there was a morning, there was an evening: three years

Where did that go? Three years (22 February) as Vicar of Bro Cybi.

There is much I miss about Bartley Green and Birmingham. People mostly. Cultural Diversity.

There is much I love about Bro Cybi and Ynys Mon. People mostly. Getting to grips with a language and landscape with which I am unfamiliar.

There are similarities obviously. People mostly. Differences too. People are people wherever you go. That will always be true. Ministry is similar. It is really, although the Church in Wales is different to the Church of England. One is disestablished, and appears to like to hold closely to the vestiges of establishment. The other is established and large parts of it are uncomfortable with the fact.

I love the fact that Wales is held together by relationships. That the fact that someone went to school with someone else's grandparents can enable things to get done - or prevent something from being done. Then again, I find myself asking where does where someone comes from or not have a bearing on whether a job can be done or not.

I like the fact that I am living on the edge, although an outer estate in Birmingham is also on the edge. I enjoy the fact that I am a foreigner in an alien land. Being English is sometimes a little problematic, and rightly so. It does, I think, mean I have to minister, live and breath differently. I am a guest, even I think liturgically, which means that I would not presume to preside, except in an understated way.

Some of the things I do are the same: ministry at life events, schools. I have swapped St Michael's School for Ysgol Cybi. I love the synod arrangements of the Diocese, which make for more meaningful relationships that a deanery, although I miss the wise leadership of the Area Dean of Edgbaston at times :-). I love Messy Church and the messiness of Church.

I love being forced to think outside of the box. The Church in Wales is one generation away from extinction. The Church of England perhaps one and a half with a few shekels more of money. It means that we need to reach out and engage in mission.

Here I am an Evangelist - and I am slowly beginning to work out what that means.

The Oppressor in the Mirror

The Oppressor in the Mirror

On 26 September 2015 at around 9:54pm, there was an almighty roar and the whole pub stood as one, England had been defeated by Wales at Twickenham in the Rugby World Cup. Choruses of Mae hen and Calon Lan were sung with gusto. On 17 October, South Africa defeated Wales. The pub was quiet, until one voice said, ‘I will live on the victory over the English for decades’

Mae hyn yn fy stori. Dw i’n symud ym Mae Treaddur o Birmingham yn mis Chwefror 2014.

This is essentially my story. I moved to Bae Trearddur on the edge of Anglesey from Bartley Green in Birmingham. Nothing could have prepared me in many ways for the culture shock that I was about and continue to experience.

I am an Anglican priest. I have been through a number of highly creative programmes that have made me aware of race, gender and sexuality. I pride myself on being tolerant and open in the way that any one trained through the Queen’s Foundation in Birmingham should. All of this was brought into sharp focus by the relocation to Wales

It has been a journey of unlearning, of discovering that what I had presumed had been a shared history of between the nations of the British Isles is far from that. Like many educated in England, my history was a British history littered with the names of crowned individuals and tales of daring do of English men and occasionally of English women. I knew hardly anything about Welsh history and culture, and began a discovery that concluded that the much heralded characteristic of English fair play does not appear to have been in evidence with how the English or British establishment had dealt with the people of Wales. The fact that overt bias is seemingly a thing of the past does not mean that it does not linger in the collective memory. The following example is poignant.

When you are new to a context, you meet lots of people, and also go out of your way to introduce yourself. On one such occasion, I sat with the Head of the local secondary school for the first time. About 20 minutes in, I was struck deeply and profoundly by his words.

‘My Dad was caned at school for speaking Welsh and made to wear the knot. Whenever I meet someone who is from England, I remember that and our history’

I had no idea of that the Westminster government had tried to make English the first language of Wales. I knew nothing about pupils being punished for simply speaking their mother tongue. I knew nothing of what the head teacher termed ‘our history’

I knew nothing of the so-called Blue Book or Brad y Llyfrau Gleision which the 1847 Government report into State of Education in Wales has become known.

