This morning on my way to church by taxi (no buses available that early), I was taken by surprise when my taxi-driver started a theological discussion on our way to St. M's.
He was, as are virtually all the taxi-drivers in this town, of Indian or Pakistani origin, so my natural/automatic mental picture was of yet another follower of Mohammed who was about to present me with the standard (it has happened many times before) illustration of the differences in our two religions.
There is a driver I often enjoy long debates with on my way home on Sundays, but to my consternation, this young man started by asking me if St. M's was Roman Catholic. He thought by virtue of the name, it must be so. Having explained that most of the churches in the Church of England have saints' names, I then went on to explain that ours was what used to be called 'high church' and was more commonly called Anglo Catholic these days.
He expressed surprise that I had shattered one of his illusions, (he had always believed St. M's to be
Roman Catholic and had been thinking of changing from St. Joseph's our local Roman Catholic church which was his church and where he had been Christened and confirmed.
We had just begun to discuss the differences and similarities of the two arms of Christianity when we arrived and I had to agree to continue the discussion 'next time'.
One day, if I live to be old enough, I may learn not to judge a book by its cover.
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