Church in a bubble

One of the interesting things about getting involved in a new church is the process of finding out how the church functions and what its priorities are. I’m really enjoying being part of a small village congregation with a tangible sense of community but I’m also beginning to see how this can all too easily lead to a highly individualised approach to faith and a lack of engagement in the wider world.

Last Sunday I was struck by the fact that despite the news being full of the momentous and historic events unfolding in the Arab world there was no mention of these in the service at all. The irony is that the theme of the sermon was the freedom from oppression that comes from the power of God at work – an allusion to the (largely) peaceful overthrow of an oppressive regime in Egypt two weeks ago would have been timely and appropriate, and yet it never came. Nor did we pray for those situations, in either abstract or specific terms.

Over the last few years I've learnt to appreciate the Anglican approach to prayer, particularly intercessory prayer, or prayer for others. I'm sure this must be due, in some part, to being the state church - an Empire church, indeed, for some part of the last five hundred years - and that must give you something of a global perspective. The other irony is, of course, that my church has a long-standing commitment to the work of oversees missionaries which means they clearly realise what happens in the village on a Sunday impacts the other side of the world. But I wonder whether somehow that's remained a purely spiritual dynamic, divorced from social and political realities.

A couple of weeks ago I was leading staff prayers at work and was reminded of the quote attributed to the theologian Karl Barth – “Read with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other”. While it’s obviously entirely appropriate to spend time in corporate worship reflecting on areas in which we need to grow and mature in our individual walks with God, it’s also vital that we acknowledge that we live in a world which needs to be shaped by the grace and compassion of God and to engage as a community with the responsibility we have to be part of that process.

It's fair to say that I struggled a little bit with church on Sunday but I'm very much aware that if I want to see things change, I have to take responsibility for making change happen and not just blog about my frustrations!