I confess that I have only been an Anglican for 20 years but my great-grandmother was a staunch ‘pisky’ (the affectionate term for a member of the Scottish Episcopal Church), a fact I only learned after I was ordained. One of the fascinating features of Anglicanism is that it represents unity with diversity and still manages to be held together as the One Church, the Body of Christ.
As part of my academic study leading to Ordination, I conducted a piece of research in West Wales where I interviewed members of rural churches about their beliefs and practices. One participant stands out in my mind because I was so shocked by his answer: We were talking about the various aspects of Christian faith and I asked him how he understood the Resurrection. The response “Oh I don’t believe in that nonsense” was unexpected, to say the least. How can someone attend church for years accompany Jesus on his journey from birth through the Epiphany to his passion and death, to resurrection and Pentecost and not believe in the resurrection? The whole basis of our faith is resurrection; the apostle Paul writes: If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied (1 Corinthians 15:19)…
