Ilkley Baptist

When it rains I give myself pocket money. I wondered, many years ago, just how much effect the weather had on my mood, so I started keeping records of temperature, rainfall, and other observations. The rain was easily the most fun. I bought a rain guage, fixed it to a post in a position where there would be no rain shadow from house or tree, and waited. I had to wait three weeks - the longest dry spell I've observed in nearly twenty years of observations since then. Then, one day, a thunderstorm. I spent quite a bit of it crouching down, watching my rain guage fill. I had more than an inch of rain within an hour - the most intense rainfall I've observed in nearly twenty years. Since that dramatic start, I've been hooked. I don't bother with temperature or pressure anymore, but I keep rainfall records. And, to offset the dispiriting effect of wet weather, I award myself pocket money when it rains. £8.57 per inch of rainfall, to be precise. Carefully calculated, years ago, to average out at £5 a week.

So when it rains I perk up a bit. And when it rains hard I look and love it, and picture the funds flooding into my account. Money for CDs and books. Simon, at the record shop hasn't yet noticed it, but he sees more of me in wet weather than dry.

The wet weather in December meant I had a bit extra to spend. I ordered a recording I'd been after for several years - Evgeny Koriolov playing Book I of the Well Tempered Clavier. Very, very good. Full of life and light. But I also wondered what else to get, and Simon had a think, then put a CD into my hand. Christian Gerhaher singing Schubert lieder. He played me a track and it was good, I could see that, but it didn't really fire me up. On a whim I bought it. Simon's recommendations are worth trusting, not that I always do, but it had been a wet month.

I played it a bit more, not listening too carefully. I wasn't at all sure about it. I have this problem with singing. It doesn't matter what the genre it, I react strongly against many voices. I'm not sure why. Often it seems to be if someone is trying to make a particular sound, a beautiful sound, or imitating someone else. I loathe and detest British singers who sing in an American accent, like Elton John does. I wonder why it is that jazz singers, folk singers, opera singers and pop singers all have different styles of singing. You'd never mistake one for another. Why would people want to imitate the vocal style of someone else, as happend in these stars in their eyes programmes? And why would people sit down and watch them doing this on TV? But if it communicates, if it's real and natural and personal, then I can, sometimes, enjoy it. And the voice doesn't have to be beautiful.

I put several tracks of the Gerhaher CD onto my mp3 player and took it for a walk up the moor. Listening carefully while walking up one of the quiet gullies I found some of the tracks utterly beautiful. Introspective music in a secret landscape was a fantastic combination.

Since then I've been exploring more lieder. I still react against it quite often, almost like a gagging reflex. But when I don't, the cumulative effect of music, poetry (albeit in German!) and the passion of the human voice is a revelation. Plus it's opened up a huge area of music to me. I knew all Schubert's solo piano music, pretty much. But there are 600 songs, many with superb settings.

As I write this I'm listening to Brahms lieder sung by Bernarda Fink. This is harder work than the Schubert, but I'm getting there with this, too. Again, of course, the piano writing is brilliant.

There is a comparison to be made with theology, in that I think I've discovered a new area of theology to explore, and that will be good. A new world. But for now, the music is enough. A new world indeed. And as the alien said, on first meeting an inhabitant of the new world -

Here's the full text of my Open Line in last week's Baptist Times.

Drop the Reverend

You are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher,
and you are all students.
And call no one your father on earth,
for you have one Father—the one in heaven. Mt 23:8-9

So should we stop referring to ministers as 'the Reverend so-and-so?' I think so. Jesus doesn't mention the word 'Reverend,' but I think it is covered by this bit of teaching. Having just mocked the scribes and Pharisees for their love of show and public recognition, he tells his disciples that they are to be different. No one is to be given authority and a special title. “You are all students,” he tells us: I really like this phrase, and it's true – I preach as a disciple, not Jesus' deputy!

There are theological reasons as well as biblical. The Baptist understanding of the church has a wonderful, radical equality about it. We are not under the rule or teaching authority of a bishop. Jesus Christ is the only authority, and each church has the liberty to interpret his teaching – this is what our Declaration of Principle says. When we come together in worship or church meeting, the Spirit guides us and we, together, exercise the gifts of interpretation and discernment. Any one of us may lead the others, and we all need each other to know God's will. If there is a minister, she will help the congregation in its task of discernment, but need not be the one who always points the way.

