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Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Sex and the Baptist

 



How the laws of the world try to behead the Church.

Saturday, August 26, 2023

Spitting image

Sermon for the twelfth Sunday after Trinity

It's rather disgusting.

Would you want
someone else's spit
on your tongue?

Even if they were trying 
to cure you?

[PAUSE]

It really isn't pleasant
to talk about spittle
and even mentioning it
make you feel uncomfortable
or even nauseous.

The fact is
that human beings
have to learn 
what disgusts us.

We are not born 
with knowledge of 
what's disgusting.

We learn by other people's
reactions.

Still,
someone putting their spit
on your tongue 
definitely sounds
rather unpleasant.

In the Old Testament,
it is regarded
as a mark of contempt
to spit in someone's face.

We still think that now.

The Greek word for spit
is ptoo-o.

You can hear it, can't you?

That's exactly the word
that St Mark uses
when he tells us
how Our Lord spits 
- ptoo! -
and is touching this man's tongue.

Behold, 
it is loosened
and the man is speaking.

There is certainly no contempt here.

So there is a difference 
between how spitting
is regarded.

Our Lord's actions are not
of those who will spit upon Him
on the day of His crucifixion.

Our Lord's actions
are nearer to the parent
rubbing off the dirt 
on their child's face 
with a bit of spit on a tissue.

However aware we are
of the germs and diseases,
or of the general ickiness
of someone else's spit,
we cannot deny the love of a parent
cleaning their children with a little spit.

[PAUSE]

We are presented with Jesus
as Creator here,
for He is creating a tongue 
that will speak praises
using the very substance of His own flesh.

In spitting,
He not only shows that He is human
but that He is divine
and that He is willing to share 
His divine nature with us
at the most intimate level
even as He shares 
His human nature with us
at the most intimate level.

[PAUSE]

Sometimes, 
the obstacle that is in front of us
is the assumption which
we have learned as children
and have carried into our lives.

Our Lord's spit
may give us the shivers,
but it should actually
draw us nearer into the mystery
of His Divine Majesty.

That should give us
shivers of awe and wonder
and allow Him to become
more present to us,
unloosing our tongues
to sing His praise and glory
for eternity.


Monday, August 21, 2023

Family truths

 

How sin, forgiveness, love and truth are part of the human family.

Saturday, August 19, 2023

Writing the Gospel

Sermon for the eleventh Sunday after Trinity

"Through the words of this Gospel,
may our sins be blotted out."

The priest says these words
immediately after
the Gospel is read.

St Paul says that 
we are saved by the Gospel.

What does this mean?

[PAUSE]

We know 
that Jesus is our salvation.

Only through Him 
do we enter into Eternal life
with God,
free from sin,
free from pain,
free from despair,
free from death.

If we are saved by the Gospel,
then Jesus is the Gospel.

You know that
Gospel means 
"Good News"
and this makes sense,
for knowing Our Lord
is indeed good news.

How many Gospels are there?

[PAUSE]

You might say that
there is only one
because
there is only one Jesus.

Of course,
we know that there are 
four pieces of writing
which we call Gospels:
Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John.

There are other writings
outside the Bible 
that are called Gospels
but which are not actually
true Gospels,
such as
the Gospel of Phillip,
the Gospel of Mary Magdalene
the Gospel of Thomas.

These are usually texts which have been written over a century after
the true Gospels are written.

But St Paul also talks about
the Gospel he brings
and yet he speaks of
other gospels,
ones which mislead people,
gospels which he calls accursed.

So what is the true Gospel?

If that true Gospel is Our Lord,
what does this mean?

[PAUSE]

Our Lord is not 
a piece of writing,
nor is He a news report.

Certainly we read about Jesus
in the words of 
Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John,
but He isn't the words of 
Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John.

We are not saved 
by the words of
Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John.

We are saved by 
The Word of God.

It is the Gospel 
that is written by Our Lord
through His act
of Incarnation.

By taking our flesh
and being made Man,
He writes the Gospel 
in His own life.

If Jesus is the Life
then how His life 
plays out in our lives,
in our experience,
In our understanding
is the Gospel which saves us
and to which
Matthew, Mark,
Luke and John
bear witness.

The Four Gospels present
the One Gospel
telling the true story of Christ
and in which
we encounter Him truly.

If we listen to the Apostles
and Evangelists
not only do we hear the history
of the Incarnation
but we also hear our own history
as children of God
written in Eternity
by the Word of God Himself.

As we tell each other
the truth about Jesus Christ,
we tell the story of
how sinners are truly forgiven,
how the sick are truly healed,
how the dead are truly raised.

We tell not just a story,
but we tell what is real.

[PAUSE]

St John reminds us that,
just as he writes things down
so that we might believe
so also our lives
are written in the Book of Life
which is written 
by the Word of God
in the Word of God
in the Gospel of God.

The words of our salvation
are written in reality
rather than on paper.

Only the Creator can do that.

Through the words of this Gospel 
our sins are truly blotted out.



Monday, August 14, 2023

Saturday, August 12, 2023

Weeping matters

Sermon for the ninth Sunday after Trinity

Why do we care about climate change?

After all, if we follow Christ,
we will be with Him 
for Eternity
in the New Jerusalem.

Surely, we don't have to worry
about patching up
the old Creation
but just sit and wait for the new one
to descend from Heaven
just as St John sees happen.

Of course,
you see the problem with this attitude,
don't you?

[PAUSE]

Jesus is standing,
looking out over Jerusalem
and He weeps.

