Jude Smith

As I tap away (avoiding writing wedding sermons), #followjesus is trending on twitter. I won't bore you with the details, save to say that the whole pantheon of Christian spirituality is there for all to see. Underpinning all of it is a sort of sense that trending worldwide is a good thing. And maybe it is. None of us can knock that very special sense of something that was going on as the world said #prayformuamba. More locally the support of #teamjoel and other things have been profoundly moving. However I am struck this morning about how much our excitement about such things is a sign that we actually all want our little bit of fame, we want to feel that we are validated. (Validation is worth another post of its own). If its trending its OK? If I'm blunt about it, we want fame and mainstream acceptance and respect. For the social media fans its about twitter feeds, for the institutions of church its about about being heard in Parliament, being allowed to marry p

This week I have been watching the news a little like one watches a tense thriller.. Slightly hiding behind my fingers in case the very worst happens. The scene which I fear playing out is one where the characters start tearing into each other but many people are caught up into the cross fire. As you can probably tell, I am talking about marriage. Once again communication around what marriage should be is getting muddied and sullied and people are getting hurt and are not listening to each other. So- here's my thinking. I want out of marriage. I think I would like the Church of England to drop its legal function in marrying people (of any gender combination). Why- well my reasons are many and varied but include. The idea of marriage goes back way beyond the day that the CofE got the right to do the legal bit. If we rid ourselves of the civil obligations it will create a helpful space for the church to think about (both locally and nationally) what it thinks about