So, where do I see the Anglican Church in ten years’ time?
Churches and religions behave like snakes. At first seeking to explain the truths and the meaning of the Universe and its Creator to man, their priests are the first scientists. Stonehenge and the Pyramids and the Babylonian Calendar and Laws of Hammurabi bear witness to the remarkable achievements of man at the dawn of history, in constructing languages, in learning numbers, in understanding the motions of the seasons, predicting eclipses, learning to write, and laying down the basic laws that make it possible for Society to exist.
But just as the snake grows within a skin that fails to grow, and in the end has to burst through it and cast it off, so religions have this same way of fossilizing. A sacred book lays down rules which are accepted as truth for all time, while life and civilization and human understanding progress. In the end, the old ways as they are interpreted become so constricting that that they cannot survive. Some leader – a Jesus, a Martin Luther or a John Wesley – perceives the essence of the message that the Church should be preaching, and rephrases it in a wider and more liberal manner. Initially, this snake that has cast its skin is delicate and vulnerable. Later, as the skin hardens and the new truth is reduced to a system, this whole process of fossilization and the clash of modernity with fundamentalism starts once again.
In this time of rapid invention and change, it seems to me that the structures of the Christian church are currently under the same strain. A generation is growing up amid a mass of electronic innovation that simply cannot understand the language the Church is using. So our Church needs to rethink itself, not in terms of insisting on ancient formulas, but by discovering the essence of what its message is, discarding customs and wording that are no longer helpful, and widening its appeal to the needs of the souls of all humankind.
This is beginning to happen. The Authorized Version of the Bible has been replaced by many more accurate and readable translations. Our Alternative Services, though an interim measure, have been found very practical. We are reaching out to an understanding and appreciation of the beliefs of other denominations, perhaps a prelude to greater cooperation, if not actual union, between churches. We have not yet reached the point of respecting and understanding the value of the insights and practices of other, non-Christian religions. We have not yet given recognition to whoever it is who will be called to be the Luther who will lead the next Reformation, who, as ever, is likely to be treated as a blasphemer and disrupter of our established religious order – as is Prince Charles, when he wishes to be regarded as “Defender of Faith” rather than “Defender of THE faith.”
Yet we do have to recognize that the real divide in this world is between those who acknowledge, in some way or another, a Creator, a spiritual world, and a duty so to pass through this life as to be worthy to enjoy eternal life in the next. This contrasted with those who “worship the creature rather than the Creator”, whose “portion of life is in this world”, and whose life has no purpose other than the accumulation of possessions, power and prestige, without regard for the welfare of their fellows.
The next ten years will surely tell us more. And I believe that the Anglican Church, though not a complete answer in itself, will yet be a vital part of the process.
