I’m a priest - ask me anything!

[RevInTheHouse]

I’m a fairly young (and quite normal I think) Church of England priest. Am married with children

FirstOfMyName

I am sorry that this is troubling you. As I said earlier, forgiveness is hard and we all struggle with it. Forgiveness isn’t forgetting, it doesn’t take away hurt and pain, but when we can’t forgive it often hurts us even more as it’s eats away at us. A good first step is praying and asking God to help to start wanting to forgive. God knows your heart and knows your struggles. I don’t believe you would go to hell (whatever hell may be) but for your own peace of mind I’d encourage you to talk to someone about your feelings about what happens and if it’s hard to pray ask others to pray for you and with you. We are there to carry each other in prayer

Rev thanks.x
My H was brought up Catholic (school, altar boy etc) but turned from the church specifically due to this 'hypocrisy' (in his eyes). The person i am thinking of proclaims themselves to be very holy yet breaks a number of commandments repeatedly and laughs saying: 'God will forgive me on my deathbed, what does it matter?' I have tried to speak to them of the importance of repentance being genuine (even if you fall into old ways again) but to no avail. Yes, it is between them and God I agree but as a Christian myself I find it frustrating that non-believers can think we all 'act this way'?
thanks again for a very interesting thread!

@RevInTheHouse

What do you do when confronted with certain parts of the bible you may disagree with? (Women being silent in church, submitting to their husbands, homosexuality, slavery etc)?

Why did God in your opinion harden the pharaohs heart and thereby directly sentence all Egyptian first born sons to death (even of people who surely didn't oppress his people, like the "slave girl")? Or kill people still outside with hail?

MariaMadita

What do you do when confronted with certain parts of the bible you may disagree with? (Women being silent in church, submitting to their husbands, homosexuality, slavery etc)?

I think much of it is very context bound, particularly the parts from the purity laws in Leviticus. Even the teaching of St Paul varied from place to place and studying scripture, history and interpretation is fascinating as it gives a bigger picture. Plucking a verse and applying to a different context can be dangerous. It doesn’t mean th bible isn’t relevant, i believe it is, but we need to read and interpret it carefully and intelligently.

PamsterWheel

I think it’s important to look and different ways the Bible can be and has been interpreted and then we need to come to our own conclusions. Theologians have argued for years about what is fact, what is metaphor, what has been changed and redacted - a lot of scripture has been added to and some books such as Isaiah are understood to have multiple authors. I wouldn’t go as far as saying I believe X but not Y, but I do understand bits are allegorical, bits are historical, parts are poetry etc. The bible is better understood as a library than one entire book in my opinion

Do you write and deliver the sermon every week?

How do you think of what to talk about?

What do you think about the Mormon church? Specifically their method of teaching the same lesson every week across the country/world maybe? So Tues Sunday 1st of July is all about Work ethic and every church is telling the same story.

@Revinthehouse hi.. do you believe all of the Bible to be true?

I'm particularly thinking of Genesis here.

Actually I also want to know if you believe Noah's Ark was real.
!

I would say the pay is not great but the pension is out of this world!

How do you and your atheist husband decide to raise your children? As an atheist I'd be uncomfortable with the idea of my children being raised to believe I was going to hell

I'm curious - when you were put forward for training, was your husband's non-belief an issue? Was he interviewed? Reason I ask is that I have two friends who recently got through the panel but felt their spouse's support was severely questioned - both spouses are very committed Christians and supportive but both not surprisingly had concerns about effect on family life and this was seen as being unsupportive.

My DH isn't a Christian and I find that hard enough, finding a way to be as involved as I want to be and to keep DC involved and not being able to share an absolutely key part of my life with him. So can't imagine being a vicar in that situation!

I find it all a bit confusing.. I mean i was brought up as a Catholic and im still confused.

We have "the three in one"

We have "God"

We have "christ"

We have "jesus " presumably of Nazareth

we have "the son of God"

Just who is who? Could you simplify it if possible?

