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Rev. Peter Owen Jones |
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Who’s the bravest vicar in Britain?
My money’s on Peter Owen Jones.
No typical sherry-sipper, this man started
as a farm labourer and ran a mobile disco
on the side. He then moved into advertising, but heard the Call and became vicar of a parish in Cambridgeshire.
- Quote ' The Times' |
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Peter Owen Jones has been a vicar in the Church of England for 15 years. He started out as a farm labourer and ran a mobile disco on the side then moved into advertising, before hearing the 'call' to become a vicar.
The Anglican priest is trying to live a simple life just like St. Francis of Assisi. While making this attempt he will be followed around by a full BBC production crew, sound equipment, cameras and computers recording his every excursion into an urban dustbin. Can’t get much simpler that that. Nice simple hat too.
Anglican priest Peter Owen Jones has gone back to basics in the search for a simpler way of living life for a new BBC Two series.
How To Live A Simple Life is inspired by St Francis of Assisi who entered into a life of voluntary poverty after hearing a sermon on Matthew 10, in which Jesus tells his disciples to go and proclaim the Kingdom of God without taking any money or other possessions with them.
Peter is interested in the role of the church today and how it can be made more relevant to people's lives. One of the things I'm considering at the moment is how to be a priest, and what exactly is a priest in the 21st century. You can pay priests for weddings, baptisms and funerals but the rest of the time I think that priests ought to earn a living if they have a skill.
"I have three parishes in Sussex. I know that the idea of your vicar popping in for tea is a very seductive ideal but I'm not sure that it's sufficient. I think the church should be love and about being in that space." If the church is about love, then he sees no reason why it should be contained in specific buildings. "Why should a church as a building be any more sacred than a factory? I don't buy into any of that."
Peter wonders how people can demonstrate the love of God. "To be a man of love takes such discipline and prayer and giving of self, and a giving up of self. It's a very difficult balance," he says. He prays all the time. "It's a constant stream of prayer. Some people need a very disciplined time for prayer but I can't do it like that. It's a constant 'thank you' for this beauty I find myself surrounded by."
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