In response Paul Dominiak the Curate at St France's penned the following letter which was published in the Church Times in January's issue:
Fresh expressions for macho stereotypes?
From the Revd Paul Dominiak
Sir, — I commend the thrust of Dave Hopwood’s article that the Church needs to diversify its mission to men of all walks of life (Features, 15 January). I question, however, some of his generalisations. First, Mr Hopwood portrays Jesus as a tough guy who gave his followers jobs and nicknames and told them stories about “men and workers” and “violence, revenge, danger, and justice”. While partly true, that is only half the story.Mr Hopwood too briefly writes that Jesus “made himself vulnerable”. Jesus more deeply reveals what it means to be a man than Mr Hopwood allows: Jesus weeps, he shares tenderness, and he fears death. He reveals that to be a man means showing gentleness, care, and weakness, as much as verve, risk, and power.
Second, Mr Hopwood undermines the eucharist as “a ‘feast’ which only offers a morsel of bread”. The eucharist offers more than a “morsel” in the imaginations of the men I know: it offers us the plenitude of God.
Third, Mr Hopwood grudgingly lists the kinds of things he would want to see “if we must meet together on a Sunday morning”: namely, “language that was not churchy”; songs that refrain from describing “some kind of romance with God”; and short sermons that “draw on current films, television, sport, and technology”.
It seems as if the writer believes that most men can relate to worship only when it revolves around machismo. Yet worship transcends gender. Worship prepares us all for eternity and empowers us to go out in mission to love and serve the Lord. Being a man does not preclude seeing oneself as loved by, and in love with, God.
Finally, Mr Hopwood claims that “for many men, going to a Sunday morning meeting . . . is never going to hit the spot,” since the men he meets find church and worship in sport, eating together, the pub, and creation.
The Church is indeed wherever Christians are, but Mr Hopwood is wrong implicitly to dismiss communal worship as either for women or for men who don’t quite fit the macho bill. Jesus prayed alone, but he also went to synagogue. When we participate in communal worship, God draws us out of our identities — including maleness — and draws us into the wider Body of Christ, into fellowship with men and women from all walks of life.
We are the richer, and more Christ-like, for it.
PAUL DOMINIAK
I think we will see similar debate on the 13th of March and should be very interesting
