The Sixteen Sunday after Trinity: Back to Church Sunday
27th September 2009

Changing, yet unchanged

For centuries churches have displayed the times of their services on painted boards in varying degrees of repair (as we are required by Law) but we now know that this isn't enough. We need to think about communication, advertisement and promotion. Back to Church Sunday is one response to that challenge.

The other day, I took Aidan and his friend to Bugsy's, the new bowling alley and skating rink just a few yards from here. People have of course been bowling at skittles and skating on ice for centuries but at Bugsy's you can do these things in a bright, trendy place with pleasant staff and everything you need to hand, and a nice cafe or bar to finish up in: it is an old idea presented in a new way. Would anyone there I wonder want to engage in conversation about how people once skated on real ice (not plastic) on frozen ponds and lakes, or how people would get ten old wooden skittles and spend ages knocking them down and then re-arranging them? I shouldn't think so. Yet in the Church, our past and our history can be something of an obsession and a brake upon the present and the future.

I don't mean that we should dispose of everything old. For so much of what we have in terms of heritage - the beauty of the Prayer Book, the spiritual qualities of our ancient buildings - are a very significant part of our ongoing life and our contribution to the community; but the truth is that they must serve the present and future of the Church, not weaken it. The Alternative Services Book and now Common Worship were and are not aberrations: they are the Church's brave and essential response to the challenge of going on and not dying gracefully and sadly away. The reordering of churches that suited the Victorians' needs perfectly may seem iconoclastic to some, but there are many many churches that are preserved and maintained by what was once known as the Redundant Churches Trust: and that is what they are - redundant. In the New Testament, Jesus speaks of someone taking out old and new treasures: that is an excellent description for the Church today: we have some wonderful old things to share, but we have to find new ways to touch the lives of those with whom we wish to share them.

It was probably a good thing that the Gospel this morning for the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity (Mark 9:38-50) has been changed for Back to Church Sunday. In the revised extract from the Gospel (Luke 19: 1-10), Zacchaeus is a heart warming story of forgiveness and acceptance and restoration to a new hope. People visiting church don't perhaps want or need to hear about eyes being torn out, and the unquenchable fires of hell. And yet do we have the authority to say that such things do not exist and that in these more tolerant times, such drastic action is not required? It is not easy to be a Christian today and resolving the contradictions of mission in our day and age is not a simple task. But we hope that all over the country, people have had another go at visiting church and found it a place where it was good to be, and that from that step may come a greater sense of purpose and direction in their lives, a way into the mystery of life and a strengthening and enlivening of the Church.

Amen

© PCC St Martin's and St Paul's Canterbury 2008 - 2009