Progressive Christianity Network – Britain December 2009 Supporting and promoting open Christian understanding

Christmas. here and on page 2 Time to renew your membership 3 Thankfulness for Fred Kaan 3 Companioning not frightening 6 Some very personal reflections 7 Affirming Catholicism: an introduction 9 News from local groups 11 The Spong tour: eternal life all over Britain 13 Christmas: thoughts to ponder by Mary McMahon

Mary McMahon is the co- birth – expectant mothers know plenty ordinator of the about waiting! Edinburgh local group, Traditionally, Mary, the mother of Jesus sang and a longstanding and respected member of the the Magnificat when she met her cousin Management Committee. Elizabeth. It’s a lovely affirmation of the way Hers was the refreshing things might be in the kingdom of God. Like and welcome female form the Beatitudes, the world as we know it is to chairing this year’s AGM at St James’s be turned upside-down (or maybe right-way Piccadilly in October. up at last?). The culture of success and Christmas comes at a time of darkness – power will yield to compassion and shorter days, wilder weather, winter gentleness. I’m reminded of the Sunday woollies, and for those fortunate enough to Times List of what’s ‘going up’ and what’s have them, log fires. We look forward to the ‘going down’: activities and celebrations of the season – He will topple all the powerful from their reunions with families and friends, singing, thrones, inevitably a degree of feasting, and equally And raise up all the humble. inevitably some remembrance of other He feasts all the hungry with good cheer, sends Christmas times….There’s tinsel, canned the rich away empty-handed….’ music and unbridled commercialism galore. For this we wait. Maybe the Advent season And there’s war in Afghanistan and grieving helps to remind us that light will always families, poverty in the greater part of the penetrate the darkness – that’s the lovely world, injustice reflected daily through the message of a candle. That seeking the light media, and all too often, sorrow in our own and finding it reflected in even the most communities… unlikely ‘other’ may be what we’re about as Advent reminds us, I think, of the imperative people of the Way… of hope. We wait. The world waits. Not Because we all get habituated to the fuss and passively, but actively seeking the coming of bustle of Christmas, suppose - just for a the light. Seeking reasons for hope. Waiting moment - we were to give ourselves three is hard sometimes. Think of the long gifts this year: gestation period between conception and

1  the gift of wonder, some awareness of why…Remember Auden’s three wise the splendour and beauty of the world men who say: around us - and time to treasure it. To discover how to be human now,  time with a baby, to realize afresh all the Is the reason we follow the star. potential and grace found in surprising Adeste fideles. Come to the manger. Look. places, and the vulnerability of love. Listen. Wait. Receive. Speak only if you can  spot a star! Then perhaps to ask improve on silence. Celebrate the coming of ourselves what star we follow, and the Light. And know that the promise made to our forebears is for us too… Christmas The miracle of a beautiful story by Dorothy Haughton Dorothy Haughton is a member of pageants meets the Jewish tradition of Shrewsbury Unitarian Church, which is on Midrash (Read Jack Spong’s Jesus for the Non- our list of places where PCN members can religious). The child is born of a virgin – expect to find a welcome. It is a place Ecclesiastes with a bit of doctoring. The birth without a minister of its own; there are has to be in Bethlehem because of a visiting ministers, but otherwise ministry is shared by its members. It is also where prophecy, so a tax is invented. There is no Charles Darwin worshipped as a boy with contemporary record. Mary and Joseph set his mother and sisters, and attended the off on their journey across a thousand minister’s school for some years. Christmas cards. Joseph provides, weirdly, Sometimes when I am asked to explain what the blood line of David but none of the being a Unitarian is all about, my interlocutor blood. He seems to inhabit the Christmas says brightly, “Well, you don't do Christmas story solely as a donkey guide. The then” and I explain, patiently that yes, midwinter birth, the cave and the shepherds Unitarians do do Christmas, for Christmas is come from the birth of Mithras, the reluctant a story and a very beautiful one, full of landlord is a nice touch. The magi come from different resonances, and that we love it. Isaiah and Solomon. There is no There was this man, see. Just a carpenter, contemporary record of a star, there may from Galilee but his message fills everyone have been a comet but not in the reign of who hears it with hope and with joy. His that particular Herod. There is no preaching becomes so popular that he contemporary record of a slaughter of the appears to be a threat to the Sanhedrin, a innocents, that presumably comes from charge is cobbled together and the Romans, Moses in Egypt and the death of the first to prevent civil unrest, crucify him. And that born. The Holy Family flee into Egypt so that should be the end of this wandering prophet, the new covenant and the new law can, like among so many wandering prophets and Moses’ law, come out of Egypt. And there pseudo-messiahs. But it's not. His message we have it. And it becomes part of our spreads and spreads. It is carried out of Christmas memories, intertwined with all the Jewry and into foreign lands, lands where the pagan rituals we scooped up and added to people are used to a panoply of gods and the mix: the holly and the ivy, the presents, also used to putting on little playlets to the yule log, and then the cake, the pudding celebrate the birth of heroes. So, a little and the mince pies. And finally there comes pageant is put together. Bishop Spong the entirely personal. suggests that the Christmas story becomes a Take some time to identify how much of play so readily because that is how it started. Christmas for you is made of memories. And So, 2,000 years of little boys with tea-towels rejoice in the miracle of a beautiful story that on their heads! The Roman taste for has captured hearts for 2,000 years.

2 Time to renew your membership! PCN membership runs from January to The committee has decided to maintain the December. So now is the time to renew fee at £30 per person for 2010 – the same as yours for 2010. Included with this newsletter in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. As for you will find a new affiliation form for next previous years, if members feel that they year. Please try and fill it in and return it as have a limited income, for instance if they are soon as you get this newsletter - and before in receipt of benefit, then they can pay a it gets lost in Christmas! If you do by any minimum fee of £15, and receive all the chance mislay it over the holiday period, you benefits of full membership. And for those will be able to find a copy as a pdf on the members who want to support the growth website in the Membership section. and development of the Network by paying  If you chose to pay by standing order last more than £30, they are invited to make an year, and your standing order is working, additional donation of £15, and pay a total of then your renewal will be automatic, but £45. This way we can raise an average of £30 please return a form to us anyway, to per member, and set our budget accordingly. ensure your Gift Aid and contact details We leave it to your own judgement to are up to date. decide what you pay, and this of course  If you were one of those people who remains confidential to the secretary and the were notified that your standing order administrator. Donations continue to be has failed, then please return the form in very welcome – if you can afford more than order to set up a new one. £15, but less than £30, then please send that.  If you have not yet set up a standing And whatever you determine you can pay, order, please do consider doing so this do please rejoin. Numbers count, if we want year. By this method, you can spread people to hear and to take seriously the payment of the membership fee over the Progressive Christian voice. Andy looks year in monthly or quarterly installments. forward to receiving your membership  Otherwise send a cheque, which can only renewal. be paid in one annual installment. Jill Sandham, Secretary  If you can’t remember whether you Andy Vivian, Administrator renewed by standing order or not, then email or write to Andy, and he will tell you! Farewell, Fred, from those you have helped to sing with integrity in our churches Most of you reading this will identify Fred Kaan conference almost a year before Fred’s death, as one of the great hymnwriters of the and in Fred and Anthea’s presence, Brian twentieth century, but perhaps not as a United Wren led us through a number of the hymns in Reformed Church minister. We celebrate all Fred’s book ‘The Only Earth We Know’, a title that Fred has brought to hymnody and ministry that encapsulates much of Fred’s conviction. as we recognise his death in the early hours of Many of these hymns are used variously in our Sunday 4 October 2009 at the age of 80. worship, sung of course but also used as Fred’s hymns are found in most Protestant prayer, reflection or meditation. During the English language hymn books, with first lines conference Brian Wren praised Fred’s writings including ‘For the healing of the nations’, ‘The with the deceptively throwaway line, “that’ll Church is like a table’ and ‘Put Peace in to each preach”, as well as recognising what Anthea other’s hands’. At the Free to Believe describes as ‘the cruellest of diseases to 3 destroy memory and personality’ when he In 1978, Fred returned to England to become remarked: “My dear Fred, you might have the Moderator of the West Midlands Synod of forgotten how to write these hymns, but the the United Reformed Church, also serving as church will never forget how to sing them”. an officer of the Council for World Mission A few months before that conference, Fred and becoming its chairman. His final pastorate Kaan also made a special appearance at the was in Swindon and he retired in 1990, later United Reformed Church General Assembly, becoming a willing and valued Honorary where he took part in public discussion and a Advisor to PCN Britain. celebration of hymnody with Brian Wren and With his first wife, Elly, Fred had two sons, Alan Gaunt. Martin and Peter and a daughter, Alison. Later he married Anthea, their devotion for each other leading her to care for him without flinching through retirement and especially in his final years. She seized every opportunity for them both to rejoice in all that each has brought to lives lived out fully, with their special gift of making people feel valued along the way. There is no doubt that Anthea will continue that enriching philosophy. Their