Riding Mill Parish News #516
A Glass Church?
I sat on the edge of Broomleyfell plantation early one morning, eating my breakfast and praving as I looked over Riding Mill nestled in its valley alongside the Tyne.
As I prayed, I reflected on the vision for St James’s church that had been shared with me when I first came here. It’s a vision that had taken the congregation lots of thought over more than two years – and it has recently developed further. For, at the start of Lent in late February, the parochial church council (PCC) and others met at Shepherd’s Dene and gave us a vision of St James as an Open Church; a Church to include all people.
So I wished our lovely parish church had been built of glass.
The walls of our church building, as you walk along the road to the school from the Old Playground, can seem like blank-faced, stone cliffs: instead, I wished our lovely parish church were made of glass so that everyone could see in from the outside; and people inside could greet those walking past.
Of course, we cannot achieve in stone what they have in this Californian chapel, yet maybe it’s more like an attitude of mind? For we in St James’s believe everyone matters to God.
We want to be an open church striving to respond to God’s love by being a welcoming community where we aspire to share our faith with each and everyone, regardless of age, gender, ethnic origin, race, social class, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, gender reassignment or political affiliation.
We are blessed by everyone’s presence and should bless everyone in return. Without exception.
I hope and believe that this approach is one that Riding Mill, as much as any community I have been privileged to become part of, will find resonates with its culture. We don’t need glass walls, really: we simply need an openness and a welcome that is apparent to all.
One view of inclusion is a ‘roots down, walls down’ one. What do I mean by that?
Roots down
Individual people should be encouraged to strengthen and affirm their own denomination, tradition or even faith – or that of their families: to put down roots in the soil of their own heritage. Our parish church has its own heritage, too, which members should respect. As I respect.
Walls down
As a community in Riding Mill, as a congregation of St James, and as individuals we should be open to learn about and affirm denominations, religions and cultures that are not our own: in this way we may tear down any walls of ignorance or misunderstanding that divide us.
For us relationships matter. We want to be a visible presence in the village welcoming everyone to share in our life of faith. We cannot remake the church building in glass, yet now we are able to encourage people to join and share our worship online: it’s a new way of being transparent, like glass.
We can also continually remake ourselves, in Jesus, as a welcoming and inclusive part of the Riding Mill community.
Rev’d Diana Johnson
Originally published in the Riding Mill Parish News #516 – April 2022
