpit, you would be most welcome. Perhaps as Simeon's Curate?
Your comment about Fulcrum Evangelicals preferring to criticise Conservative Evangelicals rather than the heterodox was spot on. I also took on board your warning about being content to work within Evangelical space given to us by the liberal establishment rather than working hard to create such space. As a parish plodder, that is a warning I need to hear.
You also pointed out that Evangelicals who work within space given to them by the establishment find it easier to gain promotion. That too is a percipient warning.
I would add though, if I may, that careerism is not confined to the Church of England structures. This tendency is also present within Conservative Evangelicalism. Our conference circuits and networks of large and prominent churches in upmarket university towns, plush suburbs, and affluent city centres, spinning off self-styled 'entrepeneurial ' church plants, can prove irresistible for a certain type of tree-creeper.
I need to remind myself constantly that I am called to be a servant of Christ and his Church and to resist the temptation to start playing the career game in a desire to ascend the greasy pole within my own constituency.
My friends may point out that someone with my diplomatic skills (a case of the bull with his own portable china shop) need not worry about the sin of careerism. But I would retort that my sinful nature is perfectly capable of coveting that which it is incapable of attaining.
Warmly in Christ,
Cranmer's Curate
Dear Chris, Your article in January's Evangelicals Now about NEAC5 - 'No one died' - was most helpful. Intelligent, well-argued, packing a punch without being vicious and nasty - classic Sugden. If you ever want to guest prophesy from this little pulpit, you would be most welcome. Perhaps as Simeon's Curate?
Your comment about Fulcrum Evangelicals preferring to criticise Conservative Evangelicals rather than the heterodox was spot on. I also took on board your warning about being content to work within Evangelical space given to us by the liberal establishment rather than working hard to create such space. As a parish plodder, that is a warning I need to hear.
You also pointed out that Evangelicals who work within space given to them by the establishment find it easier to gain promotion. That too is a percipient warning.
I would add though, if I may, that careerism is not confined to the Church of England structures. This tendency is also present within Conservative Evangelicalism. Our conference circuits and networks of large and prominent churches in upmarket university towns, plush suburbs, and affluent city centres, spinning off self-styled 'entrepeneurial ' church plants, can prove irresistible for a certain type of tree-creeper.
I need to remind myself constantly that I am called to be a servant of Christ and his Church and to resist the temptation to start playing the career game in a desire to ascend the greasy pole within my own constituency.
My friends may point out that someone with my diplomatic skills (a case of the bull with his own portable china shop) need not worry about the sin of careerism. But I would retort that my sinful nature is perfectly capable of coveting that which it is incapable of attaining.
Warmly in Christ,
Cranmer's Curate
Sunday, 11 January 2009
SERVING THE SMALL CHURCH - UNCOOL BUT REWARDING!
The January 2009 edition of Evangelicals Now included this by your curate. He passes it on to the members of his youth group:
The larger university and suburban churches and their church plants have little difficulty in gathering together an army of young graduate ‘apprentices’ looking for ministry experience. But smaller parish churches in the north of England, such as ours, find it much more difficult to recruit even one person.
We were unable back in 2003 to recruit anybody and I had to return the money charitable trusts had very generously given. By God’s grace we got a young man in 2004 who had seen our advert in St. Ebbe’s, Oxford. The Ebbe’s-based 9:38 network, which runs conferences for those considering full-time ministry and encourages apprenticeships in local churches, had kindly displayed it.
Attractive big churches
Inevitably, young graduates are going to be attracted to a thriving, happening church with a dynamic minister. Small churches cannot compete on the ‘cool’ stakes. But by God’s grace we can provide tremendous opportunities for a young person to serve our Lord Jesus Christ and gain experience in what are typical ministry situations in the Church of England. These churches are often elderly, with little background of Bible teaching and evangelism, and a keen Christian young person joining them is a huge encouragement. There are great opportunities to help kick-start children’s and youth work.
Small church dangers
There are spiritual dangers for a young person coming into a small church — they can be a big fish in a little sea and that can go to their heads. If the church has been previously non-evangelical, then they can be potentially recruited through flattery by the old guard and used to fire bullets against the evangelical minister. So the person does need to be reasonably mature. It is not helpful if the larger churches send us people they are doubtful about.
