Notes from Small Islands

Notes from Small Islands

Dear Friends,

I hope you found last week’s series inspired by the poetry of RS Thomas useful and interesting.  I think Ruth Whitehead, Susan Durber, and Michael Hopkins did well to draw such insights from a poet who was both brilliant and complex.  We turn now, for the next two weeks, to something a little different which I’ve called “Notes from Small Islands”.

Famously Great Britain sees itself as an island nation.  More accurately it is a collection of three nations almost entirely, surrounded by the sea.  The whole archipelago of the British-Irish isles comprises a number of islands with their own jurisdictions – the Crown Dependencies of the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey –  as well as islands which are part of other counties, or are counties in their own right.  We have churches on five of these smaller islands: the Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, the Isle of Wight, and Orkney.  

In recent years academics have started to consider various aspects of islands – their governance and ingenuity, the risks they face, and the perspectives they bring.  As a small denomination we might learn from how small islands have become effective in paradiplomacy, resourcefulness, and communitarian values.  As a denomination bringing together two different types of Reformed polity – Congregationalism (also found in the Churches of Christ) and Presbyterianism – we are used to thinking in terms of the differences and tensions  between integration and autonomy; issues islands increasingly face.   We proclaim the Gospel to a disinterested world, often with more success than realise; island tourist boards in these waters attempt to sell cold windy islands to tourists – again with surprising success.  Smaller churches, and jurisdictions, often have to be very entrepreneurial in order to survive, as do small island communities.  Islanders can experience prejudice as they seem different; in a secular age Christians too can arouse suspicion and hostility.  Living on an island often means one can feel remote from the centre of things; time and tide, waiting for no one, disrupt travel plans; the URC can feel remote from the centres of power too and learns to see things more clearly from the edge.  There’s a resilience in islanders who battle wind and wave to make a living and live a good life; many of our small churches have a similar resilience, still faithfully proclaiming the Gospel and witnessing to Christ despite the depopulation of the Church.  Islanders are more aware of the need to adapt to climate change, have fascinating histories, and have a keen sense of injustice.   There are similarities here, and lessons to be learned, for the Church in general and the URC in particular. 

I hope to explore these themes with you over the next couple of weeks pondering the connections we can make between them and our faith as Christians.  I hope you enjoy them and that you can make links whether you live on a wee island like Orkney or a large one like Great Britain!

With every good wish

Andy

The Rev’d Andy Braunston
Minister for Digital Worship