State of Alarm - Day thirty two

Another warmish, sunny if cloudy day to rejoice in, perfect for exercise while listening to a couple of albums sent by Owain. There seem to be a lot more snails appearing around the house, small and larger ones, all with beautiful shells. Time to start thinking about preparing Low Sunday worship and what I can offer by way of a sermon.

I was delighted to receive a phone call from Mother Doreen, ministering from home in deep rural Andalucia. She told me the Alcalde of her municipality had been out in person that day delivering mascarillas to folk in remote fincas. She's been busy giving remote digital support to St George's  Malaga and Velez Malaga congregations as well as Salinas where she is based. The chaplaincy has been without a locum priest the past two months, as the one who was scheduled to come fell ill at the last moment thankfully not with covid-19, and didn't want to take the risk. Today she's had her first request for a memorial service for a covid-19 victim, cremated with no funeral. There'll be more to come as time goes on and the impact of the epidemic is made known in a region where there have been over 900 deaths so far. Other parts of Spain have been even harder hit. Andalusia is one of Spain's poorer regions and the impact will be greater.

Long interregnums are now feature of the diocese in Europe. With impending economic crisis, more chaplaincies will end up without a chaplain for longer periods, with only occasional sacramental visits possible. It'll challenge lay people to continue in ministry and mission with scant support, the way it was for decades in underdeveloped rural Africa and Asia. It'll take some getting used to. 

It makes me think again about the writing of Roland Allen, Anglican missionary in China and East Africa at the turn of the twentieth century. He was the first to advocate voluntary ordained ministry. His thoughts about spiritual discernment and how the church propagates itself spontaneously regardless of how well trained are its 'professional' clergy, still commend themselves today. Such a pity his books have been out of print since the early 1960s. I'm only aware of them from my own study of the history of modern mission when I worked with USPG back in the 1980s.