last months together were spent in the constantly changing company of many visiting friends; when impending mortality was powerless over the continuing sounds of regular laughter. Right up to his final days in the sensitive care of those at Yanweth Care Home he enjoyed sharing food and wine with others, living out even then something of those hymns he has given us with which to celebrate communion. It is difficult to speak of Fred Kaan without reference to some of his intensely clever word Photo credit: Mark Howard play amid the amazing simplicity of the words he leaves for us in his hymns. How striking it Born in the Netherlands, Fred spent the war is to take a familiar word like ‘thanksgiving’ and years under Nazi occupation, an experience simply divide it to drive home with heightened which marked his life with a deep concern for understanding a way in which we should live peace and justice. Later he decided to study our lives. ‘There can be no thanks without theology and psychology at Utrecht University. giving’; and we remember with thanks all of On a visit to England he stayed with a family Fred’s giving to us, allowing all that he held so belonging to a Congregational Church and was dear to continue to enrich our lives. so impressed with Congregationalism that, when he decided to offer for the Christian The Revd Roberta Rominger, General ministry in 1952, he chose Western College. Secretary of the United Reformed Church said: "We thank God for the gift to us of Fred Kaan, After a first pastorate in Barry, he was called in whose passion for peace and justice, 1963 to Pilgrim Church in Plymouth where he ecumenical drive and ability to enable the began to be known for his hymn writing, Church to sing the faith in plain but moving arising out of a strong desire for words to speech have had a major influence on the enhance the worship he offered with his Church in the last half of the twentieth congregations but which could not be found in century." the hymns available to him. After five years, with his wide experience, strong convictions Bon voyage, Fred. and a gift for languages, he became the Chris Avis and Linda Harrison minister-secretary of the International Chris and Linda are both United Reformed Church Congregational Council which united in the members as well as of PCN and FtB. The editor is World Alliance of Reformed Churches. grateful for their writing this tribute together. 4 Anthea Kaan to the members of PCN Anthea Kaan spoke about Fred towards the limited when he first came to England. Vivian end of the day with Jack Spong at St James’s, Buddle – a colleague of his when he was training Piccadilly. Here is what she said. at Western College in Bristol told me he came I am grateful for this opportunity on behalf of into the common room one day to find Fred myself, Fred’s three children, Martin, Peter and poring over a book of English phrases saying he Alison and my two daughters Rachel and Joanna couldn’t anywhere find the meaning of ‘Blow you and the rest of the family to thank all the loving Jack’ whereupon Vivian told him it meant to ‘get wonderful friends around the world who have stuffed’. supported myself and Fred, including our lovely Before retiring to the Lake District we were Dutch Alzheimer’s nurse Ons Epskamp and the living in Birmingham. Fred had already retired caring, sensitive staff from Yanwath Care Home before me and I knew I was about to retire from through these last difficult months. I can only say the inner-city practice, where I was working and Alzheimer’s is the cruellest of diseases to knew we could not possibly afford to keep our destroy memory and personality. The real Fred Birmingham home and the Lake District died some time ago. Others can speak better bungalow we had inherited from my parents. I than I can about Fred, his work, his hymn writing, was secretly longing to go to the Lakes, but had his passionate belief in working to make peace. already discovered that having been born in the But I can speak about Fred as a passionate Netherlands Fred did not have a good head for husband, a loving father and grandfather, a man heights and probably would want to stay in who loved travel, a man with a great concern for Birmingham. One day he said to me ‘Why don’t using simple good language and not abstruse, we retire to the Lake District whereupon I said meaningless, religious, old–fashioned words and a ‘But you are doing it for my sake which isn’t fair. man with a good sense of humour. Also a man Fred then said ‘You enjoy climbing mountains. who could always relate well to children and as What makes you think I can’t enjoy looking at increasingly the Alzheimer’s took over his mountains’! And so we came and Fred loved it thought processes a man who made a point of here and said it was one of the best decisions he engaging with children when we were sitting on a had ever made. plane, or a bus, or a train and during endless I would sometimes on a lovely day go out and hospital visits would stoop and bend down and have a climb on my own. When I got back Fred share a smile with a small child we might pass in would always ask me how I had got on. I often a corridor. choose to go to a quieter mountain and would During the Nazi Occupation of Holland the say on returning ‘I haven’t seen a soul all day’ to Scouts were banned, but after the war they which Fred would ask me ‘What does a soul started up again. One evening The Scoutmaster look like?’ came in with his Baden Powell hat and asked all I don’t know what a soul looks like either. Fred the scouts to pull out a name because scouts in always felt that life was in the here and now and I England wanted to be pen-friends. Fred pulled do not believe in life after death, but all I can say out the name of Peter Hayward who received his is that whatever soul means I hope a bit of Fred’s first letter on Christmas Day 1946. He invited soul can live on in you, as it does in me, Fred to come and stay with him and his family remaining a precious part of me. and Fred discovered the Congregational Church, In Fred’s words: liked their democracy and after reading theology Pray that at the end of living in the Netherlands came to read theology at of philosophies and creeds, Western College in Bristol. God will find his people busy Speaking of his passion for language he said he planting trees and sowing seeds. had to write simple English when he felt the need It has been good to share this day in London to write a hymn to illustrate a sermon, because with you all and to hear Jack again. Fred felt so at he couldn’t find anything appropriate in the one with all that PCN stands for and aspires to. hymn-book and his understanding of the English language and its colloquialisms was still slightly Anthea Kaan

5 Companioning, not frightening Hilary Wakeman coordinates the Open 4 Indicate that is it acceptable ‘not’ to believe Christianity Network in Ireland. When John - if one is not free ‘not’ to believe one is Hetherington’s Spiritual Awakening: a also not free to believe. The road is one of global vision appeared in the September faithful reconstruction not negative issue, Hilary emailed John (copying me in) deconstruction leading to nihilism or total thanking him warmly, but also concerned isolation within the church. for “for those who are writhing out from 5 Recognise that pain is unfortunately part of under the deadweight of unuseful doctrine the process, both mental, emotional and and dogma, and looking for support. What social. Fear of the unknown is a natural part do we, can we, do to companion them of this change process. without frightening them?” Since that rang 6 I regret to say that some will reject a many bells for me I asked her to pursue questioning person as this challenges their that question. Here she does. Hugh Dawes own stability in ‘the faith’. Or they are Recently I was on the receiving end of a very simply unsympathetic, intolerant or at worst long phone call from a colleague in this diocese bigoted. There will be problems to face up whom I have never met but who has read my to but not insurmountable ones. book Saving Christianity. He is an evangelical, 7 Take Paul Tillich's point to heart and have suddenly distressed by matters like ‘virgin birth’, ‘The Courage to Be’. ‘penal substitution’, etc, unable to express his 8 It may be useful to refer to thinking new thinking from the pulpit, and needing to conservatives, such as Tom Wright and his pour it all out on the phone. I considered inviting dialogue with Marcus Borg in ‘The Meaning him to one of our Open Christianity meetings. of Jesus’ (Wright and Borg SPCK 1999). This But I think maybe that would frighten him, offers two perspectives on the central issues because we represent quite a wide range of relating to Jesus. The most important part is thinking, maybe wider than he is ready for. the respect both writers have for each Would he perhaps fear that if he got involved other. with progressive Christianity he’d be in danger of 9 It would be important for a questioning losing his Jesus? evangelical to read or preferably meet with So my concern is for people, perhaps especially other former evangelicals who are making clergy, who are writhing out from under the or who have made the same journey. deadweight of un-useful doctrine and dogma, and 10 Stress that there is a real ministry within the looking for support. What do we, or can we, do Church for someone who is questioning and to companion them without frightening them? I changing. Strictly speaking anyone who is put that question to other members of the Open not holding tensions together as part of Christianity steering group. Some recommended their life has ‘passed on to their maker’. various books, including JW Fowler’s Stages of 11 A bit of humour can go a long way - we tend Faith (Harper, San Francisco, 1981/1995), and to take ourselves far too seriously. also D. Tomlinson’s The Post-Evangelical (Triangle, Bill’s points are indeed helpful, especially in a 1995). The following eleven-point response came one-to-one context. But there are also other from Bill Patterson, who is a Methodist local aspects to consider, and they don’t apply only to preacher in Northern Ireland. evangelicals. What sort of publicity should 1 Provide the assurance that questioning is groups like PCN and OCN be engaging in that acceptable and natural for a mature faith. will encourage newly-thinking people to contact 2 Provide the assurance that the person is them, so that a safe space can be provided for respected and accepted no matter how discussion? Should it be clear from our radical the questions - or conclusions. Most publications that we are not all of us extremely evangelicals assume that if you question the far out, theologically (as might sometimes be resurrection in any way it’s all over, assumed by newcomers)? Doctrinal matters like everything is lost - or that the whole of ‘virgin birth’ and ‘penal substitution’ are probably Christian doctrine is a closed system and not generally discussed in the average church or taking one card out means the whole of congregation, so that the average lay person Christianity collapses! hardly knows what s/he thinks about such things. 