Clearly, one disloyal person can do a lot more damage in a small church. Of course, it is damaging if an apprentice becomes disloyal or arrogant in a larger church but it is easier to dilute their negative impact. It is important to stress that large church ministers face many challenges and burdens and complexities that we do not face in the smaller churches, so I do not wish to plead ‘victim status’ at their expense. But too many resources being concentrated in the larger churches is not helping the cause of the gospel overall in the United Kingdom.
Leave the comfort zone
Acts 8.1-4 describes the positive ‘diaspora’ that occurred when the Jerusalem believers were scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria and as a result the Word of God progressed. The great persecution following Stephen’s martyrdom was responsible for this positive diaspora, so arguably that is a requisite for doing what we would not naturally do, namely leave our comfort zones. If my exegesis is correct, that is very humbling.
As one privileged to be the minister of a small northern parish church, I would be grateful for the prayers of EN readers in our attempts to recruit a person for 2009.
For the full job description for the 'youth volunteer', please get in touch - tel. 0114 286 2317 or e-mail julianascension@aol.com.
The larger university and suburban churches and their church plants have little difficulty in gathering together an army of young graduate ‘apprentices’ looking for ministry experience. But smaller parish churches in the north of England, such as ours, find it much more difficult to recruit even one person.
We were unable back in 2003 to recruit anybody and I had to return the money charitable trusts had very generously given. By God’s grace we got a young man in 2004 who had seen our advert in St. Ebbe’s, Oxford. The Ebbe’s-based 9:38 network, which runs conferences for those considering full-time ministry and encourages apprenticeships in local churches, had kindly displayed it.
Attractive big churches
Inevitably, young graduates are going to be attracted to a thriving, happening church with a dynamic minister. Small churches cannot compete on the ‘cool’ stakes. But by God’s grace we can provide tremendous opportunities for a young person to serve our Lord Jesus Christ and gain experience in what are typical ministry situations in the Church of England. These churches are often elderly, with little background of Bible teaching and evangelism, and a keen Christian young person joining them is a huge encouragement. There are great opportunities to help kick-start children’s and youth work.
Small church dangers
There are spiritual dangers for a young person coming into a small church — they can be a big fish in a little sea and that can go to their heads. If the church has been previously non-evangelical, then they can be potentially recruited through flattery by the old guard and used to fire bullets against the evangelical minister. So the person does need to be reasonably mature. It is not helpful if the larger churches send us people they are doubtful about.
Clearly, one disloyal person can do a lot more damage in a small church. Of course, it is damaging if an apprentice becomes disloyal or arrogant in a larger church but it is easier to dilute their negative impact. It is important to stress that large church ministers face many challenges and burdens and complexities that we do not face in the smaller churches, so I do not wish to plead ‘victim status’ at their expense. But too many resources being concentrated in the larger churches is not helping the cause of the gospel overall in the United Kingdom.
Leave the comfort zone
Acts 8.1-4 describes the positive ‘diaspora’ that occurred when the Jerusalem believers were scattered throughout the region of Judea and Samaria and as a result the Word of God progressed. The great persecution following Stephen’s martyrdom was responsible for this positive diaspora, so arguably that is a requisite for doing what we would not naturally do, namely leave our comfort zones. If my exegesis is correct, that is very humbling.
As one privileged to be the minister of a small northern parish church, I would be grateful for the prayers of EN readers in our attempts to recruit a person for 2009.
For the full job description for the 'youth volunteer', please get in touch - tel. 0114 286 2317 or e-mail julianascension@aol.com.
Friday, 9 January 2009
PROTECT THY LOCAL CHURCH FROM INDABA, O LORD
Indaba as a philosophical approach to the unavoidable reality of human conflict is now spreading beyond the Lambeth Conference and is filtering down to dioceses and parishes with serious consequences for mission and ministry.
Indaba believes;
1). that human beings underneath it all are inherently nice people.
2). that self-awareness is the beginning of wisdom for nice people wanting to solve the relational difficulties they may be experiencing with other nice people.
3). that nice people need intellectually stimulating conversation partnerships with other nice people in order to lead a nice life.
Indaba does not believe;
1). that the fear of the Lord, as pre-critical Christians would have defined it (in the dark days before the assured results of critical biblical scholarship enlightened nice people), is the beginning of wisdom.
2). that nice people will aspire to spiritual or moral certainty.
