still broken

About 11:30am on Monday I glanced out of my diocesan office window and wondered what was going on as I watched various cassocked men heading for Chelmsford Cathedral. Then I remembered that on Monday of Holy Week the cathedral hosts the ‘alternative’ Chrism service. Each Maundy Thursday a Chrism service is held in the cathedral and all the clergy of the diocese are invited to attend. It is an opportunity to gather together; to renew ordination vows; to bless oils which will be used in parishes throughout the year and to celebrate the meal Jesus gave us. However, as I said, an alternative service took place on Monday.

When the Church of England decided to ordain women as priests in the 1990s arrangements were put in place for those who could not support the move. These arrangements were set out in Appendix B to Ordination of Women to the Priesthood: Pastoral Arrangements and provide sacramental care as well as oversight for opponents of the ordination of women to the priesthood. Basically, provision is made in each diocese for a Provincial Episcopal Visitor, sometimes known as a ‘flying bishop’, who offers oversight to those who cannot accept the ministry of the diocesan bishop because of his acceptance of and participation in the ordination of women. It was these clergy who I saw going to the cathedral on Monday for their alternative Chrism service in Holy Week.

I thought back to another view through a window during Advent 2008. I was looking through the window of the small Franciscan church called Dominus Flevit on the Mount of Olives. The church is constructed in the shape of a tear and the view looks out over Temple Mount and the Old City of Jerusalem. This is traditionally remembered as the site where Jesus wept over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41).

So there you have it: Holy Week, when we remember what God has done for all of us through his Son the Lord Jesus Christ and we have two separate services because we can’t agree on what Jesus calls us to be and do in his name. We can’t even share together around the Lord’s table.

Jesus wept and we should hang our heads in shame.

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me." John 17:20-22

Crowd trouble

One of my favourite Holy Week hymns is Samuel Crossman’s My Song is Love Unknown. The third verse always stands out for me:

Sometimes they strew His way,

And His sweet praises sing;

Resounding all the day

Hosannas to their King:

Then ‘Crucify!’ is all their breath,

And for His death they thirst and cry.

Doug Chaplin has posted an interesting blog questioning whether the crowd that welcomes Jesus into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday is the same crowd that then turns on him on Good Friday. Doug comments:

Every year, on or after this day, someone – sooner or later – and usually in a sermon, draws our attention to the “fact” that the crowds crying “Hosanna” on Sunday were crying “Crucify” on Friday.

I’ve already noted that in Luke’s Gospel it is the accompanying disciples who cry “Hosanna”. Luke, for one, doesn’t make the psychologising identification beloved by preachers, but which is read into some kind of harmonised “gospel story”.

I happened to be reading the section in Marcus Borg and Dominic Crossan’s book The Last Week yesterday, in which they reflect on the role of the crowd in Mark. They make an interesting comparison between the Gospels and stress that in Mark the crowd is supportive of Jesus, forcing the hostile authorities to abandon any attempt at a public arrest (Mk 14:1-2) and therefore dependent on Judas to betray Jesus. They note:

• Mark has five references to a supportive/protective crowd between Sunday and Tuesday (11:8-10; 11:18; 11:32; 12:12; 12:37)
• Matthew has three of Mark’s five (21:8-9, 26, 46)
• Luke three or four depending on how one understands ‘the whole multitude of the disciples’ during the entry. (19:37-38, 47-48; 20:6,19)
• John only has the entry into Jerusalem (12:12-18)
• They also cite Josephus for a pro Jesus crowd and anti Jesus authorities: Jewish Antiquities 18:63-64.

What is clear is the recognition of a supportive crowd forcing the authorities to abandon any confrontation in public. Even if Luke is only referring to the disciples for the entry into Jerusalem, the crowd are still identified as supportive early in the week. Is this the crowd that turns on Jesus? Crossan and Borg argue against this and suggest a smaller, different crowd provided by the authorities. They don’t give much support for this argument except to say that it is unlikely the crowd from earlier in the week would be allowed into Herod’s palace.

To return to the hymn. Why I find it so powerful is that it reminds me how fickle I am in my own faith. Times of passion, joy and dedication are so quickly followed by periods of apathy and complacency. I may not be shouting out ‘Crucify’ in open hostility but the blandness of my discipleship is still depressing. It is also sobering to remember that one of Jesus’ most dedicated followers may not have shouted ‘Crucify’ on that first Good Friday but he did deny any knowledge of Jesus when the crunch came.

