THE CASE FOR A JUDICIOUS SILENCE
“Where’s this from?” asked my husband, wandering into the room with a book in his hand: “‘God is in heaven, and you upon earth; therefore let your words be few’.”
I had to confess ignorance. “Ecclesiastes,” he said, and wandered off again, leaving me with the notion that meditating on a quote like that might be a profitable exercise before attendance at General Synod.
Last year, after a break of fourteen years, I stood again for election to the House of Clergy. Some of my friends seemed genuinely puzzled that I would want to ‘waste’ my time on what they regarded as no more than a larger version of a particularly recalcitrant Parochial Church Council. For them, its workings are a remote, expensive and largely irrelevant mystery that, as far as they are aware, makes little impact on the lives of ordinary people in the parishes. I am saddened to think that this may not be an uncommon, albeit erroneous, impression.
I’ve seen the workings of Synod from several angles, as an ‘ordinary’ member of the public (yes I’m the sad sort of person who enjoys listening to debates); as a member of both Houses, and as an employee of the Ministry Division of the Archbishops’ Council. Over the years I’ve heard millions of words and seen swathes of forests employed in the production of Measures, Papers and Reports which would no doubt reach from here to Mars if laid end to end! In the words of Catherine Tate’s Lauren, “Am I bothered?” Is anyone bothered? Well, actually yes. I’m bothered - by words such as: “conformity”; “biblically orthodox”; “orthodox Christian conscience”; “All Christians must believe ...”
Once upon a time I practised law. Lawyers ‘do’ words. So I sometimes feel personally ‘got at’ when St Paul starts having a go at lawyers. However, his frequent emphasis on the contrast between a faith based on grace and one rooted in law is well justified. Giles Fraser, vicar of Putney, speaks of “entering a new age of Christian legalism,” and thinks that, “a legalistic mindset has been deeply corrosive to Christian theology and … to how we read the Bible … through which a loving God guides … human beings towards a greater love for each other and a greater appreciation of the divine.”
I have the greatest affection for the Synod. I relish its meetings and value the friendship, expertise and commitment of so many of its members. Which is why I am so disappointed when I hear shrill voices each claiming sole access to The Truth. When I was first elected to Synod, I entered an arena in which Evangelicals saw themselves pitted against the ‘wishy-washy, woolly liberal ascendancy’. Fourteen years later I find the pendulum appears to have swung somewhat the other way (as pendulums do). My frustration is that such a pendulum exists at all. Whatever happened to the via media?
“To be an Anglican is to be on a journey of faith to God supported by a fellowship of co-believers who are dedicated to finding Him by prayer and service,” to quote the Church of England website.1 I don’t read anything in these words to indicate the necessity for signing up to a defining Statement of Belief.
The sense of threat which seems to lie just beneath the surface of many current debates in the Church; the attempt to demonise as ‘un-Christian’ those of differing views, excludes the possibility of what one correspondent in the Church Times calls, “the gracious conversational approach to seeking God’s truth,” an approach that “can be difficult when others constantly assert that they alone have the truth.”2
The acknowledgment that Christians read scripture differently is hardly a new thing. But respect for the integrity of those who pay patient, prayerful attention to scripture and tradition should lead us into commitment to honest dialogue on our journey of faith.
It’s been suggested that we should call ourselves ‘the Anglican Dialogue’ rather than the Anglican Communion,3 a title which might perhaps encourage the employment of fewer words and a greater degree of listening and moderation. As James Byrne, Associate Professor of Religious Studies at St Michael’s College, Vermont writes, “When we turn to God-as-God (and not as an idol), silence is the most profound response.”4
Ferial Etherington
Carlisle Diocese - one time OSG Secretary
1 What it Means to be an Anglican at http://www.cofe.anglican.org/faith/anglican/.
2 The Revd Chris Mitchell, The Church Times May 18 2007
3 The Rev’d Richard Jenkins, Church of England Newspaper, February 16, 2007 No 5858
4 Byrne, J. (2001) God: Thoughts in an Age of Uncertainty Continuum, London & New York
