Difficult and Different Things

 

The beautiful country church where I worship God each week has an uncertain future. It opened in 1866 to an overture of gratitude from villagers who would no longer have to walk two miles or more to church each week. The church garden has hosted wedding and christening party photographs, Church Fetes, Easter Egg Hunts and Teddy Bears’ Picnics. Betty, 90, still fills the bird feeders, and the Sunday congregation still welcomes friends and strangers alike. But… you probably know the story. The faithful die, and even the people who would like to come have to take Jonnie to football, or Freya to swimming. Worthy activities run by kind people giving their free time so generously.

We don’t want our church to close, but the diocese is in trouble. Not enough priests and not enough money to run all the buildings. Not enough people in the ageing congregations.

There are so many things to consider, but perhaps it is time to do different and difficult things.

My daughter-in-law, a primary school teacher in Plymouth, told me that at Christmas, the Muslim children‘s parents refused to allow them to hear anything about the Christmas story. When I taught some Jehovah’s Witness children, their parents withdrew them from RE lessons. (What? A Christian teaching RE to our children? Never!)

Our country is multi-cultural, and multi-faith. If we want a multi-cultural, multi-faith society that works, we need to know what others think about God. Because if there is one God, and we believe this to be true, then there’s nothing to fear from finding out how other cultures, and people of other faiths, think and feel. If we want to lead the way in a multi-faith society, should we not listen to everyone — Buddhists, Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Hindus, Sikhs, and more?

We have the privilege of being writers, and I believe we can use our gifts to help take Christianity into the twenty-first century. 

Veronica Bright has won over forty prizes for her short stories, now published in three collections. She is trying to persuade literary agents that her two novels for children are FANTASTIC! She is the ACW short story adviser, and runs the ACW Writing for Children group, whose members meet up on Zoom. For more details look on the Writing for Children Facebook page.

http://www.veronicabright.co.uk