Nor do we have priests. In fact some of us are allergic to the word! We cherish the priesthood of all believers. Some churches never have an ordained minister. Those that do, have pastoral vacancies between ministers. And in these times spiritual life does not stop, communion is not invalid, and the presence of God is no less tangible in the gathered congregation. We are a holy nation, we say, a kingdom of priests, and God can use the lives and ministry of any and all of us.

Paul tells us that we are the Body of Christ, and no one is superior or inferior among us. We need each other. If there is any honour to be given, it should go to the more 'modest' members. This equality of honour is fundamental to the nature of the church. We are good news because we are neither male nor female, slave nor free, but one in Christ, and we cannot be one if some of us are more than one.

I'm very happy that we teach, prepare, recognise and ordain ministers, and I fully accept that ministers have a special role within a local church. Ministers will usually be the ones who preach and preside at communion, who lead prayers and chair church meetings. They will often lead the church, and may be prophetic, but they do not speak with the guaranteed voice of truth, nor are they the representative of God. It is the task of the whole church to seek to do this, and the minister's job to enable it as best he can. So why do we call ministers Reverend?

I think the main reason is to prove that we're no less worthy than our colleagues in other denominations. Our church may not have a spire, but the minister is a proper one! But if it's all about respect and keeping up with the church down the road, perhaps we should look a bit further, because it doesn't stop at Reverend. In other denominations you can find 'higher' grades of clergy with more exalted titles: the Right Reverend, the Very Reverend, the Most Reverend, could there even be a “More Reverend than Thou” somewhere?

This is a game about status and we should not play it. If we're really anxious about comparisons with other denominations and fear they will say we lack Apostolic Succession, a proper priesthood or true sacraments, our answer should be to point to the people of God, not the minister. The use of 'Reverend,' actually demotes the local church.

'Reverend' is divisive within the church, it detracts from the Baptist understanding of the church, and it's quaint, a bit of 17th Century piety that contemporary mission could well do without. Non-conformists have only been legally entitled to the term since 1876. Let's go back to some deeper roots.

Charles Wesley wrote 'Love, like death, hath all destroyed, rendered all distinctions void; names and sects and parties fall ..'

.. and we should drop the Reverend.

I've been in print a bit more than usual, recently. Last month, one of the local vicars and I wrote a joint 'Thought for the Week' about whether or not ministers should wear clerical clothing, which has generated quite a lot of positive comment. I've had a couple of letters published in the Baptist Times recently. They were written in response to some very negative comments about Muslims. This week I've written an OpenLine.

This is an opinion piece of 750 words, and I've written it to suggest that we (Baptists) should drop the use of 'Reverend.' I won't repeat the arguments here, but I expect it will provoke a bit of response in the Baptist Times. It's a trivial issue, really, but trivia are often easier to get worked up about than important stuff.

Different denominations are at different stages in debating the replacement of Trident, but it looks clear that all will oppose it. The Baptist Union Council, meeting earlier this month, voted by a heartfelt and clear majority to call on the government not to replace Trident, but to take a lead in disarmament negotiations.

This is a subject on which the churches are in strong agreement. The Labour Party, on the other hand, together with the Conservative Party, is in favour of replacing Trident. So this is a subject on which the views of the Christian churches are significantly different from those of secular politicians. What a great opportunity for wider public debate and an expression of Christian viewpoints.

I wonder, though, how aware local churches are that this is going on.

The chimney sweep came round this week. As a child I was always banished. I'd see the man arrive and set up with his grubby cloths round the fireplace and his vacuum cleaner ready. Later, I'd hear little noises then the whine of the vac. I remember being disappointed that there was no sign of a brush like in Mary Poppins.

Well, now I'm grown up I can stay and watch. And there is a brush! And it came out the top of the chimney! Just like Mary Poppins. There's something so romantic and right about a man who is a chimney sweep, a job that's been around for decades and will probably see him out. Strange, chatting with him, to discover that in the slack time of year (which is March, strangely) he likes to go skiing.