3 Stress that s/he is not alone: many have Would it be good if they were discussed? And if travelled the same path. so, how might PCN and OCN encourage it? 6 Some very personal reflections on being a progressive Christian Jill Sandham has individuals the space to be held in their own been actively vulnerability. It is the place, the people, that involved in PCN has held my tears of grief, my indignation and from its earliest pain, and celebrated my joy, and provided my beginnings, and its son with a diverse community of folk who love secretary since him. It is like a table, to use the words of Fred 2002. Here she Kaan’s powerful hymn, which has “no sides or writes about the corners, no first or last, no honours; living out - the being - involved in ………..no protocol for seating, a symbol of progressive faith; the giving it asks of us; inviting, of sharing, drinking, eating; an end to and what the network has meant and ‘them’ and ‘us’”. At least, that is what it strives means to her. to be, and when it fails (as it does, all the time), Journeying with the Progressive Christianity it tries again. I cannot conceive ever of not Network in its formative years, I have come to being part of such a community striving to be realise all the more starkly that ‘being thus. progressive’ is not something cerebral, but Earlier this year I had a short but scary time in simply something I am. That’s not to say that I hospital. For a brief time I thought I might be don’t use my capacity for objective reflection dying. It was good practice for the real thing – to think too – but being progressive is not for not least because it made me see that dying me primarily a ‘thinking’ thing. I have also people were grieving people. But most of all, become increasingly aware of what a complex it located me, as belonging, caring about firstly thing progressive Christianity is, simply and most passionately my close family, and because it must embrace diversity beyond our then second, my church community. For that imagining if it is to reflect a following of Jesus. short period, my work environment (about I am fortunate always to have assumed, since which I am passionate) and PCN (which has my teenage years when I first found church, also been my lifeblood) sadly didn’t even enter that the words we use in worship are symbolic the race in terms of what I cared about. Being and poetic, and not literal (for instance, I’ve prayed for did. Not because I believed for a never been very hung-up on ‘did it really moment that prayers would cause an happen like that’ or literal understandings of interventionist god to make me better – I’ve virgin or blood). But I do mind very much never thought that. But because I was held in about style of liturgy, inclusive, participative love, and that I mattered. That in its own way and boundary-pushing language and drama, and sustained me, and ‘made me better’ – even if I re-membering through the eucharist. Tony had then died. Windross, through a talk he gave at a Sea of I first heard the Eight Points at The Center for Faith in the Churches event, helped me see Progressive Christianity conference in that I am the kind of person who has a Philadelphia back in 2002 (where I first fundamental need to worship - to the extent properly got to know Jim Adams and met Jack that if I miss a week or two, it feels a bit like Spong, and where the seeds of a close starvation. Not everyone has this blessing or friendship and loving relationship with Hugh, problem, depending on how you see it. who became my husband in 2004, were sown). Church is the place where I gather my thank But to stick to the Eight Points – I found them you’s, and my sorry’s, and most importantly is easy to embrace, as a satisfactory reflection of the rooted community to which I belong as the my own faith journey. The Point which stood person I am, at my worst and at my best. It is out for me was number 5 – ‘We are Christians a community which is broken and vulnerable, who know that the way we behave toward one and I can be that within it. It is at its most another and toward other people is the fullest progressive when it is in touch with its own expression of what we believe’. Closely vulnerability and brokenness, and can give followed by number 4 – ‘We are Christians 7 who invite all people to participate in our have not always demonstrated that by the way community and worship life without insisting they have treated others. that they become like us to be acceptable… ‘ Now anyone who knows me will know that I Ministry is what I do in life, not exclusively fail miserably in all this ‘giving away’ stuff most what I do in church. I am a social worker by of the time – always got too much to say, hog trade. That has taken me through varied and the floor, don’t listen, push my agenda, think I interesting jobs – with parents trying hard but know best. But for all that – I think much of frequently not managing to care for and the time, even in PCN, we are in danger of protect their children enough; with oppressed missing these fundamentals of what being and depressed communities, finding courage progressive Christians is about, and need and confidence to celebrate and have a voice; gently and respectfully to keep ourselves and as a manager of a charity for children and each other on track. The ending of St James’s parents, having to take tough decisions to Piccadilly’s mission statement has become my ensure its future survival, and care for staff in mantra: “We don’t manage it all the time, so the process; and now, as an adviser on we try again”. When things feel fragile, as they safeguarding in a diverse and complex diocese. often do, the progressive Christian way may be And alongside that I have brought up three to be in touch with vulnerability and allow for, boys, much of the time as a single parent, even enable and encourage, diversity and through some challenging times. difference in an open and transparent way, In all this, being a progressive Christian has rather than rally for leadership and direction been – and is - very complex, and difficult. It is and a closing down. something to do with giving away, not claiming. PCN has often been space for ‘breathing Giving away power, most definitely, to those oxygen’ for me, especially at its gatherings of who have too little. Not seeking privilege or members, and often at its Management status. Listening to others, working out Committee meetings. There’s been much solutions together. Being gentle, as Yeats laughter, shared frustration, and freedom to expresses better than ever I could: “I have say what we really think, and an absence of the spread my dreams under your feet; tread all-too-common arrogance of ordained clergy carefully because you tread on my dreams”. over lay. Indeed PCN gatherings are probably Giving away to those who are weak and the only places where I can rarely distinguish powerless is a risky business. Ironically the job clergy from lay, and where clerical collars are I now find myself in – safeguarding – is all not, by unspoken common understanding, the about creating environments of safety. dress code. ‘Welcoming all’ involves setting limits on some, I’m stepping down from the role of Secretary, in order to keep others safe, otherwise by and from the committee, from the end of default those others are no longer welcomed. December this year. This short piece is a There are not many communities who thank you, for all the ways which you the welcome sex offenders. Church at its best members have journeyed with me, and helped does. And in my experience, the evangelicals to form and grow in me what being a do it best of all. That is being progressive, progressive Christian is about. I’ll end where I grappling with the complexity of what we are began – it is much more complex than I ever asked to do as followers of Jesus, and that is imagined, but the wrestling with it has been very costly (reference point 8). Along the way, and will continue to be worthwhile. I may not I’ve discovered some very surprising fellow have been an easy travelling companion for travellers on the progressive path, who would some of you. But I have made good, treasured never have described themselves (indeed in friends through the UK, and ‘across the pond’, some cases would have been insulted by) being which will be lifelong. Thank you to all of you labelled progressive; and some who have who have shared my progressive path thus far. proclaimed themselves as progressive, but Jill Sandham [email protected] St Deiniols Weekend 2010 The successful series of PCN-Britain sponsored St Deiniol's Weekends will continue in 2010. The weekend is booked for 21st - 23rd May. The booking form containing further details can be found in this mailing. Places are limited and again will be allocated on a first come basis. 8 Affirming Catholicism An introduction PCN has a series of of women bishops into the Church of England. partners it seeks to The Affirming Catholicism Standing Committee work with. This is made a substantial submission to the Women something the Bishops Legislative Drafting Group in 2007. In it, Management they called for a clarifying of the Church’s Committee has position on those who refused to accept the worked hard at, decision to ordain women to the episcopate: and Adrian Alker “Specifically, we conclude that it would be simply has had a key role impossible to contain within one church those in its development. who hold that women have been ordained Some of those bishop in the Church of England, and those who partners feature believe that those ordinations are not genuine. regularly in these pages; others less so. We believe that provision can and should be Here Liz Terry, a regular book reviewer for the newsletter, introduces us to ‘Aff Cath’ made for all those who accept the church’s and its work and concerns. decision but retain their private doubts, but cannot be made for those who regard that Affirming Catholicism began in 1990 in response decision as null and void and who wish to live to what was seen as an undermining of the long- apart from the rest of the church.” 