The Henson Journals

[28]

5th Sunday after Trinity, July 5th [sic], [July 4th], 1926.

The last time that I celebrated the Holy Communion was on May 9th, which was the 5th Sunday after Easter. I used prayers (i.e. I made a bidding) "for the Prime Ministers [sic] and the other members of His Majesty's Government", and "for the men now unhappily on strike". Eight weeks have passed, and still special prayers are needed. This miserable, gratuitous, and economically suicidal "stoppage" in the mining industry continues, & there is as yet no sign of a settlement, only an increased bitterness of failure spirit. The behaviour of the Church has throughout been weak, timid, and unhelpful, while the men's leaders have been unspeakably bad. Eight weeks form the longest period of cessation from active ministry that I have experienced in the course of nearly 40 years. What shall I have learned from this long retirement? Shall I be able to say presently, when this illness is a memory, and I am again confronting the tasks of my life, "It is good for me that I have been in trouble"? There is something terrifying in the facility with which we abandon the good purposes framed in the shadows of trouble. The Gospel for the day was precisely adapted to my mood. "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord" – that involuntary cry from S. Peter, when he realized his presumption, his inadequacy, & his unfaithfulness in a moment of sudden illumination, just sums up my feelings. How long will that mood last? It is this portentous & humiliating instability that most abashes me.

[29]

I celebrated in the Chapel at 8 a.m. We numbered seven communicants. The service fatigued me more than I had expected. Indeed, I feared in the course of it that I should not be able to get through. My fatigue lasted throughout the day, which I mostly spent in reading a foolish story recommended to me by that experienced novel–reader, my wife – Gabriel Samara, by E. Phillips Oppenheim.

The sermon for the Hereford Commemoration on July 30th begins to weigh on my mind. What ought to be the spiritual significance of the 1250th centenary Celebration of the Hereford Bishoprick? After all, mere survival proves nothing, though it is always impressive. A comparison between the situation of Christianity in the 7th century confronted by the fresh menace of Mohammedanism, and that of Christianity in the 20th century confronted by the new vigour of materialistic Communism, might be interesting, and even profitably suggestive. Or, I might emphasize the value of the organized Church as the indispensable instrument through which Christ's Religion has been brought to beare [sic] on human society. Or, again, taking a more restricted range, I might point out the blended tenacity & versatility of the Episcopate, as illustrated in the long line of Hereford Bishops. It might perhaps be worth my while to dwell on the importance of the diocese, as the true unit of ecclesiastical government, & the gravity of the persistent tendencies which threaten the efficiency of diocesan administration. The opposite evils of Papal centralisation and Protestant individualism would serve as illustrations of the argument. The reversion to 7th century forms of episcopacy in the modern mission field might be worth noting, &, possibly, the disposition to accept the view that Episcopacy is the only conceivable form of ecclesiastical Government which could secure universal recognition.

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