Friday 5th June

Here are Friday’s morning prayers and Bible meditations. They are designed to be read in 5 to 10 minutes. On Fridays we take a break from the theme of the rest of the week to read and meditate through John’s gospel.

Opening Prayer: Heavenly King, Comforter, the Spirit of Truth,
present in all places and filling all things,
the treasury of blessings and Giver of life:
come and abide in me.

Lord’s Prayer: Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
Your kingdom come,
Your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.
For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever.

Amen

Text: After this, Jesus and his disciples went out into the Judean countryside, where he spent some time with them, and baptized. Now John also was baptizing at Aenon near Salim, because there was plenty of water, and people were coming and being baptized. (This was before John was put in prison.) An argument developed between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew over the matter of ceremonial washing. They came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, that man who was with you on the other side of the Jordan—the one you testified about—look, he is baptizing, and everyone is going to him.”

To this John replied, “A person can receive only what is given them from heaven. You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.’ The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. He must become greater; I must become less.” (John 3:22-30)

Explanation:  We last saw John the Baptist (not the same as the John who wrote the book) when he baptised Jesus at the end of chapter 1, and then began to encourage those who came to him to follow Jesus instead.  Now we find some of John the Baptist’s followers are annoyed that Jesus’s ministry is beginning to surpass John’s in popularity. They seem particularly annoyed because, in their minds, John ‘gave Jesus a start’ by pointing him out to people in the first place. 

I love the humility and grace of John’s response. First he observes that whatever we have – whatever success, talent, popularity – comes from God and not from us. Why, therefore, should his pride be hurt if God is using someone else now? Then he gently rebukes his own followers: John told everyone to go after Jesus, so why are they still following him? Finally he explains that he sees his whole life’s work as being to prepare people for Jesus and bring them to him; now Jesus is here and people are receiving his grace, John’s work can wind down. ‘He must become greater; I must become less.’

Questions: Take a moment and give thanks for all that Jesus has done for you over the last day. Then ask: 1. Do you ever struggle when you see others (particularly other Christians) having more obvious success in their work than you? How might John’s answers help? 2. How do you react to John’s statement that his whole life was about pointing people to Jesus? Is that how you think of your life and work? 3. What might this mean for your life?

Prayer: Father thank you that everything I have comes from you. Grant me peace and diligence in working with what you have given me. Keep me from pride. Help me to rejoice when Jesus is glorified and to point others to him. Amen

Prayer for the Day: Lord, grant me to greet the coming day in peace.
Help me in all things to rely upon Your holy will.
In every hour of the day reveal Your will to me.
Bless my dealings with all who surround me.
Teach me to treat all that come to me throughout the day with peace of soul and with firm conviction that Your will governs all.
In all my deeds and words guide my thoughts and feelings.
In unforeseen events let me not forget that all things are under Your care.
Teach me to act firmly and wisely, without embittering and embarrassing others.
Give me strength to bear the fatigue of the coming day with all that it shall bring.
Direct my will, teach me to pray, pray Yourself in me. Amen.

The Gift of Prophecy

God wants to speak through each of us to show us he loves us, build us up, and challenge us to become like Jesus.

Introduction

Prophecy can be a difficult subject for us to get our head round. I wonder how many of our difficulties come from how we instinctively picture a prophet or someone who prophesies. We can unconsciously think about someone with a booming voice holding forth in King James English about the terrible things that will happen in the future.

I want to suggest that those images are not particularly helpful if we want to understand what the New Testament teaches about prophecy.

Prophecy shouldn’t be something weird or distant. It isn’t reserved for strange outsiders with questionable personal hygiene. Despite my best efforts, it isn’t even necessary to have a beard.

Prophecy is intended by God to be a normal, helpful, and encouraging part of our Christian lives. It is an extremely powerful tool for how we grow as a Christian community in love and holiness and how we reach out in God’s power to others.

Suggested Reading: 1 Corinthians 14:1-5, 20-40

How Do We See God?

When we talk about prophecy, we mean God communicating with people now in a way that has particular relevance at this time. It is God’s communication to us of what we need to know in this moment.

How we feel about that idea will reflect how we see God. If, even unconsciously, we see God as someone who is distant either in space (he lives a long way away) or in time (he worked and spoke a long time ago) then we will struggle with the idea that he speaks now.

That view of God as distant in time and space is very common. It is the ‘Big man on the cloud’ idea. I imagine lots of people hold to it either consciously or unconsciously.

It isn’t, however, the way that Christians understand God. Within Christian thought – in the world of the Bible – God is understood to be present with us, acting and speaking, now.

