I have been thinking about posting a blog since Friday, but I haven’t. I’ve started to draft blogs but given up, feeling desolate, overwhelmed by the state of Trump’s USA and the Church of England’s agenda for General Synod.
There are so many unresolved, sometimes long running, issues that will come before Synod. Will any of them be resolved or will the conflict of interests between those wanting radical change and those wanting to maintain their version of ‘Biblical, traditional, orthodox Christianity’ cancel each other out by calling for votes by Houses – a perfectly legitimate way of ensuring that at least more bad, unhealthy, hostile things won’t be passed.
I’ve finally been motivated to write this blog after reading Simon Dawson’s comment posted on Thinking Anglicans on Sunday.
“Campaigners are often asked “Why do you need to be so noisy, and forceful, and argumentative. Why can’t we sit down quietly and dispassionately to discuss these things? Surely we can negotiate a way forward?” But these campaigners have found out through hard experience that requests for a polite conversation get ignored, and the only way they can be heard is to speak out their truth through the media. Eventually, reasoned cooperation and conversation must happen between the campaigners and those in power. But that can only happen when those in power are really able to listen to what is being said. In the church we are beginning to get there, but not yet. Perhaps in about a year we might see meaningful change. Until then I would recommend that the campaigners still keep speaking out their truth.”
I really wanted to write a positive, hopeful, creative blog to counter the depressive effect world news and Church news has on me at the moment, but I gave up every time by the seeming futility of any attempt to argue for change and transformation. I know that attention this week will be almost entirely focused on what is happening in Synod.
At the same time, I have been coming across new writers and bloggers and wisdom people who are in amazing, evolving spiritual processes themselves. This is my dilemma. ALL the creative, deeply spiritual, contemplative people I come across are either gradually discovering how bad for them conservative charismatic evangelical Christianity has been or discovered that truth some time ago and are writing with great freedom about the transformation of their ideas about God and the Bible and traditional teaching has had on them.
I will write a blog about what I’m coming across once Synod is well and truly over. I hope Synod finds the courage and confidence to vote for truly transformational outcomes this week. I treasure the friendships that I have as a result of my campaigning work and my involvement with the Living in Love and Faith process and, at a distance, engagement with Synod.
Christianity is in a very bad place. The Church of England is in a very unhealthy place. People are keen to tell me that their patch of the CofE, their parish and church, are doing okay. I understand this is their experience, but I don’t see it or feel it. I know how much I need a healthy spiritual practice and how essential my healthy friends are, those who are unfazed by the fact that I don’t “go” to Church but I still involve myself every day in processing my ideas and feelings about the Church and my spiritual life.
Encouraged by Simon I will continue to keep speaking out my truth. I think the treatment of LGBTQIA people, women, people of colour, people living with disabilities, and clergy and lay people and bishops and Archbishops struggling within an incredibly unhealthy, dysfunctional system, is scandalously inadequate and abusive. But the bishops and remaining Archbishop are responsible and culpable, most of them, for the mess the Church is in and for still not understanding the difference between healthy and unhealthy Christianity.
A Jesus Christ centred church, simpler, humbler, bolder – yeah, go for it, Stephen Cotterell. The Jesus Christ centred church that is simpler, humbler, bolder, isn’t remotely visible on the horizon yet. You and your comrades in the House of Bishops are lost in an almost impenetrable maze of scriptural authority, archaic traditions and invalid reasons that you are showing no signs of the vision and courage necessary to develop the church of your dreams.