The Critic - A Certain Modesty for Numbers Men

In The Critic magazine again, this time writing about Expertise in Difficult Times.

The response to Brexit and Covid-19 both hinge in different ways on how we relate to experts and expertise.

When do we just have to trust the experts? And when should we use our own judgement?

There's a real difference between questions of hard, material sciences and the social and political responses to policy and leadership: Materials have the decency to follow consistent laws; People can be shaped, inspired and lead, or not.

As the modern world gets more complex more crises will hinge on expertise. We need to get better at realising what questions have black and white scientific answers, and which depend on assumptions, judgements and political leadership.

Article Below.
https://thecritic.co.uk/a-certain-modesty-for-numbers-men/

The Critic - Towards a Social Neo-Conservatism

I have another article published online with The Critic Magazine, arguing that a Modern Social Neo-Conservatism is a coherent idea, and doesn't mean going back to the 1950s.

Relative political positions (Lib vs Con) change all the time. A modern Social Conservatism should mean policies that encourage and support commitment to families and communities, within the liberal freedoms that exist in law.

I'm hoping to get a number of further articles published exploring what a modern Socially Conservative platform would look like on issues ranging from Immigration, to Architecture, to Family Policy. So watch this space.

The current article is below:
https://thecritic.co.uk/our-ideology-in-the-north/

The Critic - I think, therefore I speak very carefully.

A new conservative magazine, The Critic has kindly published an article of mine attempting to cast, more Light than Heat, on the concepts of sex and gender rapidly being integrated into our society.
In summary, my argument is that we owe Trans people respectful, compassionate and decent treatment that includes access to the medical treatment that will relieve their dysphoria, and ensures society grants them the same respect and opportunities everyone else receives.

But that shouldn't mean people have to accept strong claims about the definition of sex and gender that are both very historically recent, and also ultimately metaphysical in nature. Nor should the law be enforcing them. The whole argument can be found below. https://thecritic.co.uk/i-think-therefore-i-speak-very-carefully/

Why Should We Pray? - Philippians 4:4-7

Philippians 4:4-7 - "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be afraid about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

St Ignatius of Loyola once said "You should pray for half an hour every day, except for when you are very busy, when you are very busy you should pray for a whole hour every day." But why should we do that? Why should we Pray?

We all know that Prayer is an important part of the Christian life, but it's a subject that we all struggle with at times. It's a huge subject too. Let me tell you another short story. There was once an Egyptian monk, who had dedicated his whole adult life to living out in the desert, alone with God, to have nothing to distract him from his prayers. And as he came to the end of a long life, he lay dying, surrounded by his brothers, and he said, 'how can I go to my Lord yet, when I have only just begun to understand?' At times I think I have had that feeling.

But prayer is also the simplest of things. A little child can pray, and with more honesty and directness than most accomplished of priests or theologians. We can study prayer, but only really to clear away the confusions we have created for ourselves. For really there is nothing more simple than prayer. Prayer is something we can all do. It is a shared right of all mankind, an inheritance for all peoples, of every age, race and sex. Prayer is a journey that always has more steps to take. It is a library that never runs out of books, and we learn something new on every page. 

But why should we pray?

To answer that question, I think we have to remember Who we are and Who God is. Then we can understand the relationship between ourselves and God, and understand, why we should pray.

Who are we? We are the children of God. God created every particle in our bodies from nothing, as he did the entire Universe, from his sheer generosity and joy in creating. But we are unlike the other particles of creation. We are aware, we bear in our hearts and minds and souls the very image of God, we are stamped with the imprint of God, and so we are all his special children.

But even more than that, God has blessed our humanity and made it Holy, because God the Son was born as a human child, and grew, lived, breathed, taught, knew fear and pain, loved and died in our flesh. And now he is ascended once more into Heaven still in human flesh, to sit at the right hand of the Father, until he returns, or calls us home.  But we are even more than that, for God the Holy Spirit came down and dwells in our hearts if only we accept him, making us the Body of Christ himself. So God is in us, and God is One of Us, and God is the Father of all of us.

