In this book Paul
Bradbury uses Israel’s experiences of “exile”, and particularly
what worship meant and looked like during exile, as a context to
explore contemporary “pioneering” ministry.
Reading this in the
early days of the COVID-19 lockdown – where Church Communities and
Church Leaders are wrestling with what they should be doing, how they
should be doing it, when the Church building is closed and physical
gathering together prohibited.
It seems the
Archbishops and Bishops are keen to outdo the Government guidance on
restrictions, and this dislocation from the Church building shines a
light on the relationship – is it an idolatrous worship of the
building, or is it about a connection to the cloud of witnesses, our
prayer being built up by being offered in a place were generations of
prayer have been offered?
How much of the
worship streamed online has been a comfort to the clergy, an
opportunity for them to continue to perform (even if no one is
watching) – how much has it been meeting the spiritual needs of the
congregation? What is the Anglican theological response to the
benefits of watching communion online (Thomas Crammer et al sadly
overlooked this issue so we find no simple answers in the 39
Articles).
When we re-open our
buildings will the people return? I suspect that some will have
realised their live goes on without going to Church and will not
return, but I hope that there will be others that have been touched
during this time who will, physically, seek out the Church for the
first time – Dear God please let us offer them an effective welcome
when they do...
Two quotes from the
book that stuck out for me…
After recounting the
shock of a congregation that someone had not known that the man on
the cross around her neck was Jesus – Bradbury writes “But
perhaps the real horror is that so many people find that story
surprising. Much of the church is so protected from the reality of
our own exile that this is in effect its own form of unconscious
denial.” I think I encounter this a lot, people within the Church
that don’t get that most people are not put off by the way the
Church is - they are simply unaware of its existence (they might
still be put off if they knew, but that is another story). We have a
blank canvass with which to paint a better reflection of the Kingdom
of Heaven.
“The humble,
unnervingly simple practice of silence before God is an act of faith
in the truth that we are not indispensable and only the Spirit is.”
In the face of the current situation words are hard to find, silence
might be better. My parents reflected on the experience of an online
Julian Group – spending half an hour online with others essentially
in silence – a silence held collectively perhaps but was it worth
it. A lot of the worship shared online seems to have been full of
words and perhaps touched by the need to maintain the indispensable
[sic] performance of the clergy.
I know I am probably
judging a little harshly the efforts of people to do their best in
unknown and challenging times – I have all the faults of an
armchair critic – and I ask for forgiveness for that.
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