Resources for Christian Lament, Prayer and Worship
Two recent experiences have left me reflecting on rules.
I was cycling after dark on a fast dual carriageway. It did not feel safe. The adjacent footpath was deserted, so I cycled on that. Further on, an elderly man was on the footpath, so I slowed down to a walking pace and made sure that I kept well away from him.
Continue reading “On (not) keeping the rules: a rare foray into sexual ethics.“
This is the time of year when the words of my one-time tutor, David Runcorn, are ringing in my ears:
“The trouble in Narnia is that it’s always Winter and never Christmas. Our trouble is that it’s always Christmas and never Advent.”
Continue reading “On Advent and Activism” As a spotty sixth former, I was required to take a philosophy class. I remember very little about it except for one particular session that was an open discussion of the following proposition: ‘Doubt is a necessary aspect of faith’.
The general sense amongst those who supported the proposition, was that faith without doubt would not be faith at all – it would be certainty. For faith to be truly faith – a chosen attitude of the will – it must be based on uncertainty: there must be some element of doubt.
That discussion was entirely abstract. We played with the notions of faith and doubt as if they were instruments or tools – value-free, measuring and responding, detached from the inner worlds of the people they habituated.
But in other contexts, faith and doubt are much more personal, and we are involved with them. They affect us far more than we are able to observe them. In simplistic terms, they are experienced as opposites: either I have faith, or I doubt. ‘O you of little faith! Why did you doubt?’ (Matt. 14:31)
Faith can be thought of as enlightening; doubt as darkness. Faith is a way of expressing what we can see, so to speak. Doubt is when vision is impaired – clouded or foggy. Faith, like light, offers hope and life. Doubt, like darkness, can be bleak, forlorn, even dangerous.
Doubt often arises in relation to suffering. Faith in God can be boiled down to a faith in God’s goodness. The suffering of the world calls that into question. How can there be a good God in a world of suffering? And suffering itself can be described as darkness, invoking its intimations of deathliness, evil, and degradation.
How can we keep faith in darkness? What does it mean to be faithful when assailed by doubt? Is it possible to believe in God’s goodness, when afflicted or agonised?
Continue reading “Keeping Faith in Darkness” The last few years at St Augustine’s College have begun with an induction day themed on Learning with Difference. We use a variety of approaches to difference in order to shape our identity as a diverse learning community. It falls to me to provide ‘the biblical bit’ and I offer a set of reflections on the story in Joshua chapter 22. It came to my mind quite forcefully last week.
Continue reading “T’aint Civil War (Joshua 22)” Last week began with the shocking news of the conviction in France of Professor Jan Joosten on charges of possession of child abuse images. The details of the case, particularly its extent, were awful, almost awful beyond expression. The news particularly affects fellow members of the professional academic Biblical Studies societies of which he was a member and who were acquainted with him, including myself. It is with my fellow members in mind that I am writing these reflections, in the hope of providing some shred of support.
The immediate outpouring of reactions through social media was understandably raw, and prompts some reflections on how we can make sense of that, and thus have compassion for ourselves and one another in such circumstances. This in turn leads us to explore where can find resources within the Bible to help us in the processing of our reactions. And finally I will offer some thoughts on the implications for the reception of Joosten’s academic work.
Continue reading “‘But it is you, my equal …’ Reacting to the conviction of Jan Joosten” The tragic, heart-breaking death of George Floyd, and the subsequent protests on both sides of the Atlantic, have dominated my reflections for the past week.
As I am a representative of two institutions that are often charged with systemic racism (the Church of England, and the academic guild), I have been spending time reading more deeply into the topic. I want to be part of the solution, not part of the problem.
The thing that has struck me more strongly than before is that (my) white male privilege tends to be invisible to me.
Continue reading “#BLM, White Male Privilege and Sexism in Academia” Not long after the current outbreak started, the Church of England nationally issued some prayers ‘for personal and group use at this challenging time’. They are available at the C of E website. They are good prayers and I hope that many people find them helpful. But something strikes me about them: they offer no articulation of personal negative or difficult feelings. In other words, they do not facilitate any personal lament.
I’ll explain what I mean by that, why it might matter, and what can helpfully supplement those prayers.
Continue reading “Where’s the Cry of Anguish? (Prayers during Covid)” One day last summer, I climbed a mountain. It was a lovely day – if anything a little too hot – and I enjoyed some gorge scrambling, stunning views, and the sense of challenge fulfilled as I reached the top. I sat down to eat my lunch as I admired the view. I was disturbed by only one other person during my break. Yet under a mile away, on a very similar peak, I could see crowds of people. They were coming and going all the time. At one point I tried to count up through my binoculars: there were at least 25 people on the summit at that moment.
The two peaks were very similar: equally accessible, equally scenic, and with similar views. In some respects, the mountain I was on was more impressive than the other. So why should there be such a huge preference for the other, of two virtually equal alternatives? The reason is very simple: that one is the highest peak in England (Scafell Pike); mine was merely the second highest (Scafell).
So this set me thinking. Superlatives are incredibly alluring, aren’t they?
Continue reading “The Allure of the Superlative : Finding Value in the Ordinary” What does trust in God look like when it comes to reading the Bible? I’ve read two different books recently and being struck by the same central hypothesis in quick succession. This really serves to bring the point into focus. One might even say, it is an indication that God is saying something …
Continue reading “Learning to Trust (and) Reading the Bible” Two new suffragan bishops have been appointed in the Diocese of Chichester, one of the partner Dioceses of St Augustine’s College of Theology. Ruth Bushyager will be Bishop of Horsham and Will Hazlewood will be Bishop of Lewes. I look forward to meeting and working with them.
The press release of The Society under the patronage of Saint Wilfrid and Saint Hilda, describes Will as a ‘traditional Catholic priest’, by which I assume is meant one who has theological objections to the ordination of women to the priesthood or episcopate. The Chairman of The Society commented, ‘It is wonderful to see the Church of England’s Five Guiding Principles being lived out in this way.’
The ‘Five Guiding Principles’ are those established following the Act of Synod allowing ordination of women to the episcopate in 2014. They include the superficially contradictory principles that:
Continue reading “Will there be Female Bishops in Heaven?”