Annunciation licensing at Llancarfan

For the second day running, yesterday I had a Eucharist in the morning at Saint Augustine's Penarth, followed by funeral at St David's Ely with burial at Western cemetery. A smaller and humbler affair today. In the evening I drove out to join colleagues and congregation at Llancarfan for the licensing of Fr Derek Belcher as the new priest in charge of three rural parishes, part of the South Vale group, that stretches down to Rhoose on the coast. 

The village was crowded with parked cars, and the beautifully floodlit church was full. Archbishop Barry preached well, reflecting on the power of words, a subject dear to my heart. A somewhat different order of service was used for the occasion, focussing as much on the dedication of God's people to be the church in mission in their local community. It used the 'Seven Sacred Spaces' typology drawing on imagery taken from monastic foundations, quite appropriate in this context, as Llancarfan was one of the early Celtic monastic centres of learning in Wales in the sixth century. This uses seven key places and words associated with them:

The Cell - place of personal Prayer

The Chapel - place of common Worship

The Chapter - place of Decision making

The Cloister - place of Meeting

The Garden - place of Work

The Refectory  - place of Sharing (hospitality)

The Library - place of Study

It's an appealing and commendable way of thinking about the nature of the church, what it is and what it does. It does however leave me with some measure of disquiet. There are at least two other important places in any monastic domain, which say a great deal about the nature of any and every Christian enterprise. The ones of most concern to me are

The Infirmary - place of healing. I think this speaks for itself.

 

The Workshop - where 'laborare est orare' (as St Benedict says), where wood may be fashioned into furniture, clay into pots, iron forged, chemicals refined for other uses, literature printed, icons painted, foodstuffs prepared and preserved, not to mention the digital modern equivalents.

Yes, the Garden is delineated as the place of work. Agriculture/husbandry are both important dimensions of human labour, albeit in partnership with God, who does the hard part, creating the environment and making things grow. Sure we intervene and tweak things creatively to improve productivity, but God gives the increase. The Workshop is a place where things are made from raw materials by human imagination and effort. Not to celebrate this dimension of the life of the church, let alone every individual member playing their part in the current labour market, (however they do that), I believe is a mistake, in a scheme that claims to represent all the endeavours of Christian discipleship.

It was in church, staring us in the face there. Mediaeval frescoes on the south west aisle wall, currently covered in scaffolding while conservation work is carried out on such historic treasures. It's not gardening! In fact, more of an effort to minimise intrusion by elements that could grow on those precious surfaces and further damage their content. That's a special form of creative labour, that might have offered a clue to the importance of presenting 'work' as an expression of what as Christians we're called to value most.

Oh yes, talking of sacred spaces, I didn't mention the kitchen, a sacred space for mission, where transmission of hospitable culture begins with creativity, equal to the role of the refectory in its significance. And what about the cemetery? Place of remembering past dimensions of community, and through its many messages, a place of comfort and reassurance for the future. How can we live and serve as witnesses of Christ, as if we existed without eternal hope?

It doesn't alliterate quite so well, but I'd rather settle for eleven sacred spaces ...

I can see it's more unwieldy to stretch the number of reflection and decision points by another four items, but undervaluing elements of life as disciples of Christ in mission could be misleading, or unintentionally make the enterprise seem less holistic than it is really meant to be.