We’ve thought about this a lot over the last few weeks. God didn’t set the world going and then just leave it to develop and evolve by itself. He is active and working at every moment of creation. In the words of Psalm 104:

All Creatures look to you…When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the ground.^[1]

God is active and engaged with life on the earth as it is now. He sees and works and speaks into your life and into mine. The flowers and foxes and fields and fountains are renewed because God continues to will it.

There is something unrepeatable and unique and authoritative about what God has done in the past.  In this life we will never be able to see what God is like better than looking at Jesus. We will never have any teaching as authoritative as the Bible.

But God is still speaking and applying the truth of Christ and the Scriptures in a way that applies to our lives now.

Prophecy Should Be Desired

When we understand what prophecy is – the God of all time and space speaking to your life and mine, to reassure us, challenge us and guide us now – it becomes obvious why St. Paul says that we should eagerly desire it, be eager to see it, and not despise it.^[2]

This touches on the second reason we find it hard to get our heads around prophecy in today’s world. We can easily imagine that prophecy is essentially a prediction of doom and who wants that?

That isn’t how Paul sees prophecy at all. In 1 Corinthians 14:3-4 he says:

[T]he one who prophesies speaks to people for their strengthening, encouraging and comfort…the one who prophesies edifies the church.

When God speaks to us it is good.

Prophecy is aimed at strengthening, encouraging, and comforting us. Even when we are challenged by God, that challenge is aimed at building us up, not breaking us down.

How encouraging is it to know that God sees your life and knows your circumstances? How helpful and comforting is it to have someone speak to the hurt you have suffered in the past and allow it to be healed, to provide insight into the challenges you are facing in the present, to provide guidance that shows God is holding our futures?

We should eagerly desire to prophesy because prophecy is good and builds us up.

What Does It Look Like?

If prophecy is good and desirable and reflects God’s active interest in our lives, how do we do it? What does it look like?

How We Hear

This is a pressing question. Am I defending hearing voices or encouraging you to do so?

How should we share prophetic words: do we need to work on our beards, or practice a really deep voice, or learn how to use ‘thee’ and ‘thou’ instead of ‘you’?

Thankfully neither hearing things nor growing facial hair is essential to eagerly desiring prophecy.

God speaks to us in a variety of ways. There is an enormous number of ways that God speaks something to us for us to share with someone else.

He might give you an impression of something when you’re praying for someone or talking to them. Or it could be a picture or vision you see with your mind’s eye. Or maybe a recurring thought that you’re not sure where it’s coming from. Or an awareness of something, just feeling like you know something about a situation or a person. It can even be something in the natural world that God uses to speak to you about something.

John Wesley describes the way God’s Spirit speaks to us as ‘an inward impression on the soul.’^[3]

We are all different and God can speak to us and use us to speak to others in different ways.

How We Should Share

When we feel like God wants to say something through us we then need to ask if it is going to be encouraging, strengthening or comforting for the person we are sharing it with.

Sometimes we share stuff during a worship service or in a small group. Often, however, the most helpful times for prophesying and sharing what we feel God is saying is when we are praying with someone or for them.

If something seems critical or a warning then I would always take it to someone else to check it out and then share it in private rather than public.

Finally, we should always remember that this type of prophecy is not infallible. We are limited and broken and make mistakes and so we will inevitably get stuff wrong at times. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13:9, we ‘prophesy in part.’

Whenever someone shares what they think God is saying in a particular moment, we need to test it.[4]In particular we need to test it against what we see taught in the Bible. The Bible is the gold-standard; it is God’s word and it is true. He won’t contradict himself. Anything that is really from God will be consistent with Scripture.

Practical Application

I want to finish this reflection by sharing some practical tips for how to begin to move in the prophetic.

First, this is a supernatural gift of the Spirit. It is something God does, not us. So if you want to be used to share what God is saying to someone, stay close to God. If you have never been filled with the Spirit, then seek it.

Second, ask God to begin to use you to bless others in this way. If we want God to start to use us then we need to ask him.

Third, begin to speak. What is the worst that can happen? If you think God is saying something and it is encouraging, strengthening and comforting for someone then why not share it? Don’t be afraid to look weird – it is more important to build others up than look good.

Fourth, don’t feel the need to over-explain. Just share the one thing that God has put on your heart rather than trying to elaborate or over interpret.

Finally, give the sense of what God is saying rather than describing exactly what happened to you.

God wants to speak through each of us to show us he loves us, build us up, and challenge us to become like Jesus.

[1]Psalm 104:27, 30.

[2]1 Cor. 14:1.1 Cor. 14:39. 1 Thess. 5:20.

