As difficulties over gay issues and women bishops continue to bombard the Church of England, a former North Herefordshire vicar has launched a radical new book with the aim of re-claiming some of his faith’s “long lost magic”.
Former Leominster team ministry leader Rev Mark Townsend believes his third book can reach more people through his gift for magic and his writing.
In a week during which the Lambeth Conference has sought to resolve conflicts over homosexuality, a prominent church leader has claimed that telling Mr Townsend’s stories in place of church sermons could prompt a “tide of renewal” through the old institutions.
Certain to be a controversial book, The Magician’s Tale revolves around a man with a love-hate relationship with the Church, a magician-priest who tries to retrieve “some of the long lost magic of a Jesus we could actually like – a human being who comes with a message of good news, unconditional love and hope for those who’ve been crushed by institutional religion,” said Mr Townsend.
“It is a timely publication, what with the huge problems within the C of E over gay issues, women bishops and other moral concerns,” he explained. “The Jesus I try to present loves people for who they are and does not require them to change their sexuality if they are gay, surrender to the supreme authority of men if they are women, or live in eternal shame if they’ve suffered from divorce or some other wound traditionally viewed as ‘sin’.”
Mr Townsend, who was team leader at Leominster for eight years before his shock resignation two years ago, is concerned about the current furore within the church.
“We hear so much negativity surrounding the church on gay issues and women bishops, but everyone is special,” he said. “I am trying to get away from that negativity and present the case for a universal picture which we don’t hear about enough. All we hear is what the church is against.”
The book – likely to be launched at Waterstones in Hereford – aims to show a Jesus who shows how to “awaken people to their inner god-like-ness”.
Mr Townsend, who often incorporated magic tricks into his ministry, is a member of the Magic Circle.
He holds magic evenings at the Chequers’ Inn at Leominster and Saxty’s wine bar in Hereford on Thursdays.
He said: “I don’t regret the course of action that led to my resignation. It was the honest thing to do. It’s been the toughest year in my life – having to survive on less than a third of what I’d been used to. But now I’m free to explore areas I never would have been able to before, and I’ve discovered that real magic does exist, that nature pulses with spiritual-energy and that it truly is through life’s darkest times that one can discover the purest gold.”
Rt Rev Alistair Bate of the Independent Liberal Catholic Fellowship said: “If these stories were told in church, perhaps in place of sermons, we might see a tide of joyful renewal sweep through the old institutions.”
