On St George’s Day (23 April), Bishop Simon Burton-Jones, the Bishop of Tonbridge, reflects on the need for the Church to be one that, more than ever, respects conscience and difference and cherishes justice, peace and liberty.
‘The Christian tradition is welcoming and hospitable; it respects conscience and difference and cherishes justice, peace and liberty. An English Church should stand for these qualities, which are a gift from God.’
Read his message in full below.
LET’S HEAR IT FOR ENGLAND (IN THE KINDEST POSSIBLE WAY)
What does it mean to be English? It’s a surprisingly hard question to answer even for someone like me who has spent a whole life in England.
It’s partly the multi-layered identity that goes with being British. Many English people talk about England when they really mean Britain. It’s an understandable confusion but one that irritates Scottish and Welsh people.
Internet search engines get confused, as well. Try browsing for key English values and characteristics and you’ll find British lists comes up instead.
One modern poll asked for signs of being British and listed this top ten:
- Talking about the weather
- Queueing
- Having a roast dinner on Sundays
- Putting the kettle on in a crisis
- Liking fish and chips
- Using tea as a cure for everything
- Saying ‘sorry’ too frequently
- Saying please and thank you
- Dunking biscuits in tea
- Going to the pub
You could be speaking about England, not Britain. And perhaps the respondents were.
But with the enduring appeal of Scottish nationalism and an emergent Welsh nationalism, what it means to be English is firmly on the table.
The former Canadian Prime Minister, Michael Ignatieff distinguishes between two kinds of nationalism: ethnic and civic. Ethnic nationalism is exclusive, not simply favouring the majority ethnic group, but making life uncomfortable, if not hostile, for people of minority ethnic heritage.
Europe witnessed this at its most brutal in the Balkan wars of ethnic cleansing. Civic nationalism stands in direct contrast. It roots citizenship not in ethnicity but in the unifying power of the nation’s institutions.
And there lies the problem. The late Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks said the biggest crisis facing the country today is the loss of trust in its institutions.
Every major body that helps to make up the nation is trusted less each decade. I won’t name them all here, except to note that the Church, and especially the Church of England, is included in this sad litany.
The bodies that make up our public life should glue us together, but they increasingly resemble an old envelope you can’t seal up.
There are very few specifically English institutions but the Church of England is one of them.
Philip Collins (the editor of Prospect magazine, not the bloke from prog rock group Genesis) has identified the role the Church of England might play if England becomes a separate country.
Anglicans should steer clear of a similar unconscious arrogance to those who conflate England with Britain: other denominations contribute hugely to the spiritual and social welfare of England, but it is notable that a leading political commentator like Collins has clocked the importance of the Church of England to England’s emerging sense of identity.
The English church is rooted in community, with a sense of duty towards every soul.
It shares the Gospel and is attentive to local needs. And it has a prophetic role to play in speaking up for those whose voices are not easily heard: the excluded, the most vulnerable, the lonely and isolated, those trapped in poverty.
The Bible has the refrain of care for the widow, the orphan and the alien – people whose social welfare was most precarious; groups without the means of fending for themselves.
In his teaching and ministry, Jesus embodied this ethic: the widow whose son Jesus raised at Nain; his own mother, at the cross; children who are given VIP access to his inner circle, who show what it means to inherit the kingdom; the second class citizens of Samaria, who respond so warmly to his love at the well of Sychar and in the healing of leprosy.
The Christian tradition is welcoming and hospitable; it respects conscience and difference and cherishes justice, peace and liberty. An English Church should stand for these qualities, which are a gift from God.
We may have to speak up more loudly for them in the years ahead. If Englishness means anything, the Church won’t have to do this alone.
For a range of materials that have been prepared to help churches mark the day, click here