Sabbatical Blog 8: One plus one *

Ray Anglesea shares the next installment of his sabbatical experiences

On 6 July 2014, the General Assembly of the United Reformed Church, moved forward with its discussions on the marriage of same-sex couples.

This significant issue was considered at the Assembly, including a facilitation group report which was written after Assembly (and chaired by our own Synod Moderator, Revd Lis Mullen) had heard from a wide range of speakers with varying views. On the final day, a resolution was passed which reflects the range of views expressed on the floor of General Assembly. It honours the sense of urgency expressed by those who had hoped that this Assembly would allow same-sex marriages in their churches; it honours the wish of a majority that the celebration of same-sex marriages should be a matter for local church decision; and it honours the deeply-held convictions of those members who remain deeply opposed to the marriage of same-sex couples in church. The resolution gives local churches a nine-month period of consultation to reflect, gather and report on the views of their members. It also allows the November 2014 meeting of Mission Council to call a special “one issue, one day” meeting of the General Assembly without the need to wait for the next scheduled meeting of Assembly in July 2016.

Equal marriage has now become law in England. The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act 2013 came into force on the 29^thMarch 2014 (see previous blog, http://urc-northernsynod.blogspot.co.uk/2014_04_06_archive.html.

I don’t know what I can add further to the debate particularly after the deeply prayerful way in which the issue was debated at Assembly. But here are some thoughts from a Christian perspective as we look forward to further prayerful considerations at church meetings in the coming months.

Firstly, I think we need to be more intelligent about thinking biblically in relation to equal marriage. It’s not enough to quote biblical texts by themselves, or quote relevant or irrelevant historic clauses from the Reformed Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) as if they prove or disprove a particular view: what is necessary is to understand the direction in which scripture is leading us in the way we reflect on human relationships today. In Jesus’ world there is one thing above all else that marriage was for - it was for perpetuating the male line through the controlled production and rearing of male heirs. It is true that marriage had other social purposes as well; in a patriarchal world marriage protected a woman from isolation, vulnerability and exploitation in a society in which she couldn’t be an independent earner and property owner. And while this may appear to be to an outdated OT biblical model of marriage it is far removed from what the theology of a Christian marriage today might mean and what St Paul had in mind. Put simply - human marriages are meant to be like God’s covenant with us, his people, his church and his world. The metaphor of the marriage covenant tells us that God’s covenant love is a love "that will not let us go." A covenanted relationship is precisely how God marries himself to humanity. This I think helps us understand the purpose of God’s relationship with us, and the purpose and permanence of marital relationships. Shouldn’t the church positively welcome equal marriage as affirming this rich biblical insight into God’s nature and ours?

Secondly: Throughout the history of the church, marriage has always been a social reality that church authorities have to different degrees sought to bless, commend, encourage or control. In recent generations a number of factors have clustered together to change the context of marriage considerably. There was a time when people lived much shorter lives, and a long marriage was 20 or 25 years. There was a time when one pregnancy in five could end in the mother’s death. There was a time when sexual relations led sooner or later to the conception of children, and so sex before or outside marriage was dangerous and socially subversive. There was a time when no woman could contemplate owning property or having an independent life or career. There was a time when the household was the primary centre of economic activity and the welfare of the vulnerable. These things cemented marriages, for good or ill. Those times are largely gone in the West, and few would genuinely lament their passing. But that means the social and cultural scaffolding that used to support marriage has been more or less dismantled. Christians in every state of life – single, married, separated, divorced, married again, lay, ordained – are all struggling to come to terms with today’s reality that marriage isn’t the necessity it once was. Equal marriage is yet another stage in the long evolution of this institution that has been reshaped at different times down the centuries. But its essence is what it always was: the covenanted union of two people for life.

That has not changed.

