One Accord

The minister of the One Accord Church in Hornington has a distractingly pleasing view across the meadows from his office window. I was there on Sunday taking part in the annual United Service held on behalf of Churches Together locally. 'Here at One Accord we are a combination of four denominations', he told the assembled throng optimistically; well, technically it was two, the Methodists and the United Reformed Church, who joined together to form One Accord many years ago, although the URC was itself a combination of the Congregationalists and the Presbyterians, and a few Salvationists have started coming along since the Salvation Army Citadel in Hornington closed a couple of years ago, so that arguably makes up the four. Mind you, judged by that test Swanvale Halt Parish Church is a combination of loads of denominations. 'There are millions of services like this happening today,' went on the minister, and I thought that was a bit optimistic as well. 

It was a bright, sunny morning on Sunday (as you can see) and the church was pleasingly full. Over the years I have posted repeatedly about the doings of our local branch of Churches Together (such as here, here, here and here) and you might have discerned my frustration with the organisation. The United Service is one thing - notwithstanding the generally watered-down liturgy, it's good for Christians themselves to get together in big groups and compromise - but several of the things Churches Together has been doing for twenty years and more do seem to be running into the ground. Our common efforts at 'witness to the community' are increasingly coming up against the obstacle that the secular world is more and more adrift from the Christian calendar and ways of doing things. Once upon a time, for instance, Churches Together ran a Christmas market culminating in the Blessing of the Crib and an ecumenical carol service in the old parish church in town. Then the Chamber of Commerce decided it wanted its own earlier street market to coincide with the turning-on of the Christmas lights. This year, the Chamber has objected to Churches Together closing the High Street for its charity-based Christmas market the weekend after the Chamber's own, and the Town Council has agreed, offering the churches the following Saturday instead, leaving some people positively intemperate. The clergy have for some years been arguing that the whole event needs to be rethought - what 'witness' is it to line the High Street with increasingly tatty charity stalls when the commercial ones look so much better, when far more people come to the Chamber of Commerce's market? - but the Town Council arranges its event schedule so far in advance that no sooner is one Christmas past that we are locked into planning for the next, a treadmill that leaves no time to think and evaluate. 

Twenty to thirty years ago, the sight of Christian denominations co-operating in worship and community events was a spectacle which non-churchgoers found impressive in and of itself: I don't think it is any longer. It's become what everyone expects. Christians have to do a bit more than that to catch anyone's attention. What should that be? I don't think we have any clear idea.

But, for a morning, we could put all those thoughts aside. I could even forgive the non-alcoholic wine.