[3]‘The Witness of the Spirit I’, in Sermons: An Anthology, ed. Outler, p.149

[4]1 Thessalonians 5:19-21

Warriors: Introducing the Holy Spirit

The Holy Spirit is God with us giving us power to worship, our work and war for the kingdom of God.

Where do you think God is?

It’s the sort of question I am asked by the children I work with. It’s actually a good question and one which gets at the heart of various problems with how we think about God.

Many of us grew up with an idea of God that was a bit like this painting of God the Father by Cima da Conegliano, the Italian Renaissance artist.

There are various problems with this depiction of God, not least that he is portrayed as an old white man. Yet one of the biggest is that he is distant from the world he has created. We can think of God as ‘up there,’ as if he is the same as us but bigger and a long, long way away.

I’m not sure where this idea came from but it does not reflect a Christian understanding of God.

For Christians God is both transcendent – over and in and above all things – and immanent. He is ‘up there’ but he is also ‘down here’. He is the God of eternity, in whom all things exist, yet he is also present in every place and filling everything.

This shouldn’t be a surprise. We believe that Jesus, is God incarnate. In the words of the creed, he is light of true light, true God of God. Yet he is also a man.

God is different from his creation but he is not distant from it.

We know God. We experience him. He actively sustains us and upholds our lives. He makes life itself possible. He is the reason we exist and the means by which we do so. He is the great organising principle, the thing that stops entropy from undoing all creation, the one who stands behind waterfalls and tears.

How can this be? How can God be the one in whom everything exists and yet also here with us now?

Part of how we explain this is the doctrine of the Holy Spirit.

We believe that the Spirit of Jesus moves in the world and that we can encounter him, have relationship with him, be filled with his power, and be used by him. To receive him, to be united to him, is to become truly alive; it is to find purpose and wholeness.

Lots of people intuit that this is the case – that there is something beyond us, beyond the merely material, which is a spiritual aspect of life.

The big question is how we recognise what experiences are from the Holy Spirit. How do we cultivate a relationship with him? What is it he wants to do through us? These are the themes Paul addresses in chapters 12-14 of 1 Corinthians.

Suggested Reading (1 Corinthians 12:1-11)

Spiritual Worship

The Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus and leads people to him.

This is the defining test of whether a spiritual experience is from God or not: does it, directly or indirectly, lead us to Jesus. More than that, does it lead us to worship him with our lips and our lives?

The Holy Spirit is present in every moment of every day, in every molecule of every meter of life, working to bring us back to God through Jesus. He opens our minds and enlivens our mouths. He inspires prayer and praise and draws joy from our hearts.

He is the reason any of us turn to God in the first place. He leads us to Jesus. He is the reason we are able to say – and to mean – that Jesus is Lord.

All true worship comes from the Holy Spirit and without him no true worship is possible. Moreover, if you want to go deeper in worship, to experience more joy and peace; if you want to understand Scripture in a living way and pray from the heart, then you need more of the Holy Spirit in your life.

Spiritual Service

So the Spirit inspires worship. Yet he also inspires and empowers service.

Every true work of the Spirit is directed at building up and strengthening others, usually in the church. His work is other-focused.

Again, this shouldn’t be a surprise. Another name for the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus, the same Jesus who said that he came ‘not to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.’

A Spirit-filled life is one of other-centred, God-empowered, service.

At the centre of all of the Spirit’s work is this turning away from self-interest and seeking to build up others whether through the normal actions of everyday life or more unusual ones like praying for them to be healed or sharing what you think God might be saying to them.

This has implications for us. The power we receive, the privilege we have in knowing and being filled with the Spirit, is not for our own good but the good of others. We sense this should be the case. It is a regular motif in modern myths.

With great power, Uncle Ben tells Peter Parker in Spider-Man, comes great responsibility. The comic book writers are not intending, I imagine, to make a theological point. But they can’t help it. We intuitively know that we are given life, given power by the Spirit of God, to serve others.

God wants to work through you to care for others, to fight for them. God wants to empower you to fight sin so that you might reveal him to others.

Spiritual Warfare

This brings us to the final characteristic of the Spirit’s work.

What is it that he wants to achieve through us? It is the same thing that Jesus came to do. As it says in 1 John 3:8:

The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil’s work.

Christ came to fight for us. He came to undo evil and its consequences and strengthen good.

The Holy Spirit does the same thing in us and through us.

This is what lies behind the list of the Spirit’s activities Paul gives in verses 4-7. The Spirit makes us men and women equipped and given power to resist evil – by choosing well, acting in faith, healing sickness, speaking truth, determining when something is good (and needs to be affirmed) or evil (and needs to be stopped).

This is exactly what Jesus did. He strengthened and encouraged and taught that which was good. He confronted and resisted that which was evil even at the cost of his life. The Spirit wants to do the same thing with our lives.

