THE General Synod had one piece of liturgical business. It took note of a report by the revision committee on two proposed Feasts to be added to the Common Worship Calendar: the Feast of God the Creator (also often called the Feast of Creation in Christ), to be celebrated on the primary Sunday in September; and the Commemoration of the Twenty-One Martyrs of Libya, assigned to fifteen February.
The Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham Usher, who chairs the committee, commended his colleagues’ patient work of bringing this material to its formal stage. They had converged on the identical needs: “Clarity about what we’re celebrating, language that’s recognisably Christian, lectionary provision that’s wealthy and stimulating, and texts which might be actually usable in the various worshipping lifetime of the Church of England.
“Christians confess that the world is created by God, sustained by God, and destined for God. We confess that matter isn’t meaningless and that the world isn’t disposable. . . The Christological centre is crucial and is what keeps this festival from becoming vague, from being heard simply as an announcement a couple of cause. This is the Church worshipping the Creator revealed in Jesus Christ.”
He emphasised: “If the Church is to hope about creation, praise needs to be accompanied by penitence; gratitude needs to be accompanied by conversion of life.” Provision had also been made “genuinely usable, sitting naturally in real churches with real congregations”.
Many Churches were exploring a feast of this sort. “We are on the vanguard of that work. We are amongst the primary Churches to take the patient step of shaping texts that will be authorised and used, not simply discussed, not simply commended but publicly prayed repeatedly, in order that in that repeated prayer the habits of our life are formed. This work has been very much welcomed by ecumenical colleagues.”
The Twenty-One Martyrs of Libya were 21 Coptic Christian men, who, along with one Ghanaian, had been captured by the Islamic State terrorist group and filmed being executed on a Libyan beach for his or her faith on 15 February 2017. The men, primarily migrant labourers, were targeted specifically for his or her Christian identity.
Bishop Usher said: “The subject itself requires reverence and restraint, allowing the witness of those faithful men who died with the name of Christ on their lips to face before us as a part of the Church’s memory and subsequently a part of the Church’s formation.
Geoff Crawford/Church TimesThe Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham Usher
“There’s something chastening in that witness, and strengthening as well: it draws us out of the local frame; it reminds us that the Church is one, and that courage and suffering usually are not abstractions throughout the Christian life. It places before us quietly, yet firmly, the reality that fidelity to Christ remains to be costly in lots of parts of the world and that the ultimate word doesn’t belong to violence but to Christ.”
The Revd Dr Jo Kershaw (Universities and TEIs), in a maiden speech, had overcome her initial scepticism that the feast of God the Creator could be “one other glorified Harvest Festival. . . We are recovering a real sense of God as Creator of all things in an act of commitment. It offers opportunities to bear witness to the unity of of the Church.”
Sandra Turner (Chelmsford) desired to be assured of close scrutiny of Bible texts to see “how words and liturgy landed with each user”.
Archbishop Angaelos of London (Coptic Church) said that the Twenty-One Martyrs had “shown their ultimate strength — witnessing with absolutely no words. Martyrs don’t aspire to die,” he said. “To have done that so courageously in such an iconic way will live in our memories.”
The Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, spoke of her brother, Bahram, who had been assassinated in Iran in 1980, throughout the height of the Islamic Revolution, and is counted among the many martyrs of the Persian Church.
“Reflecting on his death and the actual Good Friday that we were going through as a family across the time of his funeral, my father wrote the next in his diary: ‘We usually are not particularly keen on the earth which is over the grave but in what may grow out of it, the fruits of the Spirit.’
“I’m wondering how much we are going to witness the consequences of Bahram’s sacrifice. In the 45 years since he died, I and countless others have witnessed and experienced manifold gifts of the Spirit growing from the place of his sacrifice. I actually have little question the identical will probably be true of the Libyan Twenty-One. I give due to God for his or her extraordinary example, and I pray for all who stand steadfast in faith around the globe today, walking the way in which of the Cross with courage and perseverance.”
Aiden Hargreaves-Smith (London) believed that there was something “deeply compelling, something deeply affecting concerning the relative youthfulness” of the Twenty-One.
The Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, commended the draft texts, but desired to be sure that good attention was being paid to the theology of the Triune God and to using pronouns in that context.
Susan Cavill (Derby) considered the Feast of God the Creator a very important way through which the C of E was demonstrating and reaffirming its commitment to nature recovery as a part of its leadership of the environmental agenda, and “a superb opportunity to share with brothers and sisters from other denominations around the globe”.
“As Anglicans, it’s our liturgy that provides gives expression to our faith, the Archbishop of York said. “I actually welcome what we’re doing here this afternoon, since the Feast of God the Creator affirms and emphasises God’s sovereignty over the entire of creation at a time when our misuse of the creation not only imperils the planet but is an affront to God; and the commemoration of the Twenty-One Martyrs affirms and emphasises the very deepest truths of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.”
Canon Andrew Dotchin (St Edmundsbury & Ipswich) rejoiced within the inclusion of the 2 feast and commemoration within the calendar, as did Dr Rachel Jepson (Birmingham). “The reminder that [the Martyrs] died with the name of the Lord Jesus on their lips is the starkest challenge to our own witness within the comfortable West,” she said. “This incident reminds us that now we have a lot to learn from the faithful discipleship of our brothers and sisters for whom living with the each day reality of oppression and persecution isn’t strange, but normal.”
The Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Revd Philip Mounstephen, warmly welcomed the “proper recognition” of the Libyan Martyrs within the calendar. He said that “their astonishing bravery, faithfulness, and witness” stood as a “stark challenge” to us if we could bear witness to Christ in such circumstances.
“This incident reminds us that now we have a lot to learn from the faithful discipleship of our brothers and sisters, for whom living with the each day reality of oppression and persecution isn’t strange but normal.”
Bob Chambers (Chichester) reflected on line 25 of the Creation text: “But our hope has grown dim.” He wondered: “We might need doubts and grow weary on occasion, but is it right to specific that in the current perfect tense?”.
The Revd Marcus Walker (London) said that the Martyrs selecting the way in which of the Cross over a life without Christ “stands as a witness to us here in London and likewise just a little as a rebuke for a way little we do and say for our brothers and sisters murdered and persecuted for his or her faith the world over, whether in Nigeria or Sudan or Iran or Pakistan or India or China or many other places.”
The Archdeacon of Leeds, the Ven Revd Paul Ayers (Leeds), reminded the Synod that it had considered creation in 1980 when revising the Common Lectionary.
The Bishop of Fulham, the Rt Revd Jonathan Baker (Southern Suffragans), said that the drafters of the fabric had “succeeded marvellously in plotting the pathway on the properties for the feast [of God the Creator],” but, for information, desired to know where it stood within the hierarchy of observances.
The texts now stand referred to the House of Bishops.
Read more reports from the General Synod Digest here