Thirdly, Assembly heard from individuals and from representatives of groups the pain and anger of gay people who continue to feel excluded by the church’s stance on equal marriage. The recent measure passed by assembly may offer them some light and hope. In time as equal marriage becomes accepted by society and, as the indications are showing, by the majority of lay people in assembly, we shall see a shift in the official stance. In time, the church will accommodate itself to this development, and recognise that by blessing same-sex marriages and even solemnising them, it is affirming the principle that covenanted unions are fundamental to the way we see (and more important, the way God sees) human love. It takes time for change to be received and its theological significance understood. It’s not much comfort to those asking the church for recognition now, but in time I believe we
shall get there.

Fourthly, I recognise from the Assembly debate how hard this discussion has been for many fellow-Christians, some in this country, but especially those from overseas. It is unfair to dub all who dissent as homophobic: there are many people of integrity for whom equal marriage is hard to accept. But I think we should hear the words of the former General Secretary, Revd Roberta Rominger that we need to allow time to listen to each other, to be gracious and kind with one another in our debates and conversations, not to pursue hostile agendas but listen to what the Spirit of God is saying to the church today.   In the meantime we must do all we can to more positively welcome and embrace gay couples in Christ’s name as they find their

home in the church.

And finally. Perhaps when the debate is over and the mind of the church on this issue is known we might not talk about  equalmarriage, or same-sex marriage or gay marriage, just marriage. For marriage today means saying to one person of whatever sex, “We are going to be present to one another – emotionally, physically, mentally, in sorrow and joy, in sunshine and in rain. And we are going to try to live in the present tense – not nostalgic or bitter or wistful about the past, nor naive or overinvested or controlling about the future

Ray Anglesea

Sabbatical Blog 8:  One plus one. General Assembly, Cardiff

July 2014

*The booklet “One plus One: thinking together about marriage”  – produced by the human sexuality task group for the General Assembly, Cardiff  will be made available to churches to help in their further deliberations.

Sabbatical Blog 7: 42 Years

Ray Anglesea shares the next installment of his sabbatical experiences

I last met Russ Thomas 42 years ago.

I had shared a house with Russ during my final year at university, in Plasturton Gardens, a wealthy western garden district of Cardiff.  What brought us together in no 22 Plasturton Gardens in 1972 was Voluntary Service Overseas. Before taking up employment in the Welsh Office Russ had returned from the Sudan where he had been employed as a teacher; at the same time I was in the process of making an application to join VSO at the end of my postgraduate year. Years later the social media network Facebook  brought us together. About a year ago Russ contacted me by phone, one thing led to another and we agreed to meet up in Cardiff for 24 hours after the URC General Assembly 2014 had completed its business.

Talking to Russ again, reflecting on our careers, families and grandchildren the conversation reminded me of the last scene of Alan Bennet’s comedy-drama The History Boys (2006) set in the mid-80’s. Hector had died and the final scene changes to an empty hall with only the eight working class boys of Cutler’s Grammar School groomed for Oxford and Mrs Lintott present. She recounts the futures of the eight boys. They had entered a variety of careers. Akthar is a headmaster, Crowther a magistrate, Timms the owner of a dry cleaning chain who took drugs at weekends, and Dakin a tax lawyer. Lockwood had entered the army and sadly died as a result of friendly fire; Rudge became a builder, Scripps a journalist, and Irwin had stopped teaching and had become a maker of TV history documentaries. Finally, Posner reveals he had become a teacher who followed in Hector's footsteps, with a similar style and teaching methods.

Like the history boys it was now our turn to tell our stories, what had we made of the dreams and plans we discussed whilst drinking beer listening to Bob Dylan and the Beatles, penniless idealistic students in a back storey student garret forty odd years ago? Looking back the sixties and early seventies were crazy years; we lived through a counter revolution in social norms about clothing, music, drugs, dress, sexuality, formalities, and schooling, and the relaxation of social taboos especially relating to racism and sexism. The “Hippy” flower power years saw the anti Vietnam movement, Dr Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia, Apollo 11, a Labour government, the deaths of Kennedy and Martin Luther King, a cultural revolution in China, Simon and Garfunkel, the construction of the Berlin Wall, and in Africa where Russ and I worked with VSO a time of radical political and social change as 32 countries gained independence from their European colonial rulers.

