A talk by John Bell

On the occasion of the 2010 St Cuthbert’s Lecture (17^th March), a full church composed mainly of members of the Parish and Episcopal churches, met to hear John Bell – introduced by Hilary Pritchard – speak to us on the subject of Worship. More specifically his theme was on Renewal and what is necessary to adapt to a changing world.

John Bell is a skilled and compelling communicator, well known to national audiences for his regular contributions on Radio 4’s “Thought for the Day”. He held our attention at St Cuthbert’s by his effortless and entertaining delivery of his message, with a blend of anecdotes, perceptive observations, sound-bites and wise experience.

The tone of his talk was defined by three anecdotes, the meaning of which was elucidated as his theme developed. The story of Margaret (USA), whose mother, suffering from Alzheimer’s, revived her memories on hearing a tape of childhood hymns. The story of the Philippine drug runner in Amsterdam, weeping in church, which he described as the only place where he could find peace and meaning in life. The story of the four US ministers on Iona, finding that church was one of the few places where they could explore and debate ideas, in a world where attitudes were geared to showmanship.

“Worship is a desire as old as humanity, not necessarily exclusively for the Christian God,” said John Bell, “and all the longing expressed in the stories could be found in the psalms. It is nothing new.” The ancient Romans worshipped a plurality of Gods, and today people have their Gods, often in conflict with each other, one of whom was the all-dominant computer! These were rival objects of devotion.

For Christians, Christ is the focal point – “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1¹⁵). The church is the place of corporate meeting, where God makes himself known in community. In worship we engage with the Maker – it ignores boundaries and crosses cultures.

St Paul had a metaphor of the Body of Christ being a human body. In 1 Corinthians 12^18ffhe says: "...God arranged the organs in the body, each one of them, as he chose ……..that there may be no discord in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another." We all have different gifts, we can share them, and share the pain, – that is the meaning of a “joined-up community.” People want to belong, but at the same time they devise ways of keeping their distance. There is a modern tendency to present everything as entertainment, including serious news. We are put in the role of voyeur, where distraction and titillation dictate the style. All these things detract from the real worth of Worship and can be an insult to our values.

To return to the opening three stories: Margaret retrieved part of her personality through childhood hymns, the Philipino in Amsterdam found peace in worship, and the US ministers found a place to search for truth. All these related to church and worship.

John Bell then turned to hymns as an example of what often was endemic conservatism within the church. We were living in a changing world and had to adapt our language and imagery correspondingly. Why did “Abide with me…” cause us to sing “Change and decay in all around I see….” Why should change be associated with decay? In truth, change meant renewal. We could all think of hymns which depicted docile, quiet and angelic children who ‘loved and obeyed’ according to the Victorian ideal. Yet Jesus himself disobeyed his parents and ran away from home. He argued with his followers and disagreed with accepted norms. Yet when we tried to clean up our hymnals, we invariably met with a torrent of protest.

We turned to the hand-out “Shaped by what we sing…”, which we had been given before the talk. Here there were examples of well known hymns, which perpetuated illusions. Jesus, where “….no ungentle murmuring word escaped thy silent tongue.” – contrasted with a modern child inviting Jesus; “Bob the builder we could play: we would be the best of mates…” And the image of the missionary penny, potentially inflammatory in this politically correct world: “Hurry, penny quickly, though you are so small, help to tell the heathen, Jesus loves them all.” Accompanied by John Bell at the piano, we sang a down-to-earth hymn from Ethiopia, and heard of “The Rice of Life” from Malaysia. All examples of a trend, perhaps new to us, less so in other cultures, in adapting to change in a modern world.

The evening finished with questions from the audience, a vote of thanks from Mary McMahon. Then we joined John Bell for tea and cake in the Church Hall.

His message, which he expertly put over in his charismatic style was clear: join together in worship, share and express your gifts, especially the power of music, and embrace change and renewal and don’t be afraid of the future.

Christopher Davies