Thursday, July 2. Westminster SW1.
Today I finally decided that it would be a good idea to mail home the books, pamphlets, and notes accumulated during my time in Wales. So I loaded up the lot and went to the Royal Post Office. The total weight for the three packages: eight pounds! Two pounds from the Welsh dictionary and grammar I had brought from home, and six pounds thanks to the generosity of Gwynn ap Gwilym, Aled Edwards, and the Archbishop of Wales, and several others. In the weeks to come, as Ingrid and I hauled luggage into trains, planes, and taxis, I gave thanks for that decision!
Friday, July 3. Westminster SW1.
This morning after Morning Prayer I made an appointment to see St. Matthew's Vicar Philip Chester after lunch to talk about Emerging Church and his experience with Moot before their move to St. Mary Woolnoth.
After the Noon Mass I looked at the information table in the narthex and found several booklets and pamphlets of interest.
"A Guide for Visitors" includes a word of welcome, some history, and brief description of the church and its furnishings, including A Note on the Saints depicted on the Reredos:
"The four saints immediately surrounding the scene of the Nativity stand for the two great truths of the Christian Faith: St Basil and St Athanasius were witnesses to the faith of the Church in the Incarnation, while St John Chrysostom and St Thomas Aquinas were staunch upholders of the doctrine of the Real Presence of Our Lord in the Eucharist.
"The other saints represent Christian virtues, and are from left to right -
- St Francis de Sales - as a type of Spirituality
- St Stephen the Martyr - as a type of Fortitude
- St Paul the Apostle - as a type of Missionary Zeal
- St Martin of Tour - as a type of Generosity
- St Chad of Mercia - as a type of Humility
- St Francis of Assisi - as a type of Christian Love"
There were also copies of the parish's June Newsletter, and several pamphlets produced by Gospel Imprint (c), "the fresh catholic voice in Anglicanism sharing free resources with all Christians who are seeking to learn, worship and witness to the generosity of the Kingdom of God."
The titles I picked up were: "Christian Life: Is God Calling You To Be a Priest?" "Christian Prayer: How Can I Pray?" and Christian Faith: The Kingdom of God - the Good News."
Philip made coffee for us and we sat down in the House dining room with the tools of my interviewing trade: camera, brown leather notebook, and pen.
Our conversation began with Philip's experience of Moot. It had its beginnings as an alternative worship community known as Epicentre, which had formed within a conservative, evangelical parish. This new, more liberal group of young people needed a new church home, and they approached St. Matthew's. Philip was happy to receive them, with the understanding that they would participate in the life of the parish.
Philip elaborated by describing two models of Church. In one model, groups are more like tenants, as is the case when a crèche (the UK term for a child care facility) or a chapter of Alcoholic Anonymous uses the building. Philip didn't want to have that sort of relationship with Moot. Instead, he wanted to follow a more collaborative model, rooted in St. Matthew's specific tradition and context.
So Moot entered into the life of St. Matthew’s parish. On Sundays there would be a "formal but not fussy" service in the Anglo-Catholic tradition, and a more "open" Moot service in the evening.
Turning more generally to the topic of Emerging Church and Fresh Expressions, and the two models of Church, Philip expressed both optimism and caution. He mentioned with approval the Church of England's new Pioneer Ministry, to encourage vocations apart from the more mainstream, traditional process. Yet he expressed concern over any tendency to have a two-track approach, divided between Conventional and Emerging Churches. "Fresh Expressions can imply that the older ways of doing things are necessarily 'stale' expressions."
Philip understood Moot's departure in terms of its continuing evolution as an Emerging Church community.
Philip spoke with enthusiasm about a conference on the topic of Catholic Fresh Expressions with the Archbishop of Canterbury this past Advent, and suggested that I find this link on the Fresh Expressions website.
With the Church of England's General Synod and the Episcopal Church's General Convention approaching, we turned to the current tensions in the Anglican Communion. In the course of this discussion, Philip made a fascinating observation: "Because the Church of England is the Established Church, and therefore the National Church and not a “denomination,” the extremes (liberals and conservatives, catholics and evangelicals) have to co-exist," he said, "and therefore have 'soft edges.'" He then recounted several anecdotes in which persons who had taken positions on certain issues publicly had later (sometimes that very evening) affirmed privately their affection and appreciation for those who believed and acted differently.
We also talked about the Archbishop of Canterbury's role in trying to keep the Anglican Communion together, and Philip spoke of his admiration for Rowan Williams' difficult ministry, recommending that I read a recent American Spectator article about him.
At this point I mentioned Phyllis Tickle's book The Great Emergence, and showed him her schema for the four main divisions of Christian churches: Liturgical churches, such as the Anglican Church; Social Justice churches, such as the Methodist Church; Renewal churches, such as the Assemblies of God churches; and Conservative churches, such as the Baptist Church.
Philip then talked about an Italian community known as Sant’Egidio (St. Giles) with which he has been associated over the years through retreats and conferences. It is a Roman Catholic community of lay people with ordinary jobs, so it is not at all clericalized. Philip described it as having "an internal passion for social justice and holiness," which is outwardly expressed in its ministry to the poor, its work for international peace (it helped broker the end of Mozambique's civil war in 1992), and its universal campaign to end the death penalty. Because Sant'Egidio may be a model for Emerging Church, with its emphasis on community and ecumenical outreach while at the same time working within the Church, Philip is intrigued by the possibility of creating something new along these lines at St. Matthew's, Westminster.
After my conversation with the Vicar, I set out to purchase some Oysters. The few days I'd spent in London made me realize that Ingrid and I would need to take the Tube to reach our various destinations, and the most economical way to do that is by purchasing the electronic travel passes known as Oyster Cards, about which you can read here.
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