I am not just talking about what we call ‘supernatural’ things here. God heals through penicillin as much as through prayer. It is the same God who works in all things. Yet it is in those parts of life where God does something unusual that we see him most clearly.

My point is this: we are saved from something but also for something.

Your life has a purpose – to become united with God; to become a whole human being, filled (as you were designed to be) with God’s Spirit, fleeing sin and death, and doing good. The Eastern Church calls this theosis – to become like God and united with him.

It takes faith, it takes discipline, but more than anything else it requires that our lives be full of the Holy Spirit.

Application

What does this mean for us?

Let me give three practical applications.

First, if any of us are involved in spiritual activity that doesn’t, ultimately, lead to the worship and glory of God through Jesus then we need to stop it. If it doesn’t end up at Christ then it is not God’s Spirit who is leading it. Experimenting with other forms of spirituality is not harmless – it can be spiritually and personally destructive.

Second, we need to be filled with the Holy Spirit; to have him overwhelm and flood our lives.
The path to being filled is easy and yet hard. In Scripture there are three stages:

• Is there anything between you and God that you need to stop and say sorry for? If so, do it.
• Believe that God loves you and that he wants to be with you, to transform you, to fill you and then to empower you to do his work. Ask him to fill you with his Spirit – to come into every part of your life and give it meaning and purpose.
• This means faith – it is accepting that when we have asked God to do what he has promised, he does it. If you have repented and believed that he wants to give you the Spirit then accept it and act in faith.
  It can help to pray with someone.

Third, go and do the Spirit’s work and continue being filled. Begin the discipline of asking God what he wants in each conversation and action. Then resolve to do what you sense him telling you.

The Holy Spirit is God with us giving us power to worship, our work and war for the kingdom of God.

Our Vision for the Year Ahead

Introduction

When we return from the summer I like to look back on how God has led us over the past year and give a sense of what I feel God’s priorities are for us in the year ahead.

This is normally referred to as something like ‘setting out a vision.’ I feel a bit unsure about that language. The church has had basically the same mission and vision throughout the last two thousand years and all over the world. We are always about worshipping God in Spirit and in truth, spreading the good news of Jesus Christ, and caring for the poor. There isn’t much new about that and, God willing, there never will be.

With that said, however, it is helpful to consider what it looks like to take part in that mission in our particular place and time. It is also helpful to step back and look at what we felt God calling us to prioritise last year so that we can see how we’ve done and how faithful he has been.

The Last Year

At HBC last year we felt God calling us to pursue three values in particular. We set out to be a church which is:

• missionally active, bringing people to meet Jesus Christ;
• pastorally close, caring for one another; and
• theologically deep, exploring the deep things of God.

As I look back on the last year I see God’s blessing on us as we have grown in each of these areas.

We have shared the good news of Jesus Christ in through our words and actions:

• The church has run two Alpha courses and seen people both returning to Christ and encountering him for the first time.
• We have had people coming to our Sunday services and finding peace and hope in the good news of Christ.
• We have cared for the poor by collecting and distributing toys, shoes, winter clothing, money, and food to those who need it.

Similarly, every week I hear stories of how members of this church care for one another:

• Friends taking each other to the hospital;
• Young people visiting and praying with those who can’t get out.
• People providing counselling and coffee for those in distress.
• Those with money sharing their finances with those who are struggling.

Everywhere I look the members of this church are demonstrating the love of Christ to one another.

Finally I see people’s understanding and appreciation of God and his calling on our lives deepening and growing.

• The questions I am asked have become more penetrating.
• The way people talk and which I overhear has become richer and deeper.
• I have seen individuals lives transformed through their understanding of grace and holiness.

Through it all God has blessed us financially and in terms of numbers. Year on year we are growing and this church is becoming once again a sustainable, healthy and vibrant community.

All of this is the grace of God. We have worked hard and are entitled to be happy and feel satisfied yet we know that everything we do is done by, through and for the grace of God. To paraphrase St Paul:

By the grace of God we are what we are, and his grace to us was not without effect. No, we worked hard–yet not we, but the grace of God that was with us.[1]

God has done great things yet we do not want to be satisfied with what God has done. We want to be a part of what God is doing and will do.

The Year Ahead

There are two texts that I want to consider as we think about what God is leading us into in the year ahead. The first is from Philippians 3:7-11.

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.[2]

Every time I pray about Christ’s priorities for this church in the year ahead this is what I come back to.

We want to know Christ more deeply, becoming ever more truly his followers.

I believe God wants us to keep on being missionally active, pastorally close and theologically deep. But through all of those things our aim is to become an ever more Christ Centred Community.