Undoubtedly the changing cultural norms of our society influenced our thinking – so did our Christian family background. Both Russ and I came from non-conformist families – (Russ’s brother the late Revd. Sion Thomas was a Welsh Congregational Minister in the Swansea District). During our conversations it transpired that Russ had stayed with the Welsh Office throughout his career, responsible for promoting Welsh interests in the environment, education and the arts then later preparing for the transfer of powers to the National Assembly of Wales. At the top of his career he had become a private secretary to the Secretary of State for Wales John Morris (1974-79), now Barron Morris of Aberavon, Lord Lieutenant of Dyfed and Knight of the Order of the Garter (2003).

In one of George Eliot's lesser-known novels, Felix Holt, we are given a stirring and enigmatic line: "Those old stories of visions and dreams guiding men have their truth: We are saved by making the future present to ourselves." Russ and I now have grandchildren, I wonder how I can convey to them something of the great debt we owe to our parents, grandparents, inspiring politicians, activists, the lovers and dreamers, musicians and artists that shaped our lives. For Russ it was the safeguarding of a Welsh way of life, its culture, identity and language that inflamed his heart with passion. For me as a post war baby it was a dream to shape the way our cities, towns, villages and countryside are developed and built, helping to regenerate socially-deprived areas and creating new jobs. Both of us in our own way would see this as building up the Kingdom of God.

I left Cardiff and Russ with a song in my head which my Newcastle based choir, Inspiration sing from time to time – from Munchener Freiheit’s 1988 album (a German pop and rock band) Fantasy:-

The hopes we had were much too high;

Way out of reach, but we have to try.

The game will never be over,

Because we're keeping the dream alive.

And I would like to think that some of the dreams we had as students all those years ago have, by God’s grace, come to fulfilment in our separate lives.

Ray Anglesea

Sabbatical Blog 7:  42 years: Cardiff

8^th July 2014

                           

Sabbatical Blog 6 - One Baptism: Two Churches

Ray Anglesea shares the next installment of his sabbatical experiences

Holy Trinity Brompton, often referred to as HTB, is an Anglican church in Brompton Road, London. HTB is hidden behind the Brompton Oratory and flanked by museums. Behind it are expensive flats and houses leading up to Hyde Park. Close by is Imperial College, Harrods and the Brompton Hospital. Its congregation is not only from the locality; people come from all over London.

The church consists of four church buildings, HTB Brompton Road, HTB Onslow Square, HTB Queen's Gate and HTB Courtfield Gardens, as well as being the home for Worship Central, St Paul's Theological Centre and the Alpha course (it is where the Alpha course was first developed and is one of the most influential churches in the Church of England). Over 4,000 people regularly attend Sunday worship across the four sites. Because of the size of the congregation it is divided into pastorates, which are small groups of about 20-30 people run by members of the congregation, most of whom are not in full time ministry. They meet fortnightly for prayer, worship, teaching, Bible study, food and fellowship.

St Pauls’ Onslow Square (Grade II Listed, Gothic in style in Kentish Ragstone and designed as an integral part of the Square) is where my son and daughter in law, Jamie and Gemma worship regularly. First opened in 1860 the church was declared redundant in the late 1970’s. With the permission of the Bishop of London HTB Brompton Road planted a congregation; the congregation has now grown to several hundred.

Sunday 29^th June was the date set for my granddaughter Gracie’s baptism: morning worship took place in HTB Paul’s Onslow Square, the baptism in HTB Queen’s Gate. My wife and I love going to Onslow Square. The worship is informal, welcoming with an atmosphere of excitement and anticipation, with many young, friendly families, coffee and croissants are on hand at the start of the service, seats available on nave chairs or leather armchairs/couches or a floor cushion if you prefer. The words for the songs and prayers are projected onto a large screen and on numerous TV monitors. (Revd) Nick Lee’s sermon (trained in Cranmer Hall, Durham) was excellent, delivering a witty, sincere, thought provoking and biblically based sermon. And of course the worship was marvellous. It was a Spirit-filled time of rejoicing, praise and worship. The leader of the musical group was superb, sensitively directing the singing, and there was some clapping and arm raising, which was done with feeling and sincerity. The worship blew me away, moving me to tears.

