General Synod 2023

Today I am back at General Synod.  The first Synod of my elected term was November 2021 and it feels slightly odd to be coming to the end of my second year on Synod still feeling in many ways like a 'newbie' (amongst the 60% of Synod who were also new for this Synod term). It is a very particular experience. The procedures take some getting used to. As does developing the discermnent to know when it's a good idea to speak and not to. (Has it already been said?  Is the way you're going to say it speak to a different constituency? Does what you're saying move the conversation on, open it up, or indeed provide a concise and clear conclusion?)

Can you feel I'm going to say something sunshine-y now? 

This Synod has been notable for providing 'induction' for us newbies.  This has extended to zoom sessions as well as on-site stuff - and has been well received and much appreciated. Please note  - the Business Committee didn't have to wait for someone to whinge about the provision they hadn't made and how difficult it was to acclimatise. There was thoughtful and on occassion inspired provision.  Thank you. 

This afternoon we have passed a motion to enable more young people to be part of Synod.  With our eyes wide open we have acknowledged that to be a younger church and a younger Synod of that church people will have to step back and let others have a go.  This might seem a no brainer. In one way it is. But as a 50 yeard old who has spend her life in the Anglican church, and has spent much of the last 15 years of ordained ministry being reminded she is "young", and is still now sometimes told that she's not old enough for some things....... there is culatural complexity to be overcome. 

We wait and wait until it is our turn to speak - only to suddenly be told that if we were smart, or interesting or competent we would not have waited - and not it is too late.

I have also been part of several conversation with very varied groups about the 'tone' of Synod.  General consensus from people of many different perspectives seems to be that Synod has got nastier in the last 5 years.  This is interesting because I think it points to a broader cultural movement.  The current Synod, elected in 2021, is undoubtedly loaded with folks who are here because of LLF (Living in Love and Faith) - from either side of the debate. You might quite rightly expect things to be feisty.  But anecdote says this predates the present Synod.

My feeling is that this is not a unique Church phenomena - but goes back to something I heard the sociologist Grace Davie say in the early days of my ordained ministry.  She argued that despite increased secularisation and decreases in church attendance - the Church of England - those who worship in it and engage in it's ministry and leadership  - are not uniquely different from the culture surrounding us.  When people accuse the church of being exclusive, patriarchal, homophobic, racist, ablist, classist and the rest - they are not wrong - and it is not OK. Davie's argument was that even in our smaller, less central position, we are not an enclave for these problems amid a fair, just and inclusive wider culture.  Instead she suggests we reflect the continuing presence of these problems in our wider culture and society. 

Add to this the polarisation of our culture in the last 10 years - the impact of populism and post-truth - the resulting difficulty in engaging in respectful, nuanced and open minded debate - debate that holds the possibility of compromise or changed minds.

The question for me is how to function well here in service of God and God's people now - despite and through all this. How to encourage and enable the young people we spoke of and others whose voices are still not represented, into a Synod culture which reflects not mereley the fractures of the world, but the wholeness we find in Christ's counter-cultural Good News. I feel that some of this is about disengaging with unhelpful dialogue, as much as it is about discerning the places where good progress, good dialogue, good debate can be modeled. 

This is not a manifesto - or even a complete thought. It is thinking out loud.  No doubt not the last blog from this Synod. 

Singing

 It is well known and intermittently discussed that singing is good for us. It good for our mental health. It helps folks with dementia. It's good for your social life if you join a choir (or become a regular at the local karaoke night). 

Singing is physically good for us too - all that huffing and puffing. I remember quite some years ago having my joining assessment at a local gym. The trainer insisted on checking my lung capacity 3 times. I was quite obviously unfit - but my lung capacity reflected the goodness singing did for me despite this. 

Tonight I'm listening to a local ladies choir and just wanted to share the impirical evidence of this goodness. They're not a huge choir but they make a good sound together and they are literally glowing. The joy of making music is shining from this diverse group of women. I wasn't looking forward to this evening but it's lovely and I am always up for some joy. 

This week I hope to get some singing in as my church observes Holy Week. The making and sharing of music, in harmony with our liturgy, scripture and sacrament. Together they will take us through the joy of Jesus arrival in Jerusalem, hailed as King, bringer of longed for liberty. They will take us to an upper room and the familial intimacy of a meal shared, to a garden charged with tension, intense prayer and treachery. 

