Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali challenges CofE over new liturgy for godparents

Published: May 3rd, 2016

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Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali has challenged the Church of England over a service that has recently been drawn up to celebrate its first 'Godparent's day'.

The new service, he says, reflects the Church's "now-familiar desire to be trendy".

The new liturgy was adopted in hundreds of churches this past Sunday to celebrate the role of godparents. Although it can be used in Holy Communion, Bishop Michael has said that the church ought to be a place of reverence as they come into the presence of God.

Lack of 'reverence and awe'

The suggested liturgy involves members of the congregation being told at the beginning of the service to act like a football crowd, with a call and response from the vicar. In response to the call "God is great!" they are told to perform "a double clap with an arm raise" as they shout out "Let the people praise you!"

Members then stick Post-it notes with thoughts about godparents onto a 'memory wall', and drawing a heart shape over the front of their bodies and thinking of members of the community such as teachers or social workers.

At one point they are told to hold up their hands and move their fingers "like twinkling stars" to honour people that shine in their lives.
Bishop Michael described the service as echoing a primary school class, and said that it would not attract lapsed churchgoers because they would expect "reverence and awe".

He said: "When they come into a church, worshippers should sense the presence of a holy God, not the bonhomie they may experience at bingo."

'CofE needs to be vigorously counter-cultural'

Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali expands on his concerns about the Church of England's move away from biblical truth in his new book, 'Faith, Freedom and the Future'.

"Since at least the 1970s," he writes, "there has been a fashion in the Church of England to minimise depth and mystery in its worship because of the alleged need to make its services 'accessible'."

He continues: "The Church's language, worship, pastoral care and evangelism, rather than simply accommodating to this or that culture, need to be prepared to be vigorously counter-cultural so that eyes may truly be opened to the human predicament and to God's way out of it. [...] We must keep commending the plausibility of Christian views on human dignity, equality and liberty rather than just capitulating to whatever's fashionable."

You can purchase Bishop Michael's book Faith, Freedom and the Future for as little as £6.95 from Amazon.

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Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali challenges CofE over new liturgy for godparents

Lack of 'reverence and awe'

'CofE needs to be vigorously counter-cultural'