If worship was held with family and friends at Onslow Square, the baptism of my granddaughter took place not far away at HTB Queens Gate (it’s complicated – don’t ask). A whiff of incense greeted us as we walked through the main door of the church. Formerly St Augustine’s Queen's Gate, Kensington, high Anglo-Catholic, the former church began to be administered from Holy Trinity Brompton following an invitation by the Bishop of Kensington in 2010, where Nicky Gumbel was made priest-in-charge. In March 2011, St Augustine's was formally merged into the parish of HTB. St Augustine's Church (Grade II*) was a favourite of Sir John Betjeman. The tall, narrow nave has a lovely west end on Queen's Gate, with alternating bands of brick and stone rising to a double belfry. Designed by the celebrated Victorian church architect William Butterfield, it was completed in 1876; it is a high Gothic masterpiece. Although the exterior is decorative, it is hardly a preparation for the interior. This is an amazing example of polychrome work, worthy of the nearby Natural History Museum. Everything is coloured, using stone, mosaics, tiles and marble: walls, floors - even the pulpit. Geometric patterns frame a series of biblical scenes on the walls and clerestory, leading you towards the spacious and dramatic chancel, and an astonishing gilded reredos.

                 

Widely appreciated as probably the second-best surviving church in London by William Butterfield, St Augustine’s church at Queen’s Gate, Kensington hides a special surprise for 20^th century fans. Alterations and re- ordering in the late 1920s and then post- war repairs resulted in some impressive church fittings linked to a movement retrospectively dubbed ‘Back to Baroque.’  The immense reredos and altarpiece, the backdrop and tester for Butterfield’s pulpit, the Stations of the Cross and the Lady Chapel altar and triptych in the north aisle, are all very distinguished interventions by Howard Martin Otho Travers (1886-1948). It is argued that Travers’s fittings of counter-reformation extravagance are “just as worthy of preservation in their own right as Butterfield's work.” Precisely for these reasons, and wearing my synod LBAC hat, the upgrade of the Grade II* building to Grade I should perhaps be considered.

It was a real joy to be present at my granddaughters baptism with family and friends. Jamie and Gemma felt so supported; a beautiful lunch in the church hall followed the service with their (top tier) delicious wedding cake magically turned into a baptismal cake for my beautiful granddaughter. It too was a real joy to be to see how historic and architecturally important Listed Buildings can be adapted to contemporary forms of worship, attracting hundreds of people weekly to hear the gospel preached in an easy going manner, to enjoy a variety of traditional and modern-day liturgical styles whilst pastoral groups engage in numerous programmes of social/inner city outreach. HTB is of course the home of Justin Welby, many influential speakers, sports and TV celebrities, politicians and world statesman and inner city bankers worship there; it is a rich diverse international community, attracted to Jesus Christ and his enduring love message for our times.

The Alpha course has undoubtedly become a global brand of Christian initiation through the energy of Nicky Gumbel and his team and considering its evangelical roots has taken a decided therapeutic and relational turn. Gone is the “get up out of your seats and come to the front” style of crusading popularised by Billy Graham. Gumbel has replaced the big ritual of the old fashioned revivalist rally with something more intimate, homely and personal. On my visits to HTB Onslow Square the worship seems progressive and consumerist, a chance to sample Christianity, and then buy; a church theology that is expressed in its style, not its substance – it is a church very much intra-related to social and cultural values. I feel blessed by worshipping there. I love getting out of my seat. In planning terms so to speak -  I feel Grade II when I arrive - when I leave I know the world, with Jesus Christ, is Grade I.

Ray Anglesea

Sabbatical Blog 6:  One Baptism: Two Churches, Knightsbridge, London.

29^th June 2014