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Mike Writes for June
This month sees two important anniversaries
for me, first my sixty fifth birthday and at the end of the month the thirty
fifth anniversary of my ordination. This has led me to a time of looking back
and reflecting how things have changed within the church over those years.
My earliest memories concern the Sunday School, which was held in our old
church hall which had a roof which leaked even more than St Margaret’s.
There seemed to be quite a lot of us in the infants department, while the
junior section met in the new hall and together there must have been well
over a hundred children, which was not unremarkable back in the 50s.
In my late teens and early twenties I ran a youth fellowship, which included
one Roman Catholic boy, who happily joined in with all our activities, with
one exception. The RC church in those days would not allow him to even enter
our church, let alone pray with us. It seems ridiculous now, but I believe
that it was only at the last Guild that all the Christian churches marched
together. At least now at local level there is a willingness to work and worship
together, even though we can not yet all share together in the Sacrament of
Holy Communion.
When I began training for ordination at the end of the sixties women could
only train to become parish workers, although at college in Durham, where
we had quite a number training alongside the men, there were some who felt
that they had a real calling to ordination. Eventually of course women were
made deacons, then a few years later they became priests and now it is just
a matter of time before we have the first woman bishop. These changes have
upset a number within the church and some, both priests and laity have left,
mostly for Rome, while others have set up barriers to prevent the ministry
of women within their parishes.
In those early days I was very dubious about the Movement for the Ordination
of Women, as it seemed to be driven more by feminism, and not the Holy Spirit.
The years have past and most of the women have revealed themselves as just
like the men, in the main good and competent priests. I certainly think that
it is time the church moved forward and accepted that for the church to be
truly inclusive it has to accept everyone, whether lay or ordained, as equal,
irrespective of race, colour, gender, sexuality or age. One day perhaps.
The biggest change I have noticed over the years is the steady decline in
numbers attending Sunday worship and the increasing average age of those worshippers.
In the 50s and 60s Sunday Schools were huge yet apart from the Sunday School
Anniversary and procession the children had little or no contact with the
church. Perhaps that is one of the reasons why such a small percentage of
them ever became regular attenders. Today, certainly here at St Margaret’s,
the children are very much a part of our church and add a vibrancy to our
worship when they come from their own classes to join us for the climax of
our Eucharistic worship.
Shortly after I was ordained I attended a national conference on baptism and
admitting children to communion. All the reports at the time recommended the
practice but it took over twenty years before the church finally accepted
them. I firmly believe that by including children at communion, from about
the age of seven, shows that they are truly a part of the church and are valued
as such. As for confirmation again I believe that it should be seen as a mature
commitment of the individual to dedicate their life to Christ, and not as
a means to receive communion or to accept the ritual because they and their
class mates have reached a certain age.
Today, perhaps more than at any other time in the last hundred years, children
are growing up with little or no understanding of the Christian faith. They
live in homes where their parents have no faith and have never attended church
and as a consequence have nothing to hand on to their children. Away from
the Church Schools the state schools offer such a wide spectrum of religious
teaching that unless the staff are committed Christians the children will
learn little of our faith. With in the last five years children attending
Ingol Primary school did not even know the Lord’s Prayer! At my previous
parish in Leeds, where we had a huge crucifix hanging over the altar, a young
child on a school visit to the church asked “who is that on the cross?”
The times have changed so much in the last fifty years, and some would say
not always for the better, but we do not chose the time when we are born,
we just have to make the best of it.
For a young priest starting his ministry today he, or increasingly she, will
have so many challenges to face, but they will not have known any other times
and perhaps will not be so daunted by them as those of us who have lived through
them. One thing has not changed though, and that is when ever we seek to do
God’s will he will not leave us on our own to struggle but, like those
disciples on that first day of Pentecost, he will equip us with the gifts
of his Holy Spirit, and who knows what we will achieve. As it says on the
arch over the chancel in Westminster Abbey, “Attempt great things for
God, expect great things from God.”
Mike
