Mind you, the church has always been in a mess - particularly and especially when it thinks it’s doing okay.
You probably didn’t read the leading article in the Times on Christmas Day, headed The Times view on the Church of England: Damaged Church.
It carried a sense of urgency: “A new Archbishop of Canterbury must be found swiftly, for the church cannot afford to be leaderless for long.” And concludes, somewhat dismissively: “With Mr Cottrell as well as Mr Welby under a cloud, the church is in effect rudderless.”
You can see the implied slight in how both archbishops are addressed. No deference here.
However, to quote Julie Andrews, as yesterday Jacqui watched (yet again) The Sound of Music while I struggled to read An Instance of the Fingerpost: "Let's start at the very beginning."
It’s a very good place to start when reviewing church history. It’s 53/54 AD and the apostle Paul sits down to write an urgent letter to the church in Corinth. To say it is in a mess is an understatement, it’s bedlam.
Let’s go through the list. There are factions vying for control; there is incest as “a man is sleeping with his father’s wife” (1 Corinthians 5:1) apparently condoned by the church as well as the use of prostitutes, possibly cultic, Some members are taking other members to court; there is terrible rancour on whether to eat meat offered to idols.
The list continues: snobbery as rich members don’t bother to wait for poorer members for their eucharist meal, even getting drunk. There is chaotic worship and complete misuse of spiritual gifts. Paul even goes so far as to say that “your meetings do more harm than good.” (1 Corinthians 11:17)
You think it can’t get any worse but we find out in the climax of the anguish apostle’s epistle that there are some – we’re not told how many, but given the length of the chapter, there must have been a significant proportion – who do not believe in the resurrection victory of Jesus. “How can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead?” (1 Corinthians 15:12)
And yet, how does Paul begin this painful letter?
“To the church of God in Corinth, to those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be his holy people, together with all those everywhere who call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ—their Lord and ours.” (1 Corinthians 1:2).
I like the Message translation’s understanding of the word sanctified: “believers cleaned up by Jesus and set apart for a God-filled life.”
Of course, this experienced and world-weary apostle knew there was a mess but was confident that the Holy Spirit could sort it out, given time and access.
It’s worth knowing too, that this is the context of his wonderful chapter on love, so beloved by wedding couples, for “love never gives up.” (1 Corinthians 13:8).
And therein lies our hope, that God does not give up on his church.
It’s an old chestnut, I know, but I like the tale of the ascended Jesus being welcomed back into heaven by the angels. Overjoyed, they ask him: “You’ve defeated Satan! What’s next?”
Jesus answered, “I left a handful of people who really believe in me, and they are going to tell the world about me and make disciples.”
The angels were stunned. They simply stared at Jesus. The silence got to the point of being uncomfortable. Finally, one angel tentatively asked, “Lord, what is Plan B?”
Jesus answered, “There is No Plan B”.
As George Verwer, the founder of Operation Mobilisation, observed: ‘Where two or three of the Lord’s people are gathered together, sooner or later there will be a mess.”
There may be a mess but he continues: “We, however, have a great and sovereign God who specialises in working in the midst of a mess.” Or to put in another way: if God can work through me, he can work through anyone. After all, he is the God “who justifies the ungodly.” (Romans 4:5).
For the fundamental is this: this is God’s church – and we are talking here about the God who created 200 billion galaxies while searching for the solitary lost sheep.
However, going back to the Times leading article, it pulls no punches as it lists, like Paul writing to the Corinthian church, all our failures and troubles. But then it goes onto say: “But the Church of England matters more to this country than any other religious institution.”
For the truth is that wherever there are signs of hope in our anguished society, the local church is usually there: food banks, debt counselling, street pastors – as we have in our market town of Ormskirk, as salt and light.
What the media fails to understand is that the CofE, as for the Church as a whole, is bottom-up and not, as the Times would argue, top-down. This is where the Holy Spirit works and what works in one parish soon spreads.
This is how God works. It just takes a few believers to believe that God is prepared to work through them, even through us.
The question is for this New Year: “What is God calling you to do in your small corner?”
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