BAME Anglican

A few weeks ago our friends at Disability and Jesus asked a question on twitter - Is the sacramental more inclusive than free worship? As a group we have experienced different worship styles, each has its own set of problems, but each reflects God and seeks to understand the divine. Comments to this tweet reflected the problems of a false dichotomy and the potential to exclude irrespective of belief. Almost everyone has attempted to be inclusive in church, but we often fail. Inclusivity is neither a one off event, nor a static phenomena, it is a process and a social one at that. Ten years ago my parish priest tried to be inclusive by referring to God the father as God the parent, needless to say it didn’t go down very well with the congregation. This wasn’t because we were particularly nasty, but we wanted to see that inclusivity reflected in action. We had several divorced people and single mothers in the congregation, who were made to feel less than welcome in sub...

A few days ago we were talking about BAME inclusion the in CoE. M other Elaine Wykes asked how to facilitate inclusion, here are a few quick thoughts we have on the issue.  We are grateful to her for starting the process of thinking inclusively.  Dear Mother Elaine, Thank you for asking. We know you are genuine and someone who has had to prove themselves in Church just as much as we do. Our issues with race are similar to those you have experienced as a woman priest. 1 Our faith rather than culture must be given priority. Culture we find can be oppressive; while some aspects of it are wonderful it must not be accepted uncritically. Example- forced marriages happen within certain cultures, it is more important to respect women and the law rather than culture in these cases. 2 We want to be included in everyday activities of the church, cleaning, making tea, alter serving are all part of it. 3 We want to be included in discerning our vocation. Whil...

I often encounter people whose relationship to their faith is built on following the rules to the letter. While it is admirable I cant help but think how detrimental lack of change can be. while it is true there are somethings in church that must be left unchanged there are many others that need to be changed constantly.  When I am told gay rights are a fad I can't help but think slavery was a fad, one which we thought was normal. Abolitionists were thought to the abnormal snowflakes of their time. If there is one thing Christianity teaches us it is this- this world's ways are not God's ways. Jesus in his teaching urges his followers to reason why rules exist, putting people before rules. Think 'was man made for the Sabbath or the Sabbath made for man' Jesus doesn't discard the Sabbath but puts human needs like healing before the Sabbath.   Theology is not static but adaptive to changing human needs. At this particular moment in time Women's righ...

This looks like an excellent church service in Gloucester. Please attend and promote their work if you can. This is intersectionality in action.