Lord Jesus Christ,

Light of the world,

walk with us day by day as you walked with

your disciples on the road to Emmaus.

Let your love fill our hearts

and the hearts of all

for whom we pray.

Make each of us a light

in the world for you.

Amen

I’m not religious.’

I wish I had a pound for every time that’s been said to me over the last forty years since I started wearing a dog-collar – quite often when I’ve been talking to parishioners about arrangements for baptisms, weddings and funerals.

I sometimes want to reply ‘Neither am I’ – but I’ve hesitated because it might give the wrong impression. But what they really mean may be something like: ‘I believe – or want to believe – that there’s something real about this God business, but I can’t be bothered with all the churchy things.’

I can identify with that feeling. After a lifetime of being a priest I can see why many people don’t want anything to do with some of the idiotic things that Church people and their leaders sometimes say and do.

You’d be surprised at how many people think that I, personally, don’t believe in evolution; that every word of the Bible is fact; that all non-Christians are damned; that God causes earthquakes and makes people get cancer to punish them; that homosexuality is sinful; and that no woman can be a priest or a bishop. I could go on with a very long list if what I’m supposed to think – but, actually, I don’t – and nor do the majority of Christians in this country.
I will always try to be honest about what I do believe, and I never want to do or say anything that might put people off in their search for meaning and purpose in their lives. Because the God I believe in wants only the best for every human being.

A United Reformed Church minister called Sheila Maxey wrote recently about meeting a man in an ancient Saxon chapel in Essex. She’d gone there to light the candles ready for evening prayers. A visitor was standing in the chapel gazing at the crucifix on the rough stone wall, clearly deeply moved. He was working nearby and said he wanted to bring his disabled wife down at the weekend to share his experience of this special place. Sheila Maxey writes: “I invited him to stay for prayers. ‘Oh no, I’m not religious.’ he said. I told him we’d light a candle for him, and he laughed and said no-one had ever done that before. Then - with many a longing, backward glance - he left.’
It’s part of the job of the Church - and all its people - to be open, honest and welcoming for everyone who is maybe ‘not religious’, but is still searching for God.