I’m going to explain what I mean by this. Then next week I’m going to explore some ways that we can make it a reality for us.

Becoming an increasingly Christ Centred Community means:

• Encountering the Presence of Christ.
• Becoming the Presence of Christ.
• Presenting the Presence of Christ.

Encountering the Presence of Christ

We are nothing unless we are people who have and are encountering Christ.

Everything flows from meeting the risen Son of God.

• It is when we encounter Christ that we meet God and receive his grace.
• It is the presence of Christ that we find forgiveness for our sin and freedom from its power.
• The presence of Christ brings hope for those who are despairing and peace for those in turmoil.
• It is when we have met with Christ that our mission and work becomes effective.

It was said of the first Christian leaders that people could recognise that they had been with Jesus. He is contagious.

To put it another way, they were a community which knew what it is to be saved by the grace of God in Jesus.

This isn’t something that happens just once. Salvation has to have a beginning in the moment when we meet Jesus and decide to trust him with our lives. Yet it continues past that moment.

I have been saved yet I am still being saved as I meet Jesus:

• In worship.
• In scripture.
• In bringing our sins to Christ and finding forgiveness.
• In learning to receive peace in the midst of trials.
• In coming to the Son of God and asking him for mercy and a new heart.

My desire is that we pursue the presence of Christ so that he is encountered in our worship, in our small groups and in our separate lives.

Becoming the Presence of Christ

This brings us to the second text that I believe God is putting in front of us this year.

His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.[3]

When we truly encounter Christ we are changed by him.

This is what I long for in my life: to be like Jesus.

I want God to remove the bad things in my life and to embrace the good. I want to flee from sin and pursue holiness and through that process come to share in God’s nature.

This is also what I believe God wants for us.

We want to be a community not only of forgiveness but also of transformation. To use theological language, we want to know not only God’s justifying grace – the grace that makes us right with him – but sanctifying grace – the grace that makes us like Jesus.

This is what we are created for – to be like Jesus and to enjoy being with Jesus. It is the destination our hearts yearn towards, to be free from sin and full of holy love, and it flows out of our encounter with Christ as we cooperate with God’s Spirit.

Presenting the Presence of Christ

Finally, I believe we’re called to present the presence of Christ to others.

To put it another way, I want us to become a community of love, sharing Christ with others.

A part of this is what we do together – the events the church puts on to demonstrate God’s love to those around us.

But it goes beyond what the church puts on to the way that we are in our separate lives. It is caring for our physical neighbours, looking out for the child at school who is left out, loving our family, inviting our friends to the Parenting Course or to Alpha or to Church, and resolving to demonstrate God’s unearned love in acts of kindness and grace to those who have no reason or right to expect them.

Application

We’re going to think about how we can work this out in my next post.

For now, however, let me offer three suggestions.

• One of the best ways to encounter Christ is to read the Bible regularly. There is no hard and fast way to do this. If you have never done it before, why not pick a gospel and read a chapter a day? It only takes about 5 minutes. Or if you have a smart phone you can try the Bible in One Year app which is excellent and sends a reading and a short reflection straight to you every day.
• The best way to be transformed to be like Jesus is to join a Life Group. Our Life Groups are on Sunday night and Tuesday afternoon. We meet together to encourage one another, share our trials and triumphs and pray for each other.
• The easiest way to present Christ to someone else is to begin to pray for them and keep your eyes open. If you want an easy way to invite someone to church try the diary or the Parenting Course.

[1] Paraphrasing 1 Corinthians 15:10.

[2] Philippians 3:7-11

[3] 1 Peter 2:3-4

Back in Black

Well, we’re doin’ mighty fine, I do suppose,
In our streak of lightnin’ cars and fancy clothes,
But just so we’re reminded of the ones who are held back,
Up front there ought ‘a be a Man In Black.[1]

In my last post I began to examine some of the arguments for ordained Christian ministers dressing distinctively, using this article by Daniel Newman as a starting point. If you haven’t read my original post or Daniel’s, you might want to check one of them out as the rest of this might not make much sense.

Before we begin, in the interests of full disclosure I should say that as I write this I’m not dressed in black. In fact I’m not wearing any form of distinctively clerical clothing, preferring a shirt and tie. That might seem surprising given the arguments I made previously in favour of clerical collars and the like. In this post I am going to try and address some of the reasons why I have come to the decision that I have.

