Yesterday I was at York Minster to watch the Consecration of 3 new Church of England Bishops - two of them to my home diocese of Manchester. During the service I was struck by the similarity to a wedding. Not really surprising as the Bible refers to the Church as the Bride of Christ...
The candidates had already taken oaths and were asked to make declarations; the congregation were asked to pledge their support for the men in their new lives ahead; and then we prayed for God's blessing upon them. All these things happen during a wedding service.
We sang 'Come down O Love Divine' which is a very popular hymn choice at weddings and then later the lovely Iona hymn which starts "Will you come and follow me if I but call your name?" which caused buckets of tears from me as usual. Every time I rededicate myself in prayers or words or songs you need to wear waterproofs if you are near me.
It might be a sign of the times, but it did occur to me as I looked out over the sea of dog-collars - a plethora of Priests and even a bevy of Bishops - that a terrorist could have made a significant hole in the Church of England if they had made the Cathedral a target that day.
Thankfully they didn't choose to. But then again is it an indictment on each of us who have sworn oaths that we are not seen as being sufficiently potent even when we gather en masse? Not really a force (for good) to be reckoned with!
I do hope that when you go to church to book your wedding and hear your banns that you are made welcome. But what I truly long for is that you get a glimpse of the life-changing power of the Holy Spirit and be compelled to start on your own faith journey. Most of us in the Church do a poor job at marketing God, and an even worse job of modelling his love. Our PR is inadequate too, obviously, or you would be queuing up at the door to join us.
But the eternal Creator God is longing to break into your life. Why not add him to your guest list and ask him to show up?
I'll finish with the last verse of the hymn that made me cry yesterday...
Will you love the 'you' you hide if I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside and never be the same?
Will you use the faith you've found to reshape the world around,
through my sight and touch and sound in you, and you in me?
