After a lively two days on the stag do I return, with joy, to the bosom of my family. Bristol was fantastic, a charming city made more enjoyable by glorious weather and cracking company. I have not laughed so much in a long time, as old friends came together to toast the groom’s health. Arguably the one day cricket could have been better, had the West Indies put in just a modicum of effort, but overall the occasion was simply superb.
Doubtless there will be those who question the appropriateness of a priest attending a stag do, for it was undeniably a hedonistic affair of hi-jinks and horse play with old rugby chums. But I beg to disagree and repeatedly found myself thinking that priests should do more of this, not less.
Why? Because amongst the drinking and silly chat came opportunities for more reasoned conversation. At ease in the presence of a priest, these intelligent young men were full of questions concerning the place of God in their lives and wider society. Amongst the beer stains and bragging, I moved from confessional to pulpit on more than one occasion and am certain that these men left with at least the rumour of God alive in their hearts.
Was this not the church engaged in evangelism? Planting the seeds of faith where they are not often spread? Several times I found myself speaking passionately to those who seldom darken the doors of a church, challenging the thinking of our age and explaining a more orthodox understanding of the world in which we live.
Too often the church in this land is guilty of being more concerned with creating a middle classed social club rather than in taking Jesus out to the heart of the people. This weekend was not just time away with old friends, a guilty pleasure to keep quiet in the pews. This was rugged Christianity at work. A witness to young men of my own generation in this age of ignorance and misunderstanding. Just maybe this was the best work I have done as a priest in months? Now….does anyone have a spare liver I can borrow? And something for a headache would be nice!
Summer pints they wanted, August tins (Augustine) they got!!
I used to work in Chicago, the old department store…
Bit lame, I know, but it’s hard to come up with a clean, Church and drinking related one.
The world definitely needs more socialising priests. I find the demeanors of the priests in Durham Cathedral, which is sadly the best I’ve found so far (not to say it’s not a beautiful setting), pretty impersonal, wishy-washy and slightly patronising. I’m not suggesting they finish Communion with a rousing chant of “Get it down you Zulu warrior,” but even a more direct preaching style and a sign of some enthusiasm would improve things. They don’t seem to be a part of the real world. Maybe I should invite them on a social…
Keep it up Fr. Ed; God shouldn’t be confined to the four walls of a church. Plus a few shandies never did anyone any harm.
Thus spake the Durham undergraduate…..
thank you for the comments Matthew, seeing your mum and dad this week so will catch up with your news then.
I agree with Matt. Too many priests, sadly, seem totally unaware of how life is lived in the 21st Century…warts and all…by most of us. Or that in the mire and muddle, despite the very real struggle, through God`s grace, we do see a glimmer of how it is meant to be.Thank God for priests like Father Ed, who,although undoubtably holy (come to St Barnabas to understand!) in his preaching and in his life, shows he is alongside the rest of us. That he has found more answers,than we have, I find a comfort. I seem to recall that Christ welcomed the woman taken in adultery,healed the mad and dined with publicans and sinners…not the respectable, socially acceptable middle classes. Seems to me there is a great case for regenerating the idea of worker priests, which I think was popular in France.
gosh! Thank you for the kind words MES which are very touching- though I must admit they feel a little undeserved this end! Am not sure I would see any overt holiness in myself …far from it. And I know that there are plently, plenty more faithful and holy people than myself in S. Barnabas.
Indeed I am but a weak fool who stumbled accross God’s truth in the beauty of orthodox teaching. It transformed my life so much that I wish to share it with all.
My prayer is that one day, I might also find the self-discipline to deepen my faith further and live out the gospel as strenously as I try to preach it. I will stop rambling but felt I wanted to say something…if only to shatter any potential pedestal that I am certain to fall from! I am more comfortable being viewed as a sinner than a saint! But then maybe that is true of all of us.
Was it not once said of Someone, “Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber”?