lurchersontheedge

I mean by Church traditions what I might have meant by churchmanship many years ago.

I am extraordinarily inclusive when it comes to church traditions, except I have never been a liberal or understood liberalism. It does not seem to make sense in the way that evangelicalism ( whether open, conservative or charismatic) does or indeed Orthodoxy (as part of my ordination training, I spent 6 weeks in Greece at the Orthodox Academy in Volos. My England Cricket hat was mistaken for a mitre) or Anglo-Catholicism.

You see I grew up in St James and St Christoper, Shiregreen in Sheffield, whose theological tradition tacked according to the whim of successive incumbents. I thought it was the only expression of Christianity for a while, apart from the Elim Church, I occasionally walked to or youth groups in the same deanery, like T’others in St Peter’s, Ellesmere (another part of Sheffield). When I went to the London City Mission, which is a conservative evangelical mission (doing amazing work) I just thought that was Christian.

I did my ordination training at Queen’s in Birmingham. The Anglican cohort of 7 or 8 that I was in covered the entire spectrum of Anglicanism or so it seemed. No wonder the strapline was for a while: ‘learning at the place where traditions meet’. I wonder whether that it what Anglicanism, certainly the CofE and CiW are about at the past, places where different experiences of truth can exist and mutually flourish.

I think of Messy Church which has blossomed all over the world. It seems to have the knack of embracing differing traditions. I wonder whether they are beginning to disappear.

I may of course be very wrong, but perhaps in a nation like Wales where only 1% go to worship with the Church in Wales, theological tradition has become a bit of a luxury.

It was in 1986, so forgive me if I have forgotten exactly what I said. It was in Bermondsey, in the London City Mission Hall. The missioner, Terry Bedlow, would have been there and my two evangelist colleagues, David Mouncer and Andy Chubb. There probably would have been half a dozen others, two of whom would have been there for tea and cake afterwards.

I preached on Revelation 1: 4-6

⁴ John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, ⁵ and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and freed^[d] us from our sins by his blood, ⁶ and made^[e] us to be a kingdom, priests serving^[f] his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.

I remember focusing on Jesus being the ruler of the kings of the earth for about 25-30 minutes.

I did not know how to preach. I had never been on a course. I probably had not really listened to too many sermons before. I remember having just been taught that it was important to make the text come alive and to share what God had said to you during the week. That was a novel concept that God might speak to me. But I had not met many theologians who would seek to dissuade me though. That is a partial joke.

The London City Mission is a brilliant conservative evangelical organisation. I did not know that though. I just thought it was Christian, just as my parish church in Sheffield with its servers, sanctuary bell and occasional incense was Christian too.

I learnt a lot from that Bermondsey group. They allowed to blossom and to fail. They never let on how bad I was…. that came with time though.

I decided I wanted to Remain. More people it seems wanted to Leave. I accept that I am democratically defeated at the ballot box. If you are with the centre-left politically, it is not an unusual experience.

I do not doubt for a moment that UK, or whatever the UK morphes into, will survive, even flourish economically. I am not really into economics. Actually I am not really into sovereignty either. I think human beings are primarily relational beings. I want human beings to flourish.

I don’t particularly have a love affair with Europe, and am sure that the EU had many faults. I think the UK does too actually, and if we are honest we would all agree on that.

I voted Remain because I believe we are fundamentally connected with each other at a deep, spiritual level. We are not individual islands. We are part of each other. I guess I have always believed this as a child growing up in Sheffield, with some connections to Holland and Dutch Protestantism in our family genes and through the work of Liberation theologians, whom I learnt to listen to in Birmingham. They taught me that when I met to worship, I was worshipping not alongside those physically present but with Christians the world over. I am part therefore of something bigger. I can imagine a Christian Leave voter agreeing with these sentiments.

The message of Vote Leave seemed to me to deny the fact that we are interconnected. The hashtag #TakeControl spoke of independence, of being in charge. It reminded of Rowan Williams phrase that human beings often ‘have delusions of omnipotence’. In our 21st Century interconnected world no nation state is fully independent, and it is perhaps delusional to think that we are.

I think something broke for me in the early hours of 24 June.

I think the isolationism and the shoring up of a firm British identity within the campaign has directly led to an increase in hate crimes. I am glad that official spokespeople are both sides acknowledge that such incidents are utterly and totally wrong.

I don’t think this will be easily fixed?

