Monday, November 25, 2024
Sunday, November 24, 2024
Food for the journey
Sermon for the Sunday next before Advent
Today is the last Sunday
of the Liturgical year
and we find ourselves
on the mountain
with a great company
of men, women and children
who have gathered
to hear the Word of God.
Why here?
Why do we end our year
on the top of the mountain
with a hungry multitude?
[PAUSE]
The Church year
ends on the Saturday before Advent
and begins on Advent Sunday.
To be pedantic,
the beginning of the Liturgical day
is at sunset,
so Advent starts
at Sundown on the Saturday,
but this just emphasises
the completion of
the day,
the week,
the month,
the year.
With the setting of the sun,
the year goes round again.
And we go round again too,
not in a circle,
we never end up
exactly where we started.
We are travelling
along a groove
in an old LP vinyl record
slowly spiralling inwards
towards the centre.
Each Advent
we have completed
another circuit of the liturgy
through the many
Sundays after Trinity
which make Christmas
and Easter seem
a long way off.
It's a long journey every year
and today is the day
when we sit at the mountain
and take stock.
We begin to look at
how we have grown
in the Holy Ghost
and how we need
to work at repentance
for the year ahead.
We come again to the mountain.
And we are hungry and thirsty.
And ahead of us
is our next journey
to Bethlehem
to register for the census.
It's all a bit relentless.
Round and round and round we go
and where we stop
nobody knows.
[PAUSE]
Our ears prick up
as we hear the Holy Voice say,
"whence shall we buy bread
that these may eat?"
In our tiredness
our sadness,
our jadedness
and weariness with this world
and our journey through it
we hear the voice of the One
Who cares that we should not starve
or faint with hunger.
And then we hear
a voice of discouragement,
"Two hundred penny-worth of bread
is not sufficient for them,
that everyone of them
may take a little."
This voice of discouragement
always seems to be with us
always trying to scratch
a hole in our hope,
dampen our joy
turn us towards the ground.
Every year,
we approach Christmas
dreading the usual voices
claim that Christmas is a pagan holiday.
(It isn't,
Saturnalia
was never
on Christmas Day.)
Or the grumbling
about presents
and decorations
which has been going on now
since before Halloween!
The world's voices
seek to crowd out
our hope
which, at the end
of another year's journey
is in short supply.
Do we really have
to go around again?
Why can't Jesus return now?
[PAUSE]
But He has!
Into our hands,
into our mouths
given by the Holy Apostles
we are fed,
good wholesome bread,
bread that enters our bellies
and nourishes us
warms our hearts
strengthens our hopes
and turns us to the God
Who gives of Himself
for us.
Here, at this pause in our journey,
we are fed
with the Bread of Life.
Our Liturgical Year
ends with the Mass.
[PAUSE]
All our journeys
end with the Mass
The little journey
from pew to altar
to receive Him
truly present in the Sacrament
as He promises us;
The journey
through the week,
through daily work,
through daily encounter
with an unbelieving world
back to the food of Christ
in Church;
The journey from
Advent to Advent
treading and retreading
the journey from Nazareth
to Bethlehem
and in Bethlehem
to find again
the Real Presence of Christ;
the journey
from birth
to death,
through sin,
sorrow,
joy and righteousness
until we pass through Death
and into the Wedding feast of the Lamb.
Our journey always ends in the Mass.
[PAUSE]
But that's what the Mass is for.
It's the gift
Christ gives us
that we might keep going
keep encountering Him,
keep bringing ourselves to Him
with our need for healing
and for wholeness.
And it is the pinnacle
of our worship of God,
for we travel back to God
for the reason that
He is worth more to us
than the distractions
of this petty world.
[PAUSE]
Today,
we end our year
in worship of the Holy Trinity,
One God,
Three Persons.
And next week we begin again
in worship of the Holy Trinity
preparing for the coming Christ.
We begin again in Him.
Always, we begin again.
Monday, November 18, 2024
Sunday, November 17, 2024
False Truth
Is the shroud of Turin
a fake?
In the past forty years or so,
competing scientific research
has deemed it
a fake from the Middle Ages
or undoubtedly
a relic from the First Century.
Many people
believe it to be genuine.
Many people
believe it to be a forgery.
And it seems
people are determined
to use the scientific method
to prop up their own
belief about what this cloth is.
It does seem,
given recent articles
that no-one comes to
study the shroud
without some preconceived desire
to prove that it shows
The True Christ
or a false Christ.
Does it show
the True face of Christ?
[PAUSE]
If it does,
then we have
some way of recognising Him
when He comes again.
Wouldn't it be awful
if He returned to us
and we didn't recognise Him?
Wouldn't it be awfuI
if we've missed His second coming
just because we didn't know
what He looked like.
Doesn't the Turin Shroud
give us a way of knowing
Who we're looking for?
Doesn't it give us
a frame of reference for our faith?
Doesn't it give us
the ability to say
"Yes! This is Christ!
Here He is!"?
No.
No it doesn't.
And why?
