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Letter from the Manse
MARCH 2012
Dear Friends,
Greetings in this time of Lent, a time of study, prayer and reflection. I hope you are finding the season helpful and challenging.
I’ve been reflecting on a rather unorthodox book: Jesus for the Non-Religious by John Shelby Spong, a retired Anglican bishop in America. I’m enjoying it very much, not least because it puts into print many of the thoughts I’ve had for years! I haven’t finished it yet, but I’ve peeked at the ending. And his stark conclusion, which some may find alarming is this: “The religion called Christianity is dying, the casualty of an expanded world view. The God experience in Jesus – that experience upon which Christianity was built is newly dawning and will in time create new forms through which that new vision can live. Once Jesus is freed from the prison of religion, a renaissance and a reformation are possible.”
A shocking thought, but not unique to him. Earlier this week there was a discussion programme on Radio 4 about Christianity and the church and Richard Holloway, another retired bishop, made a similar observation, and noted how egocentric the church had become – when of course it should be Christ-centric. And this is fatal to the church.
Spong’s point isn’t just about religious practice of course, but also about the way we express our faith, which is largely in language and thought patters of a distant past. Fundamentalism and literalism, never the intention of the original writers of scripture, are often getting in the way for those who want to meet the living Christ. I remember when I first started taking my faith seriously, most of the people I was doing bible study with, good kind people in every way, were fundamentalists. And I came home one night after a house group, and prayed, “God if I have to believe these things to follow Jesus, I will; but isn’t there another way?” Happily within the next few weeks, someone offered me a chance to learn New Testament Greek and study the Old Testament at the local adult education college and the rest, as they say, is history!
But not everyone has that much enthusiasm and they can be quickly put off by what seems to be a requirement to believe ten unlikely things before breakfast!
Christianity is very much in the spotlight at the moment – with people like Richard Dawkins having a go at us and the National Secular Society eager to dismantle faith practices in public life. But there are also many unlikely people speaking up for religion and simply wishing it were a bit different. These are folks, who have had wonderful encounters with churches and Christians and have a longing for a deeper experience of what they sense is something joyful, healing and life-enhancing. But they are reluctant to take further steps, and continue to call themselves “atheist” because of what they think they will have to believe in order to meet the living Christ.
Here in Brighton, the city we once thought of as one of the most un-godly in the country, I am encountering many in that second category. When they see what the church is doing in the community and our success at supporting vulnerable people, they are realising that there is something in this man Jesus! They are eager to meet Him for themselves. And over the next weeks we are going to be making that happen all across the city!
Following the success of last year’s open air Passion Play on the seafront, Brighton & Hove City Council have asked the churches to expand their offerings to the city in a Christian Arts Festival, “Soul by the Sea”. All the churches are taking part with a wide variety of offerings and the Passion Play will now extend over two days, Saturday and Easter Sunday. This is intensely exciting – and will give us a chance to offer our Saviour to the city in a deeply personal, experiential way. Christ will be freed from that prison Spong refers to and walking in our midst. And when people meet this wonderful man and have that God experience in Jesus, a whole new thing will happen for the people of our city.
I do hope you will take part in Soul by the Sea and use it as an opportunity to share your faith. As you start up conversations with those around you, tell them about how you know Jesus in your life. If they too know him, you can have a wonderful faith building time. If they haven’t met him yet, you can introduce them. That God experience in Christ is so compelling, that when they meet him in you, Easter could bring them just the new life they are longing for.
May God bless you greatly during this Lent season,
Cynthia
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