The chains of sin and the chains of thinking

 

How being legalistic can make chains for the innocent.

The world in Church clothing?

Sermon for the eighth Sunday after Trinity

You have probably read the book,

“God is not Great”

by the late Christopher Hitchens.

He is of the opinion that

Religion poisons everything.

Is he right?

[PAUSE]

Our Lord is very clear.

A good tree produces good fruit;  

an evil tree produces evil fruit.

The idea is quite simple –

we know how good something is

by the effects that it has

on its surroundings.

For those outside the Church,

how does the Church look to them?

What effects has the Church had

on the world around it?

Well, here we begin

to meet people who say that

the church has damaged them.

We see people who say that

the church supports slavery.

We hear people say that

the church supports

sexism,

racism,

homophobia.

We hear of people talk about

the abuse that is going on in the Church

and which is being covered up

by priests and bishops rather

than being brought into the light

and dealt with according to the Law.

The abuse scandals are dreadful

and they damage the Church

because people outside the church

hold the church to the same standards

that our Lord gives.

A good tree produces good fruit,

a bad tree produces bad fruit.

Is the church a good tree or a bad tree?

[PAUSE]

Certainly,

we can look into history

and see how God punishes Israel

for falling away.

We can see how

the apostasy of the Hebrews

results in captivity in Babylon

and why the temple is destroyed by the Romans.

That would suggest that Israel is not a good tree.

You can probably see the problem.

The Church and Israel are

made up of individuals –

individuals whose actions

affect the whole society.

When we look at

what Jesus is actually saying,

we say that he is talking about

those who seek to lead the church,

those who seek to lead Israel's religion.

He is not holding the whole Church

or all of Israel to account,

but the Church and Israel together

suffer the results of the evil fruit

born from evil rulers.

[PAUSE}

We are born in sin.

We are not born sinners,

but from the moment of our birth,

we are surrounded by

the effects of the sins of other people

which weaken us and lead us astray.

It's also true to say

from the moment of our birth,

we are surrounded by

the effects of the good work of other people

which strengthen us

and lead us to God.

The society in which we are born

is filled with this chaotic struggle

between evil and good

and the effects of good works and sin.

The Lord is also clear

that the tree is judged by

the fruit that it bears when the fruit is ripe.

Even good fruit tastes wrong

when it is unripe.

So it is unfair

to judge the whole

based on the actions

of some of its members

at any given moment in time.

To see the good of the Church as a whole,

we need to see it in complete maturity.

That can't happen until the end.

But we can see some evil effects.

We can see evil

when abuse is committed

and covered up.

We can see evil

when the innocent

are corrupted.

We can see evil

when people are convinced that

they are better to be at home

rather than go to Church.

 We see evil when the faith of other Christians

is trodden under foot.

[PAUSE]

The trouble is that

we can't do anything

about the evil trees in our midst.

We can only deal with their effects.

One of the great successes

is that the Church shows us

what good and evil are.

We can only judge that abuse is evil

because we know what good is

and that this is still in Society around us.

The fact that Society knows that

slavery is wrong

means that

the teaching of the Church that

every human being is a dearly loved creation of God

regardless of race, sex, or any other aspect

has been learned in the world around us.

Of course,

from outside the Church

it is possible that what gets called good

might not really be good,

and what gets called evil

might not really be evil,

especially when evil seeks

to convince good people to change the rules

for something that is good in appearance

but hides evil under its sheepskin coat.

Without the Faith of the Church,

society cannot make the moral judgement

because the moral judgement

is grounded in Almighty God –

the same God Whom they have rejected

because of the sins of His followers.

In rejecting Him,

they reject the grounds

to judge the wolves in sheep’s clothing.

We cannot change

the evil effects in our midst,

but we can show the world

how to live a good life

by doing just that.

If we know God,

then we know what good is,

because whatever is good

by definition

follows the will of God

and fulfils His purpose.

All we can do is

to live lives dedicated to God

for then,

if we are a good tree,

we will bear good fruit

whether or not

the tree next to us is evil

and thus bearing evil fruit.

[PAUSE]

Christopher Hitchens is quite right

to call out instances of the evil

in the Church.

He can only do so

because the Church

has a moral law given to it by God

and which can be seen by all mankind.

We should be thankful for that

but we must make sure that

it is God who determines what is good

and not the Devil under his cloak of light.

St James - a legendary saint!

 

What does a Christian do when faced with legend in the lives of the saints?