We cannot think of ourselves as separate from God, not if we are Christians. Some people might wonder, why would God want to hear from me?  Or me from God? But for Christians even here on earth we are carried up into God, because the Spirit is within us, and the Son is alongside us, and the Father cares for us.

Fundamentally, prayer is communication, the communication of a unique relationship. Not the relationship between one person and another, but the relationship between a creature and our Creator, between the God who holds the whole Universe in the palm of his hand, and myself. And yourself, and all of us. And that may seem like a daunting, near impossible thing, But this relationship, this communication, is not something we must do on our own.   

God was before the creation of the whole Universe, and he will be forever more. Before Time existed, there was the Father and the Son and the Spirit, and there was already the most profound and intimate of relationships between them. Love we can barely imagine, an extravagant, overflowing love shining between all three, in constant diversity and unity.

From this constantly overflowing Love the creation of the Universe came, and the creation of mankind, and we are not separate from it. When we open our hearts to God, and let down our defenses, we can step into this river of God's Love, and see the love of God for God, and for the world, and we can be washed over by that river which flows for eternity, holds the whole of mankind and creation within it.

The Lord Jesus commanded us to Love God with all our heart, and to Love our neighbour as ourselves. And this may seem like a difficult command. How can we make ourselves love? Well, fortunately, there is no need for such a thing. It is not that we must love God, by our own power, or Love the World, by our own power, but rather that we must let down our barriers, and join in the Love that God has for the World, and the love the Father has for the Son, and the Son for the Spirit, and the Spirit for the Father.

God is within us, and beside us, and beyond us. Just by being alive, we are a creature of God, and we are in a relationship with God, whatever we think. The question is will it be a good relationship or a bad one. And as Christians we are in a closer, more profound relationship still. If we do not pray, we are not getting out of that relationship with God, we are sitting in a room with God, and just never saying anything. And I don't think that is ever a good relationship.

When I think of my most close and important relationships then, of course, I do not talk all the time. Of course, there are times that we can just sit in silence in peace and security, but still in constant awareness and appreciation of each other. But still, these are also the relationships where do I have the greatest flow of communication. I talk about the big things, and the little things, and nothing, because it seems important just to communicate. How much more then is this true of our relationship with God?

So how can we join in with God's love, and align ourselves with God's purposes? How can we do that? By opening our hearts and our minds in prayer and worship. And not just here in church, but everywhere, and whatever our state may be. Prayer and worship are two sides of the same coin, the awareness that God is with us, and around us, and loves us at every time.

The world wants us to be constantly looking down, anxious and terrified, weighed down with a thousand worries, and fighting always for success and status. But prayer allows us to lift up our eyes. If you love nature then go out into nature, and realise God is there loving and appreciating his Creation, from the tiniest bug, the every view and sunset with you, before you got there, and while you're there, and after you leave, and open your heart and speak out to God and you will be praying. If you love trains, or music, or knitting, or playing football, then do those things, and open your heart to God, and know that God's love is shining down. Because he sees the Good in every good thing and loves it for all its worth, and speak out to God and you will be praying.

But prayer is not just for Good times and rejoicing. God is with us always, so there is no time or state of mind that is bad for prayer. We can open our hearts to God when we are heartbroken, and when we are raging, when we are frustrated and when we are tired. When we speak to God our words are always enough. The language does not matter, nor do the particular words. It is the honesty that matters. If we open up our hearts in honesty to God then we will offer a true and worthwhile prayer.

In St Paul's letter to the Thessalonians he famously tells us to "pray without ceasing". How could we do such a thing? If that meant speaking out loud all the time that would make it very hard to concentrate on anything else. No, but it does mean becoming increasingly aware of God's presence at all times, though if we manage that we will naturally end up speaking to God more and more. If we are to "pray without ceasing", that means we will be praying when we're grieving, and angry, and confused, and happy and joyful, because we are human, and we will experience all those emotions from time to time, and we shouldn't cease our prayers until those times are over. 

