The Pensive Pilgrim

"A Charismatic and a Contemplative were walking down the road...……" So how was I now to pray? I had been profoundly influenced in my late teenage years by a group of Evangelical Charismatics. From them I had learnt the art of relaxed, conversational, extemporary prayer, and having been 'baptised in the Holy Spirit' I also sometimes prayed in tongues. But this had now all ended. I had 'walked away' from this style of Christianity - and thus from this approach to prayer - having been disturbed by what I saw as its dangerous excesses, including a rather glib and irresponsible - even abusive - approach to healing, an obsessive and disabling interest in evil and 'spiritual warfare' and a very intolerant fundamentalist theology. In hindsight I realise that these bad experiences (which I know are far from unique) stemmed from poor and misguided leadership in the particular groups with which I was involved, but I guess the instinctive auto-response of ...

This week, the Revd Rico Tice - a Minister for evangelism at All Souls Church, Langham Place, London - resigned his position on the Archbishop of Canterbury's Taskforce for Evangelism. He did so because he objects to the views of another member of that group - The Rt Revd Paul Bayes, Bishop of Liverpool - who is supportive of LGBT+ Christians  and who has expressed - albeit rather cautiously - support for equal marriage. Tice claims that he and Bishop Bayes have different religions. This is quite different from suggesting that they have a contrasting understanding of the same religion, and he is quite right. Bishop Bayes is a Christian who appears to live by the principles taught and demonstrated by Jesus in the Gospels. Jesus spent a great deal of his time reaching out to, and mixing with, those whom the 'respectable' religious leaders of his time (the Scribes and Pharisees) saw as beyond the pale. The latter were scandalise...

Like most people, I dislike labels. Labels - certainly those that are attached to people - are often dangerous because they objectify those to whom they are attached; they are also often inadequate and misleading because their brevity plays to our soundbite culture and fails to recognise the nuances of individuality.  It's not surprising, therefore, that many younger people are now resisting simplistic labelling in terms of their gender or sexual identity. On the other hand, in certain situations, labels can be helpful pointers. This has certainly been true, I think, in the Church of England where, traditionally, labels such as 'Anglo-Catholic', 'Evangelical', 'Charismatic' and 'Liberal' have been effective pointers to the style of worship and the brand of theology to which either an individual or a congregation subscribes.  But the concept of  'Churchmanship' (the collective term used to describe these labels) is, like many of its secula...

"Am I cheating?" I asked myself. I don't think anyone - even amongst our congregation - would dispute the fact that our church was in need of renewal. The congregation was small, predominantly elderly, tired and disillusioned. Worship - despite having all the outward trappings of Catholicism - felt at best very routine and at worst positively dreary, with minimal congregational participation or engagement.  There was little energy for - still less interest in - any kind of mission or evangelism. Some key roles in the parish - Churchwarden, Treasurer and PCC Secretary - had been vacant for some time. Having lived off reserves and resisted all efforts  at funding campaigns,  the parish finances were becoming dire. Whilst new people occasionally ventured into the church, they seldom stayed for long. It was a bleak and depressing picture. Had I not been literally swept along by the Holy Spirit into a personal experience of renewal, I doubt I would have stuck around for lo...

"It's one of those churches where it's a case of 'hands down for coffee'."  It's an old joke - which you've probably heard many times before - aimed, of course at Charismatic churches where worshippers are known for waving their arms in the air during the singing of various worship songs.  Amongst those who regularly criticise or mock this sort of thing are many Anglo-Catholics, who see the raising of congregational hands as being merely a mechanical response. They also often suggest that people are only doing it to conform - or even to show off or 'outdo' one another. As one priest once said to me rather uncharitably, "They're like puppets on the end of a string." The irony in all this, of course, is that exactly the same could be said of faithful Catholic worshippers who cross themselves, bow and genuflect at all the 'right' places at Mass. Indeed, these traditional  gestures are far more 'mechanical' and les...