We will sing of the sacred head surrounded with torturous thorns, and of the drop drop of our slow tears as we weep for Jesus pain, betrayal and suffering. 

And when Easter Day comes I hope as I sing the wondrous story of the Christ who died and rose again for me,every note is embued with the deep human joy which I have witnessed shining in the faces of tonight's singers. 

He came down that we might have joy - alleluia for evermore. 

Rock Mass 2023

Last night I was delighted and moved to be the guest president and preacher for the relaunch of Rock Mass. Is it a fresh expression? Is it a youth thing? No (well maybe/could be/yes-ish). But mostly it's a rock mass. Ronseal all the way. 

There was prayer and incense and God's invitation to all to come to God's banquet. And rock. Lots and lots of rock.  If you like rock, and prayer, and incense, and sacramental worship, and rock - it happens once a month and they have interesting guest preachers ;-) 

For those of you who were there and have been kind enough to ask for a copy of my sermon - here it is.  I'm less funny on paper - you don't get the terrible Les Dawson impressions - but glad to be asked and glad to share. If you want to read the sermon - please click the link and read the scripture reading first - it will make more sense.

Matthew 22.1-14 Rock Mass  

Abundance is offered – co-operation is needed. The Kingdom is like……..

So we’re back – Rock Mass is back – the thing that was happening – or one of the things that was happening (whispers 'pandemic') – is mostly over and we are getting forward to the Kingdom. Or up to the Kingdom.  I haven’t decided yet – I like forward –  but I absolutely love the idea that our life with God is something we are getting up to together.

Whatever we’re doing – we’re not getting back to normal.

For two reasons.

1.  One because there’s no such thing as normal and there never was – and this really shouldn’t come as a surprise to followers of Jesus. Sometimes I think the whole purpose of Jesus ministry was to combat the delusion of normal.  The fantasy that there is some place where all our defensive, closing down, restrictive, safety seeking, excluding, scarcity focussed human instincts put us in the right place.  I think Jesus showed us a way of being where with our trust in him, creator, saviour and spirit, we might just dare to breathe in and out and know that we are not the same as we were before we took that breath.  That change is the only constant and we do not need to be afraid for God is with us.

     The second reason we’re not going back to the thing that doesn’t exist? The trajectory of the planet the good God sent spinning into space is unidirectional – by which I mean it’s going one way – only one way, and that’s forward.  There is no going back – just ask Don Henley and the Boys of Summer. (80s reference).

So what we’re doing, as a community, as Christians, as the church here in Mixenden and Illingworth, as the church wherever each of you happens to be the savoury flavour or the head torch of truth – as the body of Christ - what we’re doing is getting forward  - re-orientating ourselves to Christ’s way. We're checking to see how the ground beneath our feet feels – and what we’re getting forward to – or maybe getting up to – what we’re getting up to is the Kingdom. The Kingdom that wasn’t what people thought was normal when Jesus first told this parable – and the Kingdom that doesn’t feel like what the world around us now calls normal. The Kingdom that is breaking through.

I think we’re spending this year hearing from lots of lovely guest preachers like me about what the Kingdom we pray is coming might be like – and there are so many places this reading could have taken us tonight – but I’d like us to focus on three things – adulting (sorry!) - invitation and abundance.

So this isn’t a parable for the faint hearted – it does not say that whatever you do everything is going to be absolutely fine cos God’s just lovely. It’s more like God is lovely AND just. This life is more than a game.  I am a parent of teenagers – and the bit of info I keep trying to crowbar into my kids heads – is that our actions have consequences – and we have to deal with those consequences. It’s not so much that you make your bed and you have to lie in it.  More that once you’ve made it, you might have to unmake it, repent of it, respond to your invitation, and try again.

You can choose to ignore your invitation. You can even turn up and then change your mind and walk away. But you can’t really blame God for that decision. We have been given the freedom to make the choice, a huge risk that our God takes out of love for us -  and we have to take responsibility – we are not playing good daddy bad daddy games with God.

Wisdom has set her table. The God of all time and space has sent us gold-plated invitations.  We need to adult on up there to the banquet and join in with what God is doing.

