Brunel James, the final Rector of Barwick-in-Elmet with Scholes?
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Brunel James, the final Rector of Barwick-in-Elmet with Scholes?
From the Barwicker No.92
December 2008
Brunel James, Rector of Barwick-in-Elmet with Scholes
(2002 - 2008)
In June, the Rector Brunel James was appointed as Domestic Chaplain to Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York. Brunel is now helping the Archbishop to discharge his responsibilities in relation to the family of 602 churches and 127 schools in 469 parishes in the York Diocese. Brunel well deserves his promotion and in wishing him and his devoted wife Beki and family every success for the future, this article will reflect on changes in our parish.
Christianity has been a rock in our society and Barwick is an ancient Christian foundation. The Faith came into our region from Gaul probably in 627.
‘
We see the light of the word shined here, but see not who kindled it. ’
(Note 1)"
The existing two Saxon crosses in Barwick church belong to the period between the Danish wars and the Norman Conquest and the church was probably destroyed in 1069 when the county was laid waste after the Saxon rebellion.
The oldest part of the church belongs to the first half of the 12th century. The chancel arch was re-built in the late 13th century and in the 14th century arcades which replaced the aisles, took the place of the north and south walls. The large blocks of masonry at the end of each arcade are the remains of Norman walls. The church has been added to, extended and re-ordered many times over the centuries, as it responded to changing conditions.
Christianity has found expression not only in spiritual development but also in education, medicine and a code of manners and behaviour which has permeated and led our developing civilisation. It has had a massive influence on us all.
In medieval times generations of local villagers used what little wealth they had to build their churches and cathedrals with their towers and spires pointing to God in his heaven. Astonishing financial sacrifices were made to create the buildings that we now take for granted The truth is that for a variety of very complex reasons, many people have turned away from Christian worship in this country. The church has responded by closing churches, using team ministries, non-stipendiary clerics, lay readers, grouping parishes in clusters, and re-using church buildings in different ways to incorporate cafes, libraries and civic functions.
The church was the high tech. organisation of its time. Stone buildings impressed people who lived in wooden huts as did coloured glass pictures for those who had never seen illustrations. Books, and the mystique of Latin and the accompanying confusion of smells, bells, and vestments bewildered illiterate peasants. The eventual appearance of church clocks was to remind people of their mortality and their subsequent reward and comfort of an eternity in heaven after a life of unremitting toil and pain.
Brunel was the 54th rector of the parish since 1190 and well aware of historical precedent going back over eight hundred years. At the end of his induction service at All Saints’ on 15th July 2002, he released a dove to symbolise his mission. Apart from coping with the religious and spiritual needs of parishioners the on-going task is always to attract and appeal to younger worshippers. The church has an ageing population and urgently needs a new generation of Christians.
Brunel and Beki working with the support of the PCC and some devoted members of the laity have encouraged and provided for the needs of younger children and their parents. New services have been introduced and St Philip’s has been re-ordered and modernised to provide a more flexible and comfortable place of worship. An ambitious scheme to re-order All Saint’s is in the final planning stages.
Brunel focused on bringing families into church and engaging in shared ministry. He admires John Sentamu who he describes as being a ‘breath of fresh air into the Church of England’.
In our own times church attendance and influence has declined dramatically. We are witnessing an astonishing phenomenon as churches going back to the Conquest are now struggling to exist.
At Hook Moor a roadside notice reads, ‘Aberford Church, use it or lose it’. Many local churches are desperate to survive; some have less than a score of active worshippers. One Anglo- Saxon church in the area has six worshippers and often five or more churches combine their resources in order to exist as at Sherburn and Saxton.
The truth is that for a variety of very complex reasons, many people have turned away from Christian worship in this country. The church has responded by closing churches, using team ministries, non-stipendiary clerics, lay readers, grouping parishes in clusters, and re-using church buildings in different ways to incorporate cafes, libraries and civic functions.
The church has always had a genius for survival. It is remarkably adept at adapting, assimilating, incorporating and renewing itself by facing contemporary issues. In the past for example, identifiable aspects of paganism were absorbed into the great Christian festivals of Christmas and Easter. The church always had an uneasy relationship with spring fertility symbols, but in this area the pagan Saxon rite of worshipping elm trees happily turned into some enjoyable ritual of dancing round the maypole.
All Saints’ church has a notice board listing all the 53 rectors chronologically since 1190. When Brunel was appointed, a second board had to be mounted to record his name as the 54th rector of the parish. His successor though will be a Priest in Charge on a fixed contract with responsibility for Barwick, Scholes and additionally Thorner where he/she will probably live, but the two parishes will remain separate as they are now. Thus Brunel will probably go down in history as the last Rector of Barwick-in-Elmet with Scholes.
In the future perhaps a different cluster of churches in the diocese will be formed in order to maximise resources. Living with and through change is never easy, but the church will change. It always has and it always will. There has never been a time in the anguished history of Christianity in this country when society thought that the church did not need to alter.
In the past in Barwick, workers in the fields paused in their labours to listen to the tolling of the church bell, using a known code to de-cipher the births and deaths of local people. That art has been lost as we all continue to lose and gain the many gifts that man’s genius is able to offer, always accompanied by a continuous re-definition of our spiritual needs.
Note 1. ‘Church History.’ Fuller Pg. 5
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