Mike's musings

Two sermons, one walk

Preached, as promised, on authority, and specifically on how issues of contextual interpretation impact on the question of women bishops. Whether or not we should have women bishops in the Church of England is a big question at the moment - I'm very much for it - and the main text is 1 Timothy 2:8-15, which is pretty uncompromising on the subject: women shouldn't have authority over men. The writer of 1 Timothy is almost certainly not Paul - but that doesn't mean that we should ignore it! The Bible, and the biblical canon, is all considered part of God's Word to us. In 1 Corinthians 11:3-16, Paul (and this _is_ believed to be Paul!) talks about how women should behave in church. In the last verse, 16, he makes it clear that he is contextualising his advice:

      But if anyone seems to be contentious, we have no
      such custom, nor do the churches of God.
      (Authorised/King James Version)

Since Paul is keen to show that customs in this area should be borne in mind in the context of place of a society, surely the context of time of a society, must also be considered.

I talked about how the Anglican church values the Word of God, tradition and revelation through our own lives and societies, and that we must balance these. We shouldn't - we can't - just read scripture "neutrally", but should take the advice of the Book of Common Prayer when reading the words of the Bible: "read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them." So I urged people to bear in mind all three Anglican inputs (surely there's a better word?), and to listen to the Word of God, tradition, their own contexts when considering questions such as this.

I tried very hard not to present one view or the other as correct, but to show how both can be defended from a theological point of view. I'd rather assumed that I'd shown my colours as I preached, but after the service at Helion's, someone admitted that they didn't know what my views were, which suggests that I'd been very even-handed. I think I did a better job of it at Helion's Bumpstead than at Steeple, but I presented it differently there, and I'm generally pretty happy.

Took Jo for a walk today - about four miles - the first since Christmas (I've been very lax). She slept for 45 minutes or so, I walked, and really enjoyed myself. It was a lovely bright day: cold, but not too bad while the sun stayed out. I just love walking hard, and giving Moo some time to do things she needs to do (looking at job applications, in this case) was a bonus.

Liverpool have just conceded a goal to Pompey (Portsmouth), so it's now 2-1. You're probably reading this after the match has completed, but it's looking less certain than it was, and a little tense. Roast minted lamb shoulder for supper - should be ready for around 2000. Yum.