Thank you. Yes I will try to speak to someone. I just see that person for wfst they are & no one else does which is very irritating also!

FirstOfMyName

swanlife

We are raising the children as Christian but in a way where they know we have differing views and they can decide for themselves. I am liberal in my views and educated in my faith so I present things objectively and explain different views and perspectives.
I feel more strongly about my faith than dh does about his atheism and we talked about it before we got married. He comes to church and is genuinely supportive.

AliMonkey

Dh wasn’t interviewed formally but chatted with the DDO (director of ordinands) and also came to my college interview days and chatted with the tutors and principles separately to me, again informally. Theological college and all my posts since have been joint decisions

Thanks I appreciate your answer.

cheshiremama89

I don’t think God is a metaphor but as for the devil I’m not sure whether I think of a person/ being or whether I think of the devil as a way of explaining evil. I believe in the presence of evil (and at times in the past it has scared me). I believe Jesus was tempted in the desert and I believe we are tempted too. I’m just not sure I envisage the stereotypical red figure with horns.

Limpopobongo

There’s a bit of a joke in the church that no one wants to preach on Trinity Sunday as you’re essentially trying to explain the unexplainable.
The Holy Trinity (1 God, 3 persons) is one of the most complicated Christian doctrines and then to add the fact the Jesus is both fully man and fully God is enough to confuse anyone!!
Christians believe in one God but that God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It doesn’t mean each of these are a third of God each, they are all fully God.
It doesn’t mean God changes from one to another, God is all 3 all the time. These are just some of the heresies of old! Metaphors for the trinity don’t work.
The best way to understand it in my opinion is of Father, Son and Holy Spirit in relationship with one another, demonstrating perfect love. I’ll try to think of something you can read which may be easier to understand than my explanation. But to some degree we have accept we will never fully grasp this.

CaptainGT

I write and preach a sermon pretty much every week and sometimes two!
Most CofE churches follow the lectionary which gives the readings set for the week. It means that churches throughout the world are hearing the same bible passages as one another.
Of course the sermons they get will vary immensely because of the person preaching!
I really enjoy writing sermons.

Hi Rev! I just read this on a Catholic website:

epicpew.com/10-things-you-might-be-doing-wrong-at-mass/

and I wonder if there is an equivalent list of things people typically get “wrong” in the CofE? It sounds fraught and I wonder that anyone manages to get it right!

I don't really get the Church of England. I was bought up catholic and went to a catholic school, we always saw it as a watered down version of Catholicism where you can get divorced and remarry again

I'm not religious now and never believed it all as a child but if I was I'd be a Roman Catholic, no point doing half a job

Ooh yes please answer furandchandeliers - I have a CofE mother and a Catholic father and I’ve attended both in my time. I’d like to know your views on this too!

I wonder if there is an equivalent list of things people typically get “wrong” in the CofE? It sounds fraught and I wonder that anyone manages to get it right!

As a member of the CofE I can confirm that it much more relaxed. Everybody is welcome to worship as they would like, the “rules” are very few and the message of love is said and sung on high.

Hi Rev

Female friend of mine got ordained as a deacon recently and is now a curate at a local church. She's divorced and been single for a while and would really like to find a partner - he doesn't need to share her religion, she doesn't have or want children - but she's concerned whether she will have time for someone. How much time do you and your husband actually get together?

As a young lad I remember my local RC church. It was a fine big gothic building by the man himself, Edward Lutyens. In its heyday it was always busy, especially on Sunday. It was fully staffed with a Canon (a very old chap with a nice scarlet four cornered hat with a bobble), and at least 3 priests. Sunday Mass was twice a day plus benediction and Always done in Latin with the full atmosphere and smokey handbag (incense burner)..

Tragically like so many churches, attendance declined over the years as did the staff, down to 1 priest in the end,and the fine building was torn down.

Do you think those great days will ever return or do people only turn up now for special occasions? Surely they are just using the church as a backdrop for the photos when really, a lot of them are hypocrites?