THE General Synod had one piece of liturgical business. It took note of a report by the revision committee on two proposed Feasts to be added to the Common Worship Calendar: the Feast of God the Creator (also known as the Feast of Creation in Christ), to be celebrated on the first Sunday in September; and the Commemoration of the Twenty-One Martyrs of Libya, assigned to 15 February.
The Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham Usher, who chairs the committee, commended his colleagues’ patient work of bringing this material to its formal stage. They had converged on the same needs: “Clarity about what we’re celebrating, language that is recognisably Christian, lectionary provision that is rich and stimulating, and texts that are actually usable in the diverse worshipping life of the Church of England.
“Christians confess that the world is created by God, sustained by God, and destined for God. We confess that matter is not meaningless and that the world is not disposable. . . The Christological centre is essential and is what keeps this festival from becoming vague, from being heard simply as a statement about a cause. This is the Church worshipping the Creator revealed in Jesus Christ.”
He emphasised: “If the Church is to pray about creation, praise has to be accompanied by penitence; gratitude has to be accompanied by conversion of life.” Provision had also been made “genuinely usable, sitting naturally in real churches with real congregations”.
Many Churches were exploring a feast of this kind. “We are on the leading edge of that work. We are amongst the first Churches to take the patient step of shaping texts that can be authorised and used, not simply discussed, not simply commended but publicly prayed repeatedly, so that in that repeated prayer the habits of our life are formed. This work has been very much welcomed by ecumenical colleagues.”
The Twenty-One Martyrs of Libya were 21 Coptic Christian men, who, together with one Ghanaian, had been captured by the Islamic State terrorist group and filmed being executed on a Libyan beach for their faith on 15 February 2017. The men, primarily migrant labourers, were targeted specifically for their Christian identity.
Bishop Usher said: “The subject itself requires reverence and restraint, allowing the witness of these faithful men who died with the name of Christ on their lips to stand before us as part of the Church’s memory and therefore part of the Church’s formation.
Geoff Crawford/Church TimesThe Bishop of Norwich, the Rt Revd Graham Usher
“There’s something chastening in that witness, and strengthening as well: it draws us out of the local frame; it reminds us that the Church is one, and that courage and suffering are not abstractions within the Christian life. It places before us quietly, yet firmly, the truth that fidelity to Christ is still costly in many parts of the world and that the final word does not belong to violence but to Christ.”
The Revd Dr Jo Kershaw (Universities and TEIs), in a maiden speech, had overcome her initial scepticism that the feast of God the Creator might be “another glorified Harvest Festival. . . We are recovering a true sense of God as Creator of all things in an act of commitment. It offers opportunities to bear witness to the unity of of the Church.”
Sandra Turner (Chelmsford) wanted to be assured of close scrutiny of Bible texts to see “how words and liturgy landed with each user”.
Archbishop Angaelos of London (Coptic Church) said that the Twenty-One Martyrs had “shown their ultimate strength — witnessing with absolutely no words. Martyrs do not aspire to die,” he said. “To have done that so courageously in such an iconic way will live in our memories.”
The Bishop of Chelmsford, Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, spoke of her brother, Bahram, who had been assassinated in Iran in 1980, during the height of the Islamic Revolution, and is counted among the martyrs of the Persian Church.
“Reflecting on his death and the particular Good Friday that we were going through as a family around the time of his funeral, my father wrote the following in his diary: ‘We are not particularly interested in the earth which is over the grave but in what may grow out of it, the fruits of the Spirit.’
“I wonder how much we will witness the effects of Bahram’s sacrifice. In the 45 years since he died, I and countless others have witnessed and experienced manifold gifts of the Spirit growing from the place of his sacrifice. I have no doubt the same will be true of the Libyan Twenty-One. I give thanks to God for their extraordinary example, and I pray for all who stand steadfast in faith around the world today, walking the way of the Cross with courage and perseverance.”
Aiden Hargreaves-Smith (London) believed that there was something “deeply compelling, something deeply affecting about the relative youthfulness” of the Twenty-One.
The Bishop of Gloucester, the Rt Revd Rachel Treweek, commended the draft texts, but wanted to ensure that good attention was being paid to the theology of the Triune God and to the use of pronouns in that context.
Susan Cavill (Derby) considered the Feast of God the Creator an important way in which the C of E was demonstrating and reaffirming its commitment to nature recovery as part of its leadership of the environmental agenda, and “a good opportunity to share with brothers and sisters from other denominations around the world”.
“As Anglicans, it is our liturgy that gives gives expression to our faith, the Archbishop of York said. “I really welcome what we are doing here this afternoon, because the Feast of God the Creator affirms and emphasises God’s sovereignty over the whole of creation at a time when our misuse of the creation not only imperils the planet but is an affront to God; and the commemoration of the Twenty-One Martyrs affirms and emphasises the very deepest truths of what it means to be a follower of Jesus.”
Canon Andrew Dotchin (St Edmundsbury & Ipswich) rejoiced in the inclusion of the two feast and commemoration in the calendar, as did Dr Rachel Jepson (Birmingham). “The reminder that [the Martyrs] died with the name of the Lord Jesus on their lips is the starkest challenge to our own witness in the comfortable West,” she said. “This incident reminds us that we have so much to learn from the faithful discipleship of our brothers and sisters for whom living with the daily reality of oppression and persecution is not strange, but normal.”
The Bishop of Winchester, the Rt Revd Philip Mounstephen, warmly welcomed the “proper recognition” of the Libyan Martyrs in the calendar. He said that “their astonishing bravery, faithfulness, and witness” stood as a “stark challenge” to us if we could bear witness to Christ in such circumstances.
“This incident reminds us that we have so much to learn from the faithful discipleship of our brothers and sisters, for whom living with the daily reality of oppression and persecution is not strange but normal.”
Bob Chambers (Chichester) reflected on line 25 of the Creation text: “But our hope has grown dim.” He wondered: “We might have doubts and grow weary from time to time, but is it right to express that in the present perfect tense?”.
The Revd Marcus Walker (London) said that the Martyrs choosing the way of the Cross over a life without Christ “stands as a witness to us here in London and also a little as a rebuke for how little we do and say for our brothers and sisters murdered and persecuted for their faith across the world, whether in Nigeria or Sudan or Iran or Pakistan or India or China or many other places.”
The Archdeacon of Leeds, the Ven Revd Paul Ayers (Leeds), reminded the Synod that it had considered creation in 1980 when revising the Common Lectionary.
The Bishop of Fulham, the Rt Revd Jonathan Baker (Southern Suffragans), said that the drafters of the material had “succeeded marvellously in plotting the pathway on the properties for the feast [of God the Creator],” but, for information, wanted to know where it stood in the hierarchy of observances.
The texts now stand referred to the House of Bishops.
Read more reports from the General Synod Digest here