Fashion Changes

As a preliminary point we should note one thing. There is no such thing as a stable form of clerical dress. It has always varied from time to time, and region to region. The dog-collar is a relatively recent (and Western) interpretation of how priests should present themselves in public, while the precise formulation of the robes worn by ministers in church has also changed with (and in response to) tradition and fashion. The point is that there is no right and wrong description of exactly what we should wear, save for where it is prescribed by the relevant church authorities. With that said, there are good and bad reasons for our choices.

As we address questions of form and symbol within the church, I think it is helpful to have three questions in mind:

• What is consistent with the principles of worship laid down for us by Scripture and Tradition?
• What will best enable the worshipping community for whom we are responsible to worship, and come to participate in the life of, God?
• What will enable those outside our worshipping community to encounter God?

Direction of Contextualisation

Contextualisation has been something of a buzzword in theological circles for many years. For the uninitiated (count yourselves among the blessed) it is a (relatively) new word for a very old idea – when you talk to, and meet with, people you should try and do it in a way that they understand. As St Paul puts it, ‘I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.’[2]

At first glance this sounds uncontroversial. Yet as soon as you start to ask specific questions it becomes much harder. To take an ancient example, the Eastern wing of the church traditionally translated its liturgy into the vernacular of the people among whom it was ministering, even when that meant basically inventing a written language to make that possible.[3] The argument was that it should be accessible to the people. By contrast, the Western church preserved the Mass in Latin. The argument was that to translate it necessarily lost some of the meaning. Neither argument is obviously wrong, although we might prefer one emphasis over the other.

What is perhaps less well thought through is the direction of our contextualisation. In most of the conversations in which I have been involved on this subject it is assumed that we should contextualise to the society within which our worshipping community is located. I believe that this is only partly true.

As ministers, theologians and liturgists we have three persons or groups in mind as we pastor. First, and most importantly, we serve God. Everything we do should be for his praise, for his pleasure and in his power. Our second concern is our flock – the people over whose souls we have care. Among people they should be our priority for they are Christ’s bride and the ones for whom we are accountable. Third, we help to equip and lead churches that are engaged (or should be engaged) in evangelism, focussing on the world around us. When we address questions such as clothing, symbols, architecture, and so on each of these audiences (for want of a better word) should be considered and considered in a particular order.

God: Our First Priority

First, God. At its most basic level what we do should be determined by what God says and who he is. We discern these things first through Scripture, the authoritative and true word of God and absolutely reliable record of apostolic teaching and practice. Second, through the way the Spirit has led the church in its Tradition and practice throughout history. I differ on this from some (perhaps many) of my Baptist brothers but I believe that where the church has consistently and universally affirmed something we are bound by it. Obviously this begs some questions but for the most part it is actually very stable.

Let us apply this question to the matter at hand:

• The Scripture shows that God desired that elders be appointed in the churches through the laying on of hands.[4]
• Scripture does not prescribe any particular dress for those leaders, although it is inconceivable that they would not be expected to follow the same instructions given to their flock, for example to dress ‘modestly, with decency and propriety.’[5]
• Tradition shows that at various times the clothing prescribed for clergy changed so as to reflect these values in the culture then prevailing but also to point the worshipping community beyond themselves to God.[6]

Internal Contextualisation

This is a point that is not as well covered in contemporary discussions. As leaders our first human-facing priority is to lead the people in worship through the word and sacraments. Where we are dealing with a question such as this, where there is no clear ‘right’ answer, we must ask what will enable us to minister within our own church community. As we consider these questions we should bear in mind that what we do, and how we appear, is often more formative of what those in our congregations believe and how they behave than what we say.

If you are from a High Church background in which full clerical dress is an expected part of the liturgical life of the church it is important not to depart too radically or quickly from that even if you believe it will be evangelistically effective. Similarly, in my own context where there has never been a pastor of my church who wore any form of clerical dress it is important that I do not suddenly begin wearing a collar or cassock. To do so would be to cause my flock to stumble and thus betray my first priority and responsibility as their pastor. This does not mean that I should not challenge them by considering the evangelistic needs of our broader community. But it does mean that they come first.

I am loathe to apply this directly to the intra-Anglican position that Daniel discussed since I have very little feel for the precise dynamics involved. Nevertheless I would urge caution. I have explained previously why I believe the attempt to abolish the distinction between clergy and laity that often underpins this discussion is a mistake. Reversing that process too quickly, however, is also a mistake and will likely cause unnecessary hurt and pain to some of those under our care. Evolution is better than revolution.

External Contextualisation

This is the last thing we need to consider (although it often seems to jump to the front). I felt that Daniel’s analysis here was good but needed qualification. It is true that every type of clothing communicates a message, opening some doors and closing others. Nevertheless not every piece of clothing communicates the same message. It depends on context what type of dress (symbol, building etc) best embodies the message that we desire to communicate.

