On Monday our little Prayer Group were sitting in the Lady Chapel, enjoying the sunshine and looking forward to the Spring; and as I write this on Thursday we are in the middle of a blizzard. What a wonderful country this is!

No wonder the weather is often the first thing we talk about when we meet people for the first time; one thing we all have in common is having to cope with its little surprises.

So we talk about the weather, and then if we think we're getting on OK with someone we go onto other things we might have some common experience of - places we've been to, our work or our families - and slowly we begin to build up a picture of the other person and whether we might want to get to know them better, or even to look for a real friendship with them. And as it is with people, so it is with Churches.

Some of you may know that on a couple of occasions in recent years the Church of England and the Methodist Church have begun talking to each other about joining forces.

I was at a meeting only last night where we were looking at the progress of the latest set of talks, and thinking about the kinds of questions we would want to ask those who were actually sitting around the table doing the talking.

It quite a frustrating experience, because those at the "top table" seem to have forgotten that when you meet someone for the first time you don't talk about the "Big Issues"; how much money do you earn and did you ever have an abortion? but you begin with the simpler things about which you are likely to agree.
Sadly, in our discussions with other Churches we seem so often to focus in on the issues where we are almost bound to disagree, and take no notice of the simple everyday stuff which we share.

And most of the blame for that must go to the professionals.

When you get to the top in any organisation it is easy to forget what is going on at the bottom. And yet, it was what was going on at the bottom that made you want to join the organisation in the first place.

The people at the top of organisations, whatever the organisation was originally set up for, tend to get bogged down in thinking about what makes the organisation different, special, its "Brand Image" if you like, and don't want to hear about all the ways in which it is just the same as all the others in the "market place".

When those organisations are Churches, each of whom think they have some unique insight into THE TRUTH things get even more complicated.
So when the people at the top eventually remember to ask the people at the bottom what they think, they almost always ask al the wrong questions.

They ask questions about which side we should take in theological arguments which have been going on for hundreds of years, but have absolutely nothing to do with whether you or your Church are the sort of people that you would want to make friends with.

At least last night we were able to pass back the message that the question we want answered is, "What difference will these talks, and any decisions they come to, make to people in the local Churches? Will it change the way we get on together? And I suspect that the answers to those questions will be what those of us who don't expect us all to agree on the really big things, but want spend more time round each others houses and in each others company already know..."Not a lot!"

Every blessing

Alan
1st February 2003