So I make the last verse of the hymn a prayer for this week:

Here might I stay and sing,

No story so divine;

Never was love, dear King!

Never was grief like Thine.

This is my Friend, in whose sweet praise

I all my days could gladly spend.

De-Pressing

A work of genius in praise of The Daily Mail with a nod to the great Robert Zimmerman.

h/t The Media Blog and echurchwebsites.

Rambo managers

Yesterday I blogged about Rambo priests and it seems football managers don't want to be left out of the action. Here is what is normally referred to in football circles as 'handbags' between Roberto Mancini of Manchester City and David Moyes of Everton from last night's match.

Manchester City 0-2 Everton in case anyone is interested in the score.

h/t the always entertaining Off The Post.

Rambo priests

The Roman Catholic Brooklyn Archdiocese has made a video inviting men to consider joining the priesthood as part of the Year of the Priest. The video is well made with stirring music reminiscent of the opening scene of some great action adventure film. The call to priesthood is presented as a challenge and concludes with the caption: ‘Accept the challenge of priesthood and enjoy the rewards for life’. I don’t have any problem with presenting the call to ministry, any ministry in the service of God, as a challenge and perhaps we have underplayed that aspect of vocation. Yet, I found myself unable to identify with just about every aspect of the video in its presentation of ordained ministry as male and celibate; no surprise there as I am an ordained, married, father of two who is an Anglican!

Resources for exploring vocations in the Diocese of Chelmsford can be found here and here.

‘fasten your missional seatbelts…’

Just one of the comments welcoming yesterday’s announcement that the new Bishop of Chelmsford is to be the Rt Revd Stephen Cottrell, Bishop of Reading. This is great news and there is much rejoicing in the diocese at the appointment. It was a real joy to attend the press conference in Chelmsford and to hear +Stephen speak so passionately about the Gospel. Here are a few excerpts from what he said:

“What sustains me in ministry is the joy and beauty of the gospel. I want us to be a church that is gospel centred, servant hearted and mission focused. I am hungry for us to be a church that connects with every person and every community.

“I am excited by the prospect of getting to know and working alongside the parishes and communities of East London and Essex that make up this great diocese. I look forward to working with new colleagues and making new friends. Building upon the work of those who have gone before us in the faith, together we can do something beautiful for God in the communities we have been called to serve.

“For me coming to Essex and East London feels like coming home. However this is not the end of the journey. We must set our sights on the glory of God and on his son Jesus Christ and on the needs of the world - this is the path we will travel together.”

During the conference +Stephen spoke about how as a teenager he watched the crucifixion scene from Zeffirelli’s Jesus of Nazareth. He went to his bedroom weeping, overwhelmed by the sense of what God had done for him through the cross. So began the journey that has brought him to serve as Bishop of Chelmsford.

The only down side that I can see is that +Stephen is a Spurs supporter, though he also seeks to support his local team wherever he lives. In his youth he supported Southend Utd, who really could do with all the help they can get at the moment, and it has to be said that his support for Reading doesn’t seem to have done them much good.

Anyway, great news and I look forward to +Stephen’s installation which is likely to be in the autumn. For a perspective from the Oxford Diocese have a look at +Alan Wilson’s blog Chelmsford! Essex! You lucky people!. Further details about the announcement can be found on the Diocese of Chelmsford website.

Grace & Passion

The latest exhibition from commission4mission is to be held at St Laurence Church, Upminster during Passiontide. The exhibition's centrepiece will be the first showing of a contemporary set of Stations of the Cross by Rosalind Hore. The Stations of the Cross have been a big influence on Rosalind and her work. Each of her Stations feature three rose buds as a sign of the Trinity. On display around the church will be Rosalind’s series of clay and plaster sculptures.

Also featuring in the exhibition will be work by c4m artists: Adam Boulter, Colin Burns, Ally Clarke, Ann Creasey, Michael Creasey, Valerie Dean, Jonathan Evens, Mark Lewis, Nadiya Pavliv, Caroline Richardson, Joy Rousell Stone, Henry Shelton, and Peter Webb.

Rosalind Hore and Henry Shelton will be in conversation about their experiences of producing Stations of the Cross at a commission4mission networking evening to be held at St Laurence's Upminster on Monday 22nd March, 7.30 - 9.00pm. Henry's Stations of the Crown of Thorns have just been installed at St Paul's, Goodmayes.

commission4mission aims to encourage the commissioning and placing of contemporary Christian Art in churches, as a means of fundraising for charities and as a mission opportunity for the churches involved.