SHARE MY CHALICE
always read Monica Furlong's articles on the Church with interest, often with amusement, and not infrequently with disagreement, But when she said in the correspondence column last week: 'Outside the comparatively rarefied atmosphere of Caius and one or two other places there seems little sign of this [fellowship] except On a formal official level,' I really wondered what kind of world she was living in.
Has she never heard of 'Clergy and Ministers' Fraternals'? Dces she not know of the local Christian Councils, which exist in practically every city and bigger town in England? Both have as their first purpose the developing of the sense of fellowship, of which apparently she is ignorant. It is because of this fellowship in Christ that many of us want to go further.
Lest I be accused of mere words, may I illustrate .what this has meant in the town of which till last August I had the honour of being Vicar. In the Fraternal nearly all the clergy and ministers met, not only for social intercourse, but to discuss in the friendliest way matters on which we differed and matters on which we agreed, as well as to do Bible study together. Under the auspices of the local Christian Council, among other activities corporately sponsored were such things as: (a) united mid-week Lent Services, in which we did the round of one another's churches, and had as our leaders eminent divines, both Anglican and Noncon- formist; (b) interchange of, not pulpits but congre- gations; (c) on Maundy Thursday on several occasions with the permission of our Diocesan one or another of the Nonconformist congregations with their ministers were invited to the Parish Church to join with us in the Holy Communion: on one occasion with the Methodists we had a service of con-celebration; and in addition to these internal activities, various others were directed towards the wider life of the town, e.g. 'leavers' services.
With every sympathy with those who sincerely hold more rigid views I would submit that, in the light of the above, fellowship is both possible and highly desirable, and that what we need today is to regain a sense of proportion.
Bucks
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