Bishops in jealous rage

As usual, the bishops of the Church of England are wrong. The Church Times headline, ‘Bishops rebuke Tommy Robinson’, suggests they are jealous, not zealous. Mark records:

John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part.

Bishops may giggle that the carol concert Mr Yaxley-Lennon organised last weekend was not the half-million who gathered for his Unite the Kingdom rally, and only attracted a thousand people. A thousand? A vicar would weep with joy to have half that number in church praising God.

It as as expected. The observation all those years ago in Yes Prime Minister stil holds: “Nowadays, politicians want to talk about moral issues, and bishops want to talk about politics”. They are both inadequate to the task, for the most part.

I was not at the carol concert. I read the evangelists’ accounts though: of worship, joy, of broken young men lead towards healing – all things the Church of England has forgotten about. God be praised for the work of his inspired servants.

I have read elsewhere of young men of rough voice made to feel unwelcome in church. It has echoes of past times – in the 18th century the Church of England became exclusively a place for the upper and middle classes, prompting the Methodists and Congregationalists to serve the labouring classes, and so it seems today. Come to think of it, going around several of our local congregations, I have barely seen anyone not in the middle-class bubble: the Church should be praising those who preach Christ to those we have not been welcoming. Instead, it is “rebuke”.

The bishops of the Church of England are internally institutionalised – stuck in an echo-chamber of committees and functions. If they look up from the agenda, set down the coffee and open their eyes, they might see an uninvited guest in the room, sitting unacknowledged in the corner weeping, his hands and side pierced and freshly bleeding.

The Church of Scotland when institutionalised to death in the reigns of King Charles I and II set out to attack dissenters who wanted to worship. Prayer meetings had to be held on lonely hillsides, weapons concealed for defence: it was called The Killing Time; and only ended when those dissenters took over the Kirk in Good King William’s time – and that began the Kirk’s most successful, most inspired period.

Why then did the grand men of the Established Church reject this initiative to reach out to lost men? Because they believe it is not sincere perhaps. Are they sincere? Because they disagree with the politics of the man who started it, or his former politics?

The clergy are happy to joint services with the Papists – they who worship Mary, giving her divine honours, and are devoted to idols – and that is all right apparently. Some hold services with Mohammedans who deny Christ completely and war against Christianity. This is thought a minor peccadillo. However a political difference concerning immigration policy – that is the breach for them. The Church must welcome the stranger, they say. Aye, but they actually reject working-class men.

Bishops have thrown out huge amounts of the Gospel truth in pursuit of a baseless secular philosophy, but they now take a single line about welcoming strangers and hold it fiercely as a way to reject an expression of the Gospel. In every pronouncement I see a gnat strained out and herds of camels swallowed with glee.

So ‘Bishops rebuke Tommy Robinson’. Well, I rebuke the bishops.