Tag Archives: BBC

INDIFFERENCE TO DIFFERENCE

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THE FACT THAT the English have finally become a tolerant nation, “indifference to difference”, has been born out of their religious past … said Diarmaid MacCulloch in How God Made The English, part 3, BBC.

Still a way to go, I think. But if, as Professor MacCulloch suggests, the Church of England continues to serve as a focal point, a gathering place for peoples of every ethnic origin, race or creed – in times of joy or sadness – then she will be modelling the love and service of the Christ who is her foundation. And we ought to note, thankfully, that she’ll have received a bit of help and a spot of nudging encouragement in that task from the BBC.

With all my heart I believe that the “cosmic Christ”, the anointed messenger, revealed to us today by the Spirit of God at work across the religious spectrum, is open-armed and open-hearted, truly indifferent to difference, not even remotely contained or constricted by our doctrines, highest thoughts or most fervent prayers.

The most useful lessons of history show us that the past doesn’t always fit our notions of “good old days”. Not all of them were, are or will be good days. And there’s never only one story to be told. The mysteries of good and bad, joy and pain, love and hate, health and suffering are sometimes well-nigh overwhelming for all of us. But every human person has been awarded the same gift by the Source of all things – the chance to make something of being alive in this world. And everybody wins, in the economy of God, for no other reason than that they are alive.

The “times they are a-changing” for the better wherever tolerance and mutual respect come to prevail. Generous inclusivity will be the hallmark not only of our nation’s future, but the Church’s as well. Grateful to Professor MacCulloch and to the BBC for this excellent 3 part mini-series there’d be substantial benefit in our seeing both working together to make some more. On the eve of Holy Week, for some of the world’s Christians, I am inspired, hopeful and grateful.

THE POWER OF A MYTH

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NEVER UNDERESTIMATE the power of a myth, advises Diarmaid MacCulloch, a Professor of History of St Cross College, Oxford, towards the end of BBC2′s How God Made The English. (available at iPlayer until 8.59pm 7th April 2012)

THE BBC writes: Professor MacCulloch chronicles the roots of the idea that the English think themselves better than others and duty-bound to play a leading role in world affairs. He argues that the roots of this attitude lie in a tangle of religious motives. He traces its origins to the notion of a ‘chosen people’ – a Biblical idea which the monk and historian, the Venerable Bede, took lock, stock and barrel from the Jewish scriptures and applied to the early English.

This is fascinating and, I believe, salutary viewing. Enough material in this hour long programme for a Decade of Lent Courses! Professor MacCulloch, a wholly engaging presenter, has described himself as “a candid friend of Christianity”, but has moved away from an earlier Anglican “orthodoxy”. Fascinating, salutary and also important viewing for 21st century English Christians because the “tangle of religious motives” here presented requires some untangling!

The “received Christianity” that some forms of “orthodoxy” hang on to for dear life needs constantly to be reassessed in the ever changing light of historical perspective sharpened with hindsight. The proper exercise of untangling myths – seeking to understand their power and worth in our narrative, whilst at the same time being appraised of their destructive potential – is a task, I believe, of crucial importance. Thinking of men like Pope John XXIII, John Robinson and Richard Holloway – to name but a few – reminds me that the Church does not always show herself overly fond of those who set about the untangling task, though some of them are supremely good at it. Excitingly, television of this standard and quality is one of the most potent resources we have at our disposal to do just such a work. Still more excitingly for this English parish priest is the possibility that a “Church of England in (much reported) Crisis” might, for that reason alone, be nudged and encouraged into doing some of the necessary untangling.

We need a new myth so that in our day, as yesterday, the eyes of the blind (mine, and those of other churchmen and women) might be opened to fresh vision, and that the restoring and reconciling word and works of Jesus of Nazareth might yet be brought to deep fruition in us: “You will see greater works than these” (John 14.12) – for, like him, we’re all “going to the Father” – to the Mother and Father of everything that is.

Archbishop Rowan, speaking to the Press Association the other day, said:

Over the last few years, there have been all kinds of ideas about the Church, about the faith, which I have longed for more time to explore and write up a bit.  So I’m hoping for more space to write and to think in that way.

So, all is not lost. Even the exhausting Archbishopric of Canterbury will not have prevailed over the life and soul of this pilgrim, and the richness of humanity is seen as pure gift in Diarmaid MacCulloch’s willingness to explore – before the very eyes of a million armchair critics.

Men and women in our time “seek peace and pursue it”. Letting go of one myth, and then another and another – grateful for all that they have taught and graced us with in their time – leads us on into the light of another and another until all our humankind has been set free, and all the fullness of God is seen in us and in all creation’s having evolved, “from glory into glory”, into all that mothering Wisdom herself has – over aeons – untangled us to be.

