Pink and Blue Church

This morning I read this:

'The Church of England needs to move quickly towards ordaining women bishops because it is fast running out of men who are good enough to do the job, the General Synod was told this morning.'

The sad thing is that I meet with many men in one of my areas of ministry and one of the biggest obstacles to 'doing church' is the impression that it is a place for women and children. The good news is that when they find that it isn't they tend to get involved in a full on' way. The sad news is that for many their impression of  'Pink Church' is often borne out.

Recently I visited a place where almost everyone in the local church was female.
The clergy were women.
The Wardens were women.
The PCC secretary, Treasurer and PCC members were all women.
The organist was a woman.

Now I'm glad that they're there and keeping the flag flying [I don't have a problem with women - other than my daughter who bully me :-) ] and I'm grateful for their ministry and their commitment and fellowship . .

BUT (there's always a 'But' isn't there?)

The problem is that we do seem to be sending out the wrong message to the men out there.

We do seem to be making it sound like women are the remedy to the fact that clergy who are good enough to do the job are hard to find (Yes, I know I'm poor quality provision, I live with that reality daily)and so we are looking to them as a second best.

We do seem to be so taken up with fast track solutions and 'pushing things through' and 'making things happen' that we have forgotten about celebrating calling in those around us regardless of age, sex or football affiliation (still have my doubts about supporters of Man U, Millwall and Tottenham).

Where I find a Blue church I find the place packed with high quality men who are engaged and delivering the Christian faith in a dynamic and discipled manner. Hmmmm!

Yes - I know this will upset some out there - but talk to Ruth Gledhill of the Times (which I'd love to read online but won't pay the subscription) because she started it.

Pax

What colour are you? (When Christians collide)

One of the most unsettling and destabilising elements that one can encounter is that of being 'taken out' by those who were previously thought of as being on the same side as you. This act of fratricide, also known as 'blue on blue' (blue being the colour designation for 'friendly forces'), is more likely to be the result of incompetence or error rather than an act of betrayal.

There is also the act of being taken out by those whom one assumed to be neutral (the colour designation for this being green) which gives rise to the 'green on blue' definition we hear from time to time when we find members of our forces being killed by those who we perceived not to be our enemies..

In conflict situations the colours are simple to understand:

Red = Enemy forces,
Blue = Friendly forces,
Green = Neutral forces, 
Yellow = unknown forces

One of the saddest elements I encounter in the area of 'church' is the 'blue on blue' situation where those who are (supposedly) on the same side actively engage in damaging another of their number.

This might manifest in a bit of internecine back-biting (sometimes theological or perhaps more commonly because of perceived threats) and sometimes in a bit of sneering (the 'looking down the nose that the OT speaks so poorly of) and spin. One of the most common instances I encounter is that where an issue crops up and a position is stated with the suffice, 'Not like them . . .'!

We all know that 'a house divided against itself cannot stand (Matt 12) and yet I'm ashamed to sat that I find many of us failing to engage in promoting unity; for we'd rather look to our own little kingdom than live for the Kingdom of God. Perhaps we need to remember that the zealot (who lives for his own cause and kingdom) cries out that,  'Those who aren't for us are against us,' whilst those who seek to build the Kingdom of God acknowledge that, 'Those who aren't against us are for us!'

The only line that needs to exist is that which separates sinful from righteous and when we find sin we act to help those caught up in it to cross that line and act rightly. We might not always agree on matters of choice or theology, liturgy or musicianship but these should never be show-stoppers and should never result in us damaging, or being damaged by, other believers.

And even when we've got that sorted, there will still be the odd 'Negligent discharge' (what we call it when someone fires off a round accidentally) that takes someone out - we have all fired those verbal bullets that result in others on the same side of us being wounded I'm sure.

But perhaps before we plan, plot or speak out we should consider the issue and let our response be guided by that wonderfully effective (and yet often also trite) question:

What Would Jesus Do?

I expect flak from those people who are coloured red and understand the fact that those in green, neutrals, are sometimes merely people who haven't made up their mind that they oppose me - But when when I see someone who is blue I don't expect to have to defend myself against them and neither should they. When I, or they, are in the wrong I would hope that what we find is 'gentle' correction and support - for we all fall, fail and stumble.

My prayer is that when we do it doesn't become a 'blue on blue'  or turn those who are green into a nice red colour!

Pax