The Devil's Protection Racket

Sermon for the seventh Sunday after Trinity

How do you understand the word yield?

Saint Paul tells us that we have yielded our members servants to uncleanness. We often understand the word yield as meaning to give something up after a struggle. For example, we might think of soldiers yielding to the onslaught of the enemy. All we might think of a yield of grain, that is what the wheat gives up to us at harvest time. If we have yielded to unrighteousness, does that mean evil has conquered us?

[PAUSE]

It's true that we are in the midst of a battle with sin. Every day we are tempted to sin and often we fall into sin. Often we lose our battle against temptation, does that mean we are in danger of death?

It's important to understand what St Paul means here. When he says yield, he doesn't mean that our life is ripped away from us as the spoils of our war with sin. He actually means that we offer ourselves to sin in some kind of protection racket led by the Devil. Look at him tempting Our Lord with an easy life if only He would bow down and worship him. The Devil means that we see sin as the stronger power and so we pay it service so that we choose the path of least resistance in order not to get hurt and rather live a quieter life. If we don't, he promises us a hard life of persecution and temptation.

St Paul is saying that before we encounter Our Lord’s Incarnation, we live lives which trouble us least and this means sinning in order to go with the flow. We allow ourselves to become servants of uncleanness because that’s what everyone else is doing, and what everyone else is benefitting from.

The temptation is to see ourselves as victims of sin and that we cannot do anything but sin against God. If we succumb to this temptation then we spend our lives cowering in fear of sin and death and this is not the life that Christ wants for us for perfect love casts out fear.

St Paul says that the Devil’s protection racket is a sham. We have a choice. We always have a choice. We are not so far conquered by sin that our service to uncleanness is inevitable, for he tells us to yield ourselves as servants to righteousness and holiness. He is presenting us with a different narrative for our lives.

Before we meet the Lord, the stronger pull on our lives is our own belly, our own righteousness, our own intellect blinded to the truth of God. When Christ Our God appears, our eyes are opened. No longer are Sin, the World and the Devil the strongest forces in our lives, but Christ is. We see Christ the conqueror on the Cross, crucifying the powers of evil. We see Christ bursting the gates of Hades in triumph to open the way of righteousness for all those who have died. We see Christ rising again and destroying the sting of death.

This means that our battle has ceased to be a foregone conclusion. We may be weak in the face of the temptations of evil, but we have one who has already won the war on our behalf. It means that while we often fall into sin, we need not see ourselves as victims anymore. To define ourselves as victims means that we have been utterly conquered by our oppressors so that we cannot accept that in paying dues to sin, we make others victims too. To be a victim means that we cannot forgive because to forgive would rob us of our identity as a victim. To say that our sin is inevitable means that we have given up the fight to be with Our Lord.

Our lives are not defined by victimhood but rather by growth in Christ. This means a life of struggle against sin in which we fall many, many times in the same old ways. It means struggling against our weakness, struggling against our need to be accepted by the world, struggling not to take the path of least resistance and to swim up against the flow. If we truly believe that Christ has conquered sin and death then our focus and duty is in the service of righteousness and holiness whereby God makes us right with Him and sets our lives apart for Him.

[PAUSE]

The Devil’s protection racket tempts us to focus on being a victim. If the Cross shows us that Christ is the perfect victim then His victimhood bursts the power of Hell wide open. There’s no need for us to pay any more heed to sin but rather to turn and grow in Christ.

 

St Osmund - a true Anglican Catholic

 

Why rite and ritual matter in God's Holy Church.

You fool!

Sermon for the sixth Sunday after Trinity

Is Jesus in danger of Hellfire?

"Of course not," you say,

"What a silly thing to say!"

But listen.

Our Lord says clearly,

"whosoever shall say, 

Thou fool, shall be 

in danger of hell fire."

But later, 

He says to the Pharisees,

"Ye fools and blind: 

for whether is greater, 

the gold, or the temple 

that sanctifieth the gold?

Ye fools and blind:

for whether is greater, 

the gift, or the altar 

that sanctifieth the gift?"

Twice does He call 

the Pharisees fools.

Surely, by His own words,

Jesus is in danger of Hellfire.

[PAUSE]

Of course Our Lord

sits at the right hand 

of the Father in Glory.

So what's happening here.

What does Our Lord mean

by calling someone

a fool

and why are we 

in danger of Hellfire 

if we do?