POIGNANTLY REVEREND

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TWO LOVELY HOUSE CALLS in the late afternoon sunlight today, and interestingly I’ve come away from both reflecting upon conversations about “Reverend” tv characters, including, most recently, Tom Hollander‘s version of a harassed London vicar who, my companions said, “within the space of five minutes can come across as both a hapless and a hopeless case and just what the doctor ordered – you know, he just seems to have a knack for saying the right thing at the right time, doesn’t he? He’s both funny and poignant” …

Funny and poignant. How fascinating. Who was it used to sing about The Fool On The Hill ?

Perhaps I’ve spent nearly thirty ordained years being funny and poignant. Or is it longer than that? – perhaps all 53? Does “funny and poignant” actually describe all human life, for all of us, pretty much all of the time? Poignantly Reverend …

BAPTISM & BIRDSONG

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I COULD BARELY BREATHE during BBC1′s Birdsong tonight. May the God of life help us never, ever, ever to forget again the realities therein represented. After last week’s episode I’d spent a lot of time thinking up excuses to avoid tonight’s, but in the event sat dumbstruck under a sense I can only describe as “responsible obligation”. The terrible, terrible and overwhelming waste of not one but two World Wars, early in the same century, swamp the soul. I thought my chest would burst in the scene when the two German soldiers told Wraysford that the War was finished. Over. Told, terrified and terrifying, with all the dear longing and hope in the world – the dead Jack Firebrace’s “Love is all there is Sir. To love and to be loved”, hanging in exploded dust.

Today I baptised a young woman, two young boys and three beautiful infants. They’re all treasured. This world’s peace and your life’s purpose are intimately bound, I told them, their parents and their godparents; those baptised into the faith of the Christ today must play their part well in ensuring that no religious, political or sociological dogma should ever again lead to such a monstrously great lie, a madness of such inconceivable proportions, that so set tender-hearted men against each other that hell was created upon the face of the earth. No religious certainty, no political ideology, no nationalism nor false pride should ever again be allowed to prevail over “Love is all there is Sir. To love and be loved.”

Six new Christians. May they herald a purer, higher form of Christianity for today and for the future. May they mingle with wider religious representation. May they be salt and yeast and light and love in the world. May they never be taught, or learn by any other means, how to hate another human person by reason of their colour or creed, gender, race or sexuality. And may they ever be profoundly grateful for the comradeship, the basic goodness, compassion and self-sacrifice of the millions who gave up their lives – God help humanity – without ever fully understanding why. May they follow the example – all this is to say – of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was always more concerned to serve than to be served, to offer worth to others than to be himself worshipped. May it be that when any of us feel burdened with a desire to persuade others of our own doctrine we might follow Archbishop Sentamu’s advice the other night: “ask yourself first how your doctrine measures up to your Jesus”. How does it, how do I, measure up to Love?

AMAZING BROOMS OF MANY COLOURS

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broom-army | clean-up at Clapham Junction photo/AndrewBayles

Robert Robinson, broadcaster, who died 13 August 2011

ROBERT ROBINSON, veteran broadcaster and presenter (Ask the Family, Call My Bluff, Brain of Britain etc) has died at the age of 83. The BBCs Nick Higham has described him today as “a polite and genial host”, and as (hopefully-tongue-in-cheek) “a relic of a time when there were gentlemen on television.”

I hope that the past week here in the UK will have invoked heartfelt prayers – and hopes if not prayers – in favour of the “old fashioned” notion of the gentleman and the gentlewoman with all possible speed. Being polite, genial and gentle are human qualities that must not be allowed to become relics. Actually, it occurs to me tonight that I watched substantially more television in “the old days” than I do now. I’m really rather disposed towards the polite, the genial and the gentle. And that’s why the main picture in this post gives me – and the greater part of the 60+million citizens of the United Kingdom – such hope and heart.

Truly, these brooms sweeping clean are a sight to behold. This is News of the World that isn’t controlled by greedy fat-cat bankers, or by the Murdoch empire: these brooms represent a majority impulse for decency and order, for clean-up and community. And it’s not just shattered glass, destroyed homes and shops that need the broom treatment. There’s huge need in British society today for “cleaning up our act”. Inflammatory behaviour, inflammatory language, all forms of (often alcohol-fuelled) violence, exclusive language (especially religious language) needs to be “cleaned up” urgently. There’s too much talk within some of the Christian communities I’ve been involved with across a lifetime that smacks of “we’ve got it right; we and we alone have got the gospel” – and I don’t believe for a second that Jesus of Nazareth did or would brook any of that kind of attitude.

I often make a point of assuring people who express interest that the posts I publish on this private blog represent my own personal views. I do not presume to speak for anyone else. I know, of course, that my public ministry as an Anglican parish priest requires that I speak, in some broadly agreed sense, for the Church of England in my parish. But the Church of England represents a whole raft of opinion, theology, spirituality – some of which I speak for, and some of which I do not. Speaking for the Church is by no means an easy consideration – and I “pray to speak” with a proper humility. How could I claim to know all that “the Church of England” might want to say on this, that or another subject? How much more difficult it becomes when people presume to speak the wholly expressed will of God; when people dare to suggest that their own religious (or political) tradition, and theirs alone, offers the path to “full salvation”.

