I'm a Church of England parish priest - AMA

[whyhere]

Baptisms, weddings, funerals, Sunday worship, belief in general - I'm at your service 🙂

It's nothing like the films 🙂It consists of prayers, blessing spaces with holy water but, most importantly, and before taking any action at all, detailed conversations with those involved in order to properly understand the real issues.

Our traditional church has an organ, and our contemporary one uses recorded worship songs. My favourite carol is one of the slightly less well-known ones, called O Holy Night and my second favourite is Three Kings from Persian Lands Afar.

Thank you for your kind comments.

I believe that God is neutral in the sense that the only way for the world to continue to exist is for it to be a self-managing entity, which inevitably means that some bad things will happen. God shows us through the miracles in the Bible, and those which still happen today that the next life, if we attain/choose it, will be perfect. This life can, at times, be a true vale of tears.

I don't, personally (some Christians do) believe in a specific manifestation of evil ('the devil') but I do believe that evil exists in the world, and that the best way to try to overcome it is for people of faith to make their voices louder and more effective than the voices of those who would do us harm.

God does not intentionally cause us harm; of that I'm sure.

I have no definable image of God - more a sensation and an awareness.

Only a couple of very part-time people, and lots of willing volunteers, but the things I've listed fall to me, not them.

Thank you for your kind words. I'm sorry that you've had some negative experiences.

Thank you for your kind words, and never say never 😉

I think this is one of those really hard questions to which there is no 'right' answer.

So-called 'all age worship' is something that most churches try to provide, at least once each month, but it's so difficult, as what works for children tends not to work for adults and vice versa. We compromise by having children's groups take place at the same time as our main services, in another area of the building, and then bringing everyone back together for communion and to share refreshments at the end.

It was just the first link that came up. The story was reported in lots of places.

Long story short: Cambridge Dean says Jesus was trans and God makes mistakes. Christians offended.

@Mercurial123 If you don't understand why someone like me might be offended by saying Jesus was no more than the product of rape by a Roman soldier, then any amount of explanation will be futile.

@beastlyslumber The guy said it in the pulpit at a church service! He's very lucky I wasn't in attendance.

Good carol choices 👍

You're quite cagey, aren't you? I don't mean that nastily - I was really curious about this thread, because all the vicars I have known have been extremely skilled at deflecting questions of this kind, so you always know what the official position of the Church is, and you always know they've thought about at least two points of view, but you're no closer to knowing what they actually think.

It is AMA ... honestly, what would you like best? I'm not asking you to say whether you think it's 'right'.

It interests me because my benefice has quite an elderly congregation, and my daughter's often the only child (not always). Everyone seems to like her being there (or they're doing an excellent job of being polite to us about it! ). But there is a very strong feeling that children will not generally enjoy services and therefore, all age worship is terribly important. All age worship is sometimes, though not always, better attended by other families with children. It's ok, but my daughter doesn't enjoy it as much as normal church services (where she's involved and knows the structure). Whenever I talk to other local parents, the message they've taken away is that their children aren't really welcome at regular services, and all age worship is a bit dull for children, so clearly regular church would be much worse. I find it quite frustrating! It's two very well-meaning groups people who somehow manage not to communicate with each other. And I don't know, talking to the vicar, what he actually wants. I don't know if he honestly feels all age worship adds something special so is important to keep, or whether it's an attempt at reaching people in the hope they'll come to regular services more?

Not intending to be in the least 'cagey' 🙂I would be delighted to have all ages worshipping together in all services but, in my experience, it's almost impossible to make that work for everyone. Of my two congregations, one is delighted to have children around and the other is less sure (very elderly).

Mmm .... but it's not really, is it?

It's pretty mainstream to interpret Christ's side wound and Christ's body the way Heath did; there are shedloads of Christian writers who imagine Jesus as feminine or as having a flexible gender; it's not a massive leap (though, in my personal view, not very interesting) to think about Jesus in terms of transgender imagery. This was someone who is a JRF, so quite a junior scholar, playing with ideas that have been discussed in academic circles for ages. I'm a medievalist and even my crustiest, least fashionable colleagues would hear 'side wound of Christ ... vulva ... transgender' and understand where that junior scholar was coming from. He was probably being more than a bit naive to think that'd go over well in a non-academic context.

The dean has simply backed up his junior colleague, which TBH is what you'd hope he'd do. He hasn't said 'OMG yes, Jesus was definitely trans'. He said the 'speculation was legitimate' (ie., it was a fair question for the scholar to ask).

The headline screaming that the dean himself claimed Jesus was transgender is ... a reach.

Some Very political answers here I agree @SarahAndQuack. Lots of deflection. My questions were answered with responses to totally different questions.

One of the reasons I'll never trust a vicar, you can not get a straight answer. Like there's always an agenda 🤷‍♀️

Is this a defence mechanism I wonder?

I great thread though op, thank you for taking the time on it :)

Would love to know what OP thinks. @whyhere ? Does God make mistakes? Was Jesus born in the wrong body?

Thank you for not taking offence! And for your continued patience.

"nothing else makes sense"??

So you think that one God created the entire world and all its inhabitants, flora and fauna? Ok then...............😂

That's really not what I meant! I was trying to gently tease the OP, not criticise harshly. I imagine it is very difficult to step out of your official role, when you've learned to answer everything very tactfully for your day job.

If my answers appear political that is just coincidence - I've answered everything as honestly as I can. In fact, one of the reasons I've been told I will never be promoted is because I am too fond of saying what I really think!

Duty calls - thanks for all the questions.

Have a nice afternoon! Hope whatever it is you're doing is fun as well as work.

custardbear
I have a big issue with religion (except theoretical of course) being peddled in schools, particularly those that aren't religious schools (which I abhor but that's a different thread). How do you justify the church going into schools and the concerns from parents about potential indoctrination of their children?

I 'justify' it because the schools in my parish ask me to go in, and parents have the option to remove their children if they wish to.

We're often not told the church are going in. Don't get me wrong, if my children decided they wanted to follow religion of any kind I wouldn't mind, but I do mind anything other than fact being taught to my children in schools

Agree, noticed a few questions mine included and a few others I was keen to see response too were ignored.
But it is a christain priest - they would never do a real ask me anything with real answers. A few wishy replies, replying to any ego boosts of thanks. Guessing anything else would be walking too close to the devil or something. 🤣