Just don't start!

Just when I think I’m getting more mellow about stuff, someone does something that annoys me and sets me off again. This weekend we had a great time, and a lovely inclusive act of worship in which everyone could participate, and it was just about a whole lot of people having fun. The gospel message, if you must find one, was implicit, not explicit, and it was about welcome, joyfulness, acceptance. It was market town Anglicanism, which is a local expression of the “big tent” Anglican inclusivity that we once took to be a given of our Christian tradition, but has been under attack, having to defend and justify itself for years now. Those traditionalists in Jerusalem want to see an end of it, as did the guy who slipped under my radar and managed to hi-jack part of our worship on Sunday with an inappropriately earnest and didactic piece on sin and judgement, when we were all trying to have a jolly day. Where are they coming from, and what do they think this achieves?

He tells people he follows “biblical principles”, and wants to see “biblical morality” applied. What does that mean? He doesn’t eat prawn cocktails, and if his daughter is raped he’ll have her stoned to death? Come on! These phrases have no meaning!

It’s like those people coming back from our conference saying “We must learn from the African church!”. Learn what exactly? Islamophobia and homophobia? The continued subjugation of women? What? What they really mean is learn how to manage on very little, because we can’t fill our parishes and priests are thin on the ground, and if we could learn how to get people to give joyfully a really large proportion of their income to church funds, because that’s what they do there, our problems would be solved.

Except it’s not as simple as that, because it’s all part of a package. Simple messages that form strong exclusive congregations attract people more readily than complex messages that seek to be inclusive and live with difference. And they raise more money more quickly too.

I’ll continue to try to preserve the big tent approach, despite those going around cutting the guy-ropes and pulling the pegs out.