Trinity 5: 26/10/08

Preacher: Stanley Price

Church: Axbridge

Introduction

If you know the church where Tim has gone this morning – St Peter at Draycott - you will know that the people there are joyful, friendly and full of the Holy Spirit (much like the people here). However, the building at Draycott is frankly a disgrace! It badly needs a coat of paint. The seats are plastic, old and extremely uncomfortable. There are damp patches everywhere.

Imagine the excitement among the people when they found there was a valuable article in the church, which if sold, could enable the building to be brought into the 21^st Century and become a fitting place to be called a House of God.

I refer of course to the Font!

You may remember the publicity surrounding the sale of the font about 12 months ago? The Chancellor of the Diocese gave his Judgement in favour of sale. This was in spite of opposition from the DAC, the CCC, Cardiff Castle and the Victorian Society, plus two people in Draycott, The sale proceeds would allow the PCC to put God’s house in proper order.

However, the Vic Soc has appealed to the Court of Arches for the Judgement to be overturned. The hearing of the appeal will be in early December in the Church of St Mary le Bow, London.

The Font has an interesting history as does the parish and the church itself. So let’s go back in time to the middle of the 19^th Century.

In 1851 a national Census of Religious Worship was taken on Sunday 30 March. It was Mothering Sunday

All denominations were asked to complete the census. The N-C ministers were asked to give the measurements of their buildings and the number of sittings. Anglican vicars were asked to supply details of income from all sources in addition to the numbers of seatings.

St Andrew’s Cheddar

John Lawrence, Enumerator, of Cheddar:

‘The church is situated at the end of the village 2 miles from the Hamlet of Draycott, a population of 200, which is very inconvenient to the inhabitants. However since we have had superstitious and Tractarian practices carried on in the church it is not of so much consequence and people are regardless of attending, and the congregation is much fallen off, a circumstance much to be lamented.’

(Richard A’ court Beadon was not the only Anglican priest opposed to the Census. The Non-conformist ministers were much keener to co-operate!)

You may wonder why the enumerator started the Cheddar survey with reference to Draycott. Draycott was a hamlet of some 200 souls but it had a thriving Bible Christian Church. This church was jam-packed on that Mothering Sunday as were all the N-C churches records I looked at. It may be that this is what caused John Lawrence some annoyance. The hamlet of Draycott was paying 90% of its tithes to Cheddar. The remaining 10% was due to Rodney Stoke in which parish Draycott was situated.

Stung to Action

The negative report on Cheddar probably caused Mr Beadon some embarrassment and possibly anger. He was probably stung to action and he determined to build a church in Draycott.

However, it was not until 1859 that he could begin. This date was significant because there was a change of Rector in RS, who was more co-operative. Mr Beadon purchased 6 plots of land in Draycott for £210 (he was obviously a wealthy man). 3 plots he gave to the Rector of RS on which to build a church. The other 3 he gave to the Church Commissioners for a parsonage house, school and glebe land.

The new church

Work on the church started in 1860 and it was consecrated on 1^st August 1861 by the Bishop of Bath and Wells amidst much rejoicing. Of course there was a font. Interestingly the donor is not listed amongst the great and the good who attended.

The first ‘Perpetual Curate’ was a Mr Capparn. He worked very hard to establish and eventually build a school house and 2 years later his parsonage. There is much correspondence from him preserved in the records at Lambeth Palace. Much of is amusing as he tried to satisfy the National Society’s insistence on the Anglican curriculum and local mainly N-C patrons and get financial support from both!

Fast – forward to 2006

Thea Oliver, churchwarden received a phone call from a man whom she had known earlier when they were at school together. He wanted to know what the font in St Peter’s was like and gave a description. Thea said she didn’t know but would go and look, which she did. When she told the enquirer ‘Yes, it looks like the one you described’ he became very animated,

To cut a long story short the man, who must remain anonymous, owned the diaries, note books and sketch books and some furniture of esteemed Victorian Architect William Burges. In these documents there were references to ‘Yatman’s Font’. Yatman, gentleman priest, built Winscombe Hall and engaged Burgess to design some of the interior. Yatman also commissioned some work on St James Church.