So in prayer we have a chance to be completely honest with ourselves, in our joy and our pain, because God already sees us to the marrow of our bones, and the depths of our heart. And that is a precious gift, and it is just as precious because it is open to all of us. In the economic world for something to be precious it has to be rare, if there's lots of it then it's not worth much. But God's gifts are nothing like that. Everyone can see a sunset, but it's just as beautiful. Love, indeed, is the gift that just grows in value with the sharing of it. Like light into a mirror it shines and reflects and shines back again.   

We can't hurt God by saying the wrong thing, or using the wrong words, or being too awkward. I think we can only hurt God by not speaking to him at all.

To pray is to take time out of the constant flow of tiny problems and annoyances, and chores and distractions the World throws at us. It can help keep our eyes raised on what is truly important, and what is eternal, and that can be a source of great peace and focus, making us better able to do the little things we must do in the world, but without being consumed by them.

You hear a lot these days about mindfulness, and meditation, and directing our thoughts. Let me put it this way, prayer is a form of Christian meditation and mindfulness, and directing our thoughts. Now, I know some types of prayer can be more meditative and calmer than others. And that's good, like I said, sometimes we need to rage at God. To express our frustration and pain. And don't be afraid, God can take it. But other times prayer can be a great time of meditation and peace, either for extended periods, or in moments of the busy day.

My wife and I have struggled these last months to get into the habit of saying Grace at our evening meals. I've never done it before recently, and if you don't do it I'd really recommend it. I appreciate it every time we do manage it, after a busy day at work, and then cooking dinner, and often with more chores later in the evening. It's a brief moment to be thankful, to remember those people we need to remember, to pause in our hearts. And, you know what? Because I pause every day, or most days, to say that grace, I remember things I should be thankful for, or people that I should remember, that I would otherwise forget. And I'm that little bit more joyful.

I really believe that the more we pray the more we will discover the riches of God, not in the wealth and power of this world, but that treasure in Heaven, "the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding", which can endure through this world and its troubles. When St Paul speaks of this he knew that gift, he had been beaten, he was imprisoned, and still he spoke with the total confidence that comes from personal experience, of the reassurance that comes from prayer to our God. His wounds still hurt, his chains were still heavy, but his heart and soul were strengthened by having his sight beyond all those things, at what truly lasts forever.

Before I finish I want to address a couple more of questions, that I think people often have about prayer.

Firstly, doesn't God already know? Why should we speak to God, he already knows everything about us, he already knows what we want and need? Of course he does! God doesn't need to hear from us because he needs information from us, he wants to hear from us because he loves us. He wants us to be fellow-workers and allies alongside him in building the Kingdom of God, for the good of all mankind. If you have someone you love you want to spend time with them, you want to hear from them, to rejoice with them in their achievements and cry with them in their losses. God wants this with us, and I hope we want this with God. Pray then.

Yes, we should ask God for what we need. "Give us today our daily bread", our Lord taught us to pray. We should ask for ourselves, for our families, our friends, and the whole world. "In every situation", St Paul said, "by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God". We should always be happy to ask, knowing God is always happy to listen. Never worry you are asking too much, maybe just try ti ensure that the more you ask, the more you also give thanks, praise and the more you find some beautiful place, wherever that is for you, and just spend time being with God.

I talk about God wanting to hear from us, and I profoundly believe that is true. We should not start thinking, though, that God needs anything from us. We have nothing God needs, though in his love he loves to hear from us. But God has everything we need. He is the Creator, we are such small creatures. The things God encourages us to do, whether it is to pray or worship, are not for his benefit, but for our own. In prayer and worship we align ourselves with God's purposes, which are the foundations of everything that exists. We align ourselves with our own true and complete nature, where our hope and meaning, our shelter, our mental, emotional and spiritual fuel was always meant come from.

