For Shame

Ecclesiastical Paddling Poolers

There are parts of the church--far too many for comfort--which crave acceptance from outsiders--otherwise known as Unbelievers.  Some speak of churches needing to be "seeker friendly"; others appeal for relevance, clarity, plain speaking. 

What might clarity and plain speaking look like where we live?  To make people feel at home in a church service one would need to use "f . . .k" every third or fourth word, because that's how folk speak at home around here.  Mind you, then folk would say, "Why f . . . bother going to f. . .  church--it's just like f. . . . home anyf....ingway."  Point well taken.  We think this stuff risks becoming so loopy it belongs in the asylum.  That's what a craven lust for acceptance will do to you. 

The Church of England risks becoming a poster boy for this kind of inane worldliness.
  Apparently some of the nobs and intellectuals in that profession think that the baptismal liturgy requires a bit of modernising to make it a bit more accessible to ordinary people.  Words like "sin" have become misleading, so should be excised.

The Church of England is introducing a christening ceremony that removes the requirement on parents and godparents to “repent sins” and “reject the devil”. Critics claimed the new wording, designed as an alternative to the current liturgy, “watered down” the concepts of sin and repentance. The text, backed by the Most Rev Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury, is already being used in 1,000 parishes as part of a trial lasting until Easter, the Mail on Sunday reported.

In the current version, in use since 1998, vicars ask parents and godparents if they “reject the devil and all rebellion against God” and if they “repent of the sins that separate us from God and neighbour”. However, the new text asks them instead to “reject evil, and all its many forms, and all its empty promises”, with no explicit mention of the devil or sin. The Telegraph

It's the rationales employed that tells the tale.  Words like "sin" have lost meaning, and, therefore, in the drive to be relevant and meaningful the Anglican church needs to find alternatives.

The word “sin” now makes people think of “sex and cream cakes”, according to one of the architects of Church of England plans that could see the word scrapped from key parts of baptism services. . . . The group included the Rev Dr Tim Stratford, who has since become the Archdeacon of Leicester and is also a member of the Church’s 19-strong Liturgical Commission, which drew up the new wording.   The Archdeacon told the Telegraph: “I think there are questions over how the word ‘sin’ is received. There are two ways it crosses people’s mind instantly: one way is, it’s all about sex. The other way is, it’s all about cream cakes and eating less.

Maybe--we are just throwing out a wild idea here--maybe it is the Church's duty to teach people the meaning of words--biblical words.  You know, so that there can be no misunderstanding, and that the "sex and cream cakes" brigade can have their misapprehensions corrected.  Yes, maybe we should think about that. 

But old Dr Tim should hardly stop with "sin" and the "devil".  Since, by his lights, these words conjure up all sorts of false impressions and therefore need to be retired from church vocabulary, we suggest a few more words desperately need attention.  How about "Christ".  When most people hear and use this word it is an expletive.  So let's remove all reference to Christ--for the sake of relevance and clarity and effective communication of course.  Let's be seeker friendly and relevant here. 

The word "God" surely deserves similar treatment.  Most Unbelievers would use that particular proper noun over a hundred times a day--in all kinds of activity, from the bedroom to the workplace to the pub to the sports arena--and usually in association with expletives like "sh .  t".  How's that for meaning inflation, Dr Tim? 

Therefore, let's remove these two proper nouns from the liturgy and from church worship services as well.  Consistency is, after all, a jewel.   Let's replace it with more descriptive and accurate and meaningful phrases like "High Power" and "Being Itself" and "Totally Other". 

We have one injunction for all such mealy mouthed ecclesiastical paddling-poolers--grow up!