Don't hide your dog collar under a basket

One of the things I have found hardest to get used to as a newly ordained curate is not the number of sermons to preach, the different services to take, or indeed the number of names to remember, but the wearing of a dog collar. People generally have two different reactions to walking past me while I’m wearing this obtrusive band of plastic. The first is to develop a sudden but deeply engrossing interest in the pavement, a nearby shop window, or the contents of a handbag, all the while ensuring that any amount of eye contact is impossible. The second is to do a double- take and stare gawpingly at me even as I have walked on by. Both reactions are understandably unnerving (although perhaps not as unnerving as being wolf-whistled at with a dog collar on!)

So, what prompts such a reaction to a humble piece of white plastic? I have come to the conclusion that an indication of a Christian presence in the community is unexpected for some and uncomfortable for others. For many it is preferable that Christians are contained irrelevantly in figures such as Harold Bishop in Neighbours or Dot in Eastenders – distant and slightly ridiculous. A reminder that the Christian faith is alive and kicking in the community can be hugely threatening.

However, as Alan Wilson, the Bishop of Buckingham, reminded many of us in Wendover recently, the mission of Christ’s followers as modelled by the New Testament Church is to take the Christian faith into the heart of a community rather than to remain allusive in a formidable church building. Bishop Alan was speaking at the blessing of St Mary’s shop, a joint venture with Wendover Churches together, newly opened on the high street in Wendover. The shop is the fulfilment of a vision to establish a Christian presence at the heart of the community.

No doubt there will be those in the village who find the existence of this shop both unexpected and uncomfortable. This, after all is not what church is. But actually, if we are to answer Jesus’ call to be the light of the world this is exactly what the church must be. We have no place hiding away in a beautiful stone building behind a grand oak door. Similarly, I have no place in discarding my dog collar in order to hide behind my anonymity. A Christian presence may be awkward but it is also provocative and glorifying to God:

‘You are the light of the world… Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.’

Em Coley is a curate in Wendover with Halton, Bucks