Two quotes illustrate its conclusions

‘Teach English and bigotry will be banished’

‘The Welsh language is a vast drawback to the Welsh and a manifold barrier to the moral progress and commercial prosperity of the people. It is not easy to overestimate its evil effect`

Some of the attempts to make English normative were dressed as enabling different choices to be made. In order to improve pupils’ knowledge of the English language, the Welsh education system of the late 19^th century employed the ‘Welsh Not’ or ‘Welsh stick’ as a method of discouraging children from speaking Welsh. This small piece of wood was given in turn to individuals overheard talking Welsh, and whoever was wearing it by the end of the week was often severely punished.

Whilst such practices officially fell away in the early 20^th Century, in parts of Anglesey they continued. Several of my congregation from their late 40s to late 70s recall wistfully Welsh being side-lined in order to enable them to get on.

Coupled with the official and unofficial repression of the language, there has been a continual suspicion and perhaps mockery from across the border.

If an Englishman enters a shop in Welsh-speaking parts of Wales, the locals are likely to switch promptly to speaking Welsh. Thus the Englishman cannot be sure whether they are talking about him

That this comment was made in 1994 by the then Secretary of State for Wales, John Redwood is reflective of continuing misunderstanding of Wales, its culture and language by those tasked with governing the four nations of the British Isles. Since this comment was made, Wales has been given a measure of devolved power, and its political parties are agreed that there should be further devolution, yet unlike its Celtic cousin, Scotland, Wales does not seem to have a genuine appetite for formal independence.

The discovery of this shared history led me to the realisation that the reflection looking back at me from the mirror was a representative of the Oppressor was galling and an impetus for further reflection.

To have to engage cross-culturally is something many Practical Theologians pride themselves on, both within our own discipline and across the multifarious fields of theology, the social sciences, humanities et al. in my case having been formed within the guild of biblical scholarship, I am all too aware of the need to take context seriously and the nuances within different languages, times and nations.

Reflection in practical ministry becomes honed by its praxis. I have sought to engage cross-culturally by honouring the language, by learning it, as well as by immersing myself in the various cultures of Wales. This has not been without its problems. Speaking Welsh for many is problematic for many reasons, but in my own context particularly for an older generation who were denied the opportunity to do so when they were younger; ‘English being the language needed to get on’. That an English vicar is re-introducing their mother tongue into the liturgy is for them both a source of pride and a challenge. Pride because it is not any English vicar, but their one and a challenge as it takes them out of their own comfort zone.

I could not have begun to this without attentively listening, seeing the image in the mirror and being willing to embrace and be embraced by a different context. That is incarnational theology and ministry, which I suspect is the topic for a different paper.

A view from the edge: bishops talk sexuality (in England)

I was baptised by a nurse when I was born, anointed by a priest for healing shortly afterwards, prepared for confirmation by a priest and confirmed by the Bishop of Doncaster in St Hilda's, trained for ordained ministry at the place where the traditions meet: Queen's Foundation, and served my title in Matson, Gloucester, was Team Vicar, Team Rector and a Vicar all within the context of the Church of England. I love it. It nurtured me and has given me life, and hope one day to have opportunity to serve it again.

The recent publication of the English House of Bishops arising out of the shared conversations that took place within General Synod represented something of an opportunity missed. The resultant myriad of reactions that have taken place around the report have for me clouded the fact that the opportunity for the church to be both missional and inclusive in the fullest gospel sense of the word may have been lost for some time, although God can redeem the most surprisingly hopeless situations. Inclusivity obviously means welcoming all, but not necessarily an acceptance of everything. Conservatives often construct a straw personage here. Liberals, Catholics, Progressives, Open, Charismatics have their particular effigies too. It is easy for protagonists on both sides of the debate (although sides is a misnomer given that the voices who have been heard are on a spectrum rather than split into two oppositional factions) to forget that their opponents are other human beings fashioned in the image of God.

Why was it an opportunity missed?

I think it does not fully recognise that in affirming a particular definition of marriage, it is in danger of reading back a singular view into the Scriptures. This is not particularly good exegesis. This is not to say that marriage is unimportant in the Scriptures, but that it is at times quite messy. The patriarchs and matriarchs had interesting relationships which are mirrored in 21st Century society. It would be easier sometimes for me if that were not the case, but it is. Thus, if you want to welcome the commitment to a biblical definition of marriage, you do need to answer the obvious question, which definition are we talking about.

