Federer, Murray, church and hypocrisy

I "went to church" yesterday. What I mean by this, in particular the punctuation marks, is that I went to a "consecrated" building in which an "ordained" person called a "priest" led us in "worship", starting "on page 55". All three of us in the "congregation" were expected to repeat written "prayers", respond with the written "responses", stand or sit when told and listen when spoken to. My mind started rambling and has not stopped since.

I rather liked the lady in charge. She was welcoming, jolly, clearly loved people and was both keen and committed to serving the God of her denomination. Of her denomination?  I don't mean this unpleasantly, for who am I to know what is in her heart. She may be far closer to Yahweh than me despite the apparent reliance on religious observance and form rather than overt spiritual depth. If I may slightly digress, who would have thought during the Wimbledon final how much Federer and Murray cared?  Only after the match did we see the true depth of their commitment. Appearances can be deceptive. Yet, I wonder how an "ordained priest" can fail to mention Jesus except during the repetition of formal texts prepared by some distant theologian and agreed by committee. Does this sound like true commitment to the Christ?

We were told, with a tone of mild apology, that we were not to have a sermon, but instead a reflection. I expected a reflection on Jesus or something spiritual at least. But no! We received, on the day before the synod of the Church of England, a history of women's place in the church and a hope that Anglicans would see sense over the issue of women bishops. We received a reflection on the organisation of an institution; a history of the denomination; and a prayer that the synod would agree with the speaker's views. Some of those against the appointment of women bishops were, we were told, hypocritical for using the bible to justify their positions.

Now, I have to admit that I agreed with almost all that was said about the stupidity of denying women a proper and full role in church. But I find it hard to see how opponents of women bishops are any more or less hypocritical in their use of scripture than the speaker herself, whose justifications for calling herself an "ordained priest", for wearing strange clothing, bowing to a cross on the altar, and so on and so forth are no doubt taken from the bible. Let's face it, we can justify anything we want if we carefully select scriptures and then use them out of their full, original context. It is strange how often we all use the charge of hypocrisy against those whose behaviour is similar to our own!

In retrospect, one of the readings during the "service" was extremely apt on the day of the Wimbledon final. Paul talked about divine strength coming out of or replacing human weakness. Both players yesterday tried their utmost to win, but it was a little touch of sporting genius that enabled Federer to win. I am not suggesting that this was divine intervention, but there is a parallel. Christians are all normal people. We can make immense efforts and utilise all our experience and skills, but that isn't always enough and in some cases is a waste of time. We need the Holy Spirit to take the lead, to give us the edge and take us to new heights. In particular, we need the Holy Spirit to lead us to our God. We cannot do it in our own strength or ability. Following an order of service is like playing tennis on the practice court. It is routine and may have benefits in transferring practice into the arena. But it takes a special spark to lift our worship or win a title.

When Paul talked about running a race to win it, he was not suggestingt that we all train harder or worship with more passion, but that we should rely more on the genius of the Holy Spirit to guide us. He never said 'read the bible harder', 'be more obedient to rules', 'say your prayers louder', or 'be a bigger bigot'. Such ideas would simply lead to more hypocrisy. Working in our own strength may win many plaudits, but never the big title.