Monday, March 18, 2024
Sunday, March 17, 2024
Anarchic Jesus or Archetype Jesus?
Sermon for the fifth Sunday in Lent known as Passion Sunday
The thing is,
the Jewish authorities
interrogating Jesus
are right.
God is One alone
and we must worship Him.
This is why they pick up stones
to throw at Jesus
when He declared,
"Before Abraham was,
I AM."
Jesus has just uttered
the name of God
revealed to Moses
- I AM -
and explicitly made Himself
equal with God.
According to the Law
this is blasphemy
and Jesus must die.
On this point,
they are well within their rights
- well, they would be,
if Jesus wasn't right as well.
The Jewish tradition
is being upheld here
both by Jesus
and by the Jews.
So what's gone wrong?
[PAUSE]
The answer is simple,
isn't it?
The Jewish authorities
simply don't believe Jesus.
Despite the miracles
and the teaching,
they cannot get over the fact
that Jesus is,
in their eyes,
transgressing the Jewish Law,
healing on the Sabbath,
eating food with unwashed hands,
dining with Samaritans,
Tax-Collectors and Prostitutes
and,
worst of all,
showing the authorities,
scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, lawyers
up for not being faithful
to the old Law with all it's traditions.
To them,
Jesus is an anarchist,
a rebel,
a Samaritan who rejects
orthodox teaching ,
who rejects authority.
He is a destabilising influence
and must die.
If He carries on
he will destroy the great Tradition
that links back to Moses,
Jacob, Isaac
and Old Father Abraham himself.
[PAUSE]
The thing is,
if Jesus were just another prophet,
they'd be right.
You hear this said today.
"Jesus cares nothing about
Church Traditions."
"Jesus doesn't care about
how you say the Mass."
"Jesus doesn't care about
the teaching of the Church,
about properly ordained bishops
about marriage laws."
"Jesus puts love
above tradition."
Those who say such things
miss the point
just as much as
the Scribes and Pharisees
and for exactly the same reason.
They look at Jesus
only as a human being,
only as a reformer,
only as a revolutionary.
They see Jesus trashing
the stalls in the temple
and label Him a radical.
What they don't see
is the great I AM.
[PAUSE]
"Before Abraham was,
I AM"
Our Lord is not
the destroyer of Tradition
but the writer of it.
The Jewish Laws
are there for the glory of Israel
but leave God out of them
and they lose their meaning
strength and glory.
What we see in Jesus
is the Old Law perfected.
Yes, it is a law of Love
rather than legal obedience
but it is still ordered,
the traditions still carry their weight,
the sacraments still give grace
even after two thousand years,
because God is there in that grace,
in that teaching,
in the Church.
[PAUSE]
Ubi caritas et amor,
Deus ibi est.
Where Love and Charity are
God is there.
In the Church,
we rely on Tradition
to clarify Church teaching.
We have apostolic succession of bishops
because that's the way that
the means of God's active grace
is transmitted through the ages.
We have the meaning of God's Word
handed onto us from the beginning
through Scripture and Tradition
so that we might know the works of Love
and do them.
And today,
people say,
"you can change
the meaning of marriage
that you can change
who can becone priest
because Jesus was a radical
a reformer,
an anarchist.
He isn't bound by your traditions."
But they don't see
that Jesus gave the same Tradition
for us and for everyone
from the first to the last.
He sets the definition of marriage.
He chooses the priests.
He starts the teaching office
of the Church.
He defines law and order,
binding everyone to love,
i.e. to will the good perfection
of everyone in God.
He is no anarchist.
He is the archetype
- from the first,
the leading principle,
the Divine example
and blueprint of humanity.
[PAUSE]
Jesus is Our Lord and God,
and He gives us a law
that shall never be changed.
The Scribes and Pharisees
are the anarchists.
Those who want to change
what Jesus gives us
are the anarchists.
They reject the authority
of Christ
and they will kill Him for it.
But by His blood
all that love Him on His terms
and not their terms
will receive nothing less
than the great I AM Himself.
Monday, March 11, 2024
Gregorian Angles and Angels
Why being Anglican is all the richer for St Gregory (and others!)
Of course, just to clarify, the Gregorian Canon is part of the reforms by Pope Gregory VII, not St Gregory the Great, though Gregory VII did take his regnal name in homage to Gregory the Great.
Sunday, March 10, 2024
Priesthood and multitudes
Sermon for the fourth Sunday in Lent
Oh! It's a marvellous miracle
and so simple to state.
So many fed
with so little bread!
But it's the depth of this miracle
that matters more.
This is the miracle
for the Church.
[PAUSE]
First,
the Lord reminds us clearly:
Man does not live
by bread alone
but by every word
that proceedeth
out of the mouth of God.