The second and final question I want to address is this: When you talk about prayer, when you talk about praying in response to a situation, then people say, Why pray, why not just act, just do something? Isn't action better than prayers and well-wishes? And, it is right that prayer should never be an alternative to action. In the Bible it never is. Prayer is not the alternative to action, prayer is the fuel and source and inspiration of action. How can you act without reflection? How can you act without hope, without a source of personal strength and conviction, how can you act without support? All these things can come through prayer.

Martin Luther King jr prayed constantly, and led the Black American community to victory over institutionalised discrimination in the South. William Wilberforce prayed and led the campaign that abolished the Atlantic Slave Trade, and went on to end legal slavery around the world. Isaac Newton prayed and discovered the fundamental laws of motion that govern our Universe, everything from kicking a football to the orbits of planets. 

St Paul prayed and travelled, it has been calculated, 10,000 miles by dirty roads and leaking ships, to spread the message of Christian Hope, around the whole Mediterranean.  And I could give a thousand other examples. In our own time and country Christians prayed and acted to found Christians Against Poverty, which helps thousands of people around the country in debt and fear. Christians prayed and founded the Trussel Trust, which supports and co-ordinates Food Banks all around the country. When I look at our parish and all the groups, and ministries, and volunteers, we have, for the old and the young, for the sick and the whole, I see prayer leading to action.

Our God is The Living God, his Will, his Work, and his Spirit are constantly in Action. Our prayer should never be an alternative to action, but an inspiration to action. Though also, I don't forget the importance of prayer when there is nothing you can do. There will be times in life when there's nothing you can do, for a certain situation. Then, I humbly suggest, when there's nothing you can do, you can always still pray. And I know, certainly in my life, there are times when that has been a source of enormous comfort.

Why should we pray? There are so many reasons, and I hope you manage to find yours.

Amen.
 

Sermon on Matthew 7:12 - The Golden Rule

“So everything you wish that others would do for you, do also for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

Approaching this sermon, I felt very challenged in two completely different ways. Firstly, it's such a short reading, only 20 words long. How to find enough to speak about from so few words of Scripture? But then straightaway I had the opposite problem. This verse is famously known as the Golden Rule, because it beautifully sums up the attitude that should define our morality and our spirituality. But it can be applied in so many different situations, how do you explain it in any way in only ten minutes.So right at the start my hands are both too empty and too full. I'm struck with a degree of humility, and fear and trembling as I approach this task.

I take comfort though from the fact this reflects life itself. The sheer bewildering vastness of life and its choices is, I imagine, enough to make us all feel a touch of fear and trembling sometimes. Especially in this modern world there seem to be so many opportunities and choices, and maybe it's just me, but I sometimes feel with so many choices, I'm just that more terrified I'm going to make the wrong one.

I work for a major, well-known corporation that shall remain anonymous. It's a great company, there's lots of opportunities, and they have this real focus on personal development. This is good, we all want to develop, but at times it is exhausting. If you're not careful you can feel like you're never good enough, you're up on the side of a mountain and you have to step up, and up, and just as soon as you become vaguely comfortable with where you are, you've got to climb a bit higher again, and so you've always got this slight sense of vertigo, like you might just fall off if you put a foot in the wrong place.

And it's not just work, it's social occasions, it's dealing with family, and friends; it's politics, it's the constant never-ending messy confusion of being alive. And the choices are endless, and some of them don't matter at all, but a lot of them do, even if just in a small way, and you can feel like at any moment you could make the wrong choice and screw up, maybe embarrass yourself, maybe miss some opportunity, maybe hurt someone you don't mean to hurt. 

So, what do you do?

