Moderator's Address

The Revd Professor Stephen Orchard

This is a summary of the address given the Moderator of General Assembly for 2007 - 2008, the Revd Professor Stephen Orchard.

In the early 1900’s, the text of the Bible was taught to children in order for it to be recited, a practice continued by other faiths today.

Theological colleges examined candidates on their knowledge of the Bible well beyond the 1950’s, but as the century progressed, there was a move towards learning about the Bible rather than simply learning its text.

The Bible is not fiction, but nor is it history or a scientific textbook. If it claimed to be such it could rightly be dismissed as flawed or out of date. It is a compilation of literature in the Judeo-Christian tradition, in a variety of genres. It is not the work of a single writer, or editor, but a great many people, and its contents were determined by consensus.

The criteria used to shape its present form were determined by consideration of diving inspiration and spiritual edification. Divine inspiration is through the Holy Spirit working in the minds of men and women as Holy Scripture is written and read.

What we call the Old Testament is the sacred scripture with which Jesus was familiar and on which he based his teaching. What we call the New Testament is the compilation of the best contemporary accounts we have of his life and teaching in the judgement of early Christians.

We would be foolish to ignore subsequent tradition but we need to keep the primary source of our faith located where it has always been, in the canonical scriptures.

Our common stock of biblical knowledge is running down and we need to replenish it and we can do so.

It does not need further fundraising or a programme initiative from a committee of the Church. Just take that Bible down from the shelf and read it. It is the spiritual equivalent of lighting the blue touch paper.

For me the great model of how we Christians should link the Word and Sacrament in our daily life in Luke’s account of the road to Emmaus.

On this road to Emmaus, two people meet someone who is convincing, someone who conveys enthusiasm as well as knowledge, someone who makes the part of the jigsaw drop into place. Hearts burn within as they realise it all makes sense. They are not asked to abandon the scriptures but to read them with new eyes.

I am coming to an end of a stage of the journey I began when I was ordained. I am entering the territory when people ask ‘would you do it all again?’
I have no regrets about my choices but I am baffled by a society which, when we have done all this, is preoccupied with diversions rather than living. We have not yet understood what is asked of us as disciples to make sense of a British society in which we are the strangers.

All my experience thus far teaches me to trust God whom I find in the scriptures and the strength of the Christian tradition in which I stand.

I can now see how we wasted time in the twentieth century trying to impose uniformity on one another as churches, when we cannot even do it within our own denomination.

I see how we allowed ourselves to be put on the back foot by scientific rationalism instead of embracing new knowledge. I have learnt the awful lesson of a church that thought in the 1950s that if it could prevent the cinemas opening on Sundays it would prevent cultural dominance. I have seen how we abuse the argument of conserving the best of the tradition to protect our own comfort zones. So I wish I was starting out all over again in my twenties to make a better job if it this time.

But if I have learnt anything I have learnt that God does not ask us to spend our time in vain regrets.

We who walk on the road to Emmaus, need to put the past in the new perspective of the risen Christ.

Learning from our mistakes implies moving on. We will make new mistakes but we will also, on good days, fulfil the word of God, something we will certainly not do sitting and incessantly wringing our hands.

I have never seen a perfect Christian but it has been my privilege to know many great Christians, some famous, others obscure.

Each of them had something to show for their lives, something of the Kingdom which they had established, and each of them had personal flaws and reasons for regret.

They, like us, were the clay vessels in which the treasure of the Gospel is found.

So do not be disabled by guilt, or regret, or a sense of inadequacy, but embrace the grace of Jesus Christ who is to be found alongside you on the road.

Menu

Links

Moderator's Address

Highlights

Catch the Vision

Photo diary

Profile

Moderator's Address

Prayers for Assembly

Have your say