We must also remember
that miracles happen
in order to back up Our Lord's teaching.
So Our Lord breaks bread
and gives it to His disciples
to give to the people
and the people are fed.
Man is not fed by bread alone...
So we see connection
between the disciples
giving out bread to the multitudes,
the bread growing
more and more plentiful
at the Creator's hands,
and the words of the Gospel
preached by so few
and yet nourishing the people
with the greatest hope
that the hunger of their souls
may be filled
by the Eternal Love of God.
The feeding of the multitudes
is the sign that backs up
the Church's duty
to feed people with the word of God.
But Jesus is the Word of God.
[PAUSE]
"I am the bread of Life"
And we know that His body
is meat indeed,
and His blood is drink indeed.
The multitude is nourished
not just by food,
not just by the Gospel
but by the very Body of Christ.
Not the blood yet,
for His blood is to be shed
for the New Covenant
and that is ratified
upon the Cross.
It is why
we do not need to receive
the chalice in the Eucharist,
though we should be free
to do so.
But what we do see
is the disciples distributing
the Gospel
in word and Sacrament.
This is the business
of the Church.
This is the business
we need to mind.
The feeding of the multitudes
is precisely the
prophecy of the Christian priesthood
and the Christian sacraments
with all the grace of God
they convey.
This is the pattern
that Our Lord intended.
This is the Church
that Our Lord intended.
And this is our intention
to be faithful to this pattern
for the Church
that Christ has built.
We Christians
have a duty if business
to bring
the good news
to those who are
hungry and thirsty
for both Word and Sacrament.
There will be those
who receive it gratefully.
There will be those
who say, "hey! I want ketchup on that!"
There will be those
who smash it out of our hands
and spit on us.
But whatever they do
we will have tried to be faithful
because we are so grateful
for what we receive
that we want others
to receive it too.
We have received Christ Himself
in the words of the Gospel
and in the Sacrament of the Altar.
It's too good
not to share.
Monday, March 04, 2024
An Anglican Catholic view of the Papacy
Intended to be a gentle and respectful reason for why Anglican Catholics do not accept the claims of the modern Papacy.
Nonetheless, God bless the Pope and all in communion with him. And God bless all those who follow Orthodox belief and cannot be i...more
Sunday, March 03, 2024
The Devil's Dividend
Sermon for the third Sunday in Lent
According to Our Lord,
the gates of Hell
will not prevail against the Church.
Indeed, St John sees the Devil
and all his apostate host
flung into Eternal flames.
So the kingdom of Satan
must fall.
The Pharisees
must believe that, surely.
Yet, Our Lord says,
that if Satan is divided
against himself,
his kingdom cannot stand.
If we know
through Jesus
that the kingdom of Satan
cannot stand,
Is Satan really
divided against Satan?
Sounds complicated.
Why is that important?
[PAUSE]
The Pharisees accuse
Our Lord
of casting out demons
through Beelzebub.
If Satan is divided against Satan
then it is theoretically possible
that the Pharisees are right.
But if Satan is divided
against himself,
then how can the Pharisees
be sure
that they aren't
Casting out devils by Satan?
By saying thatJesus
casts out demons
by the prince of demons
the Pharisees have just
cast doubt on
their own ability
to cast out demons.
Their sons will judge the Pharisees
for blaspheming against them
as well as for
blaspheming against Jesus.
It is not the house of Satan
that is divided,
it is the Pharisees' houses.
[PAUSE]
This is why blasphemy
against the Holy Ghost
shall not be forgiven.
If you cannot recognise
what good is
and decide that only
your decisions are good
then you have nowhere to go
but to yourself.
There can be no Kingdom of Heaven
other than your own self.
This is why division
is a serious business
on the Church.
[PAUSE]
There is a difference
between a division in the Church
and a division from the Church.
The reasons for division
must be carefully considered.
Ultimately,
a division from the Church
must come from
a lack of love for God
and love for other people.
Our Lord says
that whoever is not for Him
is against Him.
He also says that
whoever is not against Christ
is for Him.
There is no middle ground.
The Church is bound together
in Love, Goodness,
Truth and Beauty.
Where these are to be found
so is God.
There may be divisions
due to doctrine,
to authority
and to practice
but where true love is
Christ must be there Himself..
It means that it is not our business
to demonise any human being.
It is our business
to recognise where the Devil
is trying to work
in our lives
and then to ask the Holy Ghost
- the Finger of God -
to cast him out.
We must always be
more ready to accuse ourselves
of having a devil
than to accuse
another person.
[PAUSE]
The Lord says,
"blessed are they that
hear the word of God, and keep it."
That is how
we can be sure that
we don't have a devil
and that we separate ourselves
from sin, the world and the devil
to stand in the
Indivisible House of God
forever.
Monday, February 26, 2024
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