Methodist and Anglican unity - Time for a gamble?

Well certainly the president of the Methodist Conference David Gamble has set the cat among the pigeons with his assertion at the C of E Synod that

We are prepared to go out of existence not because we are declining or failing in mission, but for the sake of mission.
In other words, we are prepared to be changed and even to cease having a separate existence as a Church if that will serve the needs of the Kingdom.

Not surprisingly the Methodist blogosphere is full of comment on the matter. And yet I think organic union remains far away. And rightly so!

There are a number of issues that would need to be fully and properly addressed before such could happen. These include on the part of Methodists such issues as the nature of episcopacy, whether women could be considered equally for all posts in the united church without opt out provisions which serve to undermine, the matter of establishment, the use of non alcoholic communion wine and these are only starters.

These are matters which will not just go away and indeed they should not be fudged.
Also the C of E is not the only ecumenical partner. Many Methodists would feel more comfortable with free churches than with the C of E. A real possibility exists of losing Methodists to these churches. Certainly any union that does not take seriously the free church mentality of many Methodists and all that goes with it, is seriously flawed.

I have little doubt that to some degree this process is driven by the realities of decline. Figures for Methodism are quite frankly alarming. Yet this points us to a problem. When a church talks of dying, such is likely to be its outcome. It is a sort of self fulfilling prophecy. And yet we can hardly close our eyes to painful realities.

I am not sure that ecumenism can work coming from the top. I think David Gamble would probably share that view. He is in many ways flying a kite to see how people will respond albeit flying the kite with genuine conviction. But let us not forget that the most successful ecumenical moves take place in the local situation. And certainly a move to help this would be accepting the sacramental ministry of each other's clergy without reservation. And then I have no doubt that especially in rural situations many a village would benefit from churches coming together rather than playing a discreditable game of last man standing.

So how do I view David Gamble's speech. Well I do not see Methodism as necessarily being for all time. After all John Wesley conceded that its time might come to an end. And certainly as David Gamble recognises the mission of God and the needs of the Kingdom of God are more important than Methodism much as many of us love Methodism. Yet I cannot get away from a feeling that a national unification with the C of E is probably not at present the means to address this. In a real way I feel I have enough problems without taking on the problems of Anglicanism as well. At the end of a wek in the C of E Synod has for me been rather dispiriting, I see that they are as far as we are from being the means through which the mission of God is best adavanced.

I pride our relationship with the C of E as I do that with other partners. I acknowledge that there may come a time for Methodism to die. But when it happens it should be not an absorption but a new beginning. That is a worthwhile dream. Sadly its being brought to reality with the development of a vibrant diverse inclusive church for England is still some way in the distance. We can labour for that day but until then we must work in broad partnerships continuing God's mission yet not losing sight of a prize that may in time be won.

Mandela free 20 years ago - cause to rejoice!

20 years ago today Nelson Mandela was released. It was a day full of great hope. Since that day Mandela was shown himself to be a unique individual who has worked for reconciliation rather than revenge. Of course much remains to be achieved in South Africa with poverty especially in the black community being at an unnacceptable level. But today let's celebrate one of the giants of the past century who is an inspiration in an often dark world.

Emily Hobhouse and the limitations of patriotism

My roots are in Cornwall. Other than time spent as a student I lived in Cornwall for the first 37 year of my life and expected to live my whole life there. But that's another story for another day.

I take some interest in Cornish history and in particular the ways in which Cornish people have impacted on the world stage. But sometimes I have to learn. A case in point was this evening when I found myself watching an account of the life of Emily Hobhouse.

Emily was the daughter of an Anglican rector from near Liskeard, Emily got involved in south Africa initially through welfare work among the many Cornish mining families who had moved to South Africa as a result of the difficulties in the Cornish mining industry. This is somewhat personal to me as my paternal grandfather was such a miner as was his brother who we believe to have died in a mining accident there.

However, what Emily is best remembered for is her activities during the 2nd Boer War. There can be no doubt that British behaviour at this time is an absolute disgrace. Before Hitler could think of such a thing, the model for concentration camps was provided by the British. Today no sensitive person could offer any defence for the human rights abuses of that time. But it took courage to expose the fact that Britian was behaving in a most demonic fashion. And Hobhouse had that courage. Nringing aid to the stricken she monitored the sick acts of the Empire in great detail, commenting;


I call this camp system a wholesale cruelty… To keep these Camps going is murder to the children.


