I have been an outsider since I commenced my studies at secondary school and this continued throughout my employment in education and local government, my involvement in local politics and my relationship with organised religion. It is as though I have been looking in, participating, but distant. This has nothing to do with shyness or ability to relate to people. Rather, it is my reluctance to sign up unreservedly to the ethos of an organisation, whether it be an education establishment, a council, a political party or a church.
By now readers of this blog are well-versed in the theological ideas I embrace, they certainly do not accord with the creeds, doctrine and dogma of the Church of England (CofE). I know I am not alone in this. However we are a minority and for this reason I have a sense of detachment from the CoE and my parish. It shows in little ways: a refusal to publish my articles in the parish magazine, not being asked to deliver readings at services, not being part of small group chat.
Recently I received this from an ordained priest in the CoE:
Outsiders like prophets have a powerful ministry, uncomfortable but powerful.
This same person has described me as a prophet! Along with others we seek to drag the CofE into twenty-first century relevance. Readers of this blog with its specific references to Colin Coward know exactly what I mean. Below are two pieces by Colin.
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'The Archbishops’ Council’s over-dependence on the culture of Holy Trinity Brompton, the HTB networks and plants, the Church Revitalisation Trust, the Church of England Evangelical Council (CEEC) and the Alliance plus its reliance of the combined wealth of these conservative charismatic evangelical tribes is disastrous. A dominant monoculture has developed across the Church of England, a culture that consumes money and on which the C of E is now pinning its hopes for growth and ultimately, it’s survival as the National Church.'
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Reflecting on the Holy Week and Easter stories over the past weekend, I have done so not thinking or believing that the Gospels are verbatim accounts given by, let alone written by those who witnessed these events. They are edited and re-edited stories based on oral accounts that had been told and retold and embroidered by the Jesus-followers, the first witnesses, the early Christian gatherings, and those who subsequently joined the Jesus-centred communities. To the oral accounts that formed the basis of the Gospels were added stories told to and re-told and experienced and embroidered by Paul (with the help of Luke).
Belief is a dilemma for me because I do not believe in what is rehearsed in church every Sunday and maintained by the authority of the institution as adequately representing an adequate vision of the Jesus who transforms life and culture. The Gospels and Acts and the history books of the Hebrew scriptures are not accurate, historical accounts of the events and lives they describe. History never is accurate but always a personal view and interpretation. The contemporary “traditional, orthodox, Biblical” ways of our religious systems do not, for me, embrace the essence and heart of Jesus’ life and teachings. We live with ideas about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit that are human interpretations of Jesus’ teachings and essence. All knowledge is developed and communicated through the medium of human understanding. Any distortion or misunderstanding of the teachings of Jesus is the result of human failure to comprehend. Throughout my life I have been trying to disentangle the ingredients of distortion and error from healthier wisdom and truth, trying to be more aware of and recapture and synthesise the essence of a holy, sacred, incarnated transformational wisdom that helps us embrace the essence of life in all its fulness.
Whether we are aware or not, all of us are dealing with myths and the development of human interpretations and teachings and corruptions of the divine human we worship as Son of God.
We continue to have great difficulty in distinguishing the unhealthy divine attributions that are fundamental corruptions of Jesus’ life and teachings from the Jesus’ essence that is the catalyst for healthy, creative consciousness that make life in all its fulness into real presence.
Colin Coward is a retired priest in the CoE. To my mind he is a prophet and an outsider. I commend his blog to you:
https://www.unadulteratedlove.net
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