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Most of us like to pigeon-hole people. We give them a label, and this prepares us for our dealings with them. When someone in politics is described as “old Labour” or a “Thatcherite” we think we know what makes them tick. We use lots of labels in the church - liberal, traditional, progressive, charismatic - and we often describe someone as a man of prayer, or a woman of action. The announcement of the appointment of Dr. Rowan Williams as the next Archbishop of Canterbury has produced a number of articles and interviews in the secular and religious press in recent weeks. Like most of us I do not know Dr. Williams personally, and so I have been trying to form a balanced opinion from what I have heard and read. Is it true that he holds some surprising views? Will he wear one of my labels, or fi t into a convenient pigeon-hole? I don’t think he will. Prayer and action One of the things often mentioned about Dr. Williams is that he is a man of prayer. Not just someone who spends a daily quiet time with God, but who goes further and deeper than that. Yet he is also a busy man, a man of action, and he seems to hold the two things in a healthy tension. I’m impressed by this important ability. He has been described as an Anglo-Catholic with a great interest in the Orthodox, combined with a considerable appreciation of the evangelical and charismatic contributions to the church. In spite of some defi nite liberal tendencies he is said to be very fi rmly rooted in Scripture and tradition, holding tightly to the central truths of the Christian faith. He is clearly a fi ne theologian, but one who is able to identify with ordinary people, and it seems he supports the idea of women bishops. This will certainly take him into troubled waters. I have come to the conclusion that it is impossible to pigeonhole him, and he will be a very unconventional Archbishop of Canterbury. There is every indication that his will be a prophetic voice in the nation, and I look forward to what he will say and do. A man who prays is always to be taken seriously. Be still and know that I am God.... When I came to a living faith in 1974 and was baptised in the Holy Spirit I spent many months just enjoying my new relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I read my Bible constantly, tried to pray, but spent a great deal of time just sitting in God’s presence. “Be still and know that I am God” was an invitation to which I readily responded. In fact I later discovered that some of the Christian friends we prayed with were wondering if I would ever stop just being and start doing something. This is not a concern they have today - one of the problems I now face is that the pendulum can easily swing too far the other way! So heavenly-minded we’re no earthly good? It’s true that the main message of Charismatic Renewal is all about personal transformation and not about the activities in which we engage, but personal transformation will lead us out into the world to bring the Good News to others in both word and deed. Charismatics are sometimes wrongly accused of not being involved in the area of social justice - we’re said to be so heavenly-minded we’re no earthly good! But the facts don’t bear this out. All over the world people whose lives have been changed by an encounter with the Holy Spirit through Charismatic Renewal are deeply involved in matters relating to social, racial, and economic justice. But this work is not done under the label “charismatic”. People just get on with it as ordinary members of the Church and of social justice groups. Spiritual renewal should always lead to practical involvement in the mission of the Church - we need both if we are to be committed disciples of Jesus Christ. But the Lord will have certain priorities for each of us, and we need to be sure we’re doing those things he has prepared for us. The best way to discover them is in prayer. The primacy of grace (Novo Millennio Ineunte 38) When I was at school I was taught to do things for God. By this I understood that there were some things in life which I would not enjoy doing, so I should do these for God, offering up my dislike of them and thereby making the whole exercise a more positive experience. I’m afraid it didn’t work, but for years it left me with the idea that if I didn’t like doing something it was probably the one thing God wanted me to do. Behind all this lay the feeling that I had somehow to earn God’s love and favour. This of course denies an essential principle of the Christian view of life: the primacy of grace. How much better to flow with the river of God’s grace, thereby avoiding the dangerous thought that the results of our endeavours depend on our own ability to act and to plan and not than on God’s provision. In recent years I have learned to do things with God, and this is always far more effective. Today I look around to see what God is doing and go and join in. Or I ask the Lord what he wants me to do, and then we go and do it together. It may sound easy. But in fact it can be diffi cult to follow God’s plans. I often get it wrong - but grace abounds, as Paul reminds us in Romans 5:20-21. Do I then have the courage to admit my mistake and turn back to God, or do I struggle on, doing something to which I was not called and for which I am not equipped? When it comes to spiritual things, most of us will have a natural pre-disposition either towards being or doing. Those of us who just love to be with the Lord may need to ask him if there’s anything he wants us to do. If we are people of action we may need to ensure that we spend more time in the presence of the Lord, so that what we do is always with him and not just for him. In the words of Jesus “Cut off from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). The good - enemy of the best? Since my “retirement” two years ago my life is busier than ever, and I have to admit that I like it that way. I’m not one for sitting around waiting for something to happen - my diary is always full, and in addition to many commitments in this country I also travel abroad a lot. So to avoid burnout I need to get a right balance between being and doing. The Lord will give the grace and the strength to fulfi l those things to which he calls us - he does not give the same support when we’re just doing our own thing. There are so many good things to be done, but the best is always the thing God is asking of us. It’s very easy to be excessively busy, wearing ourselves out and not having time for the things God really wants us to do. We do well to heed the warning - beware of the barrenness of a busy life. A time for loving For each of us there must be a balance in all this, and for myself I always need to make room for the times of quietness - I need to give time to my relationship with the Lord and to express my love for him. I remember Topol singing a song to his long-suffering wife in “Fiddler on the Roof”. He’s been musing about what it means to be in love with someone, and asks her “Do you love me?” Her reply is to give him a long list of all the things she has to do for him. He repeats his question, and she then reminds him that she’s been doing all these things for over twenty-five years. When he asks a third time (it reminds me of Jesus asking Peter the same question three times) she finally admits “Yes, I suppose I love you”. She thought it was enough just silently to do her duty and demonstrate her love for her husband by her work. But it’s not enough - we also need to put our arms around someone and say the words “I love you”. As Topol says “it may not change a thing, but after twenty fi ve years - it’s nice to know”. There’s a time for loving, and I think some of us may need to spend more time with the Lord saying those words to him too. If Dr. Rowan Williams can fi nd the time, I’m sure we can. “Lord, you know that I love you”. Blessings, Charles
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