Words do matter. Words can include or exclude. Words do include some and they also exclude others, political words, religious words, broadcast words, twittered words or domestic words. We need to “clean them up”. Our language needs the more truly to represent our national, political and (for some) religious aspirations. But that ever-evolving process takes time, and time is not an available luxury in the midst of a crisis. So where words have failed, and continue to fail, cosmopolitan gatherings of people standing shoulder to shoulder, wielding brooms of many colours (and yes, thank God, there have been church-folk among these) are they who win the day, and who win the loudest applause. Cross-political, cross-religious, cross-community: polite, genial and gentle are truly cosmopolitan values. May Robert Robinson be remembered with gratitude and affection tonight, and may his values never become relics.

LWT to BBC – UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS

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LWT’s BELLAMY, BRIDGES & HUDSON would be proud and delighted to see Eaton Place come to life again by the hand of the BBC. And Alexander Faris’s theme tune was a highpoint of my Christmas holiday. Downton Abbey is outstanding, absolutely no doubt about it, and I’ve worn a groove in the DVD already, but I’ll be placing an order for Upstairs Downstairs too, quicker than I can eat a silver platter of mince pies. Happy hat tip to Eileen Atkins and Jean Marsh – and all upstairs, downstairs.


BBC – THE NATIVITY i

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PETER STANFORD writes of a Road to Damascus experience for EastEnders scriptwriter Tony Jordan in today’s Telegraph. BBC Wales were planning a follow up to The Passion broadcast in 2008. ”I’d probably had a couple too many rums, but they asked me what I would do,” recalls Jordan. And one thing led to another. However …

Writing The Nativity may have converted him to the virgin birth, even to Jesus’s blueprint, but it won’t inspire Jordan to take his seat in the ancient church a few doors down from his house on Dec 25.

“I have a distaste for people who say to me if you come through these doors, walk down this aisle, sit on that wooden bench, and sing these hymns in this order, I have got God in a little bottle under my pulpit and I’ll let you have a look,” he says. “I don’t think that was God’s intention.”

The Nativity runs on BBC One for four consecutive nights from Monday Dec 20

I share Jordan’s distaste, even whilst I hate to admit that the kind of people he describes actually exist. They do, of course. WE do, of course.  And we all hate to admit it. So I’m glad of the jolt from Tony Jordan. Glad of a chance to ask myself the question: “is that how the Church really comes across to some people?”. Let me not be too quick to jump to the defensive. And let me thank God for a really big “offering” from the BBC. “It’s about Joseph finding faith”, Jordan says. And I’d add that it’s about faith being a gift made available “to you and all mankind” – God-in-Baby. Not God in bottle. Anybody’s bottle.

PRIVATE FEEDBACK: What did you think of The Nativity?






 

REV …

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IT’S HEARTENING that the BBC want to air a programme about a parish priest let alone a series. And an absolute delight tonight to see little Adam Smallbone (Tom Hollander) – with a spot of help from the (horrendously smooth) archdeacon – see off the take-over bid of the tall and swaggering, wealthy “evangelical” Darren. There’s a touch of the prophet in old Auntie yet to be celebrated. Remember the camel and the eye of a needle?

“More show than sacrament”, the vicar said of Darren’s having “given” a service. Smoothies and sofas and large screen tv’s in this context give me the creeps to put it politely. And “Growing Churches” that are intent on seeing off anything that doesn’t quite come up to scratch are the very antithesis of the good news entrusted to the truly “evangelical”.

So the empty pews and the discordant singing of Adam’s core congregation were, oddly enough, welcome sight and sound by the end of tonight’s episode. Joy in heaven, I like to think, that “nobody loves me” Colin’s contribution is still being valued and welcomed, because somebody does.

The “weak liberal” Rev, the present writer, hoping and praying for a really Christ-like outcome to the kerfuffle of the past couple of days over the Southwark appointment, is altogether more cheerful after a half hour in front of the telly than he was at the beginning of the day. For I find myself thanking God that sometimes it’s the little guy who wins, that sometimes the struggles with finances, and bums in pews, really do give way to the invigorating good news of real gospel, and that the “cost” turns out to be worth the candle.

God bless the little guys (not such a bad translation of Adam Smallbone) ; God bless those who laugh and cry whilst watching Rev. And may God bless the Diocese of Southwark, again, with the gift of another gifted, holy, teaching, welcoming and inclusive pastor. May we dare to hope that “his name shall be John”? The much vaunted “cost” would surely turn out to be worth it – for the the ensuing illumination.

“Your church is ours now” said the confident and ghastly Darren. Not so, Goliath. Not so. My church belongs to God.