I think, fundamentally, there are two types of approach. You can have a list of rules. You can have a list of rules about what you do in each type of situation. So, maybe the rule is "Always say yes to an opportunity", or it's "Don't steal" or it's "Always be polite". But in the complexity of life there will be times when these rules should not apply because they don't take account of the context of the situation we're in. And this will be true however many rules you have, because there will always be some situation that doesn't fit into the rules we already know.

The Law of the Old Testament was a system of rules, designed to cover almost every situation. The Rabbis added up all the 'do's and 'do not's in the Law of Moses and found there were 613 in total. 613! And the Rabbis added many more rules to the list, to create what they called 'a fence around the Law' to prevent anyone breaking the core commandments. They didn't do this to be a pain in the backside, they did it to try to create a comprehensive guide to life, that would allow people to walk in the right path without tripping and falling down. Orthodox Jews today still guide their lives by this code, and Islamic 'Sharia' Law is meant to be a similar theological guide for Muslims and Islamic society.

Our modern secular world seems to be trying to go down the same path too. Anyone who runs a business or a charity, or a school, or who just deals with the Government or the Local council, will know that the rules and bureaucracy seem to be multiplying year after year, sometimes it feels like, before your very eyes. Online as well, in any social media, people are creating an increasing and bewildering number of rules about what you’re allowed to say, and what opinions you’re allowed to hold, to avoid being sternly condemned by well-meaning busybodies. Once again the idea seems to be that if we shape the rules precisely enough, just right, it will be possible to exactly and clearly define what righteousness is.  

But what Jesus taught us is what we inevitably see in life, that this approach never fully works. There are too many choices in life, and people are too unique, and different, for any list of rules to always tell us what is the answer. And that's before you get the issue of people deliberately trying to subvert and get around the rules. However well designed any system of governance is, if people are out to make mischief, they will find a way to get around it and subvert it. You just have to look at the actions going on in parliament at the moment to see people on both sides trying to game the rules to get their way. People really struggle to believe this though. They always seem to think that if they phrase the rules just right, then they will be fool-proof, and then everything is simple. Well, I can only say the history of mankind is the history of the fools winning that one.

What is the alternative though?

The alternative is Jesus's teaching here in the Gospels, the alternative to the Letter of the Laws, is the Spirit and Grace of God; the alternative to and never-ending list of rules is just one - The Golden Rule. “So everything you wish that others would do for you, do also for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

But why is this so different? Isn't that just another rule?

No, because it does not dictate the answer to a specific situation, it gives us the key so we can understand and decide any situation for ourselves. It helps guide our thinking, but it requires us to think. That was what Jesus did again and again. That's why he taught in parables: because he wanted us to consider and learn. Think of the story of the Good Samaritan - Jesus tells this parable after a rich, young man comes and asks him first, "Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life", and then "Who is my neighbour?". Clearly this man just wants Jesus to give him the answer, maybe in some form of list.

Instead Jesus gives him a parable that he has to take and consider and apply anew in every situation. Jesus knows that no set of rules can be a replacement for a kind and loving heart. Yes, it matters to have the right rules in a society, or a workplace, or in ethics. Jesus says he has not come to abolish the law, but to fulfil it. And that can only be done by those who judge and think for themselves, but not people who judge and think in any random way, but people whose hearts are guided by loving the Lord God with all their mind and strength, and guided by loving their neighbour as themselves. Only when we take decisions guided by the Spirit of God, who is love, mercy, generosity and peace, rather than by the letter of the law, only then will we judge rightly. 

For this sermon I kind of wish it wasn't popularly known as the Golden Rule, because it's not a rule in the manner I've talked about. It's so different, it's not a law to follow, but a principle that can guide our thinking and our hearts. “So everything you wish that others would do for you, do also for them, for this is the Law and the Prophets." 

What kind of principle is it?

The first thing to say, is to make sense of it we can't apply the Golden Rule in a manner that is too immediate and literal. Just because you like bananas doesn't mean the Golden Rule is telling you to give everyone a banana. And it's easy to think of ever sillier examples. We have to take a step back from that kind of narrowness, and think about it more at an emotional level, what is the way we would like other to approach us, and then let that guide us back into specific actions.  

