Page 58 - Phonebox Magazine June 2007

Churches Together in Newport Pagnell
Ecumenical Moderator’s Letter
Just recently I was in Central Milton Keynes purchasing some foreign currency. Two desks were available, both staffed by younger women, and one invited me to come forward. I produced my passport as required, and then handed over my debit card to pay. The cashier glanced at them both, and then looked puzzled. “Which is actually your first name?” she asked. “According to your passport, your first name is Mary, but on your debit card it says your first name is Rev.” Before I could say anything, the second cashier who, judging from the way she was dressed, was a Moslem woman, leapt in. “Rev is her title” she explained. “She is a holy woman.” Some 15 years ago, a cashier might have looked with puzzlement at my debit card and said, “I'm sorry Madam, but you appear to have given me your husband's card.” But, it seems, the days have gone when the word 'Rev' conjured up in people's minds the image of a man in a dog collar!
On the way home I was thinking about what had happened. Firstly I had been made acutely aware of how little the church, and the icons that represent it, figure in the consciousness of many people today. There was a time when, even if people didn't attend
church, they nonetheless had a memory of being taken as children, or an inherited memory of their parents' or grandparents' attendance. With that memory went at least some familiarity with the Christian story - a knowledge of the Christmas and Easter stories perhaps, and of Christmas carols. But these days are fast disappearing, and we can no longer assume a knowledge of the Christian story. Equally we can no longer take for granted the powerful place which the church, or at least, certain traditions, have in the past occupied in society. Increasingly we are a marginalised group, and find ourselves standing alongside others who are not always easily heard by those in power. Secondly I was made aware of how much we have in common with those of other faith traditions. In past centuries, the Christian church saw itself as very separate and different. Yet in the face of a modern society which so overwhelmingly embraces secularism and individualism, we need more and more to understand and celebrate how much we share with others who make religious faith central to their lives, and seek to build strong faith communities.
While the scenario I am painting of the church may not be easy to hear, I do not believe that it should depress us! If the Christian story in
the particular ways we have been telling it in Western Europe over the centuries is no longer being heard by many in society today, then the challenge before us is to rediscover the story afresh for ourselves, so that we may be empowered to tell it in a new voice. If the old ways of being church no longer seem culturally relevant to our western twenty-first century world, then we need to set out on the road of exploring new ways, trusting for the future the God who makes all things new. It may well feel as if we are undertaking a journey of faith unlike any we have made before. We may be daunted, desperately aware of not having any of the answers. Yet the Christ who called his disciples to leave their old lifestyles to follow him they knew not where, invites us to do the same.
In the last couple of years, one person who has put Christian discipleship on the public map in ways which he himself probably little expected is Norman Kember. We are delighted that he is coming to the MP Assembly at Christ the King on June 5th at 7.30pm to talk about his experiences as a Christian peacemaker taken hostage in Iraq, and we look forward to welcoming him and hearing what he has to share. K
Mary Cotes
58 Phonebox Magazine