Belief

Apparently several hundred applications have been received recently from people keen to join the Progressive Christianity Network. As fewer Britons turn away from traditional Christian belief (Daily Telegraph September 29 2011)  they may not be abandoning every form of spirituality, but interested in it via other faiths systems, or no system at all. PCN doesn't ask newcomers to spell out their beliefs, which is as well, because chairman John Churcher says  every member will probably have a different understanding of what Christianity is about and  which bit of it really matters. My experience of churches is that very few of the people who attend could give you a coherent statement of personal belief. And those who are most certain are not necessarily the ones you might like to spend eternity with. A review of the BBC One programme (Sept 28) 'What's the point of Religion' suggested that 'Belonging matters more than believing'. That  is certainly true of most churchgoers, who like to see familiar faces in familiar surroundings, and enjoy routine forms of worship. They do not like change! Does 'belief' matter? Of course it does. Come right down to it, faith needs a reasonably firm foundation and PCN suggests ditching a lot of inherited medieval beliefs in favour of serious commitment to the life and teaching of Jesus, sans virgin birth, miracles and bodily resurrecvtion. It may never be popular in a culture than demands b&w certainties.  But certainty - about anything - is a mirage. Ask the Hydron Collider scientists!

Wonder

How about a new theme for harvest festivals? There is some embarrassment now in churches wondering how to dispose usefully of the fruit, veg and groceries presented for traditionl displays. My former church always had a very large loaf, designed like a sheaf of corn, as the centre-piece. We never quite knew what to do with it; come to that we didn't know what to do with baskets of fruit and veg which old people did not want; they thought it was charity! We sang with gusto the harvest hymns whose theological content is dubious. 'Give his angels charge at last in the fire the tares to cast....' Thank you Henry Alford (1810-71)  The theme of thanksgiving is always going to be central, but the more we learn abut the world of nature, and our own mysterious bodies, the more we shoud be filled with a sense of wonder. Augustine wrote: 'Men go abroad to wonder at the height of mountains, at the huge wastes of the sea, at the long courses of the rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars, and they pass by themselves without wondering.' James Le Fanu has written a fine book called 'Why Us?'* in which he describes the quite unaided progression of the human embryo into adult life, and the so far unexplained functions of the human brain, eye, memory, etc etc. A service with the theme of wonder at what we see around us, and how we see it, would be better than chanting about being 'gathered in, free from sorrow, free from sing...' Harvest planning committees - use you loaf - it's amazing.

*WHY US?  2009 HARPER COLLINS £18.99

theology

The media is so preoccupied with conflict, trivia and greed that it rarely takes God seriously. It tends to sneer at those who have something thoughtful to say about eternity, clashing as it may with the here, now, sexy and fiscal. So how a letter from Mr  Brian Wilson of Bristol, slipped through the massed defences of The Times letters police on September 13 is hard to guess. But good for him. He wanted to press the need for a 'new theology...to win the assent of thinking people who have abandoned traditional churches and their outdated mythologies...' Mr Wilson is so right. Amazingly, educated people are still standing up in churches reciting middle-ages creeds when belief has become much more credible and science compatible, in our time. What Mr Wilson may not know, and the media has not recognised, is that new Christian-based theology is up, running and gathering speed around the world. It is known by various names, notably Progressive Christianity, and sustained by exceptional theologians saying things that should meet the intellectual and spiritual needs of the most cynical seeker. Try info@pcnbritain.org.uk or the website at http://www.pcnbritain.org.uk/ Believable, universal, inclusive faith is on offer, and it is not the mock belief system which may have served our forefathers and rightly derided by Dawkins and co. It is somehting firt for this century.