Praying for England: Starting a conversation
The following is a discussion started for a group looking at Sarah Coakley's introduction to Praying for England , 'Prayer, Presence and the Poor': I want to start by picking out one word, which occurs twice in the opening paragraph. The word is ‘re-imagining’. Some of us will know that ‘re-imagining ministry’ is one of the priorities the Church of England has set itself for the next five years. So it is something of a political word. In this chapter, the word is linked to something Rowan Williams said at his very first press conference immediately after he had been announced as the Archbishop-elect of Canterbury. Heady days! And something of an irony to be considering it as he prepares to step down from that role. But the title of the book, I think, encourages us to drop the prefix, and to imagine. There is a gentle sporting metaphor in ‘Praying for England’ and for two minutes now, I’d like to crudely take that gentle metaphor and play it f