3 standing Catholic tradition of Christianity. The word “Catholic” in this context is not to be They have also welcomed Civil Partnerships, confused with “Roman Catholic”. Here it is used producing a booklet calling on the Church to in the more general sense of being open to all accept them as a pastoral opportunity. The things. In their publicity they describe themselves foreword to the booklet has been written by the as “bringing together and strengthening lay and Very Reverend Dr Jeffrey John, the openly gay ordained people who recognise the positive, dean of St Albans, who was forced to stand inclusive and joyful currents in the Catholic down from his appointment as suffragan Bishop tradition of Christianity”1. Since its beginnings at of Reading in 2003. A massive furore over his a meeting in St Albans, Holborn, London, the celibate gay relationship caused the Archbishop movement has grown year on year, and there of Canterbury to fear the division of the Church are now local Affirming Catholicism groups all if he was appointed. He is a founder member and over Great Britain and Ireland. They are a trustee of Affirming Catholicism. He states in his registered charity, and rely on supporters for all foreword: their funding. “We know that the road to full and equal Aff Cath (as it is affectionately known) has been a acceptance of gay relationships throughout the liberal and progressive voice within the Anglican world will be long and hard, but we can rejoice Communion for a long time, and is highly that in this country the partnership law is a very 4 respected. Their website2 is a veritable treasure big step along it.” trove of literature, campaigns, conference details They also issued a press release after the much- and reports, advice on vocations, publishing – publicised House of Bishops Pastoral Statement you name it, Aff Cath have got a hand in it. Their on Civil Partnerships came out, in which the wide network of local groups provide a focal Reverend Richard Jenkins (director of Affirming point for many of its members, with a range of Catholicism) stated: activities and events including talks by prominent “This was a chance to reach out to lesbian and Anglicans, workshops and quiet days. For those gay people in a way which would reflect Jesus’ members who live in diocese not known for care and affirmation. Instead their advice falls their liberality, this can be a lifeline. However, short of genuine pastoral care and reflects the Affirming Catholicism do not limit their activities contradictions at the heart of the Church’s to local groups. current position. Something better is called for.”5 There are nearly one hundred of its members in All of the above quotes are a source of hope to the General Synod of the Church of England, those of us who often feel that we are shouting making them a force to be reckoned with when in a vacuum. It helps to know that such a large decisions need to be made by that body. Most and well-respected organisation is on our side. recently, this has been shown by their vocal As well as their campaigning work, Affirming support for the campaign to allow the ordination Catholicism members are supportive of anything 9 that is fresh and different, and which changes the recent decisions by the General Synod and Church for the better. Progressive Christians the resolutions from the Lambeth Conference world over want their church (of whatever tending to espouse the ideals of a bigoted, denomination) to move with the times and fundamentalist and narrow-minded few, it seems embrace new ideas, and to this end, Aff Cath are that they are just as needed now as they were in supporting the Archbishop of Canterbury’s 1990, if not more so. We can be assured that “Fresh Expressions” initiative, which hopes to progressive Christianity has a voice within the engage people who would not normally approach Church through this established and respected the Church, and ensure that our rich tradition organisation. does not die out: 1. Leaflet: “Affirming Catholicism – Inspiration and hope in the Anglican Communion”, available from Affirming Catholicism “At its best, the Fresh Expressions programme website. invites us to integrate the wisdom of traditional 2. www.affirmingcatholicism.org.uk patterns of the Church with contemporary 3. Affirming Catholicism Submission to the Women Bishops Legislative Drafting Group of the General Synod, 30th March 2007, society in the twenty first century. Such fresh page 4 expressions of Christ can offer to us a vision of 4. Civil Partnership: A Guide For Christians by Jonathan Sedgwick communities of the crucified where new things (Affirming Catholicism, London) are brought out and the tradition is handed on.”6 5. Affirming Catholicism Press Release, 25/07/05 6. Affirming Catholicism website section about Fresh Expressions: Affirming Catholicism is a liberal voice of reason http://www.affirmingcatholicism.org.uk/pages/default.asp?id=10 within an increasingly intractable Church. With

Letter from the chair John Churcher Communication is the life blood of any locally and nationally. The Management organisation. In this respect the Newsletter Committee is here to serve the membership will continue to play a major part in and as part of its work, members of the MC communication between members and groups. will be meeting at a 24 hour residential in Also in the future the website and email will be January. The first day will be an open agenda to additional sources of communication. Members review the roles of MC Officers and to discuss who are on the PCN-Britain email list will have ways in which work load and role received the first of regular Occasional specifications can be developed to meet the Updates from the Chair in early November. I changing needs of this growing membership do encourage members to make use of the organisation. There is a wealth of expertise website and email facilities to let one another within the wider membership that should be know what is happening in your area, and also used much more in developing the local and to share your thinking on developments in national work of PCN-Britain. Ways in which progressive Christianity, especially in the to increasingly involve all members, and not Forum. just those who can get to the AGM, may also Those who received the November email be discussed. Changes are inevitable. Co- update will have read my thanks to both Jill options onto the MC will need to be made. Sandham and Hugh Dawes for arranging and There may need to be amendments to the ensuring that Jack Spong’s speaking tour of Constitution, and if so, these will be brought PCN-Britain groups was such a success. And if to the next AGM. you have yet to read Jack’s latest book All organisations change or die. There is no “Eternal Life: A New Vision” then I strongly standing still anymore. PCN-Britain has achieved recommend that you do so: part much in these years of establishing and in autobiography and part a challenging consolidating its place in the progressive network exploration of life, death and ‘beyond’. Jack’s of similar organisations in Britain. Now we need writing is always inspirational but this is, as far to look to the next stage of development. as I am concerned, one of his best. I also thank Where as many Christian organisations and all local organisers of the venues and meetings Churches are moving into strategies of survival for Jack’s tour. at least PCN-Britain is looking to cope with the fresh challenges of growth! I ask you to bear with PCN-Britain has achieved much since its us as the Management Committee works inception, and there is much more that can and through the future needs and strategies to deal will be achieved in the future. These are with the present and the future. exciting times to be developing this work Blessings, John Churcher 10 hole in the centre of the work but both Jill and A further note from John Hugh will continue as members of the Change is always difficult and loss of friends and organisation. Appropriate ways of marking their colleagues can be very unsettling. This is departure will doubtless be discussed in the especially so when those whose original vision months to come, but in the mean time I wish to and on-going commitment have brought an thank them both, on behalf of all members, for organisation to a point of success and continuing their commitment, dedication and vision. growth, decide to step aside. In this respect, Without Jill and Hugh there may never have both Jill Sandham and Hugh Dawes have been been a PCN-Britain. We are grateful and instrumental in the life and work of PCN-Britain. immensely indebted to both of them. On behalf Their commitment and expertise has been of all the membership I wish them joy and enormous and they have given so much and so success as they ‘retire’ from the Management freely to the work. Therefore it is with great Committee to continue being active in the work sadness that both have decided to step down of progressive Christianity in their local area. from the Management Committee as from 31st John Churcher December. Their departure will leave a huge News from local groups Birmingham and West Midlands We meet in the Cluny Centre, Braid Road from 7.30- (Tessa Carrick 01527 873135 9-30 (with a welcoming cuppa on arrival) All are [email protected]) welcome, whether members or not. The group welcomes new members. Meetings are Exeter held approximately bimonthly in members' homes and (Liz Vizard 01392 668859 are usually about ten people. We have just finished [email protected]) discussing the topics in Tony Windross's The We hosted Jack Spong on the last leg of his UK tour Thoughtful Guide to Faith. and again managed to fill the URC Southernhay Our next meeting will be in Hagley, Worcestershire church with members and friends from all over th on January 14 2.30. - 4.00.p.m. when we shall discuss Devon and Somerset. As always, Jack delighted his Karen Armstrong's Charter for Compassion released audience with his devastating analysis of the church's on 12th November: http://charterforcompassion.org failure to align doctrine with the reality of practice and http://charterforcompassion.org/about and also with regard to life after death. His wit and clear Karen Armstrong's article in The Guardian on thinking are undimmed. His life journey towards an Tuesday November 10th: Charter for Compassion: understanding and acceptance of death was clearly laid At one with our ignorance, which is available on out, as in his book. How that encourages us to make http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/belief/2009/ our own peace with such questions remains to be nov/10/charter-for-compassion. For details about the experienced. venue, please telephone Tessa Carrick as above. We had a very enlightening and unusual meeting on At the following meeting (date and venue to be November 8th with Brian Wilson on Poetry as a arranged) we will discuss Rowan Williams' sermon Pathway to God (alerted by his article in a PCN from Remembrance Day (downloadable from newsletter) and this was a very much more 'right http://www.archbishopofcanterbury.org/2600) brained' event (see Jack Spong's reference to being After that we plan to discuss some ideas raised in dominantly 'left brained' in his new book). Many of the Karen Armstrong's The Case for God, so we suggest 25 plus attending had brought poems to share and we people borrow the book and begin reading it now. had a very thoughtful and wide-ranging discussion Edinburgh following Brian's excellent and extremely well (Mary McMahon 0131 441 3337 researched talk. Email: [email protected] Brian showed us how poets as 'seers' have and still We are fitting in an extra meeting this session, to can lead us beyond science and rationality (though allow for an appropriately seasonal celebration in they are essential) through myth and metaphor, to a December, following our book discussion at the language that can articulate a sense of God that is November meeting. truthful. Brian suggests we should develop and use In the New Year our programme is: this language further, in order to help others Mon 25th January – exploring one of the DVD sessions 'rediscover God': a task he sees as the primary one from ‘Beyond Theology’, led by Jim Moffat now for the church of the 21st century. But how do Mon 22nd February – a talk by Elizabeth Templeton on we do that when we can see through recent history ‘A credible faith for to-day’ 'the eclipse of poetic and intuitive truth by the rise of Mon 29th March – ‘Science and Religion –Why all the scientific and prosaic truth'. fuss?’ Speaker: Rev Dr Michael Fuller. Deep and difficult questions that did not duck the most difficult: how we replace our demolished inadequate theology; how to build again. A question

