Sunday, March 31, 2024

The business of standing and staring

Sermon for the Feast of the Resurrection

We've been minding
our own business
this Lent
trying to understand
how the things
we busy ourselves with
fit with our Faith.

We've been asking,
"Is our everyday faith the Faith?"

[PAUSE]

But today is not like everyday.

Today,
we stand at the door of the tomb
staring in
looking at the folded graveclothes
and the napkin lying by itself
trying to make sense
of what has happened.

And we are not alone.

For many people 
stand by us gazing into
the tomb
but they are very busy indeed
asking what has happened,
arguing and debating,
looking for clues and evidence
looking for a lack of clues
and evidence.

Many people busy themselves
with trying to deconstruct
the tomb
to show it's all a myth
an illusion
a folly of history.

Other people busy themselves
today
showing that the empty tomb
that we gaze into
is a historical fact.

Yes!

Yes it is a historical fact.

But we don't always need
to have to prove that it is.

We don't always need to argue
with those who rubbish 
the Resurrection.

Sometimes,
we just need to stand and stare
into the empty tomb
and allow our spirit
to busy itself
drinking in the Truth
basking in the Light
that ruptures this world's 
business of transaction
and competition
of evidence and matter.

The difference is
that the world will still 
stand and stare into the empty tomb
and try and make it fit
with its interpretation
that the dead do not rise.

But we, 
above the chatter of those
who seek to explain what they see 
before then,
we hear the invitation
to stop standing and staring;
we hear the invitation
to turn around
and listen to the angels
tell us that HE IS RISEN!

The world is deaf to that,
but we need not be,
we must not be.

Because we know 
that sometimes
our business is not doing,
sometimes 
our business is just 
to stand still 
and look up into the face
of the Risen Lord
and that's all we need to be doing.

We don't need to be
agonising about fasting,
we don't need to be 
calculating our alms,
we don't need to be 
finding the right prayer
in the Prayerbook.

Sometimes,
we just need
to stand still,
see Him with us,
and unite our everyday faith
with the Faith of Today,
the Faith of Easter Day
with the words
"My Lord and My God."

This is the day 
that the Lord hath made.

Let us rejoice and be glad in it.

Monday, March 25, 2024

Sunday, March 24, 2024

Question for Palm Sunday

In lieu of a sermon for Palm Sunday, I ask one question to consider in the Long Gospel:

Who do you think is busiest in today's Gospel?

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.