I posted my Morning Prayer video link to the Parish WhatsApp group a bit later than usual, having fallen asleep again listening to the news about Ukraine. Rain again all day today. I got quite wet walking to and from St John's to celebrate the Eucharist with four others, and then got wet again walking in the park after lunch. In between times I recorded, edited and posted next Thursday's video, then responded to a request from Paula to cover her Tuesday Morning Prayer slot next week, and started work on that as well.
I had intended to leave early for the drive to Blackwood for Rufus' induction, so that I could explore the area and a town where I occasionally went to the cinema or to a dance at the 'Stewt', but the rain didn't clear enough to make it worthwhile, so it was going dark by the time I left. That was a mistake. The road markings and signage in the Valleys are poorly illuminated - white lines fading, and often no 'cats eyes' to mark the verges or lanes. The glare of headlamps reflected off rainy surfaces adds to the difficulty. Worst of all, not being able to see the outline of the valleys through which I drove, to enable me to work out exactly where I was.
I took wrong turns at a roundabout several times, surprisingly, outside my home town of Ystrad Mynach where the road layout and my geographical memory didn't connect, so I took the road up to Bargoed instead of Maesycwmmer and had to turn back at Hengoed to correct my course. It wasn't necessary to return to Ystrad however as remembered there's a connecting lane crossing the Rhymney river beneath the viaduct. I'd forgotten quite how steep and twisted the lane is, but at least the surface is good and safe enough in the dark. I should have gone to Blackwood via Pontllanffraith but didn't, and had to negotiate a very unfamiliar ring road by-pass to find my way to Blackwood's once familiar High Street.
One small consolation was the sight of the old Maxime cinema, still standing, still showing movies, and now a multiplex theatre. I don;t know what goes on at the 'Stewt' but believe it's still a local community venue. I don't ever recall going to St Margaret's Blackwood before. It's slightly set back from the road in poorly lit grounds of its own, opposite a brightly lit branch of Kentucky Fried Chicken. I missed the turn first pass, and needed to consult Google Maps to be sure of what I couldn't easily see in the darkness and rain. Fortunately I was very close. And that was the only time I consulted Google about a route which was familiar in theory but not in practice. So much has changed since I left the South Wales Valleys for Birmingham fifty years ago.
There were about forty people present for Rufus' licensing by Bishop Cherry. He sermon was clear and straightforward, generic for the occasion but without reference to any social context other than that of the new born Ministry Area. No representative present of any local government or civil society bodies were officially present, no outsiders to welcome Rufus as a pastor into their community, not even from other churches.
Since the removal of Common Tenure, which historically has geo-located parish clergy - you used to be appointed to minister to a community in a specific place with one or more churches to take charge of. You were licensed, then inducted (shown around your new church), handed its keys and placed formally in your choir stall after tolling the church bell. You took possession of the responsibilities of a place, not ownership in a literal but moral sense. It was a witness to commitment and stability in ministry. This was the way an established Anglicanism signalled its commitment to serve all citizens whether or not they belonged. The Church in Wales, disestablished a century ago, retained this pastoral dimension of what it meant to be part of the establishment, until recently. Something has been lost.
At last we're fully disestablished you could say, but the disappearance of these antique social rituals as a response to the need to reform the way ministry and mission is done can also be seen as symptomatic of a disconnection between the Anglican church and those it's called to serve. Sure disconnection is already a reality with so many people abandoning Christian faith and organised religion, but did the church need to move away in the opposite direction as well? For what purpose? Was it just to be able to move clergy around in an area ad libitum? Can a team guarantee to be equally acquainted with everything about the area they have in common? What are the criteria for effectiveness? I think I've been out of this debate on ministry for far too long to make any sense of it, sad to say.
Bishop Cherry shook my hand as I headed for the door. I said good evening, but didn't know what to say after that apart from goodbye, as a slipped into the night. The rain was slackening off during the drive home, and I arrived in time to watch most of 'The King's Speech' on BBC4 - an admirable uplifting movie, which in an amazing way is all about the painful demand of the calling to serve a nation which is at the heart of our established monarchy. Very much about flourishing where you're planted no matter how costly that may prove.
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