And if we do that this Golden Principle opens up for us. It becomes one that leads us to think about ourselves and the weaknesses we feel and the challenges we face.  To think about ourselves and all the times and ways we wish we had a helping hand, wish we had someone to turn to. And then it guides us, not to dwell in that forever, but to take all our vulnerability and look to the person sitting next to us, or the person walking by us in the street, or the person opposite us on the bus, and to think about how they might be vulnerable and in need in the same way, and to devote ourselves to them.

Because it assumes that other people are like us. It tells me that I can know something about others, that I can know that they have complex, multiple needs, and motivations, and cares like me. And it tells me even more than this, it tells me I must act to do something about it. When Jesus was asked "Lord, who is my neighbour?" he told the story of the Good Samaritan, with the message that our neighbour is anyone in need, and we act like a neighbour when we step in and help them. And we know that we are in need, so we better believe our neighbour is also in need. And we better do something about it. This is the statement of our common humanity, not as a legal or theoretical assumption, but in the messy, practical reality of all the things and cares that make up our lives.

There is a related saying to the Golden Rule, it is sometimes called the Silver Rule - "Do not do anything to others, that you wouldn't want them to do to you". Did you catch the difference? - "Do not do anything to others, that you wouldn't want them to do to you". Now that is an important principle as well. I'd suggest we all keep it. But it is not as important as the Golden Rule. It is also more common. Many religious traditions have the Silver Rule, but Jesus takes the rare step of turning it into Gold. Silver means second place, and there’s nothing shameful about that, but Gold means first. Why? Gold has always been considered more precious, more beautiful. Gold is always valuable, Silver tarnishes, but Gold keeps its shine. 

"Do not do anything to others, that you wouldn't want them to do to you". The difference is this - You can keep that principle by doing nothing. And that is why it would never be enough. The Good News of Jesus Christ is that the work has begun and is ongoing of creating a New Heaven and a New Earth, the Kingdom of Heaven, and that means standing up and acting. Maybe in small ways, maybe in large ways, and with the Grace and Spirit of God.

Just before this verse in Matthew 7:7 we have another famous reading, Jesus says “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you". Ask! Seek! Knock! And today, Do!

If we think about it, we all know how we'd like to be treated. We all want to people to be considerate, to pay attention to us, and not leave us abandoned, to approach us as unique individuals, to extend a helping hand, to appreciate us for who we are, to stick by us despite our flaws and errors, we want people to never condemn us on the basis of some stereotype or assumption. In other words, we want to be approached as an individual person who needs understanding, rather than as an object to be fit into some rigid structure of laws or assumptions. By no coincidence these are all the ways God's Love see us, and the ways his forgiveness approaches us. And in the Sermon on the Mount Jesus makes it clear that, however many rules and laws we have, we will never have the good world we want to see until we approach everyone around us with that same Grace, that we would want for ourselves.     

Amen.

A Tribute to My Great Uncle George. 1920-2005.

This is a brief tribute to my Great-Uncle, George Knight, who died when I was 16. He was one of the male role-models of my childhood, and this is based on the address at his funeral, written up from memory shortly afterwards. I discovered it again recently and with help from my Dad tidied it up.  This is a testament to an extra-ordinary life, from the aftermath of the First World War to the dawn of smartphones, one of the remarkable generation who lived right through the heart of the 20th Century, and saw their world change more than we can imagine.

My Fathers Uncle, my Grandma Florence's brother, a good and cheerful man to everyone he met: George Knight was born on the 9th January 1920 in South London.  His father died when he was young, he had been scarred by injuries from the Great War and couldn’t work, couldn’t operate, and then, in the late 1920s, sadly passed away.  George was part of a large family who would struggle to look after him at home, and so through a scholarship he was sent away to a boarding school. The experience was hard like the discipline. He used to say, 'when a cane wore out I was sent to buy another one'. But it taught him respect for elders, hard work, obedience and discipline. It also gave him a deep trust in God, that would last him his whole life.