Listen to the True Christ.
"If any man shall say unto you,
Lo, here is Christ, or there;
believe it not.
For there shall arise false Christs,
and false prophets,
and shall shew
great signs and wonders;
insomuch that,
if it were possible,
they shall deceive the very elect."
If the Shroud of Turin
is real,
and there is every chance
that it is,
then it is an ikon
a way of seeing into
the Heavenly Truth.
But,
while ikons are so good
for the soul
and a necessary part
of Christian doctrine
no one ikon
is necessary.
The Shroud of Turin
adds nothing to our Faith
beyond any other ikon.
If the Shroud is a fake
then this takes nothing away
from our faith:
it still remains as much an ikon
as any ikon written on wood.
The Shroud is not the basis
of our faith.
Christ is the basis of our faith.
The Man
depicted upon the Shroud
the one depicted in the ikon
the one depicted upon the Cross,
He is the Christ
and basis of our faith.
[PAUSE]
But don't we say
"Here is Christ"
when the priest lifts up
the consecrated host?
Indeed we do,
but this is Christ in the Sacrament,
not Christ coming in glory
to judge the quick and the dead.
It is those people
who say "Here is Christ"
meaning the Messiah
at His second coming
who are talking about
a false Christ.
It is those people
who are thinking of a Christ
made in their own image
who hope for a return
of a false Christ.
[PAUSE]
But that is not how Christ will return.
He won't suddenly appear
in one place
so that we all have to pile
into cars and aeroplanes
to meet Him
He won't appear
on television
and tell us to do bizarre things
to prove our love for Him.
But if the Shroud is fake
how will we recognise Him?
[PAUSE]
The apostles tell us how.
They see Him
hear Him
and touch Him.
And their faith is ours.
We just need to preserve that faith.
Christian Doctrine
isn't just about
what to do
and what not to do.
It is about living,
studying,
praying,
and getting to know Jesus
as He is
through what the Church
has always handed down to us
since those feet in ancient time
walk closely with the apostles
and walk with us
through those who follow the apostles.
Christian Doctrine
will ensure
that we will truly know Him
when He comes again
in His own way
at a time when we least expect Him.
And then how much joy
will there be for us?
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Sunday, November 10, 2024
Worth worship
Sermon for the twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity
So many people
seem to think
that Jesus never claimed
to be God.
There are so many places
where He does make that plain
such as saying
"Before Abraham was, I am."
which causes the Pharisees
to pick up stones
since Jesus has just used
the same words
that God uses in the Burning Bush
to Moses.
Jesus does not say explicitly
"I am God!"
but it's there
in the Gospels.
And today
we see Jairus
- at least it's probably Jairus
since St Matthew
doesn't say -
approach Jesus
to heal his daughter.
And crucially
what's the first thing
Jairus does?
He falls down and
worships Jesus.
This is exactly
the same worship
that Our Lord tells us
belongs to God.
The Greek word
that we translate as worship
literally means
to kiss the hand
in the same way
that a pet dog
licks the hand of its master.
Is that how God wants us
to worship him?
[PAUSE]
The underlying idea
behind worship
is the amount of value
we put upon a thing
or a person.
Worship is worth-ship:
that's where the word comes from.
The question is
how do we demonstrate
the worth something
or someone has
in our estimation?
If we regard someone
as more important than us,
as possessing some
power over us,
as someone whom we need
to live our lives,
then we have to demonstrate
that respect.
We demonstrate it
so that the person we value
knows we value them,
and we demonstrate it
to remind ourselves
if how much
that person means to us.
You can certainly see
how people who are shown
into the presence of
an emperor
get on their knees
in knowledge
that he has the power
of life and death over you.
Your bowing down
is the outward act
of your expression
of the emperor's worth.
[PAUSE]
And we see Jairus
(if it is indeed Jairus)
worshipping Jesus,
bowing before Him.
A leader of the Jewish community
is bowing before this teacher
and so shows Him of greater worth
than his own standing
in the community.
But the Commandment says,
"Thou shalt not make unto thee
a graven image,
nor any manner of likeness,
of any thing that is in heaven above,
or that is in the earth beneath,
or that is in the water
under the earth;
thou shalt not bow down
unto them, nor serve them."
Now,
there are several times
when someone falls down
to worship someone
who isn't God.
This happens to St Paul
and Barnabus,
who are mistaken
for Greek gods,
and St John gets
terribly overawed
and tries to worship an angel
in the Revelation.
In each case,
where the worship
is misplaced,
they say,
"don't worship us
we are not God."
But Jesus doesn't do that.
There is no rebuke
for those
like the Magi,
the Leper ,
Jairus,
and the Disciples
especially after
St Peter walks on water
and again after the Resurrection,
all of whom
worship Jesus as the Son of God.
But worship
can go wrong.
[PAUSE]
The Roman Soldiers
who mock Jesus
before His crucifixion
worship Him
St Matthew tells us that.
What does that mean?
It means
that the soldiers
go through the motions
of worship,
bowing down
and genuflecting.
