Uprooted, all at sea, isolated on streets where the traffic is all on the wrong side of the road. This is how an Englishman (not to mention Crocodile Dundee in New York) may feel if he finds himself marooned somewhere in Europe where he doesn’t belong. Before long he may have settled into another country but he still thinks like an Englishman, reads an English newspaper and makes no real effort to make himself at home. Unwilling to learn another language, he is – characteristically – English and tongue-tied.
He has come to live with a major problem facing the English: language. He may find it easier to drive a Renault or a Citroen than to converse with a filling-station attendant on the other side of the Channel. (It is known there as la Manche. To the Romans our waters were known as Oceanus Britannicus and later others called them the German Ocean.) We have a proprietary interest in the strait, just as we have in the North Sea. This is rather cheeky on our part. We don’t own the North Sea. It could be said there was a German Ocean before there was a Germany. Place-names can cause unease. See place-naming in New Zealand and Zimbabwe.
And language is one of the insulating factors that effectively keeps nations and tribes apart. We have successfully exported English to the rest of the world and we rather expect them to appreciate it. We demonstrate this by our embarrassment, awkwardness and hesitancy, not to mention raising the voice as if speaking to the hard of hearing.
What is true of language is also true of English Christianity in general. Anglicanism is essentially English. The Anglican package may be good for English people but that is no argument for expecting other people to become English to benefit from it. However, something can be done about this that would benefit English Christians and others. And here it is.
On one Sunday in the year the vicar conducts the Sunday service in French, Spanish, German, Mandarin or *Swahili. This can be guaranteed to have an immediate effect. It will be good for the soul. We may find it disturbing, frustrating. We may feel it is not getting anywhere. Good. That is a taste of what we expect of our non-English-speaking global neighbours. Even with bi-lingual orders of service available, we may feel, shall we say, constrained. After all, it is similar to the experience of a toddler present at an adult service. Comprehension is not the only criterion.
*Estimates of the number of people worldwide speaking Swahili vary – from 50 million to 100 million. A lingua franca in numerous countries in East Africa, Swahili is a national language in some.
WYCLIFFE BIBLE TRANSLATORS
Founded in 1953, WBT aims to make the Bible available in the common speech of the world population. So far it has made the New Testament available in 1,500 languages and the complete bible in 700 languages. The work goes on.
GARDEN WORSHIP
This coming Sunday afternoon Richmond, Surrey residents in Holy Trinity parish will be assembling for ‘Worship in the Garden’. Blankets on the grass will be available and those attending are being invited to bring, if they wish, camping chairs.
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