11 our group returns to often, especially after a visit Bishops. Many of us have made representation to the from Spong! revision committee to ensure that a just solution to '...through poetry, we may find that the God of all the situation will be presented to the Synod when it truth has arrived at the intellect by way of the heart.' next convenes early next year. Our non-anglican Our next meeting will be on Sunday January 17th at brothers and sisters have been asked to keep our 2.30 in the URC Southernhay Hall in Exeter at 2.30pm branch of the Church in their thoughts and prayers. when Rev Iain McDonald will complete his series on London: Richmond the Eight Points of PCN. All are welcome. (Alan Powell 020 8878 7355 Gloucestershire Email: [email protected]) (Frank Godfrey 01452 533825 The Richmond Group meets on Saturday afternoons [email protected]) at about six weekly intervals. It is about 12 strong and We continue with the question “Can we rely on the now includes members from Putney and Ealing. We N.T record?” One member led a study of stories of are currently discussing "Between The Poles - creative the birth and the baptism of Jesus, and in future living between atheism and religion" by Chris Scott. meetings we will move on to the miracles, followed The next meeting is on Saturday 12th December. by the resurrection, with Jack Spong’s work being a Anyone interested in joining us would be most primary source. At the time of writing this we were welcome and should contact Alan Powell for more looking forward to John Churcher’s visit to us – details. “Exploring the Gospels as Social Commentary”, which Manchester was widely advertised in the hope of publicising the (John Ramsbottom 0161 456 5119 activity of our group more widely. [Ed: the meeting Email: [email protected]) took place before we went to press – we look The group has met on a monthly basis, and sessions forward to news of it in the March 2010 newsletter.] th have been based around the "Living the Questions" Our next meeting will be on January 9 at the regular DVD course for the most part, although we have time and place. been flexible and taken in other items of a topical Hertfordshire nature where necessary. October saw a number of (Diana Reddaway the group attend the Bishop Spong lecture in Sheffield, [email protected]) and that month’s meeting took the form of a review A very full programme for 2009 ended with a and discussion of reactions to what he had to say. discussion on ‘Creation and the Cosmos’ that also Plans for next year are for the following dates: 25th opened the Welwyn Garden City Interfaith Week Jan; 24th Feb; 24th March - all at St Agnes church, activities. The meetings organised for early 2010 Reddish, Stockport. An open invitation is extended commence on Sunday 17th January with speakers to anyone who might like to join us. Attendances Rachel and Sarah Hagger-Holt introducing their new have averaged around 12 so far - contact John book ‘Living it Out: A survival guide for lesbian, gay Ramsbottom for more details. and bisexual Christians and their friends, families and Newbury churches” published by Canterbury Press in (Maria Grace 01635 47196 November 2009. The February meeting on Sunday Email: [email protected]) st 21 will be on the subject of Abundance and will be Four of us attended the stimulating Jack Spong introduced by Rev Nina Johnson, a Methodist minister occasion in London. We reported back at our next heading up pioneering work of Christian hospitality on meeting. Different things had struck different people. a major new brown field housing development and st We could certainly identify with encountering the university campus. The meeting on 21 March will be God experience in Jesus. However we had a question. introduced by Rev John Churcher who will be Jesus was a person of his culture and times so he discussing his new book “Setting Jesus Free”, must have been deeply motivated by his published by O Books in December 2009. All understanding of God, which was presumably Jewish meetings take place at the Backhouse Room, and theistic. But Progressive Christians now have a Handside Lane, Welwyn Garden City [4 – 5 p.m. very different understanding of God to the one Jesus followed by refreshments]. had. So are we right to still call ourselves Christians? London: Herne Hill Any feedback on this appreciated. (Ted Offerman 020 8852 7063 Salisbury [email protected]) (Lavender Buckland 01722 780488 We continue to meet regularly at roughly monthly Email: [email protected]) intervals and we are now well into The First Paul by Our inaugural meeting was on a stormy evening, when Borg and Crossan. This is a stimulating and Martin Godfrey joined us with a wonderful array of interesting book putting a new and in depth books, DVDs and CDs. We valued his comments, on perspective on Paul. Some of the writers’ conclusions both the materials and on the setting-up of new have proved controversial (largely because the book groups; and warmly welcomed the chance to ask him lacks references) and discussion has been lively. questions. The Anglicans in our group are concerned for the We have agreed to meet on the THIRD Wednesday status of women in the Anglican Communion of each month, at 7pm for coffee, with the meeting at especially with regard to the ordination of women 12 7.30 to end at 9.30. The Group welcomes enquirers: COP15-Climate Change, Copenhagen; March 25th we now have 10 members and look forward to our David Catchpole. th Christmas Meeting on Wednesday, 16 December at Vale of Glamorgan the URC Chapel, Broad Chalke. For directions, and (Janice Proctor 01446 401152 for all other details, contact Lavender Buckland. Email: [email protected]) Tunbridge Wells Radical Pilgrims Our regulars continue to be inspired by our meetings. (Pat Churchill 01892531541 One commented that it is motivating to be in a group [email protected]) where you can say whatever you like and it will be Everyone is welcome to our meetings which are accepted without bias or judgement but as a helpful generally on the last Thursday of the month.(ring me contribution to our discussions. to check time and venue). We tend to pick topics to Representatives of our group were at the PCN AGM discuss rather than following a set course. and Jack Spong’s lecture in London. Others, who Members have had a busy three months, attending were unable to make that date, hired a minibus to lectures, involving themselves in climate change and Exeter. It was well worth the journey. fair trade issues. These included listening to Rowan Topics which are on our minds at the moment include Williams, and attending the Living the Questions the perennial issue of young people and the equally presentations. important theme of world peace. The start of our autumn programme saw us joining We love our meetings but we are mainly over 60 and our sister group in Hastings for a day seminar some over 80. We noticed that there were very few presented by David Catchpole titled ‘Jesus of young people at Jack Spong’s talk in Exeter. We Nazareth, crucified but why?’ It was a very thought understand how Evangelical churches can appeal to provoking day which gave us an insight into how a young people through a message of certainty and religious historian reaches conclusions. through emotional and enthusiastic hymns but most This was followed a short while later by reports of of us have reached our present understanding of and extracts from a couple of talks at Greenbelt. The Christianity through a process of discarding elements first by Gene Robinson and the second Dave of the faith we were taught in Sunday School and Tomlinson, both thought provoking and leading to church. How can we communicate this re-fined and discussion. re-defined faith to a generation which has never had One member, having been on a retreat at Worth any faith to discard? How can we speak Abbey, entitled “Finding Happiness” shared her enthusiastically and yet at a level youngsters will experience with us. Happiness was described in understand and feel attracted to? And, the first and terms of contentment, fulfilment and engagement greatest problem for a group of “oldies”, how we get needing a balance of work, prayer and study. It gave in touch with young people in order to try to freedom to do what one liked as long as it does not communicate with them? Any comments? harm others, a tall order! On the theme of world peace, we all believe A group of us attended Jack Spong’s lecture about passionately in inter-faith working and inter-faith which some of us are still pondering. The November dialogue. We think this ought to have a higher profile discussion on this ranged widely with various thoughts in all denominations at a national level. We wonder being aired. how we can put it into practice at a local level. Ideas, th We look forward to future meeting: December 17 A please! radical Christmas; January 28th Darwin; February 25th Jack Spong’s Tour – Eternal Life Visit of Bishop Spong to Colchester, near the Spongy Bottoms of Norfolk On Tuesday, 20th October, 2009 a number of those from Lion Walk Church pulled together to fling wide the church doors and welcome 148 people from East Anglia who joined us to listen to Bishop John Shelby Spong at the first of five venues on his PCN Britain tour. Jack Spong's subject was 'Eternal Life: A New Vision', the title of his recently published book, copies of which were eagerly purchased by many after the talk. Encouragingly, a good proportion of the audience was hearing Jack for the first time, although many had read his books and already received his weekly question and answer through Waterfront Media online. There had been minor hiccups along the way: on two attempts to deliver the carefully prepared packs from PCN, Parcel Force had seemed skyline and marrying our past with our modern unable to identify our prominent Victorian Gothic- church built above the town centre shops. Our other style tower and steeple marking the Colchester