A few years ago I went on my first Good Friday Walk of Witness. For all the wrong reasons, it wasn't a happy experience. A while in, a steward in a high-viz jacket came to tell me off. Apparently I had been seen laughing with a friend who had said something funny to me. I was told that I had to be quiet from there on in, or face some kind of unspecified consequences.
This is just one of the reasons I have begun to wonder about Walks of Witness. I want to start by saying that I am not at all against us going public, or walking together or carrying a cross in public. All are fine. I am for visible witness. Wearing a dog collar most days shows that witnessing is pretty important to me. I love the ecumenicalism of the walk.
I decided to do some internet research to see how other folk did their walks. There were some interesting examples. People gave out hot cross buns. Some enacted the actual events. There is a good deal of creativity out there. But I still wonder why I have a bit of a reaction.
I certainly have to hold my hand up and say, this could all just be me. And if so, please ignore what follows.
I suppose my issue is about the purpose of the walk and its outcome. I was a non-Christian for a long time and I wonder what I would have made of coming across a bunch of folk holding up the traffic and walking along silently, perhaps without so much as a smile. Would this make me want to find out more or just leave me either mystified or irritated? I am not at all sure it would lead to a thirst to find out what these people were doing.
I wonder if we need to think about the way we do our witness in general and our walk in particular. I grew up in Northolt and at the bottom of my old road is a park that now has three large hills that have been constructed from debris from the building of Wembley Stadium. On Good Friday, crosses are placed on the hills. There is the feel of pilgrimage.
In this dramatic context the Walk of Witness is really something to behold. It has place, drama and a coming together of people who are believers and those who are curious. It captures the drama of the biblical narrative.
From my foray onto the internet, walks seem to do well generally with a bit of drama. Cathedral cities and small towns seem to do well, with enactments and a buzz in the air. But traipsing along in a drab suburb often feels flat.
I am certainly not saying that our Good Friday witness should be all hyped-up excitement. We need to inhabit the desolation of the Christ and we are not ashamed of our faith. Good Friday is beautiful.
But if we are to be seen gathering on one day of the year, how are we to be seen? What is it that might attract a person of no faith or little faith to Jesus? One of the problems is that as a public outing the Walk of Witness can only tell one part of the story.
I wish I had an easier answer, but all I have is an uneasiness. Does anyone else out there feel the same?
Rev Steve Morris is the parish priest of St Cuthbert's North Wembley. Before being a priest he was a writer and ran a brand agency. In the 1980s he tried to become a pop star. Follow him on Twitter @SteveMorris214
