Movement 123

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I , m avicat, get me out of here! iulian lewis interviews an unlikely TV star Meek? Mild? As if. Peter's vision of Christ as Che. Looking like an extra from a spaghetti western, the mysterious, hatted figure strides across the countryside, flowing coat billowing around his tall, sparse frame. He's on his way to a showdown. ln a rlcent BBC series, The Battle for Britain's Soul, he recounted the history of Christianity in the British lsles. ln case you missed it, it went roughly like this. Series one: paganism trumped, the church ascendant. Series two: the church trumped, secularism ascendant. This is Peter Owen-Jones, sometime farmer, DJ, global traveller, ad man. All the time grappling with an incipient calling to ministry. This is the Revd Peter OwenJones. As l'm welcomed into his rural vicarage I note that it's only the battered Akubra bush hat thlt gives him an inch on me: it must have been the clever camera angles. He paces restlessly around rustling up tea and sorting a space for the interview. There's a demo playing of a local band that Peter was asked to check out in case they're worth signing. Apparently they're a cross between The Thrills and Barclay James Harvest. I wouldn't know. But I do know l've just been cooled out by a vicar 15 years my senior. His cigarette rolled, the interview begins. all the church does is enforce its own version of the truth. but nowadays it isn't doing it very well Where does this wandering chameleon belong? 'l am a child of the world. The idea that we are something because we have our own piece of land is ridiculous and dehumanising. lt enables areas to be managed and governed and is a concept.we need to look beyond.' Het set his stall out early, for refusal to be impressed by traditional boundaries is his theme. Restlessness set in early for Peter. He dropped out of school. Didn't complete art college. While he was working as a shepherd, a friend suggested he go into advertising, opining that in the future we would buy and sell identities like any other product. A prescient friend, then. So in 1981 Peter swapped bucolic idyll for image management in the metropolis: a wrench both shocking and exciting. The beauty of creation, he suggests, is precisely that we are not stranded on solid giound but that it is in a constant state of flux, physically, spiritually and emotionally. ln time Peter rose to become a creative director, on the way working on products ranging from Swissair to the Creen Party, including the campaign culminating in the latter's unprecedented turnout at the 1989 European elections. What did he learn? 'lt is a job that pays the way. lt teaches discipline, strategic and creative thinking. To realise that there are many influences on success/ what the whole picture is and where what you have to say sits in that picture.' Ordination in 1993 didn't sever his ties with the advertising world, as he helped found the Christian Advertising Network, responsible for the Jesus/Che Cuevara poster (see left). What then of the church's image and message in the modern world? 'The church is suspicious of media culture. lt hasn't been bold enough to take a stand, but moans from the sidelines. Yet communication is central to Christianity,' says Peter. 'Historically the church has perceived itself as owning the truth and has shown its hand in its battles with evolutionary science, homosexuality and women. All the church does is, like everyone else, enforce its own version of the truth. But nowadays it isn't doing it very well. 'Does the identity of the church really communicate its purpose: love? What people say they see isbigotry,'addiction to systems and tradition, a lot of ugliness. Why? We attempt to control the present, ou, sslf-psrception, by controlling the story "id of the past. A media audit of the church would be shocking - more denominations than you can 10 movement
shake a schism at and multiple messages that are not merely mixed but often antithetical.' And the medicine for the ailing body of Christ? Relaxation. Balance. There are many ways to show God's love or speak to the modern setting, such as through the Arbory Trust, providing woodland burial in the Christian tradition (all comers are welcome), which Peter helped establish. Yet the church still clings to archaic liturgy, the King James Bible and credal ossifications. Peter denounces archaisms but is unafraid to use English to its demanding full. Hands up how many of you know what 'ossification' means? Hands up again if you have actually used it in the last five years? Be truthful. Peter re-creates a dozen psalms in his latest book, Psalm, in an attempt to reclaim our words as a medium for God's word and hear what it sounds like. 'The Jewish hymn book is full of alien imagery that creates a wall barring our access to the garden of delights within. I wanted to tear that wall down, to see if the ardour with which they were written, the truths of their messages, can be reproduced today. lf anything they become more intensely ordinary, shocking and resonant, challenging the evangelical notion of The Word. It is fluid, not preserved in 1662lor all time.' Peter is leaning over now half clutching his knee, like a little child rushing to explain a new discovery. Earnest. He continues, 'What is the Word of God? ls it constrained in the Bible, in some Star Wars Yoda speak?' Certainly not, it is. The words we need to articulate our own experience are perfectly ordinary - look, ask, explore, search. 'But we do not let people use them. We want them to explore the church, or my church in particular. But will they find the pathway to the divine? ln exploring the relationship between the human and divine we see that to be fully human is to immerse yourself in that which is fully divine. Rather than reinforcing old doctrines, like atonement, we reach new understandings.' lf the historically grounded tools of his trade have become so inadequate, I wonder what Peter's services look like? He retreats behind his bandana. Lights another cigarette. Apparently, prayer is the central focus, a slavish adherence to one hour is avoided, discussion and exploration are entertained. l've noted an affinity for the organic in Peter's life. Muddy spades propped up by the back door. A vegetable patch, scrappy in winter but clearly well in hand. And the.constant roll-ups. Finally, he asks me why we should lose sleep over what we do. l'm a Methodist so I push him on sermons. 'l give them.' I ask how a vicar can play so fast and loose with the faith that he has chosen to represent. Peter suggests there is a great tension between belonging and freedom, both of which have value. ln 100 years'time the church will look exactly the same as it does now unless we grasp why de-Christianisation has taken place. There is a need for a balance of approaches within the church, and sometimes quickfire guestions What is your favourite possession? My bird table. lt gives me endless fascination and pleasure, although it probably frustrates my cat. What are you reading at the moment? Collapse by Jared Diamond. What is your favourite film? B reakfast at Tiffany's. How do you relax? Walking. What is your favourite journey? Not made it yet. What do you most like about yourself? My fingernails. What do you dislike about yourself? A propensity for vanity. What's your favourite word? Halcyon. lf you could be someone else, who would you be? My cat, Dusty. When did you last cry? On Sunday. What are you scared of? The darkest truths. What do you never miss on TV? I don't watch a lot of TV. There's nothing I would have to see. What music do you listen to most? The Doors. Cillian Welch. Deep Purple. The Waterboys. Stone Roses. What pet hates do you have? Dress codes. Processed foods. books and links . Bed of Nails (1 998) . Small Boat, Big Sea: OneYear's Journey as a Parish Priesf (2000) . Psalm (2005) . www.arborytrust.org things move on. Using spring suspension in cars was once foolishly novel, yet no one questions its validity or persists with old methods now. So what next for Peter? l'm afraid I forgot to ask the question. ln 20 minutes' time there's a funeral to be taken, but otherwise l'm in the dark. That's probably how he would like it. ltt not where you end up, because the destination is forever ahead. lt's how you don't get there that counts. For the immediate future at least I know where l'm going. As I wait for my bus I ponder a man who hates dress codes and systems, and a vicar in robes leading funeral liturgy. I Julian Lewis is a former editor o/ movement and of the Methodist Student Link newsletter The Word. movement LL
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Movement 123

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