We are sinful not only because we have eaten of the Tree of Knowledge,
but also because we have not yet eaten of the Tree of Life.
The state in which we are is sinful, irrespective of guilt.
Franz Kafka
(a helter-skelter feeding frenzy in the surf / Rosemary Beach, FL / Julie Cook / 2019)
Our dear favorite ‘across the pond’ rouge Anglican bishop is at it again…
showcasing the egregious acts of The Chruch, not being the Church.
And how might the Church not be the Church you ask…
Well the good Bishop is explaining such through various means…
such as taking part in interviews, writing a plethora of posts as well as contributing to
various printed articles.
Below is the most recent pitch from an interview with the BBC…
The Right Reverend Dr. Gavin Ashenden, former chaplain to the Queen,
has criticised the Cathedral for making a “mockery” of God.
“Instead of allowing a Cathedral to act as a bridge between people and God’s presence,
instead it obscures it by offering to entertain and divert people,”
Next, in a recent article, as well as posting, the good bishop offers the following as a
lead-in to such observations…
Three Anglican cathedrals have set out to increase both their appeal to the public and
to get more people into the building.
One has chosen a gin festival, another has built a mini-golf course over the flagstones
where pilgrims have knelt in prayer since the 7th century, and one has built a helter-skelter
at the heart of the building.
So for those of us on this side of the pond who simply think of the Beatles or Charles Manson
when we hear or read the words ‘helter-skelter’…a helter-skelter is actually an amusement ride.
And yes you’ve read correctly…
three churches, Cathedrals for that matter,
(Cathedrals being churches that are homes to a bishop),
have literally placed an amusement ride inside the sanctuary,
while another has put in a putt-putt green down its center aisle and
still, another is offering a gin festival…
think Oktoberfest with gin rather than beer, inside of a church.
And so Bishop Ashenden makes a very hard and painfully truthful observation about
the collective Chruch…
In every generation, the Church faces a live or die challenge.
Convert or be converted.
He goes on…
Act as an agency for people to encounter the Living God and be forgiven,
turned and transformed;
or fit into the unforgiving contours of a society that is driven by other forces,
other appetites, and smear over their agenda a patina of spirituality that confers a thin
covering of political and cultural legitimacy.
Yet Bishop Ashenden, however, does not sugarcoat those darker days in the Church’s history…
because the Chruch is not spotless nor free of her own egregious actions…
“There have been moments in history when the church’s failure has been tragically treacherous.
The blessing of guns destined to kill Christian German cousins a hundred years ago in the name
of the Christ who challenged his followers to meet evil with good and turn the other
cheek still burns in the recent memory.
The unquestioning presiding over the hanging, drawing, and quartering of elderly Catholic priests
guilty of nothing more than baptizing the faithful into the Church that carried the Gospels
to these islands and celebrating discreet house masses presented as acts of national,
political treason still casts a pall of shame across our collective historical memory”.
He then explains why things that are so seemingly simple and silly as a liquor festival,
mini golf greens and amusement rides residing in the sanctuaries of a church is, in reality,
an affront, as well as a mockery, to all that is Holy…
When Jesus went to the cross to bear the sins of humanity he faced not only murder,
but mockery.
The soldiers had fun at his expense, before they killed him.
Both guns and scaffolds have been the instrumentation of murder, but mockery
is no more acceptable just because it is not murder.
The trouble with the helter-skelter and the pitch and putt is that to anyone
with a sense of what Rudolf Otto called ‘the Holy” they constitute an offence
of some gravity.
The good Bishop explains that we are surrounded by a world full of distractions.
Everything is now vying, very loudly, for our attention.
We are consumed and have allowed that ‘still small Voice’ to be drained
from our being…
However, it was always the Chruch, our refuge, which afforded us the necessary quietude
and stillness in order to reconnect and to truly hear and feel that Voice while being
allowed to fall at the feet of that very Voice both in our need and in our joy.
We live in a culture addicted to distraction and pleasure-seeking.
The dynamics of this are potent antidotes to experiencing the presence of God.
They are everywhere.
We experience a saturation of stimulation and distraction in everyday life.
It is almost if the pace and pleasure of life set out to make reflection and prayer impossible.
The one place one might be free of this could be, ought to be a cathedral.
But for such a place, steeped in mystery and marvel to buy in[to] sensory pleasure and distraction
is to poison the very medicine it offers the human soul.
It cracks the exquisite mirror it holds up before the presence of God; it drowns out the still,
small voice, that Elijah encountered and adored.
And thus the dear Bishop reminds us that we are currently witnessing our own rapid
loss to what is in actuality our innate need for the Sacred.
As the very place where the Sacred could and should be found is in reality,
aiding and abetting in that very loss…
Please read and hear the good Bishop’s words in the following links…
Convert or be converted – the challenge for Anglican cathedrals today.
cookiecrumbstoliveby 
So… the way to help an already distracted church is to install a carnival inside of said church?? Are we all taking crazy pills here? And it may shock him to hear, but his ideas are not as novel as he thinks… people have been doing this forever to the great cathedrals. I know the Church (capital C) has muddied the waters here, but I think of the stone builders and artisans who first built these places… they did it for God. To give people a refuge, a taste of the divine, a quiet moment in the midst of a noisy world. Adding distraction to distraction isn’t novel or helpful, it’s just more of the same, refusing to quiet oneself before the Creator. Wow, didn’t know this was such a hot button topic for me, but there it is! haha!
Oh I’m in this same hit bottom as you!
Yes— the idea was to exalt a mighty God with a beautiful offering— and as Kathy noted- it’s as if we’re back trying to sell indulgences, or in these cases, tickets to “godly” fun with, yes, a little g because this is indeed about a little g— the very shepherds have gotten lost along the way trying to lead their flocks— so now all lemmings dash off to the sea!!!!
Good grief! What will it be next? The sale of indulgences or buying your way to heaven? Some things never change. The devil’s greatest enemy is the church and its divine presence. The stronger it becomes, the harder he fights to gain control. He will not win.
No but isn’t it pitiful how those who are responsible for leading the fold play right into Satan’s hands
Julie, thank you for introducing me to Bishop Ashenden – a bold man of uncommonly good insight and spiritual wisdom. Many American churches are doing the same “mockery” even though it is downsized generally.
I’ve learned a great deal from reading his words and listening to his interview and homilys—and Oneta, to hear an Anglican / Episcopal cleric remianing true to God’s word…a stance that in today’s culture, equates to conservatism and what is now preceived as backwards thinking, intollerant or simply wrong, is truly wonderful- Unlike the Anglican / Episcopal Chruch, Bishop Ashenden has not capitulated to the sinful progressive narative…hence his having retired his post to the Queen and leaving the Anglican Chruch proper.
God’s man.
Sad. Very sad. 😞