In the short time I have been ministering in a relatively prosperous Surrey village, I have come across several people who have been hurt by those in church in the past. I can quite imagine a situation in which it was not helpful to wear a traditional dog-collar because it recalled too many negative connotations for those outside the church.

By contrast I can equally cite examples of where it would have been easier for me to minister had I been wearing a collar and perhaps it would even have brought an opportunity for restoration and forgiveness for those who have carried anger and pain for years.

With all of that said, I wonder whether that is really that significant an issue for most people most of the time. Interestingly I know people whose lives have been marred (in their own minds) by contact with relatively informal churches as well as very formal ones. If we are sharing our lives with people, if our churches are open, accessible and competently organised, if we perform the liturgy (in whatever form) well then I suspect that they will not be put off if we dress differently from them.[7] The argument from external contextualisation, therefore, is real but, I suspect, not as strong as is often made out for those ministering in Britain.

Conclusions

Over my last two posts I have been arguing for the distinction between the clergy and laity to be reflected in the symbols and clothing of ordained ministers in whatever tradition they presently work. I have conceded that this does not necessarily mean we have to wear traditional dog-collars. But we should try to develop something that is acceptable within our worshipping contexts. Such an option should be modest (ie no actual mankinis), humble (ie not super-flashy suits or expensive jewellery), decent (back to the mankinis), and proper (I think this means smart – in whatever way is entailed in context). Ultimately it should also point people beyond this world to the One we worship (ie not simply dressing the same as everyone else). Following these principles should allow us to evolve our practice in a way that cares for those in our charge while also moving towards a position that we feel is more theologically acceptable.

[1] Johnny Cash, Man in Black

[2] 1 Corinthians 9:22

[3] See, for example, the example of Saints Cyril and Methodius 

[4] See, for example, 1 Timothy and Titus.

[5] 1 Timothy 2:9.

[6] Oden, Pastoral Theology, p.

[7] Ian Paul’s description of a packed liberal High Anglican service is worth pondering here.

Ministry in Mankinis

Fashion, turn to the left
Fashion, turn to the right
Oo, fashion[1]

I’ve been taking a few weeks off to go to a theological conference and rest up. It’s been a tough time, particularly following the martyrdom of Father Jacques Hamel in France. I had intended to begin blogging through St John Cassian’s Conference 10 on prayer.  This morning, however, I read a really interesting post by Daniel Newman, shared with me by an Anglican friend, about clerical dress and I wanted to develop his thoughts over a couple of days.

Before I begin, let me make one concession: to many the subject of clerical clothing could not seem more esoteric, irrelevant or plain boring. If that is you, let me assure you that you are not alone. I also think you are wrong. The way we discuss the clothing that an ordained person (by whatever title we use) wears often reveals the assumptions and theology that underpin our doctrine of ordination, ministry, and even the church. It may seem trivial, therefore, but it is actually a useful proxy for examining our instinctive responses to some bigger questions.

With that said, let’s look at Daniel’s article. (If you’re reading this, I hope you don’t mind me calling you Daniel – you seem very friendly so I thought it was OK).

Thoughts for the ‘Mankini wing of the church’[2]

Daniel writes to explain ‘why even low church evangelicals should not be too hasty to scrap clerical dress.’ First it is argued that we should not accept standard objections to distinctive clothing for the clergy:

• It is a mistake to imagine that clerical clothing acts as a cultural barrier to sharing the gospel or representing Christ in our communities since all forms of clothing erect barriers and open opportunities.
  ‘Clothes act as tribal markers.
  A minister’s choice of clothes can give people the message that the gospel is not for them or hinder them from approaching him for pastoral care or with questions about God because they suspect the motives of someone dressed like a second-hand car salesman, support a rival sports team, have no affinity for rugby players, or feel alienated from someone of a different class or subculture.’
  Further, ‘casual attire gives the impression, even unconsciously, that we can simply breeze into God’s presence, rather than the fact that God is holy and we can only stand before him because of Christ’s death.’
• While protestants generally affirm the ‘priesthood of all believers’, ‘we do not believe in the presbyterate of all believers… presbyters [ministers, elders, or priests depending on your wing of the church] do not take this office upon themselves but are ordained for the local churches by men with authority.’
  Thus, it is suggested, the implicit argument that there is no distinction between lay and ordained members of the church is wrong and provides no justification for abolishing the visible signs of ordained ministry.

Daniel then uses this point to advance a positive argument for clerical clothing.

