Three ways to join me in Jerusalem

"And did those feet in ancient time walk upon England’s mountains green?…"

No, they didn’t.

"…And was the Holy Lamb of God in England’s pleasant pastures seen?"

No, Mr Blake, he wasn’t. He was Jewish.

I used not to like the hymn "Jerusalem", precisely because a song that starts by asking a whole series of questions to which the answer is "no!" didn’t seem appropriate in a service of worship. Southwark cathedral has banned it, perhaps for the same reason. But I’ve come to like Jerusalem.

You see, William Blake was odd (he was a naturist and he couldn’t stand Anglicans), but he wasn’t stupid. He knew that Jesus hadn’t visited England – in another poem he speaks of Rahab living at Windsor and Abraham retiring to the south coast, but the irony in each case is very clear. His point is: no, there is no hope for England in some sort of rural idealised past. Jerusalem – the kingdom of God, the world as God meant it to be – has never been "builded here". The only hope for England, says Blake in this famous poem that I for one would love to see as an English national anthem, is for you and I to pick up our bows and arrows of desire – to awake in one another a desire to make this country better. We need to engage in "mental fight": not actually being violent (Blake was a pacifist as well as a naturist), but joining the fight for good against evil, not giving up "till we have built Jerusalem in England’s green and pleasant land." One day, God will re-make the world, and there will be no oppression, to pain, no unfairness, no evil. Meanwhile, we are to make the country we now live in a little bit more like the perfect world God will create. And this autumn, there are three ways you can join me in Jerusalem.

On September 13, we are celebrating the Last Night of the Proms with a concert – live music including Philip Prior on our newly restored organ, refreshments and fun. Bring your own party poppers and fancy hats. And join in by singing your heart out, singing (among other traditional works) Jerusalem. Tickets are on sale now.

If you don’t like Blake’s questions, ask a few of your own. This autumn we will again be holding an Alpha Course under the headline "If there was a God, what would you ask him?" This is not a course for people that already have all the answers; it’s a course for those who are prepared to wonder together. It starts with an Alpha supper at church on Saturday September 27; I’ll be giving the first talk, but as ever Alpha is mainly about discussion with friends. If you’d like to join us, let us know if you can for catering reasons.

This is the most difficult part of all, of course. But church isn’t supposed to be a club for comfort, it’s supposed to be world-changing, society-changing. It’s supposed to be building Jerusalem. Join us as we try. And if you are unable through illness or frailty literally to join us in church, join us nevertheless with prayers and groans. They are the most powerful weapons of all – as Blake himself put it in another poem,

"But vain the sword and vain the bow,

They never can work War’s o'erthrow.

The hermit's prayer and the widow's tear

Alone can free the world from fear.

For the tear is an intellectual thing

And a sigh is the sword of an angel king

And the bitter groan of the martyr's woe

Is an arrow from the almighty's bow.

Fondly,

Andy