Doorways to the Sacred by Phil Potter & Ian Mosby (eds) Reviewed

Doorways to the Sacred: Developing Sacramentality in Fresh Expressions of Church edited by Phil Potter and Ian Mobsby is the latest book in the Ancient Faith, Future Mission series. As with other books in this series it is predominantly Anglican in it’s outlook, whilst trying to be an ecumenical book and is made up from contributors based in the UK and USA. These include people like Graham Cray, Lucy Moore, Sue Wallace and John and Olive Drane who many will be familiar with.

The book looks at various sacraments: baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, healing and confession raising questions relevant to their use in missional communities. The book appears, to the outside reader, to have two aims. Firstly, to argue the importance of the sacraments and look at how they might appear in missional communities and Fresh Expressions. Secondly, this book appears to be seeking to give a reasoned argument as to why some of the “laws” or “rules” around the sacraments that the church has need to be re-examined to give more room for them to be contextually appropriate. The book shows how the rules around who should and shouldn’t be taking communion, for example, are already being broken with regard to everybody – baptised or not – being able to come to the table in many situations and words being used which are more contextually appropriate than some of the official liturgies. In her chapter on communion and Messy Church Lucy Moore talks of now being at a point of entering negotiation with the Liturgical Commission.

The book is also interesting for those of us who have been following the literature for many years by showing where some of the people and missional communities themselves have moved onto as time has progressed. It outlines how some have taken the journey from “post-evangelical” to Anglican vocation on to parish priest seeking to use what they have learnt in their missional communities in deprived parishes. Ian Mobsby is interesting in that he has moved on from Moot and in his current appointment is becoming a mixed economy parish containing both “traditional” community and “fresh expression”. Similarly in the USA Karen Ward has moved from a “hipster, arty community” in Seattle to seeking to develop a new community in a poor parish in Oregon. It has Reagan Humber, who is one of the priests at the House of Saints and Sinners in Colorado talking about their recent move of building as well as about the open policy they have, which readers of Nadia Boltz-Weber’s books will be familiar with.

Cray starts by talking about how sacraments are useful in our contemporary world but they have to be something which take us beyond our current yearning for individual experience. This is something which is echoed by other authors, but as John Drane points out it can be that individual experience within a corporate ritual which enables somebody to have a moment with God where they become oblivious of everything and everybody else. Sue Wallace uses the example of the Eucharist being the Tardis which enables us to go back to the foot of the cross – which I think is a good example for showing how sacraments can and should be both communal and individual experiences both at the same time.

With regard to who should take the sacraments and whether they should be truly open to all this is explored in the book. As one might expect the overwhelming response is they should be. However, there are some useful points made about why boundaries or careful handling may be needed. Ian Mosby talks of the value of confirmation as a sacrament but how we need to ensure that it is done of a young person’s own free will and certainly not just to help said young person get into the religious school of their choice. As somebody who made my own daughter argue her case for “adult baptism” before I would give permission – wanting to ensure that it was done from a point of belief not “fitting in” I echo what he is saying. 

Jonathon Clark has an interesting chapter where he looks at how baptism can be open but it needs to be seen as a commitment to a community rather than an individualistic act.

The book is split into five main sections: Sacraments in Context and Culture, Sacraments in Formation and Worship, Sacraments in Initiation, Sacraments in Eucharist and Holy Communion and Sacraments of Healing, Confession and Reconciliation. However, as one might expect with this type of book Eucharist and Holy Communion does tend to dominate.

The most interesting section of the book for me was the final one on healing, confession and reconciliation. With my low church background I had never thought of confession as a sacrament. Yet, it is an important one as Bryony Davis who mixes prison chaplaincy with leadership of a missional community in Surrey (not linked to the prison context) explains within her chapter.

I think that this section is important because whilst other chapters allude to working with survivors this section directly relates to it, (amongst other groups). There is a huge work to be undertaken with regard to this area and it is something that I believe churches are only just beginning to get their heads around. Missional communities by their nature of working “on the margins” to some extent are useful sources of wisdom on this work. Yet, as Julie Leger Dunstan makes clear there is a difference between what is occurring in these contexts and counselling. She highlights the place of spiritual directors in being able to hear confession, but not being counsellors (as they are very clear they are not there to be).

