Firing the Synod

Sermon preached at the XXXth Synod of the Anglican Catholic Diocese of the United Kingdom

The planet Jupiter

is fascinating

for many reasons.

It is the largest planet

we know

in our Solar System.

The Great Red Storm

on its surface

is more than

twice the size of our planet.

It has the largest number of natural moons

that we know of

and a magnetic field that probably

helped shape our Solar System.

Its gravity is enough

to trap the larger rocks into its orbit

thereby saving planet Earth

a bit of a bashing.

However, the planet Jupiter is a failure.

Despite its vast size,

it hasn't enough gravity

to compress and combust

the gas that forms it.

Jupiter could have been another star,

but it failed to ignite. 

[PAUSE] 

Ten virgins,

all pure as the driven snow,

all chaste,

all demure,

all socially acceptable,

all preserved from stain.

Yet only five get to go into the wedding feast.

The other five failed to ignite

because they didn't have enough oil.

What do we see here?

The pattern should be familiar to you:

it is not the following of social rules

that gets you into Heaven.

It's not the impression of sanctity

or holiness that cause our Salvation.

It's more than that.

There may be something important lacking.

Something internal.

Jupiter lacks enough substance

so it cannot burn.

The Virgins lack oil in their lamps,

so they cannot shine their light.

Having the appearance of the right materials

is not enough for the fire to start.

What is lacking?

[PAUSE]

We remember today St Catherine of Siena.

She is a noted Doctor of the Church.

So what is her diagnosis of those

who cannot start a fire?

What does she say is lacking?

She says quite clearly,

"be who you are meant to be

and you will set the world on fire!" 

Is she right? 

Many would say, "yes!"

but for precisely

the wrong reason.

We know full well that the Church isn't

about being who you want to be.

That’s the mistake the World makes.

The person of the world says,

"I am who I say I am.

Accept it, or else!" 

Listen to that again.

"I am who I say I am!"

You can really hear the problem, can't you?

Only One can say,

"I am that I am!"

and He rules the Universe.

It precisely this reason that

Traditional Christian Religion

is not popular at the moment.

It is precisely this reason

that some Christians

are trying to change the Church

so that it will say,

"you are who you say you are

and God loves you for that."

That is, of course, unbiblical,

unfounded

and unmitigated rubbish!

[PAUSE]

God loves you for who you are

- this is true.

But loving you means

a burning desire for your good.

God loves you

so that you shine as the person

He created you to be.

He desires your good.

But what is your good?

Nothing less than your perfection in Him.

We are to be perfect even as our Heavenly Father is perfect.

The Church is about

you being who you are meant to be.

Who you are meant to be

is God's decision, not yours.

Only God gives meaning.

Now, God created you

but He also allows you the freedom

to shape your life as you see fit.

That is part of the glory of being human:

we get a say our own creation.

We are indeed free

to be whoever we think we are.

But, leaving God out

of our lives of self-creation

means we will never be

who we are meant to be.

We cannot be perfect without God. 

 

[PAUSE]

In trying to become who we want to be,

we do set the world on fire.

The fire we cause destroys.

We burn up the world around us.

We burn up our environment,

our community,

our family and friends

and even ourselves,

just to get our own way.

We want what we want and,

literally,

to Hell with the consequences!

Just to become the person

that we want to be,

we cut off our noses to spite our face

in glorious vindictiveness

against God Himself

Who tries to show us who we really are

in His love.

We would rather burn up than let God ignite us.

We would rather disintegrate

into the ash of our own making

rather than shine like stars for all eternity.

[PAUSE]

But we needn't destroy.

Look at the burning bush

– aflame with the glory of God,

burning with a fire that illuminates

the sight of Man

to see God once more.

But the bush is not consumed.

It does not burn away,

and Moses catches fire from it

and he does not burn away.

 His face shines so that

people cannot look at him

for he burns with God's fire

and yet he does not burn away.

That is what we are meant to be.

This is what the Church is for.

We are the lamp for the world

set upon the hill for all to see.

We are like Abba Lot.

[PAUSE]

The desert father, Abba Lot,

goes to see the elderly Abba Joseph

and says to him,

 “Abba, as far as I can I say my Little Office.

I fast a little.

I pray.

I meditate.

I live in peace and,

as far as I can,

I purify my thoughts.

What else am I to do?”

Abba Joseph, in his great age,

stands up,

stretches his hands towards heaven

and his fingers become like ten lamps of fire,

and he says to Abba Lot,

“If you will, you can become all flame.”

We have all the ingredients to burn:

we have the Catholic Faith,

a Catholic Bishop,

a Catholic Liturgy.

We have Bible, Altar, Font.

We have the Church Fathers,

the authority to remit sins,

the Holy Sacraments, 

the Word of God Himself!

We have everything we need to burn.

We just need to be

who we are meant to be.

We just need the humility

to accept who God means us to be.

We need to struggle and be prepared to struggle because of this discrepancy

between who we really are 

and who we want to be.

Like Jacob, we wrestle with God

over our own existence

until, out of love,

He puts our hips out of joint,

so that we might understand

and accept ourselves in Him.

And who are we meant to be?

 

[PAUSE]

We are the Anglican Catholic Church

and we are meant to be exactly that.

As a part of the wider Catholic Church,

we are meant to bear the Faith once delivered to the saints,

the Faith that applies

at all times, in all places and for everybody,

to the English-speaking and English-cultured people.

We are to help people struggle with Life,

in the midst of our own struggles with Life,

so that all might find God.

This is what we are meant to be

and this is how

we are to set the world ablaze.

We can only do so if we hold together

in the unity of the Holy Ghost,

living our lives alongside the saints,

 like St Catherine,

who only appear to have died

and whose lives still burn brightly with God.

We can only do so if we are humble before God and each other.

If we shame the world by laying aside

our own hobby-horses,

our own selfish desires,

 our own self-importance

in order to share the same

Communion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

and thus further the burning love of God

for mankind in a world

that is growing cold.

[PAUSE]

 

Do you know who God means you to be?

How will you set the world on fire?