Emily Hobhouse was successful in changing events but in so doing she faced unfair criticism by the Government of Britain and much of the press. Rather being treated as a heroine she was regarded by many as a traitor.

Later she opposed the cull of youth that was the First World War. She organised the Open Christmas Letter to the women of Germany and austria in 1915. With words that British Cabinet ministers would do well to hear today if they have any conscience left, she wrote;


Is it not our mission to preserve life? Do not humanity and common sense alike prompt us to join hands with the women of neutral countries, and urge our rulers to stay further bloodshed? ...
Even through the clash of arms, we treasure our poet's vision, and already seem to hear

"A hundred nations swear that there shall be
Pity and Peace and Love among the good and free."

May Christmas hasten that day.


Few attended Emily Hobhouse's funeral in London following her death in 1926 although her ashes were buried in South Africa with great solemnity. None of the later wrongs in that land can diminish a sense that they whose sufferings she had addressed appreciated this truly great woman whilst her own people in Britain including Cornwall saw her all too often in terms of being a traitor.

Here is a story that needs to be retold and retold again to future generations. And interest is growing with an exhibition in Liskeard during the Spring. For me she is a voice that reminds us of fine principles so much greater than the stench of popular patriotism that was utilised against her.

Not for nothing did Oscar Wilde see patriotism as

the last resort of the scoundrel.

Too often that is how it has been. A patriotism that rejoices in decency and fairness for all can be applauded. But when it becomes a matter of my country right or wrong, it is the foulest of stenches from Hell. Emily Hobhouse reminds us of qualities that are much more noble than mere patriotism. May there be more like her today!

Jesus calls - A sermon for Epiphany 5 based on Isaiah 6: 1-8 and Luke 5: 1-11

Today the real work of the gospel seems to be taking off. Jesus has thought through what his life's wrok is going to involve. He has shared that vision with others at Nazareth's synagogue, nearly getting thrown over a cliff as a result. Healings have taken place. So far so good!

But now comes the time to build a community. And Luke tells us that this community will begin with Jesus entering the working life of fishermen. Foremost among these fishermen will be Simon Peter. It is not the first time that they have met. Caperneum, the fishing village where both Simon and Jesus would seem to have lived, was not exactly a large settlement. Anyhow Luke has already told us of Jesus visiting Simon's home and healing his mother in law. So Simon already had a knowledge of Jesus.

But on the Sea of Galilee, referred to here as the Lake of Gennesaret after a nearby town, Simon gets a powerful expeience of the working of Jesus. Like many a fisherman of those days he has a tough life. He would have to obtain a licence with his partners to be able to fish the lake which was owned by Caesar. To afford this and any borrowing for equipment would mean that these fishermen would need to catch a good many fish even before thinking in terms of supporting their families.

So a night without a catch was something more than an inconvenience. And that was the situation in our story. A night of hard work has failed to produce a catch. Now they are washing the trammel nets made of linen as would be required after use. Failure is their experience. Yet Jesus tells them not to give up but instead to let down the nets again. The madness of the suggestion is incredible. A carpenter telling fishermen how to fish. But more than that such nets were of no use in the daytime for whereas the fishcould not see them at night, they were well and truly visible by day. That, after all rather than getting away from 'er indoors or the noisy children, is why they fished by night.

But Luke tells us a story in which the unthinkable happens. The fishermen get a mighty catch that threatens to break the nets. The goodies are about to roll in faster than a banker's bonus. Joy unconfined!

But the story does not end there. Jesus tells Simon to follow him. And with his partners that is what he does. Now we read this in a matter of fact manner. But should we? I think what we see here is people who have hit the jackpot ignoring the chance of a rollover to take the risk of a new way of living concerning which they have no knowledge of the rules.

They have seen Jesus at work and whilst they may revisit their homes and past activities many times in the future, now their reason for being has well and truly changed. Jesus, they deduce, is worth taking a risk on. And the rest of the story is well gospel!

Today we have readings for what used to be known as Vocations Sunday. This is the day when we are invited to explore what God might be calling us to. Our gospel reading invites to a few simple considerations;

- God comes to us not just in our times of worship but when we are about the daily things of life

- God takes us in directions that surprise and amaze us

- God calls us despite our shortcomings. Like Simon we may be deeply aware of our sinfulness or like Isaiah we may know oursleves to be people of "unclean lips" but that doesn't stop God calling us

- God's call gives us new direction and fresh priorities.


Back to the fishermen. Their lives will never be the same. Their prime purpose in life will no longer be catching fish to be placed dead upon plates. Now the centre of their lives is people so that they might truly live as desired by the way who came that we might have "life with abundance."