3). that nice people will refuse to enter into conversation partnerships with other nice people.
This Indaba philosophy of niceness is obviously preferable to a punch-up at a PCC meeting, to which the police may have to be called. But as an approach to the realities of life and relationships in the local church it begs certain questions.
How can you ‘indaba’ between the church-member who acts on their belief that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the church-member who acts on their belief that it is not?
How can you ‘indaba’ between the bully and his or her victim?
How can you ‘indaba’ between the church member who is empire-building/going on an ego-trip and the church member whose genuine attempt to serve Christ and His precious people is being disrupted?
Indaba has potentially got a very nice friend in the new Clergy Discipline Measure. An Indaba-believing bishop who receives a letter of complaint from a church member to the effect that his or her vicar is not as nice as they would like him to be may be tempted to mediate between the two inherently nice people involved.
However, given the often not very nice realities of human nature, the meeting might not turn out to be as nice an experience as he had hoped.
And, in the worst-case scenario, the Indaba-believing bishop may find he gets a not very nice cold shower from the Defamation Act 1950 (the trouble of course with 1950 for those who see themselves as nice, progressive people is that it preceded 1963). The front-line clergyman involved (and, let’s face it, clergyman he is most likely to be and most likely a Conservative Evangelical or a traditional Anglo-Catholic clergyman at that) may consider that in the course of the CDM procedure leading up to the ‘Indaba’ conversation with his complainant malicious falsehoods have been both written and disseminated about him.
Under such a scenario, Cranmer's Curate would rather take the defamation on the chin than sue - for the sake of the Gospel. But if such a case were to go to court, the bishop may well find that a secular libel jury does not share his faith in Indaba. Presumably, the bishop would be banking on the fact that a clergy stipend probably wouldn't run to a libel action.
Indaba believes;
1). that human beings underneath it all are inherently nice people.
2). that self-awareness is the beginning of wisdom for nice people wanting to solve the relational difficulties they may be experiencing with other nice people.
3). that nice people need intellectually stimulating conversation partnerships with other nice people in order to lead a nice life.
Indaba does not believe;
1). that the fear of the Lord, as pre-critical Christians would have defined it (in the dark days before the assured results of critical biblical scholarship enlightened nice people), is the beginning of wisdom.
2). that nice people will aspire to spiritual or moral certainty.
3). that nice people will refuse to enter into conversation partnerships with other nice people.
This Indaba philosophy of niceness is obviously preferable to a punch-up at a PCC meeting, to which the police may have to be called. But as an approach to the realities of life and relationships in the local church it begs certain questions.
How can you ‘indaba’ between the church-member who acts on their belief that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the church-member who acts on their belief that it is not?
How can you ‘indaba’ between the bully and his or her victim?
How can you ‘indaba’ between the church member who is empire-building/going on an ego-trip and the church member whose genuine attempt to serve Christ and His precious people is being disrupted?
Indaba has potentially got a very nice friend in the new Clergy Discipline Measure. An Indaba-believing bishop who receives a letter of complaint from a church member to the effect that his or her vicar is not as nice as they would like him to be may be tempted to mediate between the two inherently nice people involved.
However, given the often not very nice realities of human nature, the meeting might not turn out to be as nice an experience as he had hoped.
And, in the worst-case scenario, the Indaba-believing bishop may find he gets a not very nice cold shower from the Defamation Act 1950 (the trouble of course with 1950 for those who see themselves as nice, progressive people is that it preceded 1963). The front-line clergyman involved (and, let’s face it, clergyman he is most likely to be and most likely a Conservative Evangelical or a traditional Anglo-Catholic clergyman at that) may consider that in the course of the CDM procedure leading up to the ‘Indaba’ conversation with his complainant malicious falsehoods have been both written and disseminated about him.
Under such a scenario, Cranmer's Curate would rather take the defamation on the chin than sue - for the sake of the Gospel. But if such a case were to go to court, the bishop may well find that a secular libel jury does not share his faith in Indaba. Presumably, the bishop would be banking on the fact that a clergy stipend probably wouldn't run to a libel action.
