Preach Magazine Issue 3 - Preaching and the Holy Spirit | Page 7

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KATE BOTTLEY

Name that tune
If I say this, take it as it is meant, but I love a
funeral. I also love christenings and weddings. The
‘occasional offices’ as they are known in the good old
C of E are anything but occasional in my context.

I

look after three rural churches
which, despite what some reports
and papers would suggest about
the rest of the nation, are still very
much in the heart of Christendom.
Most of the funerals from the village
come into the church (even if, as
their nearest and dearest put it ‘’e
weren’t right religious’). Most people
have their children christened and
most people want to get married in
church. I also have every now and
again someone who has just given
birth asking to be ‘churched’ and
so I do a service of thanksgiving
for them.
Ministering and preaching in a
small enclave of Christendom is a
gift. One I am very thankful for. It
is a gift because I have a captive
audience, with a shared purpose,
asking me to tell them about Jesus;
what more could any preacher
want? It’s certainly not always the
case on a Sunday morning that folk
are so eager to listen!
A wise vicar once advised me
regarding preaching at a wedding
not to ‘do the best man’s speech for
him’ and so it’s important to keep it
light but not too light. I think what
he meant as well was not to be too
‘bawdy’; no one wants the vicar
talking about the bride’s underwear
(yes, I heard it preached once).

LWPT8693 Preach Magazine - Issue 3 v3 REPRO.indd 7

IT SEEMS TO ME THAT OFTEN
IT’S NOT THE WORDS I PREACH
AT THESE ‘BIG’ OCCASIONS
BUT RATHER THE WAY IN
WHICH IT’S PREACHED. THE
MESSAGE OF GOD’S LOVE AND
FORGIVENESS STAYS THE SAME
WHETHER IT’S A HATCH, A
MATCH OR A DISPATCH BUT
THE TUNE ITSELF CHANGES
EVER SO SLIGHTLY.

At a christening, which is often part
of the Sunday morning service, the
focus for the family is the child. Often
they don’t know why they are there
but there is a sense of wanting to do
the ‘right thing’ and to say thanks for
the ‘everyday miracle’ that is having
a child.
Funerals have an element of
thanksgiving too but often the service
is much more of a blur for the family,
a funeral of course being the ultimate
panic purchase.
Each of the three requires a slightly
different approach and it’s best not
to get them mixed up. But there are
common elements: all three services
have love and thankfulness running

through them and a sense of
people wanting something to be
‘proper’ and ‘special’. I can agonise
for hours about what God might
want me to say at these three
key moments but I wonder if I’m
worrying unnecessarily. It seems
to me that often it’s not the words
I preach at these ‘big’ occasions
but rather the way in which it’s
preached. The message of God’s
love and forgiveness stays the
same whether it’s a hatch, a match
or a dispatch but the tune itself
changes ever so slightly. And while
a family might not remember
the exact words as I helped them
say goodbye to their dad or as I
welcomed their child, they will
remember the way in which I said
it: my body language, my smile, the
intonation in my voice. If most of
the way we communicate is nonverbal, why would preaching be
any different? Perhaps the tune is
as important as the lyrics?

Kate Bottley
Kate Bottley is an Anglican priest, wife and
mother, who stars in Channel 4’s Gogglebox. She
gained a national profile when a YouTube video of
her leading a flash mob at the end of a wedding
ceremony went viral in 2013, and has since done
a wonderful job of dismantling stereotypes about
Church of England clergy.

17/04/2015 15:42:47