My ministry is one of telling stories. My speciality is the stories of people and animals that are often overlooked. As well as reading stories, I tell stories and write stories. Income from my ministry and sales of my books enable me to plant fruit trees in memory of those whose stories I tell as a funeral celebrant, and to support vulnerable people, such as offering memory workshops to the forgetful.
Of course, during weddings, I tell love stories. At naming ceremonies, I help people weave their promises into a sharing of how they will nurture a growing child. My book “Scars that let in Light” tells the stories of wounded healers who it has been my honour to meet among the homeless or those trafficked by organised criminals and as an all-forces veteran’s chaplain.
With chaplains to the kink community at Manchester Pride 2018
Because it is important to me that everyone has a chance to have their story heard, I have stepped deeper into my role as a Christian priest and Interfaith Minister to help develop Greater Manchester Pagan and Witches Chaplaincy, so that the stories of the indigenous peoples of planet earth may be told through their rights to rites of passage, and their festivals.
In this aspect of my ministry, I also present “Witches Hour”, a radio show that invites others to tell the stories of their own journeying, while inviting people into deeper connection with nature and the glorious, diverse web of life. The show also addresses the witch wound that continues to hurt women in today’s society.
Over my long life, it has been my honour to be invited by soldiers, sailors, airmen and resistance fighters who fought fascism last century to become a padre to the war generation, continuing to tell their stories now the vast majority of them have marched on to join the remuster. I’ve also been called to recognise, affirm and nourish new chaplains on the margins – for bikers, homeless people, prisoners, Goths, Travellers, the kink community, the neurodiverse – people embedded in those circles who understand the living beings who identify with their “inner matryoshka’s”. After being appointed servant leader in Britain and the Islands with the Progressive Pagan-Christian Alliance, my calling expanded into the “Refreshing Ministry Rev-Olution”, which has seen the development of a network of people calmly getting on with ministries in diverse communities in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Islands of the Commonwealth.
“Punk Monk” performing at an Ian Brown gig at MEN Arena Christmas 2009
An ordained One Spirit minister, I am also a member of Mensa, the Magic Circle, OBOD and the Pagan Federation – and of Plaid Cymru. The Green Party, The Scottish National Party and Left Unity, helping to develop cooperative approaches to serving all the people of this astonishing community of nations.
In the telling of stories, it helps to tap into popular culture. Some funerals, for example, may feature the football allegiance of the person being remembered, as lively banter can help grief to ventilate. In all storytelling, it helps to theme the narrative according to the interests and outlook on life of those involved.
My “vestments” therefore include full Viking armour, for as well as doing Viking weddings and funerals, I’m helping with the development of an educational Viking settlement in my home city, which will work with schools, universities and community and faith groups to explore pre-industrial skills around food, house building and agriculture.
Call me Mr. Ben, but my wardrobe also includes Christian, Druid, Wild West and Sci-Fi attire, besides my Franciscan habit as a follower of the Pagan Muslim who founded a Christian order. On occasion, I am assisted by a full-size Dalek someone bought me after reading a Doctor Who novel I wrote. On other occasions, I use magic or am assisted by “attitude dolls” or other visual aids, not least as I am involved in the “Children Grieve Too” network that is introducing carved animals and play activities in many cemeteries.
A negotiator in various circumstances, from a prison riot to a siege, while many ministries involve much silence, contemplation and meditation, my own leans more towards action, and being present with others who are often in the midst of turmoil. By the time the serenity settles, I’m often moving on again towards someone else in crisis, leaving people with other skills to consolidate that state of serenity. Of course, this is only possible due to my wide network of support and the fact that I carry with me an ever-accessible inner sanctum that sits at the core of my human-divinity.