And let’s think about that gold plated invitation. I think this has a particular kick for us post-pandemic.  I know this parable is telling us a story about God and God’s people through history – that those to whom Jesus was sent would not recognise him – the people you might have expected to be the a-list invitations would not come to the party table.  But it feels, as parable so often do, that it’s telling us a story of now too.  You are invited.  The challenges of the last three years have left us I think desperately needing to respond to God’s invitation, needing in faith to step out and offer God’s invitation in turn to others, but feeling like we want to curl up in a corner and sleep too. 

But we’re the ones who know God is good, we’re the ones who have come to baptism, who have chosen to be here, who have glimpsed the coming kingdom in our friendship, in what we can do for the communities around us, in the goodness that flows from being together like the father, son and holy spirit are together.

God has sent you a gold plated invitation to come to the banquet and join in with what God is doing.

Has God done that Rachel? - you might well ask - really?  I don’t remember getting that invitation, you might be thinking. But you’re standing in it, next to it, listening to it, dancing to it.  Your gold-plated invitation tonight is played by a rock band and crafted with love to help you connect with God. 

Your gold plated invitation is at the lunch club, at the community pantry, at the scouts, in the creating, making and being real community which exists here and is growing.  Your gold-plated invitation is people being who they are, throwing their gifts and skills into the pot together to do things God’s way. An invitation to be just like you, the best, transformed in Christ’s image you, being in God’s service.

Come, all you vagabonds,

Come all you ‘don’t belongs’

Winners and losers,

Come, people like me.

Come all you travellers

Tired from the journey,

Come wait a while, stay a while,

Welcomed you’ll be.[1]

And what you are welcomed to is abundance.  Rather marvellously the idea of abundance came up in the midweek zoom bible study at my church this week – we were reading the Isaiah reading from the Feast of Epiphany which says

the abundance of the sea shall be brought to you,
   the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
A multitude of camels shall cover you,[2]

I know – weird right? We got briefly caught up in the weird – but then realised that when those bible guys tried to communicate what God was saying about abundance, they had to use ideas that our imaginations could reach for.  Wealth, seafood, camels, - exotic, unfamiliar, next level. The wedding banquet – probably the most sumptuous, delicious, wonderful feast anyone would experience in a lifetime – and even then not that often. 

Wisdom has set her table, she has poured her wine[3], and we are invited to the banquet. 

We have to choose whether to go. God will not force us, we are not playing games here – we are given the choice whether to respond and we are given fair warning that our choices have consequences that we must take responsibility for.

But if we choose to go to the feast we will find that the banquet we are invited to is beyond our imagining because the abundance which flows from God isn’t stuff that God gives us – the abundance is God.  God is the banquet.  The things that overflow from the baskets and bowls on the table are the things we really need to be whole in our humanity and transformed in it too. They are the abundance of the Kingdom.  For the banquet table of the Lord overflows with justice and mercy, compassion, patience, equity, respect, dignity, hope, wisdom, prophecy, serving, teaching, encouraging, giving – we are invited to gorge ourselves on this goodness that is the Kingdom and brings the Kingdom, that transforms us into Kingdom people.

O taste and see how gracious the Lord is – blessed is the one that trusts in the Lord.[4]

We thank God tonight for our gold-plated invitation.  I hope we will commit ourselves to try to respond and take responsibility for that choice as best we can in this coming year - and I hope too we will remind ourselves often that the abundance we need is not of this world, but can be found at a banqueting table overflowing with all that shows the Kingdom breaking into our community of faith and our world.

Amen.

 

---

[1] Vagabonds by Stewart Townend

[2] Isa 60.1-6

[3] Proverbs 9.2

[4] Psalm 34

Why don't people speak out more?

"Scathing report condemns UK police for 'victim blaming' in rape cases".

Undercover journalist pretending to be drunk followed to hotel by man

A woman has been awarded a £90,000 pay-out after a manager slapped her backside with a ruler at a workplace slated for its “toxic laddish culture”.

This morning I am raging and devastated. It is the first link above that left me sat at my kitchen table in tears at 7.30am. When I told my husband why I was upset he said "but did you see....(link 2)", and as we were talking the third story came up on the radio news.  And that's just a random Thursday in December. 

