Forget the hosepipe jokes

This Sunday at our morning service, we shall have a family of fifteen to baptize, and the occasion has attracted a fair amount of media attention, not just locally, but even from BBC Songs of Praise, Radio 2 and round England in the 'Metro'.

Most of the questions you get, predictably enough, are not about Baptism at all, but about the number of children from the same family. And that strikes me as odd and frankly irrelevant; not something which ought to surprise folk at all.

Remember, we inhabit a non-Christian society. The English of course like to think of themselves as Christian, in a faintly comforting sort of way. But in reality they have consigned Christian faith safely into the history books, and made it the stuff of tradition - you know, all those nice big churches with pointy arches and coloured glass.

Most folk used to marry in church, but that is no longer the case. For those who do still marry in church - aside from the few whose motive is precisely Christian - the reason is more likely to be that they happen to live in a parish with a specially photogenic church, than anything else.

Even when someone dies things have changed. Time was, the funeral director would arrive and ask the family which minister they would like to conduct the funeral service - and if they were not specifically members of a church like the Methodist or Roman Catholic church, the funeral director would ask the vicar of the parish - not least because he was (and is) the only person with a legal obligation to conduct the funeral service. But nowadays, some Funeral directors don't ask about the minister. They just ask "Are you religious?".

When, predictably, the family demur, offering that they don't go to church much (meaning, they've never been near the place in their lives!) the funeral director can then kindly offer to arrange a 'minister' for them (if they want a Church or crematorium funeral service) or perhaps someone to conduct a humanist service...

Now I very much suspect that some folk have taken to doing this out of antagonism towards the churches, but whatever, either way is more convenient for the Funeral director. If you ask for the Vicar, then the Director must fit in with the Vicar's often busy timetable; and the Incumbent has many rights, still, about the arrangement of the service, which it is convenient to be able to ignore. If the Director can employ a handy funeral minister - and there is a growing class of folk who will conduct a service at the drop of a hat (and even bury your budgie if the price is right) - making a living out of nothing but conducting funerals - well, that is much more convenient for a funeral director. And no one is bothered any longer about the long-term pastoral care which ought to be available.

Oddly, even if some funeral directors are doing such things as a way of getting at the Church of England, they are actually doing us a favour, for it sets us free to do ministry in the way my Roman and Methodist friends have always been able to do it!
No longer condemned to an endless line of funerals for folk we've never met, whose families will never want to see us again, we are actually free to explore ministry quite differently. And of course, they are telling the truth. Death is a thing of no consequence, to be dealt with without upsetting the children, and forgotten. And the Christian faith is just no longer relevant for most people.

So. the Media ought not to be surprised at the number of folk I may baptize on this or any Sunday. What really ought to astonish them, is that anyone in these non-Christian times should want to become more closely involved in the community of the church in this suburban village of ours.