As a child, a small lost boy from a poor family, he developed three dreams: To get into Oxford University, to become an officer in the Royal Navy and to become a Vicar in the Church of England. At the age of 17, he gained entry into London University and then at 19, with the help of a scholarship, he was granted entry to Oxford. His first impossible dream fulfilled. He was there from 1939-1942 and while there became Chairman of the Oxford Conservative Association and Captain of his college's Boat team. This taught him the skills of operating as part of a team and swiftly giving orders to react to the situations that faced him. He did not ignore his studies either, gaining the best theology degree of his entire year.

After graduating from Oxford he joined the Royal Navy in 1942 as an Ordinary Seaman, the lowest rung on the ladder, and on his first day was put in charge of a work party of 40 men.  He was soon promoted to Able Seaman and then, after completing training at the Britannia Royal Naval College, commissioned as a sub-Lieutenant.  His second ambition achieved.  He was later promoted to full Lieutenant, and commanded one of the second wave of ships that landed troops on Sword Beach on D-Day. One of his favourite stories from the War was when he was sailing in the Adriatic in 1945 shortly before VE Day. He was in charge of the bridge on his ship and from nowhere several vessels came speeding into view towards him. They were German boats and they had white sheets hung on their towers. They were trying to surrender, and George suddenly had this vision of all these enemy ships personally surrendering to little old him and escorting them triumphantly back into harbour. Think of the glory! So, he called his Captain to the bridge as quick as possible and asked him whether he should escort the ships back to harbour. The Captain said no, let them go on their way, so they did, and George continued on to Yugoslavia, glory sadly missed.

After the war George resigned his commission and entered the seminary, from which he was ordained as an Anglican priest. His last great ambition, fulfilled. He returned to the Navy as the Chaplain for the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, at that time the 2nd most senior religious post in the Royal Navy. There one day in 1951 he met a pretty blonde Swedish tourist on holiday. 18 months later they were married, and it was the start of 54 years of happy marriage that only ended with his sad death on the 7th December 2005. He was happy in his job too, and was very lucky one day after a service at the College, which as chaplain he was leading, to end up dancing with a certain Princess Elizabeth, now the Queen. He said, 'Who was I, to be cavorting with princesses?'

He later also met the late Queen Mother at a reception, where as chaplain he was required to say Grace before the meal and, as was Naval custom, afterwards thank God for the good things he had provided. Later he was honoured to have a long private conversation with the Queen Mother, then still Queen Elizabeth. He was also honoured to be appointed chaplain on the Vanguard, Britain’s last ever battleship, when it carried King George VI and Princess Elizabeth on a state visit to South Africa in 1947.

George served in the Royal Navy for 30 years, and he was thoroughly involved with all sorts of Naval developments. On one occasion he was asked to join a Naval commission to improve the prestige of the Fleet Air Arm. After many hours of discussion and various proposals, George suggested that Fleet Air Arm officers be granted the right to wear bicorne, Nelsonian hats when coming aboard ships, as that would do the job of marking them out distinctly as well as anything else mentioned and for considerably less money.

He retired from the Navy in 1975 and became a parish priest, at which time he was also awarded an OBE for his services in the College. His life was unfortunately mired by a tragedy as well during this time, as his only son, Christopher, died of Cancer at a young age. In 1990 after over 40 years as a Church of England priest he resigned in protest over the decision that year to ordain women as priests, and after that in his old age joined the Philadelphia Church of God, a small, distinct Protestant church to which his wife already belonged. He continued his life happily though, always cheery, always active, and luckily healthy right up until he was struck down by a stroke three weeks before his death.  Indeed on the very morning on which his stroke occurred he was out in the garden planting tubers. He was a good man.