How does a Christian eat a KitKat?

Sermon for the fifteenth Sunday after Trinity

Try getting into a lift 

and stand facing 

one of the back two corners.

What about eating a KitKat

without breaking it

into separate fingers,

but rather taking a big bite

out of one corner 

across the fingers?

Or cutting a piece of

a circular cake 

without going through the centre?

You might feel uncomfortable

at even the thought of 

these horrible actions.

But why?

[PAUSE]

Of themselves,

these aren't bad actions.

But they seem to defy

other people's expectations.

You won't be imprisoned

on the charge of 

improper consumption

of a KitKat

but it isn't what's expected

by society.

Should the correct

cutting of a cake

be legislated?

Or the opening of a boiled egg

at the little end?

[PAUSE]

Society does influence

how we make choices

and it is our desire

to be part of Society

that gives social customs 

their power over us

and why we feel awkward

when we break them.

Try not saying "please" 

or "thank you" for a day

or even an hour.

But social convention

is not in control of our salvation.

We are not saved by 

serving Society.

[PAUSE]

St Paul is very clear.

Christians do not need circumcision.

Nor should a Christian be forced 

to be circumcised.

The Covenant of Jesus Christ

is with all humanity 

not just the Children of Israel.

The source of all goodness,

the means of our perfection

and the one who determines

the structure of the Heavenly Society,

is God.

You are well aware 

of the difference

between being moral

and obeying social customs.

The difficulty comes

when people use

social customs

to control how people act.

Any society holds together

when people agree on the rules

of being together.

To be Jewish,

it is necessary to accept

circumcision

as part of belonging

Jewish society.

Although Our Lord is Jewish

it is not necessary to be Jewish

in order to find salvation

in Him.

It is not Our Lord's Jewishness

that saves us,

it is He Who saves us

being God Incarnate.

[PAUSE]

The temptation is to see the Church

only as a society

within secular society,

as if secular society

were the be all and end all.

The Church is a family

before it is a society.

Saying that the Church is a society

is like saying

that a human being 

is just an organised clump of cells,

a thing of bones, blood and organs.

To say that the Church is a society

misses the living principle

by which it exists

and is united to Almighty God Himself.

The law within the Church

is that we become like Christ

through love

cleansing our actions

by purifying our intentions

in the Mind of Christ.

That's how we Christians

exist within society.

We see the rules and customs

for what they are

and measuring them up

to belonging in Christ.

But we don't break these 

rules and customs

out of disdain or snobbishness

but we treat them with respect

and generosity.

But we do not let social rules

and customs

determine our Salvation in Christ.

But isn't our liturgy

a custom that controls us?

Our worship might be

framed by the Liturgy,

but the Liturgy is there 

to help us 

worship God together

with Christians now

and Christians past

and Christians yet to come,

and for us to share 

the living principle

that is Jesus Christ Our Lord

Who binds the whole Church

together.

[PAUSE]

We let the rule of Christ

determine our Salvation

because that rule is unity with Him.

... And not with a KitKat.