On a bitterly cold February afternoon I set off for London. My destination was Westminster Abbey and the special service of ‘Reconciliation, healing of memories and mutual commitment for the Church of England and the United Reformed Church’ (not a very snappy title!). This service was to commemorate two notable dates, the first being the 350^th anniversary of the ‘Great Ejection’, (this I will explain in a minute), and the second being the 40^th anniversary of the inauguration of the United Reformed Church (which also took place at Westminster abbey).

In order to understand the reason for this service we need first to know some historical background of political rivalry, constitutional wrangling, and fierce religious disputes that led to the great ejection, so here goes, a very potted history!

There were some in England that felt that in the break made from the jurisdiction of the Pope in Rome in the reformation of the church of 1559 the religious reforms had not gone far enough. In a period of political unrest and dissatisfaction with the monarchy, around 1640, the Puritans within the Church of England decided to press their demands for more radical religious reforms. This led to civil war. As a result, the Westminster Assembly of Divines (1643-49) was appointed by parliament to produce a new Confession of Faith (though this was never adopted by parliament) and directory of Worship to replace the Prayer book. Through this the Christian year of feasts and fasts disappeared and the episcopacy (lineage of Bishops) was abolished. Without bishops cathedral hierarchy and organisation was dissolved & Bishops either went abroad or had to lay low. The archbishop of Canterbury and King Charles I were eventually executed. Many traditional Anglican clergy suffered great hardship as their homes and livelihoods in parish churches, cathedrals, and universities were handed over to ministers of Presbyterian and Independent views.

The monarchy was eventually restored in 1660 under Charles II. The newly formed parliament was less willing to compromise with the Churchmen who failed to reach any uniformity or consensus on how the Church should be organised. So, in 1662 the ‘Act of Uniformity’ was approved by parliament and it re-instated the Prayer Book and Episcopal ordination and jurisdiction. Hundreds of ministers who, on theological grounds, could not accept this Act of Uniformity then left the Church of England. This is period of hardship and turmoil in the Church now referred to as ‘The Great Ejection’. The Church of England lost around one fifth of its clergy in this period, and many that left continued their ministries within the Baptist or Congregational traditions. 

In 1972 the Presbyterian Church of England  and the Congregational Church of England and Wales came together to form the United Reformed Church. Shortly after its formation, the ‘Churches of Christ’ also became part of this union.

So, History lesson over, let’s get back to Westminster Abbey. This service incorporated echoes of some of the liturgy of forty years previously at the formation of the United Reformed Church. However, it did much more than this as it also sought to recognise some of the pain of the shared history of both of our denominations in prayers of penitence for perpetuating Christian disunity and prayers for the healing of the memories of history. It was also a time celebrate where unity was already being achieved and to pray for the grace to work more closely together in study prayer and mission in the future.

The service incorporated a balance of voices from both Anglican and URC clergy and the sermon was delivered by the Archbishop of Canterbury Rev. Dr. Rowan Williams. Dr.Williams was preaching on Ephesians 4:1-16 which talks about ‘bearing with one another in love’ and ‘making every effort to maintain unity’. However, the drive of his sermon was verse 13 of this passage ‘until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to measure of the full stature of Christ’. Dr. Williams   

Spoke very graciously of how the dissenters throughout the history of the Church in England had challenged Christian identity and in doing so had often pushed the Church into a more mature, questioning and critical response to faith. He acknowledged that reformed theology has given a great deal to the modern development Biblical study and that political freedom was also an important part of URC tradition. He reminded us that the episcopacy and monarchy are still present, despite the history, but acknowledged that both had been forever changed by the questioning presence of dissent. Tradition and ritual would not be allowed again to, as he put it, infantilise faith, as they had in the past, because of the existence of such questioning dissent. 

Dr. Williams quoted many reformed theologians within his address but the one that stuck with me was a quote he used from Bernard Lord Manning. A staunch Congregationalist of the mid twentieth century, who in 1942 wrote a description of what Dr. Williams outlined as classic reformed identity, ‘in taste Catholic, in feeling evangelical, in expression scholarly and in doctrine orthodox’. Dr. Williams Challenged the URC, the Church of England and all Christian Churches to continue to think about how we serve a maturing faith. We have, what he described as, an irresistible pressure within us of Christ seeking to mature us. We should expect to be challenged by one another, learn to respect one another and in doing so aim to mature ‘to the full stature of Christ’.

I had never been to a service of worship at Westminster Abbey. It was a little grander than I am used to or feel comfortable with (and very, very cold!). However, this service was, I felt, a good thing to do and to be witness to. Will it achieve anything of real value...who knows? I guess you could say that is rather up to us. It is up to us to continue to put energy and commitment into local ecumenical partnerships and activities. It is up to us to not be afraid of the real theological challenges that we may need to put to others or that are made to us as a result of working with other denominations. Our aim should always be towards the maturing of our faith into the full stature of Christ and I doubt that that can be achieved without learning to work together with our fellow sisters and brothers in Christ. Our denominations may provide the identity through which our own faith is fully expressed but it is through Christ that we have faith at all and it is through Christ that we should unite.