It has been many, many months, since I have taken time to write. Partially this is to do with the unrelenting business of incumbency. It is also partly due to the fact that I, an early 30’s year 1 male incumbent from a white privelidge background, in a middle class diocese of a middle class denomination, doesn’t really have much to say that is blog-worthy so to speak.
I write now, having passed the milestone of it being five years since the death of the Rev Dr Mike Ovey, my college principal, mentor, friend and brother. Therefore I have been watching some videos of him speaking or being interviewed. In one interview (here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDYseLJ4_xs&t=278s), he discusses religious freedom and civil disobedience in light of the Barmen declaration of 1934. Not knowing what that was, I looked it up (info of which can be found here: https://www.ucc.org/beliefs_barmen-declaration/#:~:text=The%20Barmen%20Declaration%2C%201934%2C%20was%20a%20call%20to,Principle%E2%80%9D%20as%20the%20organizing%20principle%20of%20church%20government.)
The Barmen Declaration was an attempt by the German Evangelical Church to distance itself from the way in which the State was imposing itself upon the church, in a way to compile with Nazism’s evil views. Not all churches resisted. This document, I think, becomes hugely relevant today in two distinct ways in Western Evangelicalism: Trump, and COVID.
Now, I want to make some things quite clear before I proceed: I am NOT saying that government restrictions due to COVID are anywhere near equivalent to Nazi totalitarianism. I am also NOT, repeat, NOT saying that anyone who voted Trump is a Nazi. That is to conflate the issue. What I AM saying, is that these two issues are pertinent as we navigate the relationship between church, and state.
Now, the church/state dichotomy could distract us for years. In the UK, the context of which I minister in, the Anglican church (the Church of England), is a state church. The Anglican Church in Wales and the Church of Scotland, whilst both part of the Anglican communion, are not state churches. And within the UK there are numerous denominational and non denominational churches that are not state churches. In the US, the Episcopal Church does not seem to be a state church either. This variance means that relating to the state will differ. Perhaps therefore, for the sake of ease, we may speak instead of the dichotomy all Christians are called to model: being in the world, and not of it.
The Barmen declaration calls for distinctiveness, and not aligning oneself with a political, worldly movement, that clearly contravenes the gospel of Christ. Therefore, I believe it has much to bear on the frankly alarming way many US evangelicals align themselves with Donald Trump, even post the Capitol riots of this time last year.
In terms of COVID, there are those who will apply the Barmen Declaration and say that all restrictions on churches should be ignored. I do not believe that at all. However, it is more a question of this: when we are asked to act, let us remember gospel reasons for doing so. The state is not always our friend. Indeed, perhaps the Barmen Declaration’s relevance now is to do with how we respond to the hypocrisy of our elected leaders?
Random Ruminations of a Rev 
I’ve been meaning to write about this myself for a while – so perhaps I will. My short version will be – I think we need a generation of church leaders and churches in the evangelical constituency that are mature enough to ‘repent’. That is, to be able to process how they responded to the lockdowns, fear within itself, intransigence etc, and learn the lessons.
In too many cases it appears as if the church has been in a rush to just resume services just like they did before. I think this is foolish.