There is also the clear teaching that sex is only or rightly for marriage. This has been the traditional teaching of the Church, but is not seemingly now the practice even amongst Christians. I very rarely have couples approach me for marriage in church who are not living together and already have a stable family life or have children from previous relationships. This is not to say that the Church should not teach that sex rightly belongs within a loving relationship, exemplified by marriage, but we do nothing to make our message accessible by seeming to suggest that sex outside of the marital relationship should not occur or is in some sense always sinful.

The Bishop's report fails to capture the fact that many Christians are in loving, deeply committed, sacrificial same sex relationships. It is as if in writing the report, gay Christians have become invisible. I am not sure that the Bishops collectively intended this, but it seems to me that is what the report does. The report has attempted to close the closet door once more, however all that it has done is leave friends and allies of gay Christians confused and bewildered as to why their sisters and brothers have not been affirmed and welcomed. Welcome, hospitality and affirmation are part of what Christians have always thought to have been essential to their faith, not least because such are drawn from biblical teaching about God.

Conservative commentators often caution about affirmation and welcome for two specific reasons. First that we, as Anglicans, are part of a world wide communion and second that Scripture is clearly against same sex relationships, both of which need dealing with.

I am a proud Anglican. I love the fact that I am part of something bigger. I delight in the fact that Christians in persecuted countries can draw comfort from this too, and if that makes a real practical difference in their lives - and I believe it does - I would want to do nothing that would undermine it. I have never met a single British Christian regardless of gender, class, orientation et al who would. Maybe I live a sheltered life now on the edge of Wales. Most Anglican Christians I know are deeply committed to the bonds of affection which bind us together in Christ and to one another. That surely does not mean that there cannot be difference, indeed many differences pass unnoticed, they are simply cultural, and indeed we have much to learn from each others cultures. But if the Communion is to mean anything, we must be able to speak robustly to each other.  It is what families do. Some Provinces treat Gay Christians amongst them terribly, just as the Provinces within the United Kingdom do not treat everyone as they should. Such actions need challenging, just as much as the real persecution suffered by our brothers and sisters in the global south.

I am also a proud evangelical. Much of my spiritual growth has come from within that tradition, even before I knew it had a particular label. I love wrestling with the Scriptures. They feed me and give me life. For within the Scriptures are words that lead to salvation, primarily because they reveal who Jesus is. Sometimes due to my fallibility I fail to grasp this.

I have devoted a fair bit of my life to the ministry of the evangelist, and still see it as perhaps the most important part of my role as an ordained minister, even if I do not make the most of all the opportunities that are presented.

The Bishop of Maidstone writes.

We must also continue to pray for – and draw alongside – those who feel great pain that the relationships they value cannot be reconciled with God’s Word. 

The assumption that loving relationships cannot be reconciled to God's word is based on a small number of proof texts, as well as I would suggest notions of what is the proper created order. The general gamut of Scripture is one of welcome, hospitality and affirmation., for such are reflective of God.

I realise that the report issued by the Bishops will be debated by the Synod and there will be opportunity for members to put forward different arguments. In doing so, there must be a desire to continue to meet and listen together, to embrace rather than exclude, and also to pray.

We must pray for our Bishops and theologians that God will continue to guide

We must pray for each other on all sides of this discussion

Paul Bayes, the Bishop of Liverpool, said that we need to learn the names of those we criticise: https://viamedia.news/2017/01/29/elders-of-the-tribe/

We need to pray for opportunities to learn the names of those we might in some way consider to be other.

Those of us who are not LBTI++ must also remember that is not ourselves that we are talking about, and it is often our Christian brothers and sisters who are hurt when we exclude, and that some of our action and talking, even when acted out of good intention, seems to prevent a growing number of people we believe are imago dei from hearing the good news of the gospel.

That would go against all that this evangelical believes.