Magazine Article for June 2018

Dear Friends,

From time to time I get asked what the different seasonal colours use in church and on the vestments of clergy mean. It’s like so many things in church life. We take it for granted that things that are familiar for us are obvious to everyone, when in fact they’re asking what is going on and why.

Every now and then, it’s a good exercise to think about what church must be like for someone who has no previous knowledge or experience of it. For example, at some of our baptism preparation sessions, I show a short Youtube clip of the old Cadbury’s Smash advert with the plastic aliens laughing at the primitive earth people peeling and cooking potatoes.

Then I pose these questions: What would the aliens make of a baptism, and how might we explain baptism to them? (Best answers on a postcard to…)

You might prefer to think about some of the technical churchy language some of us can find ourselves using. For example, can we all identify an aumbry, a ciborium, a chasuble, or even a vestibule? Some church people, when talking about a communion service refer to the Gloria, Sanctus and Agnus Dei, so we’re speaking Latin even though our services are in English. And then we refer to the Eucharist, which contains the Kyrie Eleison, and all of a sudden we’re talking in Greek. No wonder newcomers can be confused.

In the middle of June, we’re being asked nationally in the Church of England to regard June 17^th as a Sunday to invite people to come to a church service. That’s great – and I hope you do. But moments like that are a reminder to us all that to be truly welcoming to newcomers, we need to go further than just a friendly smile at the door. We also need to be befrienders, interpreters, and go the extra mile to ensure that people are enabled to participate as freely and as fully as possible in every aspect of our church’s life. Otherwise if we confuse people with words like legilium*, they might be making their escape through the narthex**, never to return to share in our koinonia***.

With all good wishes

Mike

* a legilium is a folding lectern or bookstand, often used by priests for the first part of a service, before being packed away

** the narthex of a church is a lobby area at the west end of a church building.

*** koinonia is the Greek word for fellowship, sharing or participation.