I am saddened completely that some of the hopes and dreams of the white working classes will be shattered further as the Brexit negotiations happen. I wrote an article entitled Working Class Dreams (http://ext.sagepub.com/content/121/9/437.short?rss=1&ssource=mfr …) in 2010. I am now wondering about rewriting as: dreams shattered, what now?

I understand, I think, why whole communities voted to Leave. After years of not being listened to, of a variety of short term initiatives and being told what to do, here was an opportunity to say ‘No’. In such a position, I would have very probably done the same.

However, what will happen when the pot of gold does not come; when the job is not created, because there is not one, not because someone else has taken it. It is a foolish and dangerous thing to give hope when you cannot deliver on the promise.

There you go. I cannot move on yet.

What about reconciliation? Yes…. and no. With individuals yes of course. I am friendly with lots of people who disagree with me. But I have to acknowledge that I want a world with different values… and it will take time for me to accept that there were more people who did not want to share in those values than those who did.

I am voting Remain.

I don’t claim to be anymore patriotic than someone who is voting differently to me. In truth, this Referendum, which I regard as needless, has highlighted tensions in our nation that will take some time to resolve. Whatever the result on Friday morning, all people of goodwill will be needed to help provide a platform on which relationships can be rebuilt and some of the vitriol which has come out in the campaign to be stemmed.

I do however believe in partnership and relationship. The United Kingdom is made up of nations that are in relationship with each other and with the rest of the world. We belong to a nation that has always looked outwards.

Our nation has always had a complex and interesting relationship with the continent of Europe. We tend to be a tad suspicious sitting as we do just off the edge of the mainland. It is part of our Island mentality. We are a nation though that has worked with and benefited from relationship with our European friends and allies, working with them in good times and in bad. The UK enjoys relationships with other countries too, particularly with the Commonwealth, a relationship that does not seem to be diminished by our membership of the European Union. Indeed our friends outside the EU are grateful for our membership of it.

The Leave Campaign have created a narrative of Britain standing alone, cultivating a sense of independence. I am proud of this nation of ours. I am proud Yorkshireman, so know enough about stubbornness and independence. I love living in Wales. The striking thing about the narrative created by Leave has been the assumption that you need to be independent to celebrate your identity.

That is simply not true.

Dwi’n hoffi dysgu Cymraeg ac yn mwynhau siarad iaith y nefoedd. Dw i hyd yn oed yng nghefnogi a tim pel droed yn erbyn y Sais! Ond er hynny, dwi dal yn Saesneg ag yn barch o hynny

Human beings are complex

So are nation states

We live in an interdependent interconnected world. This has always been the case.

When I was a child, I was regaled by my late Uncle Stanley as to how he and my Dad won the Second World War all by themselves. I loved those stories of the two young heroes taking on the might of the Nazis themselves. However, it was not true. That war was won by us standing firm with our allies, from the Commonwealth, the US, Russia as well as from Europe, including French and Dutch armed personnel.

This morning standing in St Cybi’s Church, I saw again the plaque at the back of the Church to the Royal Dutch Navy. We know that we need our allies. In this port town, we know that we are enriched by the presence of Dutch, Poles, Irish as well as the odd English immigrant like myself. We know that Holyhead is not any less Welsh by their presence. The UK is not any less British by being part of the EU.

It is significant that amongst those who remember that war are the most solidly Remain voters. They know the devastation out of which the EU was formed, and how it, as an organisation, together with NATO, has promoted peace. It has not always got it right. Neither has the UK. Neither do you or I.

The UK has always stood as a beacon of hope. It has always been a place where those seeking refuge, shelter or even a new start have been allowed to come. It is a sad fact that sometimes such visitors have been met with racism and misunderstanding. We learnt our lesson and are becoming a more tolerant, open, inclusive and multicultural society. Some of the narrative of those who are wanting to leave the EU have stood contrary to this way of being British.

On Friday morning, if we wake up and we have voted to Leave, I am sure we can forge a prosperous future. I am not so sure that we will be able to tackle some of the monsters including the fear of the other. We may be a tad divided to do that.

We have allowed those who have come to a country to be labelled, abused and denigrated. That is to our shame.

However on Friday morning if we are have voted to Remain, I am sure we will do both.

We will also be tackling those monsters with our European friends and neighbours.

We do not turn back on our friends

We do not turn our back on our neighbours

Join me in voting Remain, so we can together make a difference.

(A speech given on 22 June 2016 at the Ucheldre Centre in Holyhead speaking alongside the owners of Halen Mon and Plas Farm, as well as Albert Owen)