Her Legacy and Ours

Not surprisingly, the news this week has been dominated by the late Queen; this will continue until at least Monday with her funeral. As I write, people are queuing for 11 hours to file past her body; last night I was in Highley Church and was amazed at the number of notes attached to the prayer tree, remembering her. Yesterday I was talking to a number of people at my workplace; the Queen was held in deep respect by all of them, even those who would not call themselves royalists.

I do not know what will be said in the eulogy at her funeral, but it could easily focus on her qualities of duty and service. As a vicar, I of course have some experience of writing eulogies for funerals. This morning, “Thought for the Day” was about this subject. It had a line that I think explains, at least in part, why the Queen was held in such respect; “our legacy comes from the lives of all we have touched, for good or bad”. As a public figure, the Queen was very aware of the power of her words and actions and used them for the good, guided by her faith. For the rest of us, this acts as a challenge, to be forces for good to those whose lives we touch, either knowingly or unknowingly.

Rev David Poyner

The Queen and the King

There are times when the only response is prayer.

God of love,
We thank you for the life of The Queen,
for her service to our nation,
and for her faith in you.
Be close to all of us who mourn,
that we may we find comfort and hope in your love,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Everlasting God, we pray for our new King.
Bless his reign and the life of our nation.
Help us to work together
so that truth and justice, harmony and fairness
flourish among us;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

Rev David Poyner

Pilgrims Progress

I am writing this reflection on 31st August, the anniversary of the death of John Bunyan, the author of The Pilgrim’s Progress. I have a Victorian copy of this book, which somehow came from Mum’s side of the family on the Brown Clee. Needless to say, I’ve never read the book in its entirety, although when at school I used it for an essay on John Bunyan and I have dipped into it. The pilgrim is a man called Christian, who weighed down by his own sense of sin, embarks on a journey to the Celestial City which he believes will be the key to his salvation. In the journey he meets both friends and enemies, places of danger and encouragement. He barely makes it alive through the Slough of Despair; at Vanity Fair he rejects sensual pleasures.

Bunyan was a Puritan, a Christian who took very seriously the issue of sin and personal salvation. It is a living tradition, although not one I personally find often speaks to me. However, I can recognise many of the emotions and experiences that Bunyan turned into his fictional places; I have been in the Slough of Despond, I have visited Vanity Fair and most fundamentally, I have struggled with faith and the apparent absence of God, which Bunyan equates to the result of sin. You do not have to buy into Bunyan’s theology to recognise what he is talking about; the personal spiritual desert where you cast around for any support. Bunyan’s message is fundamentally that this is part of life; our pilgrimage is to pass through it, in the knowledge that God is both our path and our destination.

Rev David Poyner

Rebellious Hope

Some of you may already know the above phrase; it was coined by Dame Deborah James, the school teacher who has recently died from bowel cancer, but in her manner of death shown us how to live. Knowing full well she was going to die, Dame Deborah decided to live to the full, to raise awareness of bowel cancer, to raise funds for research into it and simply to enjoy life  in the face of death.

I was somewhat surprised to find out the Dame Deborah had opted for a church funeral; not the choice of the majority these days. Then I discovered she had been a head teacher at a Roman Catholic school. My understanding is that she found faith hard after her diagnosis; she was perhaps angry with God for what was happening to her. Jesus wasn’t exactly pleased when he prayed to his Father immediately before he was arrested and sentenced to be crucified. But the phrase “rebellious hope” seems to me to straight from the Judeo-Christian tradition; it describes the Old Testament prophets who dared to hope that God was still with his people in the face of disaster, it describes the attitude of the New Testament Christians who proclaimed their faith in the face of persecution and it also seems very appropriate to describe the message of Jesus himself, who accepted death to bring life. It is a phrase for anyone who dares to hope when life is at its most grim; for those who believe that the Kingdom of God is present in our broken world.

Rev David Poyner

Blasphemy

I was at university when Salman Rushdie published “The Satanic Verses”. I never read it; I had glanced at copy of his first book, decided it was not for me and so I certainly was not going to bother with something even obscurer. Then of course came the uproar; the outrageous incitement to murder issued by Ayatollah Khomeini, the book burnings and the years of hiding by Rushdie himself. But I also knew that blasphemy was not just a Muslim concept; until 2008, blasphemous libel was a criminal offence in this country and had been used by Christians.

Blasphemy can be considered as the act of making offensive and outrageous claims against God. It can cover a host of actions, from a mild invocation of the name of the deity during moments of stress to an deliberate attempt to offend and provoke. Some can be deeply upset when their beliefs are subject to ridicule and I would argue that we have a duty of care with our words not to gratuitously cause offence. But sometimes satire and irony are legitimate forms of debate, as a way of challenging and testing ideas. As a Christian, when I read that a particular journalist “has no time for religion”, my reaction is often to read more to spot the flaws in his or her argument, certainly not to retreat into outrage and offence.

Blasphemy is dangerous as it can raise particularly strong emotions; it is easy to imagine that God is on our side, we are engaged in a holy war against the blasphemer. The words of Jesus are particularly pertinent; his call to love our enemies, to pray for those who persecute us. His example is even more relevant; he was condemned to death for blasphemy by the religious authorities who were so sure that they were acting on behalf of God. How little did they know! Jesus’s response to those who killed him should surely be the basis of our response to those who offend us; “Father, forgive, they know not what they do”.
Rev David Poyner