The one real nod to UK ecumenicalism, apart from some of the comments in Lucy Moore’s chapter comes in a moving chapter from Simon Sutcliffe who talks of reconciliation rather than confession. He argues that this sacrament is deep in Methodist DNA if one looks back at the class meeting structure, yet he says as Methodists we only tend to concentrate on communion and baptism as the sacraments.

So is this book worth a read? I would say yes if you want to think through what sacraments are in a way which is non-threatening. I say this as somebody who values ritual but finds the rules of the church with regard to who can and can’t do things related to sacramentality and how they have to be done “properly” difficult to get my head around. This book speaks into my experience and the times I have found the eucharist most special being ok. These experiences came in festival fields where nobody knew who was what and my CP blessing / wedding when we had an open communion table in Bletchley Park. Excluded from the church building in that situation due to what our birth certificates said about gender we were able to have a table in space where all were truly welcome in what was effectively a pop up church where the ball room became church for that hour.

If you are somebody who is hung up on “proper polity” you might find this a difficult read, but that’s good too because we need to find ways forward. We need to find ways where the traditional is fully respected but also all are open to receive the invitation to wholeness God which the sacraments offer.

Worry Dolls - Go Get Gone Reviewed

The Worry Dolls debut album Go Get Gone is jaunty from the start. Endless Road the first track shows off their musical abilities, particularly on strings.

The next song Train’s Leaving goes on to showcase their country credentials but it is the third track Miss You Already which truly brings both together. This heart break song which has Nashville stamped all over it is both ghostly and beautiful. The duo who sing and play on here showcase the beauty of both their playing and their voices on this one.

The album shows off what they can also reproduce live. The banjo on Don’t Waste Your Heart on Me sounds like it was honed in the fields of the American South, but in reality it was Liverpool in England where they came together when they were both studying music.

You might wonder if there is something fake about them then? Are they just another couple of country singers like Ward Thomas who look good and don’t sing too badly? No, having seen both live at Cambridge Folk Festival this year I have to say there is a clear difference between what the Nashville Machine has done with the Ward Thomas twins and the real talent of the two girls in the Worry Dolls. Don‘t get me wrong I enjoyed the Ward Thomas set but it didn’t enthuse me in the same way as the Worry Dolls set did, which got me straight over to the merchandise tent buying the CD.

She Don’t Live Here the fifth track on the CD highlights the folk roots which mix with the country sound. Whilst not the strongest song, with keyboard featuring more heavily, it does have a romantic feel to it.

Bless Your Heart is probably my favourite song on the album. It’s got slightly more of a dancey feel than some of the other tracks. It’s also got a bit of bitchy humour in it, but sung so beautifully.

Light oh Light takes it down again and highlights the harmonies the duo have going on as well as giving the strings centre stage again. Lyrically it gets a bit repetitive, but hey ho…..when the key line is “I’m tired of singing the same old song” they may have an underlying reason for doing so.

Passport gets a bit dancey again, in that kind of floaty dress hot summer kind of way which doesn’t require much energy.

Things Always Work Out is lyrically a good song with a chilled feel, the sort you’d like to listen to with a good glass of wine.

Finally you get Someday Soon which is another floaty, perhaps a little to chilled if anything. That said the sound and strings on it remain mesmerizing.

The album is definitely worth listening to and I’d highly recommend it, but I would say if you get to see them live that’ll be even better; they’re touring the UK again in early November.

The British Sea Side Stay Reviewed - Morecambe

It was high season in Morecambe last week, but it had the feel of a seaside town in March or April. There was a strange mixture of hope and aspiration alongside a resigned culture of decline in the town, which we stayed in for three nights.

Why did we choose Morecambe in the first place? Well we couldn’t decide between the country and the coast and Morecambe gives the best of both – having the bay, but being in such proximity to the Lake District.

Then if I’m honest there was the cost element. We were booking a holiday on a budget, taking advantage of the Virgin Train Sale. This meant that our choice was going to be somewhere along the West Coast Line. We could get from Birmingham to Morecambe for under £30 taking advantage of this sale, along with use of our Two Together Railcard. Hotel wise we went for the Travel Lodge on the basis of you know what you’re getting and it was relatively cheap – giving a discount as we were staying a third night, but also very clean and comfortable.

