Transforming Worship (formerly Praxis) South West will be hosting an online colloquium entitled ‘Using the Prayers of Love and Faith’ on Thursday 3 October from 10am until 12.30pm via Zoom.
The keynote speakers are Canon Dr Phillip Tovey and the Revd Mark Earey, who are co-authors of the recently published Grove Booklet Can We Use the Prayers of Love and Faith? examining the liturgical possibilities of the PLF material. In this colloquium they will look at the options and possibilities available with the material thus far commended.
Further details, including booking information, can be found on the Transforming Worship website.
The colloquium is open to all.
It all seems such a drama
..in 2009 following our civil partnership we were prayed for in the setting of a parish Sunday morning service. As we took our first Communion together and were presented with a pair of lit celtic weave pewter candles to light the way on a new journey, only to be re lit when one of us dies so we can look back on the road we have travelled…. sadly that road has been beyond the church and it’s angst
So sad Jeremy that the CofE thought you expendable. I’m single so this brouhaha is not so personal but I grow incredibly ambivalent about my relationship with the institutional life of the CofE. Know that God loves both you and your partner and your loving relationship. The Body of Christ takes many forms and I hope that you feel loved and supported in your life of faith.
I am blessed to have found a community of faith to journey with which is fully inclusive.. a dispersed contemplative community called Contemplative Fire
Just so. The complexity and sheer incompetence of what has emerged is a travesty. A complete antithesis of the simple open hearted welcome that people need when they come to church. In my later years in an inner city parish I even stopped using the word ‘inclusive’ because it had become so over used and layered that it was beyond the comprehension of most folk, including me.! It’s a very serious matter because it just demonstrates how far the ‘peoples church’ has become removed from the lives of the folk it serves. Your post is a reminder of how simple… Read more »
I have yet to meet a gay/lesbian couple who want to use the PLF.
Fair enough. By contrast, I have.
I have, Evan. They do exist.
I’ve no doubt they do! As a CPd person myself, I wouldn’t touch them with a bargepole. The pastoral notes alone are deeply offensive.
I’ve certainly come across couples willing to use PLF when they think that’s the only option they have. When I’ve suggested they could consider adapting the current rite for Blessing of a (Heterosexual) Civil Marriage instead (yes I know it’s not allowed, so sue me) and they’ve had a look at that, suddenly they no longer have an interest in PLF.
I’d never suggest PLF to couples- as you rightly say, it’s amazingly offensive to LGBT people, at least to this one.
Actually the work has already been done in the book “The Service of my Love” – a liturgical and pastoral handbook for same sex marriages. This was written by that wonderful priest Jim Cotter and its publication and distribution was funded by about 200 supporters including some well known names and bishops of the time. It is an absolute gem and its time has now surely come. I would recommend it and at the time I was very proud to be one of the financial supporters.
Neither would I, but some gay peeps disagree.
Having visited a beautiful rural church yesterday in the sun, where a team of your typical Anglican ladies were selling teas and homemade cakes, fundraising, caused me to reflect on: “Who actually IS the Church of England?”. While not wanting to detract from the importance of getting Safeguarding and LLF right, it made me want to thank the huge number of well-meaning faithful Anglicans who regularly clean churches, arrange flowers, and so on, and have done for many years while others are squabbling, and recognise that these people are the Church of England, at least as much as any in… Read more »
How true- and when ‘der management’ has successfully snuffed out small parishes how many folk will be drawn to the local multi – purpose hall in the same way??
But also why on earth does the online discussion have to be called a colloquium? Is it to elevate its status?
Lord, I’ve never even heard the word before. Looks like I might have a rough time getting understood in heaven if that’s how we’ll speak…..
I encountered the word at university when some of the smaller lecture theatres were named as “colloquium rooms”. I was never entirely sure where the size boundary was.
Thanks, Jo. The nearest I’ve ever come to hearing the word is ‘colloquial’ – or, ‘ wey yup, way dunner spake like tha’ round ‘ere, aer kid’
The sexton, writing the order of service for a funeral in Tividale, allegedly wrote “The congregation will pass round the coffin”, which the vicar amended to ‘pass round the beir’. The congregation were duly disappointed……
I believe a colloquium is essentially a series of lectures by more than one speaker so is not really a discussion.
In this case there are two keynote speakers. There may be opportunities for questions but not really discussion. Am I wrong?
Having been a speaker at a previous such event I can tell you that the format was along the lines of: one speaker followed by discussion in breakout rooms and a short a plenary; and repeat. Of course, this event might be slightly different, but that’s the sort of thing I’d expect. The group discussions (obviously) give the opportunity for participants to react to what the speaker has said and also to feed their pwn ideas in.
Amen to that Nigel. Serving local churches made up of people who, like me, aren’t perfect, but who are good to be around, loving, supportive and appreciative of each other and of me, and who genuinely welcome new faces no matter who they are is the only thing that keeps me here. If I still worked in some of the ghastly places I’ve worked in past roles, I would have been long gone, whatever the cost. I just avoid the hierarchy and their bright ideas nowadays and advise the people I serve to do likewise wherever we can.
In one of my parishes I had a diligent parish secretary who would dutifully report back on the correspondence she had received from the diocese about its latest mission initiative since the last PCC meeting. To her amusement and to gales of laughter from the PCC, when she asked what she should do with the glossy brochures I would declaim “File 13, Madam Secretary, File 13!”
This is the practical essence of what some of call “ the Humble Church “.
“Who actually IS the Church of England “. You ask an important question. Symbolically the change of attitude to answering that began when the phone number for Church House, Westminster was no longer answered with “Church House” but “The Church of England”. Wrong…headquarters is specifically not The Church of England. That is, if you like, one of the charms of the institution.
There is one story about Church House London which I believe is true……if you phoned on one particular Good Friday a few years ago the recorded message was “The Church of England is now closed until after Easter..thank you for your call”
Alec Vidler described most lay people in the C of E un-hyphenated Anglicans. He was right I think
This booklet is an outstanding resource – clear, informed and practical – something Grove Books have done so well over the years. It should be called How to Use the Prayers of Love and Faith. That is what it is. The question ‘can we?’ is already answered. The booklet is an offering of positive resources and responses in the conflicted, of exhausted terrain we find ourselves in. I am grateful for the colloquium too and will be passing the word around.
To be clear – I too want so much more than what is on offer. I understand those who are unable to use the prayers at all. Liturgical UDI is one option. This excellent booklet and accompanying event is for those who feel able to use them and need liturgical guidance in often highly conflicted contexts. It is needed as a support because the evidence is that where the prayers are being used people are often experiencing considerable pushback from those opposed to them. The publicity is completely clear this is a training event for local clergy to help them use… Read more »
Living in an age of cynicism, it’s hard not to be captured by it; but what more could be done without causing schism? Inevitably, the prayers fall short of what many of us want, but can we see them as maybe making a start? I say ‘maybe’ because I don’t want to push the analogy too far – and as a straight man I know I’m treading on holy ground – but might there be some parallels with the remarriage of divorced people? Almost 40 years ago – in order to be pastoral towards those remarrying – a rite of… Read more »
We should note the technicality that the PLF are not the authorised service of the Church of England for same-sex couples – they are just a set of resources which have been commended by the House of Bishops for that context. Much more significant is the underlying decision of principle that same-sex relationships like ours are good, and can and should be prayed for. And ministers can use their discretion to devise suitable ways of praying which may or may not use the suggested texts.