Barnes in Common

the magazine of Churches Together in Barnes
May/June 2005

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An Anglican visits the Methodists

by Wendy Kyrle-Pope

This was not a typical Sunday at the Methodist Church. For one thing, due to the rebuilding of the church itself, services are taking place in the church hall. For another, this was the special renewal of the Covenant service, which Methodists have celebrated for 250 years.

It was odd going into the hall where once my son was at nursery, where we voted in elections, and where I have held public meetings, and find it adapted to a place of worship. However, a wonderful spiritual imagination had transformed this workaday space into the House of God, with an elliptical layout, the seats surrounding the altar table, simply lit with a candle. Cruciform is not the only shape for worship; were not the original meetings of the very early church conducted in the round?

Reverend Veronica Faulks conducted a lively, loving, very intimate service, calling members of the congregation (and their visitor) by name, drawing them into the service and sermon. We renewed our covenant with God, and followed a liturgy simpler and shorter in form, but very similar to the Anglican one. There were lots of good Wesleyan hymns.

The sermon was about changing for the better, for God, ourselves and those around us. Veronica Faulks described one kind of change, which is the deliberate, New Year's resolution: I-must-change-this-or-that; the second kind of change is more mystical and comes from an osmosis which occurs over time, from close contact with someone we love. Veronica Faulks used the analogy of her son's engagement and forthcoming marriage: how he and his fiancée had become more and more like each other over the period of their courtship, and how this had changed them, through love, in often difficult circumstances. Our close contact with God will change us in that same way. Relationships that are rooted and grounded are the strongest, and the most important relationship in our lives is the one we have with God. If we commit totally to Him we will be changed in ways that will transcend our daily experience.

Perhaps because of the layout, but mostly because of the gentle informality, the service seemed more flowing, more intimate and rounder than a normal Anglican one. I came away uplifted and happy, having been made to feel not only the most welcomed of guests, but also part of the congregation.

As Theresa Munford wrote in the January/February issue about her visit to the Baptists, we have much to learn and celebrate by visiting churches of different denominations to our own. Diversity is one of the keys to continuing the Christian tradition; sharing is part of faith; and there is, after all, only one God, however we come to him. I commend this exercise to all of you.

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