The Lord works in mysterious ways. Still, he’s a decent boss
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Version 0 of 1. Our job would be all right if it wasn’t for the parishioners: so runs the standard, eye-rolling in-joke among vicars in the Church of England. One such man of God who may have felt more than entitled to use the line is the Rev Mark Sharpe, having just lost his case for unfair dismissal from the parish of Teme Valley South, in Worcestershire, after being allegedly bullied by his congregation in a four-year campaign of hate. Hate campaign? I don’t remember that being part of the gospel message. Surely that was something that was done to Jesus, rather than something he said his disciples should organise. But, according to Sharpe, during his tenure his dog was poisoned, his car tyres slashed and his mail intercepted. One is tempted to say to the God-fearing people of Teme Valley South: “And also with you.” Related: Vicar who claimed he was victim of four-year hate campaign loses court battle But here’s the thing: Sharpe, a former police and naval officer, has lost his court case, which hinged on the claim that the bishop of Worcester should have warned him about the bullies and bunny-boilers of his parish and offered the support envisaged in the Employment Rights Act 1996. “The cliche is, we’re employed by God. But that doesn’t stand up in terms of how you have a working relationship with the people around you,” complained Sharpe. It is a cliche that all cliches are true. The judges stayed true to this one: thou art employed not by the Church of England but by Almighty God, ruled the court of appeal. I know what you’re thinking: that’s weird. Shouldn’t vicars – whatever you might think of them – be afforded basic employment rights, as are the rest of us? I mean, the rest of you. Nope. The court of appeal judges decided that Sharpe was “neither a party to an employment contract, nor a worker”, and therefore couldn’t claim for unfair dismissal from the church. And there was, apparently, much rejoicing in Worcester. The bishop of Worcester declared himself delighted with the ruling. Even weirder, to the secular employment mind, is that I, a vicar, am rejoicing elsewhere. I absolutely believe that I’m not employed by my bishop, or the C of E, and certainly not by any of the decks of dandruff-shouldered apparatchiks who pass for church management. We have a duty of care to one another as Christians – not as employers and employees. The otherworldly cliche is that God is my boss. But the more worldly Gethsemane moment – and it’s a valuable lesson – is simply this: you’re on your own, son. Let me explain. When we London clergy were dispatched to the scenes of carnage after the bombs went off in London on 7 July 2005, I was deployed, along with others, to Aldgate tube station. We didn’t know what we were walking into, and – as it turned out – we were entirely safe. I was given some sort of Metropolitan police security pass so I could penetrate the cordon. One line I had to fill in was “employer”; I wrote “God”. It did at least give one young officer who stopped me a rare laugh that day. But I do realise the truth of it. No earthly authority had a duty of care for me, a risk assessment to check or a health and safety policy to be violated. You’re on your own, son. God knows, there are Christians all over the world, from Syria to China, facing mortal danger on account of their faith in a way that London clergy didn’t have to on 7/7. But they are not doing it because it’s in a contract, because it’s subject to an annual appraisal, or because their boss has told them to. Well, not a boss in an office with a job description, anyway. The job description is both simpler and more complicated than that. Far away from threat to life and limb, in sleepy rural parishes such as mine, it’s still essentially the same deal. Unless I’m breaking the law, the bishop stays off my case. In return, I don’t nag him or his office to look after and protect me from my own parishioners (bless them). Because – and this may be the lesson that Sharpe has just so painfully learned – it’s not a job. |