"Walking Hand in Hand"

The following is an extract from my October piece for our Parish magazine in Yelvertoft.  This monthly article is widely read and I get many encouraging comments from local villagers - including some who rarely attend church.  I try to include some gospel element within it and since the start of 2010 have concluded with a short prayer.

I am writing these lines not long after attending the special service at Westminster Abbey where evening prayers were said in the presence of the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury.  It was quite an event and as I looked around the thousands gathered there I was able to recognise a number of familiar faces from various Christian denominations. I was included among the invited guests as I serve as the Convenor of the Congregational Federation’s Board that deals with ecumenical and inter-faith relationships.

In fact this was the culmination of a week of walking “hand in hand” (as the Pope described it) with fellow Christian of other traditions.  On Wednesday and Thursday I had facilitated two meetings (one based at Market Harborough and the other in a village near Rugby) of rural church leaders that included a mixture of Anglicans, Methodist and Congregationalists who gathered together to share their encouragements, to learn from one another and pray together.  On Wednesday evening I took part in a meeting of representatives of many more churches in Market Harborough.  On Thursday it was my privilege to spend several hours advising two members of a German University faculty exploring rural mission on behalf of the Lutheran Church.

Such experiences do not require me to make any compromises as to my personal distinctive beliefs and practices.  What all of these events had in common was a shared concern that others might come to know the same wonderful Friend and Saviour we all know – that is the person of Jesus Christ.  This over-arching passion comes not from any church institution but from experiencing the generous work of God in undeserving individuals.

My own Christian tradition is a simple one.  We do not have a hierarchy of bishops or venerate saints.  We do not have rituals or incense.  We do believe the Bible to be God’s word to us today, and it was a delight to hear so much of the Pope’s messages filled with scripture with Jesus at the centre of it all.

Learning to walk “hand in hand” is an enriching, enlightening and exciting experience and I unhesitatingly commend it to others.

This month’s Prayer

Dear God, save me from a narrow mind and the arrogance of thinking I already have a complete grasp of truth.  Put in me a searching heart and mind, and lead me to know you, and then to know you better.   Amen.