A poetic justice obtains in that a member of "the society of people called Methodist" has been called upon to comment on these reflections of the Church of Ireland. It is poetic in that there is no Methodist reflection included in the volume, but primarily in that it was the perception of John Wesley that his was a time in which to build, and it was his outworking of that perception that led to the eventual separation of the Methodist societies of the 18th century from the Church of England.
This is a timely volume, though the editor, Stephen White, observes that the millennium "simply provides a handy occasion for the Church of Ireland to review its past, assess its present position and attempt to be prophetic for the future in a way which the Church must do afresh every so often anyway". It is fundamental to the well-being of the whole church, the Body of Christ, that it engage in such a process of review, assessment and attempt to be prophetic, and it is significant that many of the essayists write in terms of the whole church as much as of one denomination.
Indeed, Kenneth Kearon's trenchant essay on "Ethics, Communities and the Future" does not mention the Church of Ireland at all. As the Christian churches move towards what will surely be a "post-denominational" millennium, this is not inappropriate.
Several essays provide the historical and theological platform from which to view the Church of Ireland and, to a certain extent, the other churches of the Reformation in Ireland. The complexities of history and politics have created tensions in churches which are one-island institutions, but it is the role of the church, the broken Body of Christ, to "create the conditions in which all people can live at peace with one another by giving an example of reconciliation based on forgiveness".
It is necessary to know where we have come from to have a sense of where we hope to go. It is also necessary to know what the church is about in the world . . . have we a gospel to proclaim? Yes indeed, but in the opinion of Bishop Millar, the Church of Ireland enters the 21st century relatively untaught. I suspect it is not alone.
In terms of assessment and prophetic insight, there are essays on society and ethical issues, on ecumenism and the wider world. Let me lift out some quotable quotes particularly relevant to where we find ourselves.
"Dodos and Dinosaurs?" offers a pungent retort from a substance-abusing young offender: "Nobody gives a f... about me who isn't paid to." The proper may not like the language, the pedantic may query the grammar, but the thoughtful will ask if the church in Ireland is effectively reflecting to society that love of Jesus Christ which is at once undemanding of its object and infinitely demanding of the given. "We are created by a community of love to be a community of love." So the church is watching the Minister for Finance . . . or is it?
Andrew Pierce's analysis of Jan Kerkofs' research into contemporary value systems and the increase in individualisation is relevant here: "Individualisation involves the privileging of the autonomous individual, at the expense of the traditionally normative communities, (e.g. family, class, guild, etc.)."
Bet Aalen, examining how the church has responded to the worldwide implications of the gospel, asks a question pertinent here in Ireland as well as further afield: "Does the church follow and reflect the mores practised by, and the issues of concern raised in, wider society or does it lead the way, challenging in a prophetic manner systems that distort human relationships and subvert God's intentions for the world's good?"
Is the church's gospel "proclaimed with integrity from within vulnerability, and from within a total identification with the suffering of the forgotten world", as Bishop Clarke believes it should be? One cannot but reflect that the balancing phrase in the title text, (Ecclesiastes 3:3) reads "[There is] a time to tear down."
Ian Ellis, commenting that the ecumenical movement was born from missionary endeavour, opines that "ecumenism must be the vehicle of mission in the future". He is right of course. He is also right when he says that "we clearly still have a long way to go in Ireland in terms of greater ecumenical commitment".
ECUMENISM takes many forms and works at many levels, and it is important that Christians develop relationships on all sides, so to speak. Bishop Richard Clarke has observed (though not in this volume) that an unofficial pecking order, comic if it were not tragic, can be perceived to exist in the ecumenical movement.
Thus it is important that the Church of Ireland acknowledges that it has other dialogue partners than the Roman Catholic Church. The work of the Joint Theological Working Party of the Methodist Church in Ireland and the Church of Ireland, going on since 1988, receives no mention.
This is an unfortunate omission, given the close family links which historically exist between the Anglican Church and the people called Methodist. Bernard Tracey, writing as a Roman Catholic friend, comments that "discovering or rediscovering a long-lost family connection has both delightful and exasperating aspects". How right he is.
A Time to Build may well be written from the Church of Ireland perspective and, within that, from a largely Southern perspective. That does not, however, render what is said invalid for the rest of us. The egg-timer on the cover serves as a warning: if we don't get our act together, time may run out for our particular expression of church. Dodos failed to adapt. Dinosaurs adapted, they became birds!
Gillian Kingston is secretary of the Joint Theological Working Party of the Methodist Church in Ireland and the Church of Ireland. She is also vice-chairwoman of the executive board of the Irish School of Ecumenics.