We knew that we weren’t planning to do breakfast at the hotel, but rather find a local café or coffee shop. We weren’t disappointed Kerry’s Coffee House did well. It did an excellent breakfast menu, using local organic ingredients. We got a good breakfast for two people each day for somewhere in the region of £10. The staff were friendly enough, but some of the other customers were symptomatic of the resorts problems we thought. On the second morning there were a couple of older ladies came in and it was obvious we were sitting on “their table”. There were comments made about not liking to sit near the door, but we ignored them. Then they appeared on the third morning, when we were sitting at a different table. They were clearly somewhat confused or dismayed that we were there again. Their view was that we didn’t fit and a comedy style conversation between the them then ensued where we heard that my husband and I were obviously not happy, because we weren’t looking at each other enough and he must be on benefit. In fact he is a Methodist Probationer Minister about to take up his first appointment and we are very happy.

The feeling of middle class 30 & 40 year olds choosing to being there on holiday being somewhat of a novelty was palpable elsewhere too. We were looked at like we were oddities, something we did not experience in Lancaster, Heysham or the Lake District but we did quite a bit in Morecambe. 

As I say though there is clearly an aspiration for this to do what Margate is doing and becoming a revitalized resort. This is not only apparent through the restoration of the Midland Hotel which is an example of art deco magnificence but also through places like The Honey Tree Chinese Restaurant. Having wandered down the sea front ruling places out, primarily on the basis of the staring from the local residents we found this wonderful place. The food was first class and the bathrooms with the individual flannels and hand creams were also excellent (although a new hand dryer wouldn’t go amiss). What showed the aspiration most though was the way that we were treated, there was almost a desperation to give wonderful customer service – so much so we did wonder if they thought we were food critics. The waitress who delivered our food sounded like she had been trained Eliza Doolittle style, having perfect diction with her broad Lancashire accent when she told us “smells delicious doesn’t it”.

The difference between our experience in Morecambe itself and it’s neighbour of Heysham couldn’t have been more different. Heysham is more middle class and whilst the service at the The Royal was more relaxed, whilst still being of a very high standard – we didn’t feel like some kind of novelty here. The menu here was what one might expect in a typical British village pub and we had a great Steak and Ale pie at a very reasonable price. Walking back along the coast from Heysham we were able to take in a beautiful sunset and enjoy the two mile walk.

For those wondering about visiting the resort I’d say go for it. Not only do you get the sands and scenery around the bay it really is so easy to get to the Lakes. We got a £11 Northwest Day Ticket from Stage Coach and took advantage of the bus to go to Windemere and Bowness. It takes just under hour and half but you get to see the most breath-taking scenery. For Keswick and Derwent Water we took the train to Penrith and then the bus.

One thing I was a bit sad about was that whilst there were lots of tributes to Eric Morecambe about there was little commemoration of Thora Hird, who had also been born in the town.

I have to say I so hope that Morecambe does keep going with trying to achieve the aspiration which is clearly there and more people get to see the charm. If you haven’t been I advise you to do so, but be ready to deal with the culture of despair amongst some of the ageist (and that’s what the elderly women in the cafe were) locals. If it all gets too much I can recommend the Rotunda Bar to escape to, it’s attached to the Midland Hotel, it’s not the cheapest bar in the area but it’s worth a look in.

Realms of Glory by Catherine Fox Reviewed

Realms of Glory by Catherine Fox is the third of the Lindchester Chronicles (after Acts and Omissions and Unseen Things Above). It again looks at life in this fictional Anglican diocese over the course of a year. As the third book it of course provides continuity but this one felt different, less catty – certainly from June and the middle of the book onward and desperate to give us some hope.

The books were written in weekly blog installments, but I have preferred to wait for the complete books. Thus, I didn’t know what to expect – although I did know this is the one where some of the loose ends or perhaps loose characters were likely to be sorted out. This tying up of loose ends was arguably too neat, but one knows that just because the end of one stage of life ends with apparent tidiness and just the odd frayed end that it can all unravel again and this is a mere snapshot of one point in time.

