Contrary to popular sentiment, Christianity is not dull or out of touch but fresh, relevant, exciting, and contemporary. The Church is political because it tells a radically different story from the dominant political norms of our day. Through a study of the Church’s liturgy, this book seeks to build confidence in the Church’s mission.
Politics & Mission examines five pieces of liturgy—namely morning prayer, baptism, eucharist, footwashing and the funeral—detailing in turn the ways in which the language of the liturgy, which we often take for granted, is powerful and counter-cultural. Through its analysis, the book sheds light on three principal areas: what it is to be human, the challenges of contemporary mission, and the particular way in which the Church is political.
In so doing, new resources are offered for the practicing Christian, those in Church leadership, and those looking at the Church from the outside, to reflect on and grapple with the challenges of this generation.
Reflecting on the State Funeral of Her Majesty the Queen in the weeks that followed, I was quickly conscious that we had done something of significance in the Abbey: not just performed the proper ceremonial, but spoken deep truths and witnessed to a faith that holds us in community, gives us common cause and frames our greater destiny. Reading this book, I am better able to name the truly “political” significance of the day. The liberal project fails all around us as we abandon assumptions about how we manage our common life, or even deny that there can be such a thing. As Martin explains, the subversive gospel keeps insisting that we can hope for more than a means for managing disagreement—it insists on common cause and a shared experience. We are a people who are fashioned by our dependency on grace and who can find resilience and a fresh honesty in faith. We can and will speak of our humanity, of life and death, and of our shared hope.
The Very Revd Dr David Hoyle MBE, FSA
Dean of Westminster