And what of us? I have struggled with this. Many of you are not so young and so can not do all that you might wish to be able to do for Christ and his community. If the stress is on activism, some of you may go home this morning feeling frustrated.

So let me put it this way. I think people should consider what it is they are able to do. We need activists if we are to have a future. But please take notice that often people are doing when they are least aware of it. And you know there is something more important than doing. And that is being. So this morning I want to encourage you not just to think of what you might be called to do, important as that may be, but to be open to what God is calling you to be. For being something beautiful for God is surely a calling of the highest order.

This morning we see Jesus beginning to gather around himself a community. We too are community. May we live open to God's calling our lives to be something beautiful and remarkable for him.

Reflecting on ministry in the Methodist Church

This week is a busy week for me. With the trivia of being a panto dame behind me for another year, life has taken a serious turn. Next weekend I am on the District Candidate's Committee. I am currently going through paperwork and given the confidential nature of the process I can say no more other than that I take my responsibilities on this matter very seriously.

I do certainly find myself reflecting on my ministry. 5 years as a layworker on the Isle of Man followed by residential training for the ministry in Cambridge and now being in my sixth year as a minister in Bideford means that it is hard to think of life without it being dominated by the theory and practice of ministry.

My personal experience of ministry is very much dominated by the work of pastoral care. I have seen much of human vulnerability within and without faith communities. I have seen the pains of prisoners and the fear of asylum seekers. Many situations have taught me that I can not just make things right. What I can do is to by the grace of God be alongside people in their journeys. Sometimes this means accompanying people at the high points such as when they are entering into marriage or parenthood although more often it is about being with people struggling with illness, fears, rejection and depression and so very often coming to the ends of their lives. I would like to think that I bring something of Christ to significant moments although I am not sure that I do it particularly well. I would also like to think that on occasions I can be a voice for the voiceless.

Communicating a message is important to me. Sometimes this is within the context of the worshipping life of communities of faith. Other times it is within fellowship meetings. This latter is not as often as I would like for my experience within Methodism is of a falling off with regards to small groups. About this I cannot be neutral for I think this is a sign of decline. If we are not prepared to take seriously the exploration of our faith, I suggest that we will be unable to give an account of the hope within us. Yet the message we share in communicating is not merely what we believe. I am convinced that we need to help people explore the questions raised by a scientific age and by the realities of a world of many faiths. In a couple of weeks I am sharing in a series of meetings in Plymouth in my role as District Interfaith Officer looking at our relationship with Islam which is a mighty big issue concerning which prejudice can be very destructive.

I love Methodism. I still think that the message of the Wesley brothers that Jesus dies for all is the best news that anyone can embrace. Yet the more I share with people of other traditions, the more I appreciate the wealth that those traditions have to share with us.to me ecumenism is not just about hiding from the reality of church decline. It is about positive engagement and learning from others in a way through which we all enriched. It is about our finding that we are all a part of the body of Christ despite our different labels. I live in a town in which there is much positive in our ecumenical scene. Yet we may have further to travel together!

Another reality that constantly hits me is that the church is insufficiently political. By this I do not mean that the church is insufficiently party political. What I mean is that we are too hesitant to take on the big issues of the day. If God is passionately in love with all the created order then surely our calling as the people of God is to take a prophetic stance concerning those things which kill abundant living. Issues such as war, unemploymemt, asylum, poverty, housing, health care, gambling laws and much else are issues to which our faith is relevant. They do not just belong to the political class. They are about human experience on God's world. And the prophetic voice is something needed today as much as in ancient books in the Hebrew Bible. In this I sense that at times locally we do struggle to respond to the lead of Connexion which whilst by no means perfect has tended to raise questions that we should engage with/

I could go on and write about much else such as engaging with youth or issues of emerging church etc. But I won't. This is simply a reflection on ministry that comes from what is on my heart and mind tonight. Tomorrow I'd probably write this very differently. After all the journey may look differently then. But I am simply thinking through the keyboards at a time when I know that I am 18 months from a move and looking both to that future as well as asking where the remainder of my time in North Devon will take me.

Writing this reminds me more than anything of my failings. I have an awful lot to learn for the future. Yet I write as one convinced of my calling which has been tested and ultimately affirmed on ordination. I know that whilst I breath I am called as a very fallible human being to stand in that gap which invites people to explore the ways of God. And most importantly to recognise that more important than my efforts is the grace of God which I pray might work even through this rather battered vessel.