I consider myself to be a feminist.  I always have done.  Because feminists were the ones who were speaking out for equality - and equality makes things better for everyone. It always seemed to me that equality was a significant part of the Gospel I was baptised into as a child, and educated in by people who have always lived with kindness, generosity and respect for others. I don't know when and how I noticed the world I lived in was unequal for men and women, I just always knew - and the priest who prepared me for confirmation at age 11 was highly amused by my take on the creation story in Genesis as a result. 

I am also a middle aged priest who might be said to be 'doing alright' for herself.  I have been affirmed, encouraged and supported by senior staff in the 14.5 years since my ordination. I am particularly grateful to a wonderful Archdeacon, an Area Bishop who listened to her, and a Diocesan Bishop who makes time to be fully present and fully engaged, encouraging my ministry and encouraging me to grasp the challenges it brings. I have a positive portfolio of roles which sit alongside my parish ministry.  I could be on the poster for the belief we have equality in church and world (or this corner of it), that gender is no longer an issue when it comes to male and female, that there is no bias, there are no barriers and it's meritocracy all the way.

But this morning I want to ask all the well meaning, equality purporting folks out there - if we have equality, if our church, our society and our culture respects our equal humanity - why?

Why are men being released from prison who have a record of violence against women as long as your arm, only to reoffend within days?  Women did not make this happen - but women pay the price with their lives.

Why can't a woman walk down a street, looking drunk or otherwise, without some predator thinking their luck is in? Women did not make this happen - but women pay the price with their bodies, minds  and lives for this.

Why do women who advocate for issues and challenges that face women still get told, often by their allies not to speak too loud, not to be a one trick pony, not to 'bang the drum' too loud?  Why have I heard the words "well it's obviously not impacting on you, Rachel, so I don't really get your point?" - when all around the treatment of women gets worse - visibly, clearly, uncomfortably, painfully, devastatingly worse.  

Why am I pleading, arguing, persuading, as though it is both my job to convince you that women shouldn't be treated like this, and my job to communicate this in such a way as you wont feel offended or threatened? Perhaps because the imaginary you in my head is male, and the arbiter of what is and isn't acceptable in our society, and has the right to dismiss my concerns if not expressed in a way acceptable to you.  This is why we call it the patriarchy - because we are trapped in the system - the game not of our making - and women need men to put their egos down and see what we are so clearly seeing if this is to change.

I think people in my daily sphere have found it easier to see that there are systems that need dismantling when we talk about race.  If our systems and social structures have been built by white culture for the benefit of white people, then inviting people of different racial and cultural identities to be part of those intrinsically white systems and structures isn't what equality looks like. We clearly need to create systems and structures together, for everyone, that reflect everyone involved.  But I find myself asking if we are ever going to take the real work this endeavour needs seriously when our attempts to move to an equal society for women and men have failed us so deeply.  

Equality isn't just "letting" women do the things that up until relatively recently only men have done.(And there I am framing the male as normative and decision maker again, aren't I?)  In my sphere women can now wear the pointy hats. And sit at the tables. And follow the same shocking example of terrible work life balance that we are told is the only real model of leadership possible. We are told that because there are women at the table now, women's voice is represented. Then the women at the table will be told that they are there not tokenistically to represent women, but because of their wider skills and role. However sincerely any of this is meant - we have a seat at the table only to be told that we do not have permission to talk about the continuing challenges women face.  

And why are we still asking permission? Because in a church which has enshrined the right to believe women priests to be delusional fantasists in law - our presence can feel highly contingent, even when many of us are affirmed, embraced and welcomed.  We’re still being welcomed to someone else’s party, not welcomed home. We are operating in a system and structure which was not of our making and does not reflect us, and asks us to bend ourselves to be something else.  Perhaps that is why our leaders are sometimes disappointed that we are not more dynamic, inspired and creative?  "We're going to wrap you up in the same chains we carry and then accuse you of not being able to fly." 

Because power, because patriarchy. People don't speak out more because it is not rewarded or appreciated. It is labelled, avoided, shunned, blamed, managed.  Put in the corner with its pony and its drum and its role that can't do any harm (by which I mean, actually influence change for the better). I am genuinely sorry that this sounds so accusatory.  I accuse myself of not doing more as I listen to these news stories.  I am sorry for every time I have swallowed the “you only get to join in if you don’t talk about that stuff” line. I am sorry for every time I have colluded with things that are wrong because I imagined if I did one day I would be given permission to help put things right.