Wednesday, 7 January 2009
THANKING THE HERESIARCH FOR HIS HOSPITALITY
Cranmer's Curate would like to thank the Heresiarch for hosting a satirical short story, The Community of the Dome, on the renowned Heresy Corner. Apart from his wit and erudition, the graciousness and fine moral sense of the firmly atheist Heresiarch humble a Christian like Cranmer's Curate who is all too inclined to be a 'hearer' of the Word of God rather than a 'doer' of it (James 1v22). The Heresiarch was in top form in a recent piece about the TV vicar Peter Owen Jones' admiration for pagan religion, which contains the unforgettable observation: "The precise nature of Owen Jones's Christian belief, by contrast, is never specified, but it seems to be closely connected with his desire to be on TV."
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
JONATHAN ROSS - THE SCANDAL OF THE CHRISTIAN GOSPEL
Cranmer’s Curate is not dancing in the aisles at the prospect of Mr Jonathan Ross reappearing on our national television screens at licence payers' expense.
However, he is equally wary of getting on his high horse over a BBC broadcaster like Mr Ross of whom he strongly disapproves. As an orthodox Anglican Evangelical he always needs to be reminded that Holy Scripture teaches that the sin of Pharisaic pride is as serious as the sins of the permissive society (see Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18v9-14).
In our generation, Pharisaism takes the form of the holier-than-thou attitude that professes to uphold traditional Christian morality but will not embrace the scandalously amazing grace of the Christian God.
The fact recorded by the Gospels is that our Lord – much to scandal of the Pharisees of His generation – ate and drank with individuals with quite a lot in common with the likes of Mr Ross (see Matthew 9v9-13). And the tax-collectors with whom Christ socialised were as over-payed if not more so than the BBC broadcaster.
Your curate detects from the tone of his apology to Andrew Sachs following the shameful episode of the obscene ‘phone calls - when he spoke of his ‘immaturity’ - that Mr Ross may be a troubled soul. Whether troubled or not, he is precisely the kind of lost sheep our Lord came looking for (see Luke 15v1-7). Imagine the rejoicing in heaven if Mr Ross were to be found and brought home on the shoulders of the Saviour, as in Jesus’ parable. Luke 15v7 tells us that ‘there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who have no need of repentance’ - RSV.
If he were to repent and turn to his Saviour for the forgiveness of all his sins, Mr Ross could become the new Malcolm Muggeridge - instead of uttering obscenities and taunting celebrities, making inspirational television programmes celebrating Christianity and its transforming impact on the world.
Christians believe in the Lord of grace who comes looking for lost sheep, leaving the ninety-nine secure in the fold and seeking the one who has gone astray. If He found Cranmer’s Curate, He can certainly find Jonathan Ross. That is the scandal of the Christian Gospel.
However, he is equally wary of getting on his high horse over a BBC broadcaster like Mr Ross of whom he strongly disapproves. As an orthodox Anglican Evangelical he always needs to be reminded that Holy Scripture teaches that the sin of Pharisaic pride is as serious as the sins of the permissive society (see Jesus’ parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18v9-14).
In our generation, Pharisaism takes the form of the holier-than-thou attitude that professes to uphold traditional Christian morality but will not embrace the scandalously amazing grace of the Christian God.
The fact recorded by the Gospels is that our Lord – much to scandal of the Pharisees of His generation – ate and drank with individuals with quite a lot in common with the likes of Mr Ross (see Matthew 9v9-13). And the tax-collectors with whom Christ socialised were as over-payed if not more so than the BBC broadcaster.
Your curate detects from the tone of his apology to Andrew Sachs following the shameful episode of the obscene ‘phone calls - when he spoke of his ‘immaturity’ - that Mr Ross may be a troubled soul. Whether troubled or not, he is precisely the kind of lost sheep our Lord came looking for (see Luke 15v1-7). Imagine the rejoicing in heaven if Mr Ross were to be found and brought home on the shoulders of the Saviour, as in Jesus’ parable. Luke 15v7 tells us that ‘there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who have no need of repentance’ - RSV.
If he were to repent and turn to his Saviour for the forgiveness of all his sins, Mr Ross could become the new Malcolm Muggeridge - instead of uttering obscenities and taunting celebrities, making inspirational television programmes celebrating Christianity and its transforming impact on the world.
Christians believe in the Lord of grace who comes looking for lost sheep, leaving the ninety-nine secure in the fold and seeking the one who has gone astray. If He found Cranmer’s Curate, He can certainly find Jonathan Ross. That is the scandal of the Christian Gospel.
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