Peter Hewis
Profile
Revd. Peter Hewis moved to Oxford with his wife Heddwen in 2001 to take on the triple role of Chaplain and Tutor at Harris Manchester College, and Minister to our congregation. Born in 1939 in Lancashire, Peter left school at the age of 15 and, after a job with a sports outfitter in Bolton (as a result of which he still supports Bolton Wanderers Football Club), he did National Service as a horn player in the band of the 2nd Battalion of the Parachute Regiment (serving mainly in Cyprus, and never actually making a parachute jump). As a boy in Horwich Peter had joined a Unitarian youth club, and on finishing National Service he decided to train for the Unitarian ministry, which he did between 1961 and 1965 at Unitarian College in Manchester, and at Manchester University, later adding a BA degree from the Open University and an MA from Oxford to his college certificate. His first ministry, from 1965 to 1972, was in the East End of London, at the Unitarian church in Bethnal Green. Then, after a six-month pulpit exchange with a minister from Knoxville, Tennessee, he embarked on his 29-year ministry in the hosiery town of Hinckley, Leicestershire, where he conducted approximately 600 child-naming services and approximately 3,000 funerals; served as an industrial chaplain at a knitwear factory; and represented the Liberal Party for four years on the Borough Council. Peter has served the Unitarian movement in many distinguished roles, most notably as the President of the General Assembly in 1991/92. He agreed to answer some questions put to him by the Editor:
What have been the major influences in the development of your religious outlook? First, four grandparents who belonged to different Christian denominations (Anglican, Baptist, Congregationalist, and Methodist). Second, my introduction at the age of 16 to the Unitarian faith, under the guidance of Revd. Joyce Hazlehurst, the minister in Horwich. And third, an experience at the age of 19 during my national service in Cyprus, where I entered a mosque for the first time and a Pakistani Muslim told me about the pillars of Islam. Each influence helped to open my mind to the infinite nature of sacred truths.
What person (living or dead) do you most admire, and why? Mahatma Gandhi for his passive resistance to oppression, and his vision of a united India which would respect all faiths. And Tim Berners-Lee (a Unitarian Universalist) for refusing to enrich himself by claiming an exclusive monopoly on the World Wide Web, and for staying true to his vision of the Web as a tool for communication.
What do you think about the current state of the Chapel Society? In general, I think it is in a healthy state. According to a report that I read recently, the average chapel attendance on Sunday mornings in the 1960s was 20. Today we get 40 people on a good day. But I wish we could attract some younger people. Maybe we need to reconsider the fixed format of the service, with its pattern of hymns, prayers, and readings – although the physical structure of the chapel is not conducive to informal worship. And it would be good if we could find ways to bring together our widely scattered congregation for different kinds of gathering, in addition to Sunday worship: maybe a mid-week ‘Build Your Own Theology’ course, or weekend outings like our visit to Stonehenge earlier this year.
And the current state of the Unitarian movement in the UK? I regret that several of our congregations have given up too easily and closed their churches. We have something very precious; where our faith is positively presented, growth does take place. What disturbs me is the constant debate about ‘Are we Christian or not?’. The word Unitarian is enough for me, and – while I treasure our Judaeo-Christian roots – I find much of value in other faiths. Let’s stop haggling over the descriptions and concentrate on creating places where people can feel that they truly belong.
What do you enjoy most about your job as Chaplain /Tutor/ Minister? Leading Sunday worship for a diverse congregation which does NOT haggle over definitions! Learning from my students. Conducting weddings. Attending multi-faith worship every morning in the chapel during term-time. Picture the scene: Unitarians (and our Methodist Principal) mumbling a Hail Mary, or a Catholic meditating on a poem by Walt Whitman! And (while I value the contributions of all our organists), it has been a particular treat to hear the playing of Myles Hartley, our graduate organ scholar, during the past year.
What might you have become if you had not had a vocation for the ministry? My headmaster once predicted that I would become either a politician or a preacher (because I had ‘the gift of the gab’). But I might well have been a musician in a military band: I was offered a place at the Royal Military School of Music in Twickenham, but declined it because I would have had to sign on for several years.
How many sermons have you preached during the course of your ministry? It must be about 3,000! During my 29 years in Hinckley I led two services every Sunday. I get inspiration from many sources: from my students, from my reading, from chance remarks overheard, from TV and radio programmes.
Is it hard to keep finding fresh topics? How long does it take you to write a sermon? Fresh topics come to mind relatively easily in Oxford, where there is so much stimulus and such rich resources. The writing takes about an hour and a half on a Saturday, but the thought process usually begins on the previous Monday. I write with a fountain pen, using the ‘mind map’ system from Tony Buzan’s book Use Your Head.
Is there a place for politics in the pulpit? Not for party politics, but certainly for sermons based on humanitarian principles that address the scandal of inequality and advocate the creation of a better world. Preachers must resist the temptation to use the pulpit to advance their own points of view. I usually say on the Sunday before an election, ‘It is the duty of every Unitarian to vote – but how you vote is your own concern.’
What is your favourite hymn? Why? Probably Mysterious Presence, Source of All, written by the American Unitarian Seth Beach, because it manages to expresses something that is almost indefinable. Martineau’s Where is your God? comes a close second. As for tunes, I love ‘Cwm Rhondda’, ‘Down Ampney’, Harold Spicer’s ‘Holywell’, and – one of the simplest – ‘Duke Street’.
What is the most important lesson that life has taught you? That much of what we are is an accident of birth, and we should despise no one who is less fortunate than ourselves. This lesson was brought home to me when I saw the contrasts between rich and poor in the USA, and terrible poverty in the Appalachian mountains, but I first learned it much earlier, in the Libyan desert: an Arab char-wallah, making tea on a stove by the roadside near my barracks, offered me a cup. As I drank it, a British officer came up and told me ‘not to fraternise with people like that’. That taught me where my sympathies should lie!
What are your favourite forms of recreation? Listening to music (all sorts: orchestral music, brass bands, folk songs, and choral works) and (believe it or not) the constant effort to create a good lawn.
What is your favourite spot on Earth? The field that I see from our kitchen door: I look out over a copse where a family of foxes lives and I watch the changing sunsets every night – each one different from the one before. Catherine Robinson September 2005