Does church matter?

Maybe the biggest question I have at this time is: what matters? Grammar? And my eight year old learning it? No. Makeup? No. New clothes? No. Food? Very much.

Does knowing how to cook, clean up, repeat, matter? Yes. Hugs and wiping tears? Definitely. Spending too much time on the phone? Not one bit.

Dreams and hopes and little handmade pictures of rainbows? Yes. Claps for the NHS? In some ways, but how we vote in future may matter more. Does church matter? Well, to Christians, enormously. How about non-Christians?

Something is happening. The Church is going online, being streamed on Facebook and YouTube, from pastors’ homes. Younger church members are loving it. People who do not go to church are turning up to see it. This could be the beginning of something.

A vicar in London is going round his parish on a Sunday with a loudspeaker, playing a hymn and politely inviting people to join in from their windows. A member of my congregation wants to emulate the clap for the NHS and start a Christian household call out of worship, where every household opens their window and lets a worship song float out into the night. A petition is going around to ask the UK government to instigate a national day of prayer, like King George VI put in place during the Second World War.

I love many elements about what is going on but I don’t want to do something that is about being set apart at this time. Many of the wonderful NHS staff, and other key workers who guarantee we are getting our food, are not Christians. I want to pray for them and with them…

Commitment-Phobe is a Christian

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This is an extract from an article that was published in the May 2020 edition of Reform

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