As I say this book somehow differed in tone but was perhaps my favourite as it was less pantomime in places. There was no moral commentary on what we should think of people and perhaps most importantly no highly characterised villain - (just as well because after the last one I spent two years as a university chaplain wearing a navy hoody with the word chaplain on the back being mocked by my husband). There were ordinary people struggling the difficult aspects of ordinary life.

This book contains no sensational affairs or falls from grace, although the ones from the first book is touched upon at one point. It does contain compassionate, sensible safeguarding and pastoral care – perhaps reflecting on how the world and the church has moved on from when the first book was written. In fact, there is only one point when it moves into the realm of possible, but really? And that is when one of our heroes delivers a baby – but really? I mean he’s good but delivering a child that quickly as well as keeping the other kids occupied with cookies?  Still it did raise yet another smile in relation to this character who the reader has been rooting for through all three books.

The author lets herself slip through slightly more in this book I think. She is a lecturer who teaches creative writing and there are writing tips peppered through this one. Whilst all fictional it was interesting to see how life has mirrored art. The lecturer married to the archdeacon finds herself married to a bishop when he gets promotion. In real life Fox wrote this in blog form whilst married to a cathedral dean and by the time it was published in book form her husband had been promoted to bishop. The angst she, like many, felt about both Brexit and Trump also comes through.

But what of the CofE politics you might ask? Those things so prominent in the first two books. Well they’re here in this one…..the Green Report and the ongoing debate about same sex marriage. Yet they are less of a focus, certainly after Brexit. They move, rightly, into the background with points (such as the reliance of many diocese on LGBT+ staff) being implicitly rather than explicitly made.

Did I enjoy this book as much as the other two? Yes, and in some ways more. It wasn’t the happy endings it was the fact surprising things happened but in a more gentle way.

As I end this review I want to say thank you to the author for the trilogy, which I have very much enjoyed.

Recommending Brum

Culture and community are two words I’d use to sum Brum up, as I come to the end of my two years here. These words have been reinforced in various ways over the last few days:

First the culture; we’ve been enjoying The Big Sleuth which is a trail of beautifully painted bears around the city. As with the owls two years ago these are raising funds for Birmingham Children’s Hospital. They can be found around the city and surrounding area. The Cathedral Square by the CofE Cathedral is a particularly good place to find them. Incidentally they also have a retro 80's film festival coming up.

The bears also embrace the community feel as within the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and elsewhere there are bear cubs which have been painted by schools and community groups.

In the main Library of Birmingham the themes also meet with the Connecting Stories exhibition. This exhibition looks at the contribution people from South Asia have played in this country over the centuries and in contemporary society.

If you enjoy social history, including women’s or social movement history, this is definitely for you. It has a great story of a princess of South Asian decent, who was born in Suffolk, selling suffragette newspapers outside Hampton Court where she had apartments. There is also local material linked to the Rock Against Racism movement of the 1970’s.

As I prepare to move on in the coming weeks I can truly say I’ve never lived anywhere I have loved as much as here. The culture is vibrant and the community welcoming.

If you’re wondering where to come for a day out or even a weekend away this summer you could do worse than consider Brum. I’d really recommend both the bears and the exhibition, especially as both are free to enjoy.

Why advice on pastoral care for families is needed alongside the liturgy of celebration

I fully welcome and celebrate the Church of England’s decision to move towards an official liturgy for trans people, but I think an element of the discussion has been missing. We are talking about giving ministers a liturgy to use, but we have not spoken about giving them advice or training on the pastoral care needed around administering these services and the feelings that they may arouse in family members, which will need to be handled with sensitivity.

I have spoken before on this blog about the feelings that were aroused in me when my husband had this type of liturgy within a service. Whilst it was a time of great celebration, it created feelings of real dissonance in me. I was suffering from feelings of ambiguous loss and had had no formal way of acknowledging that. For me, the naming liturgy felt like a funeral as well as a celebration. It was formally celebrating the “new” identity of Karl which implicitly meant his “dead” name was truly that, as was the “old identity”.

One aspect of the debate not being fully acknowledged or explored at the moment is the impact on family and partners who are supportive but are having to deal with the feelings of dissonance and ambiguous loss we have been talking about.

We need real work doing not just on the pastoral care of trans people but of their families too. Churches will often be welcoming families who are on a journey, not just the trans people.

