The Church of St Peter & St Paul

It’s as if they know, somehow. The Church of England seems to be rather suspicious of joy, not quite convinced that too much happiness is acceptable, or even English. We devotionally spend 40 days in the wilderness with Christ, join with Him at a footwashing Passover and open our hardened hearts to the pain of the cross and the silence of the tomb. And then the church suddenly explodes with a truly remarkable Easter joy, hallelujahs all over the place, as for once Anglicans seem prepared to allow resurrection life, power and joy to surge through us. We are ecstatic and Easter is exhilarating, and somehow... they know. So, deep in bowels of synodical government, a scheme is devised to set us free from this heavy burden of joy, and to bring us back to ‘normal church life’ (whatever that might be). Let them have an Annual General Meeting, they say, let it be complex, let it be pernickety, and if at all possible could people kindly attack one other over trivia. And if anyone is still displaying signs of joy let them lose the will to live at the AGM as the person next to them asks a question in microscopic detail about the church accounts – something to do with depreciation generally does the trick. I think someone is on to us.

Why can’t we just be like the joyous Spirit-filled early church, simply praising God, sharing food, healing the sick and proclaiming the Gospel. That pneumatic wonder, where  there were no council meetings (except Acts 15 of course) and no delegating authority (except Acts 6 of course) and no elections (except Acts 1 of course) and no difficult financial matters (except Acts 5 of course) and no disagreements (except Acts 15:36-41 of course) and no AOB or matters arising (except the Epistles of course.) Can’t we be like them?

Malmesbury Abbey AGM, Sunday April 29^th 2012: 10.30am coffee, 11am Communion, bring a packed lunch then our meeting from 1.30-3pm. Expect the book of Acts – all of it.