The Pensive Pilgrim

I have spent the last ten days or so mentally processing the recent statement from the CofE's House of Bishops regarding LGBTQI+ relationships, their apology to the LGBTQI+ community and the draft 'Prayers of Love and Faith'.  Unlike so many other members of the LGBTQI+ community and our ever-growing number of supporters, I was not disappointed by the outcome of the bishops' deliberations. This wasn't because I was delighted with the outcome - far from it; rather it's because I realised that it would be absurd to expect the bishops to approve same-sex marriage when they are still clearly divided on the issue and while there is no possibility of attaining the necessary majorities in all three houses of General Synod for approval of a change in our doctrine of marriage. In any event, having grappled with the CofE's approach to sexuality for over forty years, I have learned never to have high expectations of the CofE in general and the House of Bishops in parti...

This is probably rather a sad admission, but I spent my last waking hour last night watching the 'You Tube' recording of the Archbishops' Press Conference following the recent announcement by the House of Bishops of the publication of Prayers of Blessing for same-sex couples.  As someone who has spent a lifetime being profoundly affected - and often deeply wounded - by the church's response to LGBTQI+ people, and still struggling to process how I really feel about this recent development, I wanted to hear for myself exactly what was said, and how it was said. It wasn't easy viewing. The tension and discomfort of the panel was quite palpable. Perhaps not surprisingly, Dr Eeva John, Enabling Officer of the 'Living in Love and  Faith' project was easily the most robust, confident and coherent speaker, with Sarah Mullaly, bishop of London, the least.  After the inevitable preliminaries - a brief explanation of the role of General Synod by William Nye and a quick...

It's Lambeth Conference Time again - that (normally) ten yearly gathering of the Bishops of the Anglican Communion.  The Conference always hits the news headlines - not merely in the Church press - but also in the secular media. Sadly, this isn't because the world gets really excited about the conference itself - indeed it will almost certainly be dismissed by much of British society as an anachronistic irrelevance  - nor because the bishops say important and useful things about pressing world concerns - although to be fair, they often do - but rather because its organisers have a habit of shooting themselves in the foot and allowing the event to become newsworthy for what many will see simply as its sheer unpleasantness. In 1998, for example,  people watched the TV news in disbelief as it showed footage of a certain African bishop trying to forcibly exorcise the then General Secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement. All of my friends, both churched and unchurc...

The following is a personal reflection on this year's 'On Fire Mission' Conference. The views expressed are entirely my own and  are not intended to represent those of  the Trustees or the Conference Organising Group. I was glad when they said unto me, "We will go to an in-person  gathering of On Fire Mission".  I hope you will excuse my clumsy paraphrasing of the words of the Psalmist, but I was indeed glad - delighted in fact - to hear that after a Covid-enforced  break of two years, the annual On Fire Mission Conference would take place in person in May 2022. Better still (from an admittedly selfish perspective) the conference was to be based in a new location just fifty minutes drive up the road at Yarnfield Training and Conference centre, Staffordshire,  rather than at its former long-term home of High Leigh in Hertfordshire.  In reality, the latter joy was somewhat short-lived (and its selfishness appropriately rewarded) as on the day the co...

 "Are you going to reflect and blog on your recent move to a new parish?" asked a Facebook friend of mine recently, adding somewhat optimistically, "It will be good to read". Well, I have certainly been doing plenty of reflecting over the last few weeks, but I hadn't planned to blog. However, the seed is now sown, so here goes. It is a truth universally acknowledged that clergy, even when not actively considering a move, are strangely fascinated by the 'Job Vacancies' pages of the 'Church Times' (a.k.a. 'Jezebel's Trumpet'). I'm not sure why this should be, but I suspect it is a form of clerical voyeurism. There's something decidedly titillating about reading about other parishes, so much so that this particular voyeur (amongst many others, I'm sure) has been known on occasion to move beyond the advertisement on the printed page to the 'Parish Profile' which is now usually all too readily available on line. Much of...

  We’ve been here before. Do you remember? It was another crowd, in another place.   He fed us. He fed us all. He did it, they say, with just a few loaves and a couple of fish. But he fed us too with God’s Truth and the Mystery of Love, And he did it with just a few words. But what telling words they were with what passion they were uttered and what need we had of them.     We’ve been here before. Do you remember? It was another crowd, in another place.   We stood at the roadside Cheering and waving palms. He entered the city as both servant and king Glorious not in pomp but in humility. And he rode on a donkey, a simple beast of burden, By no means the grandest of creatures; And yet the Lord had need of it. Might he then have need of us?   We’ve been here before. Do you remember? It was another crowd in another place.   Faith gave way to disappointment, and it wasn’t only Pilate who washed ...

When I was a Theological student, I once met a hospital chaplain whom I greeted in the customary way by extending my right hand. He stepped back, his arms firmly behind him and his face contorted with pure horror.  "I never, ever shake hands", he said. "It's a disgusting habit and one of the most efficient ways of spreading infection and disease. You really shouldn't do it." Somewhat bemused, I decided that he was either barking mad or at least living with OCD; but looking back through the lens of Coronavirus and Covid-19 I think he may have had a point.  Like most people, in more normal times I seldom give a second thought to shaking hands, even with multiple people after a church service or funeral. I must confess, however, that as I've clambered  onto a packed rush hour London Tube, standing with sardine-tin intimacy with hundreds of strangers, I've sometimes wondered how many hands have previously held the strap or rail to which I desperately cli...