worry, the noise from the major modifications to the 13 shopping precinct (that will allow those who choose Some have indicated they were disturbed, but keen to Colchester for their Christmas shopping to feel they follow the spark that has been lit; some felt they had could be shopping in almost any town in Britain), was heard much of the talk before; but those I have drowned out by concentration levels during the spoken with all recognised a masterful delivery, challenging talk followed by pointed and equally captivating and awakening us to maturity in our engaging questions and answers. thinking – opening and encouraging us all to look beyond our traditional, safe boundaries. There is a It was a great privilege to welcome Jack and Christine, CD available containing the talk (see page 16), plus a as well as Hugh Dawes, to share time with us in East bonus disc including Q&As from our own and other Anglia. There is some disappointment that the four venues. Thanks for these go to Mike and James at new itching-to-be-born PCN Britain local groups Lion Walk and Chris Avis in Exeter (please use my along the A12 Essex/Suffolk artery have not as yet had local group contact e-mail if you are interested). interest generated from the evening as hoped. The four contact names are on the PCN Britain website For all you may have awakened near the spongy and you are welcome to be in touch at any time. I am bottom lands of your ancestors in Norfolk, thank you aware of several local church groups who have gone Jack and thank you PCN Britain. on to discuss the content of our evening together. Linda Harrison, Colchester To Edinburgh Over 250 people attended the lecture given by Bishop ocean depths, to human beings, to matter in the most Spong in St John’s Church, Edinburgh. Standing at the distant galaxies: all are made of stardust. door as people came in, I heard only one hostile Thus far atheists and agnostics, and indeed all but the comment about PCN (‘Is that the atheists’ most extreme creationists, would have had no difficulty association?’). A few people were uncertain, preferring with Spong’s reasoning, and no cause to challenge his to reserve judgement until they had heard the talk, but conclusions. At this point, however, just as we were the vast majority were open, interested and hugely waiting for the ‘new vision’ that would reveal once and grateful for the opportunity to explore issues of faith in for all the mystery of eternal life, the speaker an open, honest way. The talk was warmly received, pronounced, “That’s as far as I can go in human words!” and there would have been more questions at the end Frustratingly, tantalisingly and perhaps inevitably, the had those that were asked been answered more briefly. final stage of Spong’s otherwise rigorously logical Spong began by highlighting the way in which Christian argument turned out to be a leap of faith, different in funerals have become so much ‘thinner’ in recent years, content but similar in kind to that of every other human turning into little more than a memorial service for the being who has ever tried to explain from inside the deceased, as conviction about life after death has faded bounds of humanity what divinity and eternity may be even among eminent theologians. This, he claims, is about. The only reason he could give for not joining because the faith system that gave birth to the original what he describes as the ‘Church Alumni Association’, conviction has been rendered obsolete by the was that the ‘god reality’ was so deep in his life that he discoveries of modern science, from Hubble to Newton could not abandon it. And when pressed by a to Darwin. questioner to say whether we would know our loved I was a little concerned that so much time was going to ones after death, he simply stated his belief that the self- be spent ‘debunking’ traditional understandings of God conscious human (himself) was more than just the and eternal life that there would be no time left for product of a highly evolved brain. reconstruction. However, having outlined two extreme I was left, at the end of a fascinating roller-coast ride responses on the part of religious believers to the new through time and eternity, with a certain sense of scientific knowledge – either to refuse to engage with it, frustration, wondering whether Spong had really or to abandon faith altogether – Spong proceeded to delivered what he said he was going to give: a new develop his own, radical approach to exploring vision of eternal life. Yes, as self-conscious creatures, questions of eternity, much of which would be familiar we can remember the past and imagine the future; yes, to those who had heard him before. by ‘living fully, loving extravagantly and being all that we As far as he is concerned, the only way for time-bound can be’, we can have a sense of experiencing that creatures to enter into the mystery of God is to ‘something more’ which used to be thought of as God journey more deeply into this life, time and our ‘up there’ in heaven; yes, the interconnectedness of all humanity, not to look for answers which lie beyond life means that the component parts of my body will be them. still be part of the universe just as my ideas and actions His account of where his journeyings have taken him will continue to have an (albeit infinitesimal) impact thus far was masterly, compelling and poetical. He paid after my death, but can this be described as ‘eternal tribute to the heroism of humanity, having to live with life’? Is it enough to calm the existential anxiety that is the chronic anxiety that is the price of self- part of being self-conscious and mortal? Is it any more consciousness. He described some of the wonders of than someone like Dawkins can offer by way of reason nature encountered in the Amazonian forest: for ‘getting up in the morning’? And if we have indeed remarkable examples of the inbuilt drive of every living moved ‘beyond religion; beyond theism; beyond heaven thing to survive. He showed how all of life is both and hell’, does it matter? indivisible and interdependent, from plankton in the J Mary Henderson 14 To London “You don’t need to be born again; you need to grow In the afternoon, Spong returned, initially, to his up.” critique of traditional Christianity. He said that The quip raised a ripple of amusement among the people who are required to denigrate themselves to three hundred plus audience at St James’s, Piccadilly. gain favour with God are more likely to become It was typical Spong – taking a side swipe at persecutors themselves, listing Jews, coloureds, fundamentalists while coincidentally offering women and homosexuals among the victims of something profound. For Spong, eternal life is the life Christianity. But he reserved his greatest scorn for on offer when our humanity finds fuller expression, as the doctrine of justification. exemplified by Jesus. “God becomes a child abuser and punishes his own Appropriately in this year of Darwin, Spong started son and as a result you and I become a guilt laden with evolution. As humans became self-conscious, people. Guilt is the currency that keeps the church they acquired a unique sense of vulnerability and going… Gratitude never produces wholeness”. isolation. We are the first and only living creatures to So what makes Spong a Christian? Eventually, he told fear death. We have become burdened by thoughts us. of survival. “In Jesus we see a freedom from fear about people “Human beings are chronically anxious people,” Spong who are different, a freedom from the survival told us. “The human image of God is created by mentality… Jesus loved beyond the boundaries of humans’ anxiety”. self-survival.” In this way the human person came to believe that “If we see God as the source of love, the source of s/he would prosper and survive if s/he found favour life, then we have a new way of seeing Jesus – as with a God who could guarantee these things. portraying a human so whole and full that all of According to Spong, this self-interested formula still God could be expressed through him.” has almost universal application. And this in turn leads Spong to a new way of seeing “Flattery of God and reverse flattery (denigrating humanity, expressed in two typically pithy one-liners: ourselves) for the purpose of manipulating God is “We are not fallen sinners, we are incomplete what we do in worship”. human beings”. Well, no definition of God is eternal, Spong promised “The Holy Spirit didn’t make us religious, it made us, and it was clear he wished to deliver the coup de us human.” grace to this one. His alternative image turned out to According to Spong, Jesus showed us that the fruit of be rather more mystical, echoing the God language self-consciousness need not be the burden of a used by Paul Tillich. Spong described God as: survival mentality, it can be: “The Ground of Life coming into our consciousness”. “Unity with God – to let God live in us and He also offered other possible images. through us.” “Maybe God is the experience in all things… the “Our mission is not to convert people but to life that flows through the universe… transform people; to be all that they can be, to love “Maybe God is that quality of love that calls us to wastefully and to live fully.” go beyond our survival mentality, freeing us to love “You can be part of who God is and God becomes wastefully”. part of what you are… You come into being.” And with that thought Spong sent us off to lunch. Andy Vivian And to Exeter drove down from London and arrived earlier than expected, so after booking in at their accommodation and reconnoitring the evening venue they invited me to share some lunch with them in Exeter. There are many eating-places near the church, but all were very busy in this coincident half-term week and lunch for us took over an hour. However, that was no problem in Jack and Christine’s good company with the conversation ranging from current progressive shifts within the URC to Jack’s disappointment at leaving his favourite very old coat behind in Sheffield (much to Christine’s relief)! More than 160 from all over the south west gathered at the church that evening to hear some characteristically engaging and challenging ‘Spongery’. It was a great responsibility but an even greater Much of the early content of Jack’s talk was familiar to honour to organise the Exeter evening at Southernhay Christian progressives, describing the often- URC for Bishop Jack Spong’s West Country anachronistic nature of the church in a post Galileo- appearance on his 2009 UK tour. Jack and Christine Newton-Darwin-Einstein world. Fresher to many 15 ears was his conviction of the inter-relatedness of all is well into the ‘third half’ of his life, he replied that creation, both animate and inanimate, and the ‘eternal Christine had bookings arranged for 2011. Here’s to life’ embedded in the Tillichian ground of our being. the next tour! Is this Jack’s ‘Spongsong’? When I asked them during Chris Avis lunch if they were considering