The word for fool

that Our Lord is using

has a sense of being unable to speak.

In fact, 

it might be related 

to our word

"mystery".

A fool does not know

what he is talking about.

To be a fool

is not to understand anything,

and to pretend that you do.

When Our Lord calls 

the Pharisees fools

He is speaking the truth

because they are blind

to the truth of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

He knows that 

they don't know 

what they are talking about

but are leading the people astray

and giving them 

unfair burdens to bear.

If Our Lord is justified

in calling Pharisees fools,

why can't we call people fools

if they don't know 

what they are talking about?

[PAUSE]

You already know the answer.

We might be wrong.

To judge another's knowledge

as being wrong 

means we have to be certain

that we are right.

We are judged

in the same way we judge others.

Our Lord judges 

the Pharisees fools

not for their damnation

but their salvation.

He shakes them

in love

so that they can see the truth

and that others see the truth.

But we don't have 

the same authority

because we don't have 

perfect knowledge

or perfect love.

It means that

we have to examine

ourselves

to see why we think

that someone is a fool.

We also need to 

examine ourselves

to ensure that

the person we think is foolish

is still someone

we love as a human being.

Our Lord makes it clear

that we are only justified

in calling someone a fool

to save them from Hellfire

out of love for them

and of God

and not for any sense

of our pride

or moral superiority.

This is why 

calling someone a fool

leads into danger of Hellfire.

Hellfire can only be avoided

by Love

and by Truth.

[PAUSE]

Our Lord 

is the Way out 

of the pains of Hellfire.

We would be

fools

not to follow Him!

Bound by Benedict

 

Why religion is inescapable.

The heart of the community

Sermon for the fifth Sunday after Trinity

You do all that anyway, 

don't you?

You're compassionate,

kind,

loving, 

courteous, 

considerate

and, rather than curse,

you bless people.

Of course you do! 

At least to everyone you meet.

But what about online?

[PAUSE]

It doesn't take long

on Social Media

before unpleasantness starts,

especially between Sci Fi fans 

and, sadly,

religious groups.

There is a lot of media,

videos, blogs, groups

which have titles such as

"Craig destroys Oppy"

or 

"Fradd shames White".

What they mean 

is that Craig and Fradd

have put forward

convincing reasons

why Oppy and Tate are wrong.

Notice how the use of language

is sensationalist

and designed to get

an emotional reaction,

designed to make you post a message

designed to make you interact

and keep interacting

so that social media platforms

earn more money from

advertising and promotions 

Craig, Oppy, Fradd and White

conduct themselves

with nothing less than

human respect and decency

in their discussions,

but the internet distorts their debates

into something that 

has greater importance

than it deserves.

Do you notice

that social media

is trying to distort 

your view of the world

and encourage you to be

angry?

[PAUSE]

St Peter wants to promote harmony.

Christians are meant 

to be together,

to look out for one another

and those outside the Church.

He exhorts us to be caring.

To love rather than hate.

To bless rather than curse.

To run away from evil

and to embrace what is good.

This is easier in a physical community

in which we see people face to face

and recognise the humanity

they share with us.

But, social media is different.

You sit alone

and all you may well be doing

is interacting with a box of lights

that reduces a human being 

to text on a screen.

It is because

the humanity of another

is obscured

that our sense of community

goes out the window.

It's easy to spread hate

when you don't see the person

whom you are hating.

[PAUSE]

St Peter doesn't need to know the internet

to help us know what we should be doing.

We are courteous and kind

for the good of other people,

but our motivation must come

from the love that we cultivate

within our souls.

We aren't courteous

because we fear the shame

that faces us if we are discourteous.

We are courteous

because courtesy is good.

We share,

not out of a sense of obligation,

but because sharing is good.

All good things come from God.

If we love God,

then courtesy,

kindness,

blessing and love

are things that we desire

precisely because they come from God

and not from Society.

Many people will tell you

that living the moral life

is something made by 

the society around us.

This means that Society

thinks that the moral life

is something it determines

and thus controls 

and, if you act in a way

that Society finds disagreeable,

then you will be held up 

to ridicule

and hatred

and never, ever be forgiven.

But God is not like that.

From Him, 

we will always receive love,

and kindness

and courtesy

even when things around us

are so black 

that we cannot even feel

His love for us.

It's because of Him

and His regard for us

that we show the same regard

for other people.

[PAUSE]

The way we interact online

should be just as we react offline.