However, the font was not in St James’ church and there was no reference to it in any of the brief Annuaries kept by Yatman. Perhaps the damage repairs in evidence on the font meant that Mr Yatman didn’t want it in his church. An expert has said that the same person who carved the font also affected the repairs. The collector made enquiries to local churches culminating in his call the Thea Oliver.

The collector, for that is what he is, subsequently offered to purchase the font from the PCC for a considerable sum plus another healthy sum to make a copy of it for the church. Obviously the PCC saw this as an answer to prayer and were keen to accept it.

So began the long quest to get approval from the powers that be. Universal thumbs dawn! In spite of formidable opposition the PCC decided to Petition the Chancellor for a faculty to sell the Font. The Chancellor, in a Judgement truly of Solomon, decided in favour of the PCC. The clever judgement is in 2 parts: firstly the font must be offered for sale to a museum - to enable the font to remain in public ownership. But if after 6 months no acceptable offer is forthcoming, the font may be offered for sale at public auction – at a reserve price the Chancellor would set.

As I said at the beginning, the subsequent appeal by the Victorian Society against the Chancellor’s judgement is shortly to come to court.

The PCC are not unnaturally fed up with the Vic Soc. They have tried time and again to get the Vic Soc to make a grant towards the urgent repairs and redecoration, estimated to cost in the region of £170K. NO, has been the response, “We have no funds from which to make donations to churches”. No, but they have the cash to engage very expensive legal representation. It seems unfair that the Vic Soc has such power to influence events without having to be accountable for their negativity.

Their argument is that this one article of considerable artistic merit is so important that it must remain in the church. On TV, Mr Garrard, the ‘Churches Advisor’ for the Vic Soc insisted: “If you own a house and the roof needs to be repaired you do not sell a Victorian Fireplace for the finance, you find it from somewhere else”. What an unreal suggestion. What is more important, the building containing the treasure or the item itself? It seems that Mr Garrard doesn’t care that St Peter’s church may eventually have to close for lack of funds to repair. If it were to close with the Burges font still in it and the church is sold, the rules state that any ‘font shall be broken up and buried in the ground’. There is nothing in Canon Law which says that a font shall be designed by a particular artist. The font itself can be of any material. The importance of the font is that it contains Holy water with which a child is sprinkled while the priest proclaims: ‘I baptise you in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.’

Biblical Considerations

450 years before Christ Haggai the prophet gave a word from the Lord to the Israelites recently returned to Jerusalem from Exile in Babylon. ‘Why are you living in panelled homes’, says the Lord, ‘while my house lies in ruins? Don’t you realise why you are struggling to find enough to eat? Why are your vines not producing much wine? Why do your cattle miscarry? It is because you are neglecting your duty to keep my house in order.’

The Israelites took the hint and Ezra and Nehemiah organised the people into working parties to rebuild Solomon’s Temple.

Jesus taught in several parables that good stewardship is expected of everyone by God. There were Parables of the Talents, the pounds and several of vineyards. In every case an absentee king or landlord returned home and demanded an account of his servants’ stewardship. Those who had done well were richly rewarded: those who had been lazy, neglectful or discontented were punished severely. Jesus also told the parable of the dishonest steward, who was strangely commended for his dodgy dealings.

Good stewardship of material things in the parables was of utmost importance. They were parables and so have many deeper spiritual meanings than just that on the surface. Nevertheless stewardship of material things matters to God. Right from the beginning of God’s relationship with man, God put Adam in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it.

PCCs have a duty to care for the church buildings with which they are blessed. The PCC members are Managing Trustees on behalf of the Diocese, in whom Trusts are vested. We have to maintain them to the best of our ability, raising money and seeking grants when necessary and keeping them in good repair.

I would think that if Haggai the prophet was alive today he would have a sharp message for the people of St Peter, Draycott: ‘Why are you living in beautifully decorated and furnished homes while my house is shabby, dingy, unattractive, in need of better lighting and especially in need of better seating than those horrid plastic seats!’

He would also ask: ‘Do you wonder why your mission to the community is not succeeding?’

Jesus warned his followers against putting too much trust in money or material wealth: We are to worship God not money.

The PCC see the appearance of a purchaser for the Font as an answer to prayer. The Chancellor’s favourable judgment last November reinforced that answer; we are convinced God wants us to be able to sell the Font. In about a month’s time we anticipate the fulfilment of the answer to our prayer. Amen.