On 14 July at midday there was a civic service for the new mayor of Ashford, Councillor Lynn Suddards. It took place in the beautiful medieval church in the town centre, renovated and given its landmark tower by Sir John Fogge, the treasurer of King Edward IV in the 1470s.
It was essentially an act of Christian worship, planned and composed by the new mayor, who is a member of the town centre congregation. But at the end of a week when the Humanists report that this new Parliament is the most non-religious ever, it might be asked what function such a local civic service serves.
Increasing secularism in politics?
The indication that MPs are non-religious is their choice to take a secular affirmation rather than an oath before God. 40% did so this last week compared with 28% for the last Parliament. The non-religious include the prime minister and 50% of the cabinet. Some 47% of Labour MPs and 47% of the Lib Dems opted for the secular affirmation. All four Green MPs did too. By contrast, only one Reform MP and 9% of Conservatives choose the non-religious option. 6% of MPs gave religious oaths under other faiths, such as Judaism, Islam, Sikhism or Hinduism.
A mayor’s service for all faiths
The Ashford event acknowledged religious diversity:
“A civic service will have people in attendance with a variety of faiths and perhaps none at all. We hope that this service gives space for you to feel included even though it is essentially an act of Christian worship.”
One of the readings, a poem by Alberto Rios about giving, was read by Shaneez Ali. She was dressed in white Muslim attire. She gave the tradition greeting: “as-salamu alaikum” which means “peace be upon you”.
There was also a magnificent rendering of Amazing Grace by a Black female soloist.
Among the invited mayors from other towns, I counted two out of nine are Black including Cllr Abena Akuffy from Folkestone. The newly elected Labour MP for Ashford was also present, Sojan Joseph. He has lived and worked in Ashford as a mental health nurse for over 20 years.
The purpose of the service was described in the programme introduction:
“… a coming together to celebrate and thank God for all who contribute to life of our thriving borough and especially for the service given by our Worshipful the Mayor of Ashford … and our other dedicated leaders and contributors to the civic life of the borough.”
Mayoral pageantry and symbols
The event had some of the costume and pageantry that John Fogge would have recognised: the gowns, the cap, the mayor’s chain. There was also a young man in smart modern black suit who carried the mace before the mayor and placed it on a table in front of her seat. The mace as a symbol of authority goes right back to late stone age in the near East, according to various depictions of it found by archaeologists.
Significantly, there were no flags. These are waved for national sports teams. The St. George’s flag sadly also tends to be used by far right political supporters.
Ashford has a symbolic crest or banner, with the motto: “with stronger faith”. I guess it was designed after Ashford became a railway town as the unicorn on top is turning a railway wheel with its hoof!
Suddards had chosen not to use that. Instead, she had organised for some beautiful cloths from Cameroon to be displayed from the galleries overhead.. The parish has a link with a church in Cameroon. Suddards, trained in mental health services, had made several trips there to assist them.
Songs and modernised hymns
A choir from East Stour Primary School sung some of the wistful Over the Rainbow. It was originally sung by Judy Garland in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. It contains the surreal image: “troubles melt like lemon drops / away above the chimney tops”.
More traditional was the opening hymn, Praise, my soul the King of Heaven, with the line: “father-like he tends and spares us/well our feeble frame he knows”. Poignant when one knows the writer, Reverend Lyte, suffered ill-health most of his adult life.
In recent decades there has been some attempt to project a gender-neutral God. This means altering the lines to “Father-like, God tends and spares us/Well our feeble frame God knows”. But a complete de-gendering does not work with the whole hymn, which is full of masculine pronouns!
The hymn O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder combines vision of nature: “when I look down from lofty mountain grandeur”, with submission to God: “And there proclaim my God, how great thou art”. It was originally composed in Swedish and uses a Swedish folk melody.
I vow to thee my country
The final hymn before the national anthem was sung was I vow to thee my country. It was composed originally by British diplomat, Sir Cecil Spring Rice, in the surge of patriotism around the time of the first world war. He was much occupied persuading the USA to join the war. The poem’s original title was Urbs Dei or The Two Fatherlands. The title set forth that a Christian has two loyalties: first to homeland and then to “another country”, that is God’s. The original first verse was an ode to Britannia, but after the horror of the slaughter in the battlefields of Northern Europe, this verse was replaced by the lines which echo the post-War recognition of the lives sacrificed in the Flanders’ mud:
“The love that asks no question, the love that pays the price,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best.”
I vow to thee my country
Since it was set to music by Gustav Holst, it has been a prime choice for civic and national occasions.
But more recently, for instance during reactions to the Iraq war, the hymn has been criticised. In 2004, the Bishop of Manchester said it projected “unquestioning allegiance to what a country does”. He found the second verse acceptable, though, with its emphasis on the kingdom of Heaven.
A moving and diverse service
The reading was taken from Philippians 2: 3-7 (i.e. Paul writing to people in Philippi circa AD 60).
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.”
Philippians 2: 3-7
And the theme of the brief talk by the mayor’s chaplain was also that of service.
So, altogether a very moving event, drawing on a rich array of symbols, costumes, words and music, from across the centuries and countries.
The human need for ritual
How do non-religious people observe such significant events? Clement Attlee, post-World War 2 prime minister, famously said he believed in Christian ethics but without the mumbo-jumbo. But ceremony and ritual are important for shaping communal values or shared commitments. The French revolutionaries realised this when they set up their secular state. French civic ceremony has a lot of flag waving and saluting, but without reference to the Almighty.
Nowadays, when culture is being shaped by algorithms to grab monetisable attention, it is good to share space and time in an event to affirm traditions that underpin civic behaviour. I suppose this could be done non-religiously by an oath to adhere to the Nolan principles. But humankind seems to have developed brains that respond to mimesis, the echoes in music, or the images in art and performance, that correspond to the action that demand attention. In other words, ritual moves us to shared commitment. We can be grateful to Suddards for bringing together such a moving expression of commitment, rooted as it is in her Christian faith.