Between my feed, my radio choices and my family - I came across these three stories within half an hour this morning. I am glad that these stories are being heard - but I'm reminded of the work of @CountingDeadWomen  - and of the words of Desmond Tutu about pulling people out of the river.  To paraphrase - there comes a point where we need to stop counting dead women and do something about why they are being killed. There comes a point where we have to accept that a rise in violence against women, a rise in inequality in workplaces and homes, the persistent silencing of women's voices, an internet full of misogyny, does not reflect a society that has cheerfully achieved a holistic human equality in which our systems and practices respect all human beings in their God-made integrity. We have got something terribly wrong and it will take something more intentional than a faith in meritocracy and the assumption that equality is letting the girls play with the boys' toys to put it right. 

Advent Update - God rest ye merry Advent wreath

I've just been updating this.  I've tweaked it so it's more obvious how it scans to the tune (God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen). I've also updated the Christmas Day bit to reflect a little something of what the Christ-light might mean. It works if you're doing patriarchs/prophets/John/Mary in your themes. I even popped in a little peace/joy/hope/love in the final verse if those are going to be your themes.  I'll try something jolly for death/judgement/heaven/hell another year.

As always if this would help your church please use it, but please do credit where it comes from.

Advent 1:

We light an Advent candle now to show us all the way

to find the Christ child waiting in a manger on the hay.

The mothers and the fathers of our faith all point the way.

          Refrain:   O glory to God in heav’n and peace,

                             peace on earth, O glory to God in heav’n.

 

Advent 2:

We light an Advent candle now to show us all the way

to find the Christ child waiting in a manger on the hay.

The prophets foretold long ago that bright and glorious day

          Refrain:   O glory to God in heav’n and peace,

                             peace on earth, O glory to God in heav’n.

 

Advent 3:

We light an Advent candle now to show us all the way

to find the Christ child waiting in a manger on the hay.

“The Kingdom now is close” said John, “Believe, repent today!”

          Refrain:   O glory to God in heav’n and peace,

                             peace on earth, O glory to God in heav’n.

 

Advent 4:

We light an Advent candle now to show us all the way

to find the Christ child waiting in a manger on the hay;

For Mary mother of our Lord her “yes” to God did say

          Refrain:   O glory to God in heav’n and peace,

                             peace on earth, O glory to God in heav’n.

 

 

Christmas Day:

 

We light our Christ-light candle now

to show us all the way

And we have found the Christ child

in a manger on the hay;

And now we raise our voices

with the angel host to say

O glory to God in heav’n and peace, peace on earth

O glory to God in heav’n.

 

We carry now the Christ light

for this day and every day.

In homes and hearts we celebrate

the Christ who is our Way.

In peace, in joy, in hope, in love

Christ help us always stay

O glory to God in heav’n and peace, peace on earth

O glory to God in heav’n.

"That sounds like a you problem"

I am at present a mother of teens. I am also a lover of language - and the kind of person who picks up words, phrases and accents like a magpie picks up shiney things. (Fortunately the accent thing usually wears off with the end of the phone call to the call centre in South Wales or Newcastle). Being a middle aged woman using teen slang can only be out-cringed by being a middle aged vicar doing it.  But a couple of key and oft repeated phrases in our household are buzzing in my head at the moment and I wanted to take time to relfect on them. These thoughts will undoubtedly in some format be appearing in a sermon near you in the near future.  My parish pubishes the text of all our sermons at www.huddersfieldparishchurch.org and you can find the spoken versions by fast forwarding through our services which are livestreamed on YouTube. Just search for Huddersfield Parish Church, like and subscibe, as the kids say.

Family Language - it's not just bro - it's cuz aand cuzzy too. After the billionth time of saying "I'm not your XXX I'm your mother" - I thought of the brother and sisterhood of humanity - and how good it is to say often, and even perhaps to take for granted, the family-ness of everyone we encounter.