Now, I get this is a sensitive subject – I have been in rooms where when I have spoken about this there has been difficult emotion. There have been trans people who have been rejected by families and there have been trans people who have felt guilt about the journey others have had to take with them. On line I have had trans people who have said what I am saying seems to reject trans people.

I want to be clear, my husband’s transition is the best thing ever to have happened to him and I have seen him flourish as a result of no longer having to repress who he is. We have a Hungry Caterpillar money box which celebrates the butterfly emerging. I am 100% supportive, but I had to go through a grief process as a result of this and those feelings of loss that family, particularly, go through needs to be recognised. We need to produce resources which help those coming alongside in churches to understand the complexity of these situations and how to pastorally approach them.

Reflecting on a weekend of Pride, Hope & Celebrating God at Work

This weekend was Pride in London and there were a Christians at Pride group marching again, just as there have been for a number of years now. Except this year it was different, very different.

This weekend the Church of England synod in York and as has become a regular happening LGBT+ issues were discussed. Except this time it was different, very different.

This weekend I preached at the church which has been home over the last couple of years, just as I have in other churches. I was faced with the dilemma of whether to mention anything about LGBT+ witness and mission in my sermon, just as I have on a couple of other occasions as a local preacher. Except this time it was different, very different.

So what were these differences and what do they have to tell us about what is going on in the churches and the Christian LGBT+ world?

The Christians at Pride Group was bigger than in the past, much bigger. This year it was made up of about 250 people and was the third biggest group after Barclays (the main sponsor) and Stonewall. It was also a much more mixed group culturally, with a far higher number of BAME people involved, (despite what this picture seems to show). It was not just “the usual faces”, many of them were watching in the crowd – being among those who stood next to the “angry Christians” turning their yellow negative placards into a rainbow proclaiming love. There were also some at the church where the annual Pride Service was being held offering hospitality through a tea party in the garden.

The Church of England synod was different because whilst there was the “official discussion” on what to do about LGBT+ issues with the usual prevarication and kicking into the long grass there were compassionate and important motions passed. These were motions bought by synod members and diocese which committed the Church of England to condemn conversion therapy and look to develop an official recognised liturgy for people who wanted to mark their transition and reaffirm their new/ true identity.

The church I was preaching in is a URC/ Methodist church which has in the past year signed up to Inclusive Church and become a recognised One Body One Faith Church. It set up a stall outside the church, which is on the Birmingham Pride route, and gave out water and sweets to those in the Birmingham Pride parade this year. It was also one of the co-ordinating groups involved in getting Christians at Pride in Birmingham off the ground this year. Preaching there I didn’t have the dilemma of whether to mention LGBT+ issues I knew I could do so, encouraging the church in the way in which God had been working in there. I could talk about the impact that their actions have; how they help the LGBT+ community and the way God is obviously working through them. I could talk about the way in which I know that church has not changed their thinking (it all went through Church meeting very quickly and without much debate) and they probably don’t think they’ve done anything much but actually what they’ve done is really important.

The passage I was preaching on yesterday was Matthew 11: 16 -30 (note without the gap which the lectionary suggests) and this talks about some recognising God’s signs and wonders whilst others rejected them. To recognise what God was doing in the world then you had to recognise experience. I think the same is true now…..we need to look at experience as well as using scripture, tradition and reason.

Experience is what is telling me something is happening, God is at work through ordinary people in the church who may or may not belong to the LGBT+ community. Experience is telling me that divisions in the church between different groups are being broken down. Is telling me, through conversations I’ve been having with people and coverage of Christians at Pride in publications like Pink News, that the perception the wider LGBT+ community has of Christians and the gospel message is beginning to change.

Yet, I know all this doesn’t happen without hard work. I know that there are those who have been patiently working towards where we are now for many decades. So I want to thank them for their hard work and faithful witness over the years.

I also know that there is still much to be done if LGBT+ people are to be fully accepted, acknowledged and included in the church. There is still much to be done if our relationships are to be treated on an equal basis. I know that the more the church embraces the LGBT+ community the more vicious some opponents will become, as they realise they have lost the argument (I remember the late Pauline Webb explaining this was the case with the campaign for women’s ordination in the Methodist Church).  

Yet as I have shown God is at work and I have more hope than I have ever had.