winding down now Jack And another conference Jesus of Nazareth, crucified but why, resurrected but how? Daphne Pollard reports on a day organised by the uprising of 70CE in which the Romans destroyed Hastings local group. Jerusalem. He was handed over to the Roman consul We often hear "modern scholars think...." but David several times for torture and when that didn't work, Catchpole in a fascinating day showed how they come they pushed a huge boulder off the walls and flattened to their conclusions and, without insisting that his was him. A more Jewish means of disposal! the definitive answer, how he came to his. He also told us about Jewish burial rites of the time. For someone, like me, who has no formal theological A body would have been anointed immediately after training that was an eye-opener. death and wrapped in a cloth with spices before First, a bit of literary criticism burial. Anointing after three days would have been By boxing certain verses in a story, for instance, most unusual. After complete decomposition the Matt.27 vv 24 & 25, in the story of Jesus' trial, he bones would have been collected and buried in an showed how the story flows better without them. ossuary. The bones of a crucified man with a "nail" This suggests they were an insert. In this case the embedded in the ankle shows that there were piece about Pilate washing his hands of responsibility occasions when crucified people were buried rather and throwing it back to the Jews was probably added - than being thrown on the rubbish tip, so what Joseph perhaps as a payment for Christianity becoming the of Arimathea did was not unique. religion of the Roman Empire I am thinking. I did not Growing in the telling need much convincing anyway that the crucifixion was The above suggests that part of the resurrection the work of Rome. stories were added by the early church before they Referring to History were written down. The place of the women seems David was able to show us how much influence the original because their names were added as a kind of Jews had under Rome. He spoke of the execution of footnote in the story previous to Easter, as if it were James, the brother of Jesus, which happened in a preparing us for their (most unusual for the time) part space between Roman Consuls. James was stoned to in its climax. The historic details of the appearances death. Roman history states that in 3-4 years five of Jesus are really hard to decipher, especially as the High Priests were appointed. The last was Caiaphas Gospels don't agree on any of them. David would like who lasted for 18 years and several times modified to emphasise the empty tomb and the other- the high-handed decisions of Pontius Pilate and was worldliness of the body (perhaps angelic) which gave thus a friend of Rome. So, perhaps the Jewish rise to resurrection language. He allows that people authorities did have some influence in Jesus' case, but have been seen by the bereaved after death, but certainly not the Jewish people. people don't usually conclude that the dead person Customs of the time. has risen. The mystery of the resurrection remains Had the Jews been responsible for Jesus' death, for me a mystery, though its effect persuades me crucifixion would have been a most unlikely method. something incredible did happen. David gave me They used stoning. strangulation and beheading, with some more things to ponder here. exposing the body afterwards as a deterrent. Daphne Pollard Witness the death of a Jeremiah-like prophet, who forecast doom boldly and repeatedly before the Special Offer - Eternal Life for a Fiver As with most advertising, all is not necessarily what it 1. Post your order (including your clear name and seems, though this is still quite a bargain! address please!) to Chris Avis, 37 Clifton Road, The Exeter recording during Bishop ‘Jack’ Spong’s Exeter, Devon EX1 2BN with a cheque payable to C. lecture tour last October, when he spoke about his Avis. latest book ‘Eternal Life – a New Vision’, is now OR 2. Email your order to me at available on an audio CD. Included is a second disc [email protected] (remembering to include containing a total of 13 questions and answers from your postal address!) and use Paypal to meet the cost. sessions at the Exeter and Colchester venues. The If you do not have a Paypal account it costs nothing to discs are packaged in a single case with an attractive set one up at www.paypal.co.uk and you do not need cover including photographs and a detailed track to have funds in the account. You can use your card index. for payment if you wish and the site is extremely The total cost, including p&p, is just £5 per set and secure. As soon as Paypal notify me that your you can order in either of two ways: payment has been transferred to my account, I will despatch your order. 16 As someone remarked after Jack’s visit to our church, receiving your eager orders! “That was classic Spong!” and I look forward to Chris Avis The Greenbelt Festival – A place for progressive Christians? As a member of a local PCN group my husband programme has reflected this change. The talks and I have been most surprised no other members programme is specifically designed to be of our group had been to the Greenbelt Festival . challenging, push boundaries, and be culturally Given that our PCN companions are all relevant. There are a large number of guest exceptionally well informed, and are always keen to speakers every year, and recent visitors such as attend conferences all over the country, it seemed Richard Rohr, Dave Tomlinson, Keith Ward, and very strange to us that Greenbelt was unexplored James Allison might be familiar names to PCN territory. On questioning people further about this members. This year Bishop Gene Robinson was we found that the image people had of Greenbelt invited. They needed the biggest venue to host the was that it was an evangelical festival for young thousands who were keen to hear the Bishop and people. his talks were received with huge standing ovations. There is some truth in this image. I started going to There are many aspects to such a large festival, and Greenbelt as a teenager in 1986 and at that point people’s experience is consequently very different. its message was a fairly mainstream evangelical one A part of Greenbelt which to me feels unchanged with the arts and music reflecting this approach. over the years is the very significant focus on social However as someone who has now attended 18 justice. This is a hugely prominent part of the festivals over the last 3 decades I can confirm things festival and every aspect of the programme reflects have changed. this commitment. It is also essentially an Arts One of the key changes is the age profile. Festival, and the schedule of events also now Greenbelters got older. Many families with children reflects the all age punters with theatre, classical wanted to come, and there was a demand for music, visual arts, and literature/poetry events all better facilities, rather than the traditional festival occurring alongside the more traditionally youth camping field. Consequently Greenbelt moved to orientated music programme. Cheltenham Racecourse in 1999 and now the If you are still sitting at home thinking you might be festival combines a festival village of tent and a little old for a festival let me end by telling you marquees, plus the indoor and outdoor facilities of that this year we were fortunate in persuading one Cheltenham racecourse. As well as the option of of our PCN group members to join us at camping on the racecourse, attendees can also Greenbelt. Our friend enjoyed her first festival at choose from a range of other accommodation the age of seventy eight. It would be great for other including university halls of residence, and local PCN members to give it a try too, not only would hotels and bed and breakfasts. Greenbelt is it feel good if PCN had a wider presence at certainly a more civilised experience these days! Greenbelt, it also feels very likely that it is place Perhaps more interesting than the practicalities many of you would feel very much at home. however, is the theological shift which has The Greenbelt festival occurs on the August bank occurred. Whilst Greenbelt is in essence a diverse holiday every year, and more information can be festival which welcomes and caters for people from found at www.greenbelt.org.uk. CD’s and MP3’s of a wide range of Christian backgrounds, many recorded talks from the festival are also available to attendees are people who have moved from a purchase from the website. traditional evangelical understanding of faith to Rhian Taylor something more progressive and the speaking Living it out Rachel & Sarah Hagger-Holt write about their come out, or a minister who‘s been approached by a forthcoming book ‘Living It Out: a survival guide for same-sex couple asking for a relationship blessing, or lesbian, gay and bisexual Christians and their someone wondering how to introduce your same-sex friends, families and churches.’ partner to their church congregation, or a Christian Lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people and the trying to explain to your non-Christian friends why church… it’s a well-worn topic, there have been the church is so hung up about LGB people? numerous polemic and theological contributions to More than 50 people contributed to Living It Out, this heated debate. sharing stories that we’ve woven into an honest, So, why would a book be of interest to those of us upbeat narrative incorporating readings, prayers, who have made up our minds and moved on? cartoons and top tips. Our contributors range from We felt the interesting issue is not, 'Is it okay to 16-77 years old, lay and ordained, covering more than be LGB and Christian?' but the questions that come eight different denominations. next. What to do if you're a Christian parent who We took care not just to speak to LGB people, but to wants to affirm and support your child whose just straight families, ministers and friends. The church's 17 attitude to sexuality and sexual orientation, and strongly that welcoming gay parishioners and affirming how LGB people are seen within the church, is just as their God-given sexuality was a step we wanted to much an issue for non-LGB people, as it is take in a very public and joyful way. Offering prayer to fundamental to justice, inclusion and above all the way those joined in civil partnership and striving to make in which we reflect the unconditional love of God to our worship LGBT inclusive has helped us to broaden all. our vision of what it means to be a community, of One church in Liverpool with a declining congregation who God is and of how God welcomes all of us.” experienced this in a very concrete way. Their vicar Living It Out by Rachel & Sarah Hagger-Holt was explains in Living It Out: “There is a large gay published by Canterbury Press on 28th November We community in the parish and the congregation felt hope to review it in our next issue.

