Lay Preaching Commissioner Jan Harper reports on a day for lay preachers and worship leaders
What you missed by not being there, on the last day of September! It was a day filled with special moments, and hopefully the start of more such events for Lay Preachers - and other worship leaders too. Although we were few in number the weather was wonderful and the group enjoyed great fellowship, which was enhanced by the presence of our Moderator, Revd Peter Poulter.
Revd Neil Thorogood from Westminster College, Cambridge gave our keynote address, and introduced us to the concept of opening the scriptures to people to allow them to experience the excitement contained in them. We listened to Vaughan Williams ‘The Lark Ascending’ which was inspired by a poem by George Meredith. The composer used the words as his inspiration for the music to open up the experience to his listeners. And put like that it makes our own work of leading worship and sharing God’s Word a most important and exciting privilege.
Lunch, for some of us, was taken as a picnic by the beach because the weather was so warm, and the whole place so spiritually uplifting.
During the afternoon Revd Barry Hutchinson, Director of the St Cuthbert's Centre, introduced us to the idea of silence and meditation in worship. We listened and joined in with some Taizé chants, and he took us on a guided imagery exploration of a Bible passage. Maybe not a technique that congregations are used to, but one which could be introduced for special times and small groups.
Northumberland lay preacher Carol Dixon gives a résumé of Neil Thorogood's talk
Neil began by inviting us to listen to ‘The Lark Ascending ’ by Vaughan Williams and reminded us that it was written after the composer had read the poem ‘To a skylark’ by George Meredith. In his poem, Meredith wants us to watch the skylark with him and be touched by the wonder of creation, while Vaughan Williams needs both the experience of watching the bird and the poem about the skylark soaring to make it live. So great art focuses on the particular in order to open things up.
Preaching also has the potential and the power to take us in close, in order to open up the world. God is real and present but also mysterious and elusive. The Bible is the text of the love story of God and his people spanning the centuries. Thus if the Bible is like the poem, preaching is like the music in that it takes the reality of God and makes it live.
What does this say to us as preachers about the world, the congregation and preaching?
1) The World: Holy Island is one of the ‘thin places’ where the sense of here seems more transparent and God is real and present; but if we only seek the experience then these places can become just another spiritual fix. Neil produced some of the new Jesus ‘action figures’ available – yet another sign of the current search for spirituality. Some modern spirituality is like a buffet – pick and mix, a bit of Christianity here alongside crystals and tarot cards with some yoga thrown in for good measure, so we create our own spiritual world. Even magazines have their own spirituality editor for people who don’t want to buy into everything Christianity has to offer but just take out what they want. Great preaching doesn’t dabble but helps us to stop and wonder.
2) The Congregation: People want to find ways to connect the Bible and the world. The world is a strange place where things are going on so congregations need to take the text and let it live for them in the context of the world. There are now more congregations reporting growth than decline according to the new survey on Churches but only 20% of those attending church read the Bible for themselves. The Bible is seen as hard to get into yet remains very important for our tradition.
3) The Preacher: Without the word it is harder for the Word to break into people’s lives. It is very easy for preachers to rely only on commentaries instead of engaging with the text themselves. Preaching begins with stopping and falling in love with the text again; by using the word to speak for itself. As with the two disciples on the Emmaus road, Jesus comes alongside and explains it. Preachers need to walk in the dust of the road but spend time and skill and artistry of opening it up - making it soar into the heavens – to set hearts on fire.