"That sounds like a you thing".  In a world where it feels sometimes like everyone wants to blame eveything and anything that goes wrong on someone else (one of the side effects of communal trauma as it may be) the need to leave things where they belong is important.  We need to not allow others to project problems onto us that are not ours, we need not to project onto others that which is our own to deal with. I find this really helpful in parish life where as clergy we are at the centre of community - often the only paid person working for the church amongst volunteers - and juggling our freedom to manage our own time as office holders with a job that has changed immesurably in my lifetime. We have a tendency to take onto our own shoulders problems that are not ours, and to ignore at great personal cost the things that are ours. Asking myself if something is a 'me' thing or a 'you' thing can only be a healthy question. The flip side of course is that we might be encouraged to think that the only things that matter are the things that directly impact us - our bubble - and that way lies catastrophe. That's definitley a good conversation for another day. 

"Word".  I have never been a person who could say "Word" without sounding daft. Apart from in John 1 obvs.  But when I say something that is true, and good and right, and my teen agrees with me, responding "Word" I feel amazing. Because Jesus Christ is the Word who became flesh - embodied like you and me and all that is true and good and right. It's often simple things that I've said - and when they say "word" they do sound cool (must be their dad's genes). The truth who is God is affirmed in the everyday, as presence, as ground of beging, as foundation. It reminds me that simple and profound are powerful companions in the lives of those who follow Christ's Way. 

On the death of the Queen - a much loved monarch.

In my role as Vicar of Huddersfield there is much to be done in the coming days to help my Parish community to grieve the death of Her Majesty the Queen, and to support their service to the diverse communities of Huddersfield as we share that grief.

But I wanted to say something for me and something for the not-very-interested-in-royal out there.

She had character. Not weird, eccentric, "tik-toc that" character. The things I was taught character meant. Dignity, grace, elegance, seriousness, wisdom, humour and a hope we can all aspire to.

Her Majesty was the Supreme Governor of the Church of England. So - not the boss-boss - but still in a very real way, my boss. I asked myself when I was ordained if I could in all conscience make a vow of loyalty to a monarch. It's not a system I would choose if we started with a clean slate.

I found that I could - not out of blind loyalty to an archaic hierarchy - but out of true loyalty and respect for her courage and sense of duty and her deep faith. She knew God comes first. It honestly felt like this vow, this expression of loyalty to her, was an expression of God always being greater than the coincidental structures of state.

I said there was something for the uninterested - congratulations if you've hung in this far.

It's been a terrible few years. Our nation has in recent years been fractious, self-critical and self-righteous. We have been wounded, grieving, scared and scarred. We have lost loved ones without the chance for the common decencies of grief, ritual, support and celebration. We have lost confidence in our democracy to guarantee what we thought we had that went without saying; good health care; good education; safe homes; light, heat, food and a shared understanding of the common good.

We have forgotten how to be together - how to let go of the things that divide us.

We should take this chance to cry, rage and mourn for all that seems lost. For the things we took for granted - as we took her stability, consistency and reliability for granted. We should take this chance to weep for ourselves and our nation. To acknowledge all the hurt we have pushed down.

But we should take this chance too to commit ourselves to serving one another to make things better - as she, our Queen, committed herself.

Whatever your "big picture" view of monarchy - Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth has lived a life of service to the common good. She has lived a life of integrity, sacrifice and service that is an example to us all of how to move forward and shape our nation for the better.

I cry for her tonight, even as I rejoice that she is safe in God's loving care. And I cry for myself. I will truly deeply miss all that she was and all she represented (yes, even the weird hereditary stuff - God knows you can mourn weird stuff that you might not agree with).

I will try not to be afraid that we will never see such commitment to serve again. I will, as she did, found my hope in God's strength and promises. I hope I will challenge myself and others to aspire to such service (just a fraction would be amazing).

There is more to life than what is convenient, easy or profitable. We have too often followed the example of those who have been driven by selfishness, greed, profit and individualism.

When the scripture adjures us to choose life, it is a life of compassion, morality, abundance, hospitality, attention, neighbourliness, service..... It is a life of love which is bigger than even our closest relationship - a life that is as big as the all-giving love of the God who made us, loves us, and will welcome us all home.

This is the astonishing breath of love in which my Supreme Governor, Elizabeth, put her faith. Even as I weep tonight I put my own faith and hope in that same breadth of love, the love that Jesus gave for her and for me and for you.