Getting the Message across

As I write this, I have just returned from the Mass of the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday (yes, deadlines don’t go away even in Holy Week!). It was a service steeped in a tradition centuries old: the music, with its occasional echoes of monastic plainchant; clouds of incense and with all due ceremonial. As we knelt before the Altar of Repose many of us were mindful of Jean Boobier, who for many years had taken responsibility for the display in the Lady Chapel. The Flower Team (and the Choir) did her memory proud. It was all very atmospheric.

Behind the liturgy, of course, has to be the message. The service is full of the pathos of the Last Supper and the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, the drama of the arrest and Peter’s denial in the courtyard outside Caiaphas’ house. The essential message of the servanthood of Christ is expressed in the ceremonial foot washing in which we are mindful of that lesson in humility that allows the King to minister to us.

Yet that essential message remains lost to much of the community around us. The world has changed so much that few find resonance in the liturgy of the Church. The sense of solemnity and reverence in classic worship is so at odds with contemporary culture with its froth and bubble and informality.

Not that there is anything wrong with informality. Too much emphasis on ceremonial, conducted by trained professionals and rarely explained well, seemed to create a distance between God and his people over the centuries. Some began to feel that they were not worthy to come close. Eventually, some felt that the Church no longer had anything to say.

Those of us who took part in our Palm Sunday procession from St Andrew’s via Greenway Avenue, Jubilee Street and Greenway Road to Rowbarton Methodist enjoyed worshipping differently. Plenty of informality there. Plenty of excitement too, especially among the children. Passers-by stopped to look. A few shouted out. All perhaps wondered what we were up to, even if only for a moment before getting on with their business, bringing to mind those haunting words from the Good Friday Reproaches, “Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by?”

Well, maybe not entirely nothing. At least three people in the congregation that day do not regularly attend any church.

It was St Paul who urged us to preach the Gospel, “in season and out of season.” In other words we have a message that has to be proclaimed regardless of its popularity and by whatever means we can get it heard, for our message is nothing less than the arms of God outstretched in love.

In my address on Palm Sunday I hoped that we would begin to have a conversation about how we could do more to get our message across outside the doors of the church and in the community around us with its strikingly different culture and assumptions. I meant what I said and I am always open to thoughtful offers and suggestions to that end. For example, what about a Passion play next year? Never mind Oberammergau, what about Rowbarton?

The other angle on all this is community service. There are so many needs in our community and against a background of diminishing public services we have an even greater responsibility to show the love of God by taking practical action ourselves or by allowing others to use our space to do their work. See the feature on the Food Bank and TAH in the News Desk section.

I love our traditional worship and I pray that we will never lose it, even if some of it has to be reinvented for our time. Yet it is but one of the many tools in the box at our disposal as we pray and live out the Last Supper in Our Lord’s command to, “Do this in remembrance of me.”

Robin

News Desk

Taunton Food Bank & TAH

Last month our churchwardens announced ongoing collections of food, toiletries and blankets for the Taunton Association for the Homeless’ house for young people aged 16-24 which lies within our parish. Another scheme shortly to begin in our area is the Taunton Food Bank. Linked to the Trussel Trust, the Food Bank is being run by local Christians to supply emergency food to people made vulnerable by gaps in service towards them from community agencies, for example, temporary stoppage of benefits due to changes in circumstances or simple human error. Two different organisations serving two distinct types of vulnerability both worthy of our support as part on one larger problem. Our own Ed Reay addressed the PCC at the end of March on behalf of the Food Bank and PCC resolved to support both organisations, in the first instance, by the collection of food. Watch out for the collection points in the Narthex.

Taunton Academy

As you know, Taunton Academy has a Church of England foundation, so it is good to be able to welcome the Revd Mike Haslam, Lead Chaplain at the Academy, as our guest preacher at the Parish Communion on Sunday 6 May.

New Vicar of Wilton

The new Vicar of Wilton is to be the Revd James Clapham, currently Curate in the Wellington Team Ministry. His induction will be at St George’s on Wednesday 16 May at 7.00pm.

Stewardship Renewal

After last year’s successful Stewardship Campaign, the PCC has resolved to back this up with an annual renewal exercise, recognising that this as every other area of our lives needs regular review. Stewardship will be the theme of our worship on Sunday 20 May, giving thanks for all that we have, and seeking God’s blessing on the resources we need to serve our parish. I will be writing to every member of the church family to thank them for their contribution and setting out our aims and needs for the future. Letters will be available in church on the day or delivered soon after. Please read yours carefully and respond in the way that is right for you.

Pentecost Praise

This year we will be repeating our Pentecost Praise picnic and worship held jointly with Rowbarton Methodist and St Peter’s. We will be meeting, hopefully this year dry and in the open air, in the church field at St Peter’s on Sunday 27 May at 12.30pm. This event will form our all-age (family) worship for this month.

Jubilee Street Party

Well, more of a picnic really! The Railway Children Staff are leading us all with a Picnic on St Andrew’s Green to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee on Sunday 3 June at 2.00pm. Tea and coffee will be available that afternoon, but so that we can invite the whole community we ask that you come and bring a picnic and share in everyone’s company that afternoon. No doubt we shall be one of a number of events in Taunton, and indeed around the country on that day, so pray for fine weather!