• Presbyters (to use Daniel’s terminology) hold an office which is conferred by the church, to perform duties which are the property of the church. Moreover, dressing officeholders in a distinctive way is a proper and helpful signifier and representation of this reality.
  ‘Robes at the time of divine service and a collar as part of street dress signify to the man wearing them, the congregation, and onlookers that he is not acting in a private capacity, but as someone who is exercising an office entrusted to him by the church – as one who has been lawfully called and sent…
  To slightly modify something I once heard, when I wear my surplice, I am 2000 years old.’
• Finally, Daniel has found that ‘wearing a clerical collar has given me the opportunity to answer questions about the faith, show practical help to someone in need, counsel someone who had separated from his wife, and share the gospel.’

Over the next couple of days I want to offer some reflections on these arguments from the position of a free-church pastor operating in a tradition in which distinctive clerical clothing is almost unheard of (one of my tutors once reacted in something approaching disbelief when it was suggested that a student might wear a collar).

Where Daniel is Right

It seems to me that Daniel’s basic theological arguments are right. His point that while we believe in the priesthood of all believers we do not believe in the eldership of all believers echoes a well-established argument from as far abroad as Ware’s The Orthodox Church. The contrary argument is essentially one against ordination altogether, a suggestion that appears either explicitly or implicitly with some regularity in low-church circles. Such an argument seems to me to have little or no foundation in Scripture or the broader tradition of the church.

Moreover, Daniel is right to identify the (positive) depersonalising effect of a uniform. In our previous careers my wife and I were barristers. As a criminal barrister my wife regularly wore a wig and gown in court (together with a dark suit). She was dressed in more or less the same way as the rest of the barristers whatever their age, gender, race or background. She was an officer of the court. I cannot overstate how important that uniform was at times – a 23 year old, beautiful, blond woman descending to the cells to deal with those (usually men) accused of sometimes terrible things carried the weight of the institution of the court behind her. She was not a lovely young girl to be dismissed or patronised; she was their brief, to be respected and listened to.

A real weakness of low, free and Charismatic church life is that it has too often lost that sense that its ordained leaders’ authority comes not from how well, or accessibly, they present but from the Word preached; not from their personal charisma but from God’s appointing through His church. This trend is exacerbated by the absence of a uniform in which all ministers are equal and which marks the source of their authority as God, working through the church.

Missional Church or Embarrassed Brother?

In addition to the points made by Daniel, I find myself asking whether my own tradition’s rejection of the visible Christian symbols and uniforms is really the result of legitimate theological and missional concerns or embarrassment with the historic church and traditional Christianity.

In the evangelical wing of the church there has been an increasing tendency to adopt the forms and styles of the culture around us. I have embraced this trend myself – dressing in a casual shirt, or even t-shirts, using contemporary music in worship, eschewing ‘religious’ titles and so on. This has historically been justified on the basis both that it makes us more accessible to the culture around us and that it eschews a theological distinction between minister and congregation.

Nevertheless there is a real and tangible cost to blending in. We are in the middle of an existential battle on two fronts. At home Christianity is increasingly unwelcome in public discourse and life. The stories and symbols of the ancient faith that once silently spoke of God to all are gradually disappearing from the public sphere. At the same time we are under a brutal and deadly assault from those whose own religious commitment entails the destruction or subjugation of ours. None of this is new historically,[3] but it is new in the West. When we make our churches look like any other building, when our pastors and priests look like anyone else, we cooperate with both of these forces: we are removing the visual and symbolic reminders that there is a Christians church and at her head there is a Christ who calls them to repentance and acceptance.

Moreover, as I have searched in my own heart at least, I have often detected a desire to distance myself and my ecclesial tribe from the historic Christian church – to think and project the message: ‘look at us, we are not irrelevant, or stuffy, or boring, or traditional like them; we are just like you.’ Such an impulse is the aversion a ‘cool’ sibling feels around his ‘uncool’ older brother or perhaps a teenage son’s embarrassment at his mother. Yet it seems peculiarly unjustifiable when that older brother is attacked for being part of the family. For myself I wonder if it has begun to take on overtones of betrayal and cowardice as well as pride and disrespect. I want to acknowledge that it is an act of courage to be publicly identifiable as a Christian minister and our High Church brothers should not be forced to stand alone in the face of such hostility.

This is not necessarily to argue for the return of a dog-collar to low-church circles. There may well be powerful theological and practical objections, some of which we will consider later in the week. Nevertheless we should find a way of embracing Christian symbols particularly in the public dress of our leaders and representatives.

[1] David Bowie, Fashion

[2] The reference to mankinis stems from an comment by Giles Fraser, subsequently cited in passing by Charlie Skrine of St Helen’s, Bishopsgate.

[3] Read Ware’s The Orthodox Church for a glimpse into the suffering of our Eastern brothers and sisters under Islamic theocracy and communism.