Whitsun Treat

Children paddling in Roath [Cardiff] during Whitsun Treat - c 1930s

Today on Whit Monday in years past children would have been off on their Whitsun treat. Intrigued to see how others spent their childhood treat I ?Googled? And was surprised to find just the one image (above) taken in Cardiff, South Wales, in the1930s. Asking my wife about her memories she told me that she used to go off to the seaside in a charabanc. How posh! I went on the back of a lorry to a hired field although, if I remember correctly, in later years a double-decker bus was used but the venue was always the same.

Such simple pleasures, paddling at the seaside or in a brook followed by a picnic tea, probably with a blob of ice cream from a big tub as a special treat. No paddling for us but healthy, organised sports and games. Thinking back the adults must have had a busy time rencana and organising Whitsun treats. The weather was always unpredictable with Whitsun being a movable feast so a marquee was provided. Responding to the calls of nature with men, women and children of both sexes present required at least four suitably enclosed pits that had to be dug ? And sorted out afterwards. Also as part of the setting up, the games had to be planned and the sporting events organised requiring the course to be marked out and starters, judges, marshals, etc, assembled. Last but not least the food had to be provided with mothers volunteering to make cakes and prepare sandwiches. Drinks were provided along with a packet of Smith?S potato crisps, with salt in a twist of blue paper ? Add your own or leave it, what a good idea!

Today it is different. Children are in school - unless of course it?S another day off for teacher training which for some reason can?T take place during their long summer holidays. Few will be aware of Whitsun or the feast of Pentecost let alone the descent of the Holy Spirit unless it is mentioned in passing during inter-faith studies. But not everything is lost. They will still have their day off for the Spring Bank Holiday at the end of May when, as one site puts it ?For many people the spring bank holiday is a pleasant day off work or school. Some people choose to take a short trip or vacation. Others use the time to walk in the country, catch up with family and friends, visit garden centres or do home maintenance.?

What could be better than that, sat in the traffic in a hot car or sat on a square of concrete eating a greasy barbecued meal without having to bother with anyone and no community spirit?

Veni, creator Spiritus!

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Pentecost - residents of Wales

Source: FiF

From Acts 2: "When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place... Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting... When they heard this sound, a crowd came together in bewilderment, because each one heard their own language being spoken. Utterly amazed, they asked: “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? Then how is it that each of us hears them in our native language? ... Parthians, Medes and Elamites; residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts to Judaism); Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues!” Amazed and perplexed, they asked one another, 'What does this mean?' "...

"They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common."

No longer for residents of Wales who worship in the Church in Wales.

To their shame the bishops of the Church in Wales claim to be successors of the Apostles but they do not behave like the Apostles to ensure that we all have equal opportunity to flourish within the Anglican Communion.

Forward in Faith has produced a card (reproduced above) with the Church of England's 'Five Guiding Principles following the House of Bishops' Declaration on the Ministry of Bishops and Priests'. The Church of England acknowledges that "its own clear decision on ministry and gender" is set within a broader process of discernment within the Anglican Communion and the whole Church of God.

Those unable to receive the ministry of women as bishops or priests are within the spectrum of Anglican teaching and tradition and will be enabled to flourish. So, pastoral and sacramental provision for the minority within the Church of England has been made without specifying a limit of time and in a way that maintains the highest possible degree of communion and contributes to mutual flourishing across the whole Church of England.

Adopting only four of the guiding principles, and contrary to the wishes of Church members expressed at diocesan meetings held specifically for the purpose of discerning their views, the unprincipled bishops of the Church in Wales dropped the fifth principle and inserted:

Since the Code of Practice needs to be both strong and flexible enough to respond to a changing situation in the future, and since the Governing Body has entrusted the Bench of Bishops with the task of agreeing a Code which commits the Bench to making provisions for all the members of the Church in Wales, the Bench reserves the right to amend the provisions of this Code as may be necessary in the future.

The Code of Practice made no meaningful concessions to those for whom the Code was intended. In fact, the inference to be drawn from the revised wording by the Bench is that church life for those unable to receive the ministry of  women bishops or priests on grounds of theological conviction can only get worse. Perhaps it is just too difficult for bishops devoid of conscience to comprehend the beliefs of those who do.

So for residents of Wales whose bishops speak in alien tongues, having "everything in commondanquot; is as far away in the Church in Wales as the Apostolic Succession.

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Come Holy Ghost, our souls inspire

The feast of Pentecost brings to a close Novena 2012 when we have been praying for unity and generosity of spirit so that our church may be truly inclusive. Pentecost is the feast people of my generation associate with the Whitsun treat. What better treat could there be than for the Holy Spirit to inspire Christ's disciples to live together in peace and Godly love, each allowing the other to worship according to custom and conscience.

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