He weeps for 
the coming destruction,
for the razing of the temple
and its reduction to rubble.

He weeps that 
Jerusalem has missed Him,
has ignored Him,
has mocked Him,
and will crucify Him.

If He has any confidence 
in His own ability 
to save,
to create,
to release from slavery,
then surely
He would not need
to weep 
over Jerusalem.

Why weep?

[PAUSE]

The fact that Our Lord is weeping
shows that what he is weeping about
is affecting Him deeply.

In His human nature,
He weeps 
because that is what 
human beings do.

We need understand
why Our Lord is weeping
and this is clear from what He says.

The people refuse to hear Him.

He has come 
with salvation,
forgiveness,
redemption
and love
for everyone
- precious, precious gifts -
and nobody 
wants it.

What the people want
is their own version
of religion
a version in which
the temple of God
is filled up
with junk,
things that don't matter,
and blocking the way
for people to worship God
in the temple
in the simple honesty 
of their worship.

Our Lord is weeping
tears of sheer frustration
tears which need to be seen
so that we can know
that our salvation 
is dearer to Our Lord
than it is to us.

The trouble is
that we don't know
just how much we need 
what Christ is offering us.

He speaks of 
the destruction of Jerusalem
as a result of 
rejecting Him.

This destruction
is part of the reason
for His tears.

And He weeps
because this destruction 
could be avoided
if people will turn to Him 
and live.

He weeps because Jerusalem
has chosen her own
snug, comfortable, social version
of God
rather than the true and eternal Christ.

[PAUSE]

Our Lord cares about us
here and now
and wants us to realise
that rejecting Him
will lead to a complete destruction
but accepting Him 
will lead to joy.

He wills us to our perfection
and, in His human nature,
it hurts Him when people 
reject what is truly good.

These are Our Lord's tears
for what is lost.

His victory in the cross 
is that the way to Salvation
is open to everyone single 
human being who has ever lived,
just as the veterans
have won the battle 
for our rights to be free.

But if the door to our prison 
has been opened
then it's up to us to walk out 
rather than choose to sit in darkness.

[PAUSE]

Our Lord's tears are not in vain,
for His Church hears His voice
and clears the temple 
to receive Him
through repentance from sin
and repentance to Him.

The New Jerusalem
is filled with those
who prefer to receive Christ
than to face ruin.

Our duty is to keep 
the Church clear
from worldly matters
that distort and flatten 
the truth from above.

We also have a duty
to look after our world,
not for its sake
nor for our sake
but out of respect
and love
for Almighty God
Who created it.

If Our Lord
can weep over Jerusalem
out of love 
and yet knowing
its destruction,
then our planet's climate 
should matter to us
even if we seek Heaven
rather than Earth.

Tuesday, August 08, 2023

An Anglican Catholic view of Galatians 3:28

 



Why this verse needs to be interpreted correctly in order for the Church to grow.

Saturday, August 05, 2023

Light mountaineering

Sermon for the feast of the Transfiguration

Jesus takes Peter, James and John up the mountain and is transfigured before them.

So many questions in one sentence!

Why does Our Lord take only three disciples up the mountain to be transfigured? 

Why not be transfigured where they are in front of all the disciples?

Why go up a mountain?

Why be transfigured at all?

[PAUSE]

The Church Fathers are not unanimous as to why Our Lord is taking just St Peter, St James and St John with Him up the mountain. We do know that these are the disciples who have the greatest impact on how the Church grows. St Peter founds the Church of Antioch and the Church of Rome. St James is the first disciple to drink the cup of martyrdom after his missionary travels. St John speaks to the world through his Gospel and letters.

All three have a ministry that is seen by the World. Their light shines throughout the world. And where better to shine the light of the world than from the top of a mountain where everyone can see it? 

The Transfiguration acts as a light house a beacon of the Christian faith where a little of Christ's divinity bleeds through into our world from Eternity. This is the light set on the hill. Why do so few people see it?

[PAUSE]

People don't see the light because they prefer darkness. Light shows up the deficiency of our comfortable lives. It is those who accept the truth of how much they lack in living who begin to seek the light.

Seeking the light means a struggle - a long climb up the mountain of our cold, hard and rocky existence when it would be easier to let go and fall back into the comfortable darkness, accepting that our lives are flawed and living with those flaws rather than seeking the light.

But it is Jesus who is taking Peter, James and John up the mountain to meet the Light. Jesus is not just the end of our struggle to the light, He is the means by which we find it. He is the Light by which we see the Light. He is accompanying us in our struggles even when the darkness prevents us from seeing Him.

St Peter, St James and St John are the ones who are called to witness the Transfiguration at the express and clear decision of Our Lord for His purposes and we may not know precisely what these purposes are. Their ministries to us give us some idea of why, but it is clear that they struggle with Our Lord up the mountain to see the Light of the World. This mountain is their struggle.

The other disciples have their own mountains. One disciple will let go of his struggle and fall back into the darkness, but the others will see the Light and bring others to the Light as a result of their ordeal.

[PAUSE]

We, too, have our cross to bear and our mountain to climb. We cannot reach the Light without climbing. We cannot be a Christian without an arduous struggle against our fallen selves. We cannot be a Christian without accepting that we are flawed but then we cannot be a Christian by accepting those flaws as a part of us. 

Thankfully, the Christ that we see transfigured at the top of the mountain is the same Christ Who climbs with us bearing His cross and giving us strength to bear ours.