And another new book – The Ordinary God notes from the far west of Ireland. This is by Hilary Wakeman, author of the the ordinary people of West Cork, a people for article Companioning Not Frightening on page whose down-to-earth-ness the author has had a huge 5. We quote from the publisher’s blurb. respect since 1996 when she became the rector of A bible discussion group, parishioners of various ages, the furthest south-west parish of the Church of was getting tied up in knots on a rather basic subject Ireland. – God. In frustration, one woman said to another, Now retired, she has written these articles for ‘But, what sort of God are you talking about?’ The Catholics and Anglicans and Protestants, and the other woman looked puzzled. ‘Just the ordinary God,’ people in-between and outside: for anyone who is she said. interested in the difference between religion and That is what this book is about. The ordinary, spirituality, or in what our churches are doing … or everyday God. The ‘God’ that comes instinctively to not doing … or more importantly should be doing in most of us. The essays in this book come largely the future. from that point of view. Hilary’s book is published by The Liffey Press. ISBN 978- Some of them appeared in The Irish Times. Most of 1-905785-73-5 Price: €14.95. We hope to review it too in them appeared in the Southern Star newspaper our next issue. between 2007 and 2009. These were addressed to Breath of eternity: Spaces where God is Elaine Cobb was one of the first members I only know, of the embryonic PCN and of its steering When I return, group which became the Management I have inhaled a breath Committee. Co-ordinator of the London Mill Of spaces where God is; Hill group, she is herself a Salvationist. She It cannot be subdued sent us this lovely piece – Breath of Eternity - by Commissioner Catherine Baird, who By little, narrow places. was born in 1895 and died in 1984. Shifting Paradigms: Catherine wrote a number of Salvation Army songs and edited some Salvation Theology & Economics in the Army publications. “I take comfort from it”, 21st Century Elaine writes. “Perhaps Catherine would is the title of the 2010 Modern Churchpeople’s have joined PCN!!” Union Conference which will run from Tuesday I meet him 13th to Friday 16th July at High Leigh Conference When I'm walking down Centre, and focuses on the topical subject of Long avenues of Thought economics. Politicians and economists have called for a In a broad land of Silences, 'paradigm shift' in response to the credit crunch. Where I explore The unprecedented circumstances of the current When I feel stifled global recession provide a unique opportunity for by Life's little, narrow places. dialogue between theology, ethics and economics as we appraise economic life today. The I cannot tell conference is a contribution to that discussion. The words He speaks, Full conference fee is £245 for an en suite room and What robes he wears, £200 for a standard room, with all meals included. Or, if his form Day bookings are also possible. For more Be fair to look upon. information, the Conference Booking Secretary, Elizabeth Darlington, 1 The Woods, Grotton, Oldham OL4 4LP. Tel 0161 633 3132 E-mail: 18 [email protected]. Faith and reliability One of the perks of being the newsletter editor from the writings of Marcus Borg, Dominic is that you get to read everything in it - well, you Crossan and other members of the Jesus have to read everything in it, and most of the Seminar. It is an attractive portrait, and one I can time that is a bonus! – and that you notice be inspired by and work with. But when my old themes and continuities unfolding. Our friend and colleague Don Cupitt in a recent book Gloucestershire group, having devoted a lot of writes of it as being the most reliable and time to the study of the Eight Points accurate portrait we have, my own historical (interestingly their chief quarrel seems to have training kicks in to protest. been with ‘progressive’, a word which doesn’t The great English Jesuit theologian George actually feature at all in the points themselves), Tyrrell (a leading modernist and a true forebear has now moved on to consider the ‘reliability’ of of progressives today, the centenary of whose the gospel records, or of the new testament. I death fell earlier this year) wrote in his final tried to persuade them to share with us book, Christianity at the Crossroads, of the work of something of where they are getting to with this his German Liberal Christian contemporary in this issue, but they declined. I hope they will Adolph Von Harnack: “The Christ that Harnack want to in March 2010. sees, looking back through nineteen centuries of Their quest raises what for me is the bigger issue Catholic darkness, is only the reflection of a of the connection between faith and ideas of Liberal Protestant face, seen at the bottom of a reliability, historicity, proof, or whatever. What deep well.” do we expect out of documents which were all It is no different with the Jesus Seminar. A of them written out of faith, and written so as to twenty-first century American Democrat Jesus, inspire and also sustain faith in others? challenging the ways of the Emperor of our time, What sort of reliability do we expect of a George Bush - and perhaps now of his successor Shakespeare play, or of a novel by a also - shines out of the pages of Borg and contemporary author of distinction? Even with Crossan. It is a perfectly reasonable portrait of the so called “histories”, it’s not to the bard that Jesus for our time, and carries with it a good I will turn to find out ‘what really happened’ in contemporary story of what companioning Jesus the reigns of the monarchs he wrote about. Nor can mean for open believers to commit will I read the novels and short stories of William themselves to. It works in terms of discipleship. Trevor, whose work I love, if my interest is For me personally it sits alongside of other, simply in the events of the long years of Ireland’s longer-established strands of the story which I troubles which are regularly the backdrop, and in need as well – themes well nuanced in the first part the subject, of so much that he writes. two reflections in this issue by Mary McMahon What I expect of a writer of talent is something and Dorothy Haughton, and in Elaine Cobb’s other than what I want of a gifted historian – offering to us of Commissioner Catherine Baird’s though I don’t expect the latter only to tell me Gift of Eternity and her experience of the return simply, let alone definitively, what ‘really from ‘encountering’ Jesus: “I have inhaled a happened’ for if that were possible the writing of breath / Of spaces where God is; / It cannot be history would have ceased long ago. I want subdued / By little, narrow places.” Shakespeare, or Trevor, or whoever it may be to For a variety of reasons I have quite a bit of give me a story that ‘rings true’; one that opportunity to read at the moment, but struggle illuminates what it is to be a human person in a just a little to finish things. Among books on the particular situation and set of circumstances, go at the moment are Diarmaid MacCulloch’s such that it sheds light on others, and also on The History of Christianity – all 1170 pages of it! – me, and on that wider ‘creation’ and also human and André Compte-Spongville’s The Book of family of which we are all part. That draws out Atheist Spirituality. the response, ‘yes, that is me,’, or else ‘there but MacCulloch is a brilliant historian and also a for the grace of God go I.’ fabulous story-teller. And he has a great story to Move from that then to the reliability of the tell. The capacity of Christianity to re-invent gospels. If we are looking for and wanting the itself endlessly and to recreate itself for changed ‘definitive’ ‘Jesus of history’, portrayed so clearly settings, times, places, people and circumstance and accurately that it makes perfect sense to is what has allowed this faith to flourish in ways believe in him, then I think we are always going no others have. He accepts all its eclecticism and to be disappointed. I love and have been deeply treats with as much respect both 18th century helped by the portrait of Jesus which emerges Methodism and the little-known19th century 19 Catholic Apostolic Church. The latter produced deeply religious person. Always nourished by some remarkable buildings and glorious liturgy, church (whether its of my own type or not), and but has generally been discounted by self- looking forward and needing to be fed by bread righteously ‘believing’ church historians who label and wine once again at Midnight Mass as we its members ‘Irvingites’ after its inspirer, Edward celebrate Jesus’ birth on Christmas Day. Of Irving. The Catholic Apostolic Church died out course he wasn’t really born on 25th December. because it made no arrangements for an ongoing Of course all the stories told about that birth are ordained ministry. Some might wish that other pure glorious myth. In any obvious sense, they forms of Christianity could have been similarly are totally unreliable. But that really doesn’t neglectful! matter, because they plumb depths of what being MacCulloch would I think agree with John a human person, and making ‘God’ flesh, mean. If Churcher, in his Letter from the chair here, that indeed Jesus had never lived - which I don’t for “All organisations change or die. There is no one moment think - that would not matter standing still anymore.” But he would also point either, for the living story set in train remains a out that plenty both change and die; and that true source of good. The gospels tell the story, many have changed and do change for the worse. but it is the church which lives it out and embodies it. Which is why PCN Britain has always Comte-Spongville’s book is an elegant and supported people in churches. persuasive case for ‘spirituality’ - a word which turns some progressive believers dewy-eyed - I am stepping down from the Management not being in any sense the preserve of theists. Committee at the end of the year, because I am But he is also very aware is of how much his own unconvinced that some of the changes currently spirituality owes to the Judaeo-Christian in the air are ones I could or would support. tradition; and how much that is good for all That includes changes to our constitution, and a people can be offered by religion. Communion, significantly more directive leadership style. It has fidelity and love are all vitally important for us been kindly suggested that I might be able to humans, and are all well-nurtured, albeit not continue as editor of this newsletter, and that I exclusively, by religion. would enjoy. In which case, à bientôt until March. And Happy Christmas! Which is why I personally, with all my doubts Hugh Dawes and downright unbelief about so much, am such a Copy date for the next newsletter. The next newsletter will appear in early March. Contributions for it should be with the editor, Hugh Dawes ([email protected], or by classic mail to the PCN office address below) by Friday 26th February 2010 at the latest - a bit earlier if you can manage it. We’ll be into Lent by then, Mothering Sunday will be coming up, and Holy Week and Easter won’t be that far off. Easter Day is 4th April, so there are there are a good number of themes to stimulate writing there. And there’s plenty to reply to in this – our biggest issue ever. Please put NEWSLETTER in the header of any email, or on the envelope of posted contributions.

The Progressive Christianity Network – Britain (Registered Charity No 1102164) is itself part of a wider international network of Progressive Christian organisations, and has links in particular with the Centre for Progressive Christianity in the United States. PCN Britain’s website is online at www.pcnbritain.org.uk, with information and resources. TCPC’s website also offers a wealth of material for open and progressive Christian understanding. Visit it at www.tcpc.org. You can email us at [email protected], phone us on 020 7274 1338, or mail us at PCN Britain, St Faith’s Vicarage, 62 Red Post Hill, London SE24 9JQ. The members of the Management Committee are: Chair: John Churcher Adrian Alker [email protected] [email protected] Hugh Dawes [email protected] Secretary: Jill Sandham Philip Goodwin [email protected] [email protected] Sandra Griffiths [email protected] Treasurer: Duncan Craig John Hetherington [email protected] [email protected] Mary McMahon [email protected] Anne Padget [email protected] Administrator and web manager: Andy Vivian [email protected]

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