We may appear to be alone

in front of the computer screen

but God is with us

and we remain His Church

in everything we do.

Our conduct online

should be shrewd as vipers

in recognising the traps of the Enemy

to get angry and post things

that belittle others

or make a mountain

out of a molehill, 

but we should also be

as innocent as doves

seeking always to interact

in a way that recognises the humanity

of the person we disagree with

and offer the same hand of friendship

that God has offered to us 

still bearing the wound of the nail.

[PAUSE]

Both St Peter and St Paul 

bid us to have God's mind,

and to hold it at all times,

especially when we are tempted

to think we are alone 

and can't be seen.

This way Society loses its power.

But, faced with such a threat,

Society will seek to punish those

who refuse to recognise its hold.

That's when the hateful messages start.

That's when we respond

with the most profound blessings

we can muster.

An Anglican Catholic view of Purgatory and prayers for the dead

 

Why praying for the dead is more natural than the doctrine of Purgatory.

For similar views on the relationship we have with the Saints, please see here:

The Hope of Dust

Sermon for the fourth Sunday after Trinity

“Vanity, vanity, all is vanity!”

Thus says the Preacher of Ecclesiastes.

What is vanity?

Well, if we do something in vain,

then there's no point in doing it.

There is no value in the outcome.

Something is done in vain

if it changes nothing.

So what does Saint Paul mean

when he says that

Creation is made subject to vanity?

 

[PAUSE]

 

It looks as if Saint Paul is saying

that our suffering is worthless.

If creation is subject to vanity,

then it can change nothing.

Creation has no effect on what is happening.

Our suffering,

which Saint Paul says,

is not to be compared with heavenly things,

is a thing of creation.

So it appears that whatever we do,

there is no point to it.

There is nothing we can do.

Our creation produces nothing.

 

[PAUSE]

 

It can't mean that can it?

If all our actions are worthless,

why are we commanded by our Lord

to preach the gospel at all?

Why does Saint Paul himself

offer himself up to all the

humiliations,

sufferings

and pain

even to martyrdom

if it is of no avail?

 

Saint Paul is very clear that,

in order for anything to have worth,

it must be given Grace

because Grace perfects Nature.

This means that

because God is the only One

Who deserves worship,

He gives worth to whatever

He is involved with

just by being involved in it.

Creation of itself

produces nothing that is eternal.

If modern cosmology is correct,

the Universe will

expand

and expand

and expand

until all the things are

far apart, cold and lifeless.

In this Universe,

at the end of time,

there isn't even dust.

As far as this Universe is concerned,

we are worthless

because there is

no lasting worth to give.

 

[PAUSE]

 

Saint Paul says that human beings

face the same corruption and decay

because we are things of Creation

but, crucially, we are given Hope.

 

Hope is not a vague emotion.

It's not the hope of,

“I hope it's not going to rain today.”

It's about looking to the future

with all its uncertainty

while holding the hand of God.

We have no knowledge

of the future

except that it is all destined for dust.

With our hand in God's,

we find ourselves

with the possibility of true worth,

because God alone possesses all worth.

He alone is to be given worship.

 

The world tempts us to lose hope.

We see that in the way that

important issues like

climate change

and how wars are progressing

and whether there is a threat

of a nuclear explosion.

Modern news services

seem to be alarmist in nature,

designed to take away the hope

that human beings should have

for the future.

But for the point of view of Creation,

it will all end as dust

and be blown

and scattered to the furthermost reaches

of the Universe.

Our Lord says there will be wars

and rumours of wars.

He tells us of pestilences,

famines,

invading armies

and even of the destruction

of the Temple.

That is what this Creation offers us apart from God.

But Grace perfects Nature.

The active presence of God

gives Nature its purpose

and an end that is filled with His glory.

If we trust Him,

then our universe ends in God

for eternity.

God subjects his creation to vanity

in order to give us hope that,

being freed from sin,

we might be washed,

justified,

sanctified,

and glorified in Him.

 

[PAUSE]

 

Without the Cross

our hope is vain.

Without the Cross

our future is dust.

Without the Cross

our suffering,

pains,

terror

and misery

mean nothing.

In God

all our sufferings

become as much badges of honour

as the wounds on

the hands,

feet

and side

of Our Lord.

All suffering in hope

becomes something

of which we can be proud

because it is a sign of

our perfection in God's grace.

The Cross is not vanity.

In Grace, neither are we.