Guilsborough : Sunday 6th July:
Preface to the Prayer Book
“There never was anything by the wit of man so well devised, or so sure established, which in continuance of time hath not been corrupted”. 
Among the clichés that we hear all too regularly these days is  ’the elephant in the room’  one of the media’s favourites, something that everyone is aware of , but no one wants to mention. Well, I don’t think, to coin a few more clichés,  that I can shoot that fox with a silver bullet this evening.  In any case what I say is likely to be too little too late. 
There is however  - or so I feel -  an elephant in St. Etheldreda’s aisles these days.  It’s a big subject, and I won’t be able to do it justice.  But I thought that someone, a layman taking advantage of an interregnum, ought at least to mention the Big Issue for our benefice which is “Can the Anglican Church as we know it survive? ”  
That is the issue before the Lambeth Conference, starting at the end of this week and devised by the wit of man as a way of strengthening communication in the Anglican Church,  but which in continuance of time in danger of corruption.   It’s had plenty of publicity in recent days, not least in to-day’s papers.  And it’s the lead theme in this week’s edition of The Spectator magazine. An article there begins by describing how some years ago a vicar tried to explain to his congregation the workings of the Anglican Communion and what the latest developments were.   
Afterwards old lady came up to him ( how is it that in these anecdotes it’s always little old ladies who ask the straightforward questions ?) – anyway this one asked       “ How does all this stuff about Anglicans affect us?”   “Well” , replied the vicar, smiling warmly, “we’re all part of the global Anglican Communion aren’t we ?”
The lady looked even more bemused: “I thought we were Church of England.” 
On the eve of this week’s Lambeth Conference it seems that the Church of England, if the press is to be believed,  is going to be pulled apart.  First 1,333 so called traditionalists clergy have threatened to join the Roman Catholic church in protest against the idea of women bishops.  At the same time, 2,300 clergy who favoured women bishops have signed a protest against the 1333 protestors.  
Worse, we now have two breakaway groups: the traditionalists who complain about women and the world evangelicals who complain mostly about homosexuality.  A group calling itself the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans emerged from a conference in Jerusalem.  This group has over 300 bishops and archbishops and claims to represent about half the world’s 40 million Anglicans.  Most of these bishops, and some English ones, will not attend this week’s Lambeth Conference because they think that the leader of the Anglican Communion is too tolerant of the gay-friendly American & Canadian churches. 
In short it’s a bit of a mess.  At least I think that’s what is happening. 
Even though we may not have noticed here in Guilsborough,  it can be argued that over the last five years the traditionalists have changed the nature of Anglicanism by defeating liberal moves such as the ordination of  a homosexual designated as Bishop of Reading.  The problem was that at the last Lambeth Conference a resolution was passed forbidding the ordination of such clergy. Most people in authority in the Church if England chose to ignore this resolution, believing that tolerance would in the end prevail and the reactionaries would come round.  For over the centuries the great strength of the Church of England has been its ministry in every part of the country and its ability to tolerate a wide variety of opinions.  
But the trouble is that the reactionaries / traditionalists had by this resolution 10 years ago now become more than just an awkward minority within the Anglican Church They could attack the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury.  Then there was the American ordination of the gay bishop Gene Robinson who has been on the airwaves and in newspaper columns ever since. 
This week the anti feminists and the anti gays are in alliance are threatening what the commentators describe as the end of Anglicanism via the dreaded word Schism.  The Church of England has always been an integral part of our national culture as it has evolved over the centuries, representing tradition and liberalism at the same time.  Whenever I take communion, for example, I am very conscious that quite often the chalice has been in use for hundreds of years, in some cases before the Protestant Church itself was established and it has literally touched the lips of thousands of Christians before me.    I am also conscious as I read our Prayer Book that this was the book that inspired great liberals like William Wilberforce, William Booth of the Salvation Army the Earl of Shaftesbury and many others to be among the reformers of their day. 
How then does this affect us in the Guilsborough benefice as we search for our next Rector?  Well, it gives those who might interview the candidate now selected for us by the Archdeacon,  the chance to discover where he stands on these, allegedly, make or break issues.   As you know, we are not permitted to interview a woman, despite this being contrary to domestic and international law.  The Church of England is exempt from those laws.  
But before we meet our candidate, let’s listen to this week’s debate: there are some pretty whacky views out there. I heard a woman priest,  interestingly opposed to the ordination of female bishops, argue on the radio the other day that her opposition was partly based on the fact that, according to Genesis, Adam was created by God before Eve and therefore man had domination over woman.  Call me a liberal wet, but I find it hard to believe that anyone in the 21st century can take that wonderful fairy story of creation as a serious indication of God’s will for all eternity.  
I would argue that while the ecclesiastical generals may squabble and schisms occur, for us, as footsoldiers, the Christian life goes on.  The views of the next rector on sexual orientation should be of  no interest.   Rather we need to turn our lives,  towards fulfilling a Christian mission in this benefice, in this county in this country.   

And helping our to do that.  There is plenty that needs changing: I have not yet found the figures for Northampton Town but in parts of Glasgow I’ve read that life expectancy is the same as the Gaza Strip or North Korea.  In some of the suburbs at 54 years , it is lower even than Bangladesh or the Gambia. We face both physical and spiritual poverty in this country.  Christian Aid has never been in greater demand.     
Ten days ago in Peterborough Cathedral Chrystal and I heard Bishop Ian preach to a packed house on St. Peter’s Day.  It was a memorable occasion with a beautiful service, superb singing and crowned with a thoughtful and moving sermon. The theme was Jesus’ famous injunction to Peter  “ Feed my sheep” . It was from this that the rest of St. Peter’s life flowed, leading him to martyrdom with St. Paul, an extraordinary journey for a Galilean fisherman.  
Bishop Ian has made “releasing ministry”  one of his themes for this year.  First that each of us should use our God-given talents in His service.   Second that we should work together rejoicing in our diversity as he put it.  We can have our different opinions – and I don’t expect all of you necessarily to agree with mine; we have our many different gifts and a rich variety of experience top ut at the service of church and communnity, something that we made sure was emphasised in the Parish Profile for the new Rector.  But we also should share consciously a common goal: to make Christianity known in this area through how we act in our daily lives  As the bishop put it, our calling may be individual, our interests and passions may be complementary and we need to share a sense of mission.  
That is what I hope the new Rector will harness and nuture, recognising that whilst we may sound a bit like so many Victor Meldrews on occasions,  groaning about the level of the parish share or complaining about the sterile debate on women bishops and  sexuality,  we ought to aim to be with each other as baptised believers,  longing to use such gifts as God has given us to help transform the world around and to live  Christian lives where we help to release the each other to do his work.  
So let’s not allow the goings on at Lambeth to distract us from the individual purposes of our Christian callings.  As we await the arrival of our new rector, we can prepare to set sail again on the sometimes stormy seas of life by undertaking new ventures.  Of course it’s easier to stay comfortably at home, writing an occasional cheque to a charity.  A ship is safe in harbour, but that’s not what ships are for. 
Teach us good lord to serve thee as thou deservest, to give and not to count the cost, to fight and not to heed the wounds, to toil and to ask for no reward save that of knowing that we do thy will. 
Amen. 
     
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