But it isn't true worship
because the intention
to honour Jesus
is not there.
They do not see Him
as being of any value to them
so they have no respect for Him.
There is no actual worship here,
just the appearance of worship.
They worship Him in truth
because Jesus is truly God
but not in spirit
because they do not love Him.
[PAUSE]
And then there are
the Israelites
who make a Golden Calf
and worship it.
They believe that
the God who saves them
from Egypt
has the likeness of a calf.
But this is not true.
God does not have
the image of a calf.
The Israelites
are worshipping in spirit
because they intend to worship the calf
but not in truth
because the calf is not God.
Further,
in the persecution under the Romans
Christians are compelled
to burn incense to the pagan gods.
They could do so,
secretly intending
to burn the incense
in honour of God.
But this is worship in spirit
and not in truth.
The outward sign
and the inward intention
do not marry up.
[PAUSE]
Jesus says,
"God is a Spirit:
and they that worship Him
must worship Him
in spirit and in truth."
Jairus worships Jesus
in truth because he
perceives that
Jesus is God
and in spirit
because he believes
that Jesus can raise
His daughter
from the dead.
St Paul says that Jesus is
the image of the invisible God.
When we see God with our eyes
it is Jesus Whom we see.
This makes sense
because the Father
is the source of all being
and stands outside the gaze
of anything He has created.
And the Holy Ghost is a spirit
who does not have a body.
It means that Jesus
is the focus of our worship
because we have someone
visible to bow down to.
It means
whenever we see
a picture of Jesus
we can bow down
not to the picture
but the one in the picture.
[PAUSE]
We Catholics are often accused
of worshipping statues
but we know this is not the case.
We venerate the saints
because we see Christ at work in them.
We venerate Mary greatly
because we see Christ born in her.
And we worship Christ
the image of the invisible God.
And we do what the Church has done
from the earliest times.
We venerate ikons,
sacred images,
because of who they depict.
Our outward worship
is towards a picture
of Christ
and our inward worship
is towards the Christ depicted.
We worship Christ truly and in spirit.
We don't worship
the block of wood
with paint on it,
but the truth of Christ
the visible God.
If people cannot tell the difference
then they are only watching our worship
at a superficial
and unspiritual level.
[PAUSE]
As Jairus worships
the image of the invisible God
so must we venerate His image
with Jairus.
Ikons of the saints
help us remember that
they are truly real
and truly alive
- spirit and truth.
Ikons of Our Lady
help us remember
that God becomes a man
so that man can become like Him
in spirit and in truth.
Ikons of Our Lord,
show us the picture
of the One Who saves us
by showing us His very self
in spirit and in truth.
We are not worshipping
a graven image,
but Christ Himself through
that image in the truth
of His Incarnation
and we do so in spirit
because we love Him.
Monday, November 04, 2024
Anglican Catholicism and the Reformation
Why the Reformation is not something that Anglican Catholics celebrate.
Sunday, November 03, 2024
Present Tense Saints
Sermon for the Sunday in the Octave of All Saints
Our Lord sits
on the mountain
to teach.
His disciples
are those who
have climbed after Him
scaling the rocky crags
against gravity,
against comfort,
against the better judgment
of others
to hear this Man teach.
Already,
they show themselves
to be blessed
for "blessed are those
who hunger and thirst
for righteousness' sake
for theirs is
the Kingdom of Heaven."
And how the disciples
demonstrate that!
In clambering uphill
they have demonstrated
their hunger and thirst
for the teaching of Christ
because they know
that what He teaches
is not just righteous
but Righteousness
itself.
Last week,
we recognise
Jesus as our King
and this week
we follow Him
and set ourselves apart for Him
from the World.
And if we set ourselves
apart from the world
for Righteousness' sake
God sets us apart for Him.
We become holy.
We become saints.
[PAUSE]
We are only as holy
as far as we are apart from
Sin, the World and the Devil.
Our salvation is
precisely the end of
our separation from God,
our return to the full health
that God has wanted for us
from Eternity.
Our Lord promises those
who hunger and thirst
for righteousness' sake
a place in His Kingdom
which St Peter describes as an
eternal Kingdom,
something that even
the prophet Daniel knows to be true.
Something is Eternal
if it is connected
with God's age.
Just as we have
the Stone Age,
the Iron Age,
the Bronze Age,
whatever is Eternal
is of the God Age.
Think about that,
because,
for God,
Time is not a limitation.
He is as present now
as He was a million years ago
and a million years to come.
All Time is present to God
at once.
And this is the Eternal life
that He offers in His Kingdom.
He offers His saints
to be of His Age,
Eternal,
not simply everlasting
but unbound to Time.
St John tells us
that we cannot understand
what we will be like
when we are in His Kingdom
but we will be like Him
because we will see Him as He is.
When Jesus says
that God is not the God of the dead
but of the living
He shows us that
Abraham,
Isaac,
Jacob,
Moses,
Elijah
and all the saints are still alive
and that Death
for the saints
is an event,
not a state of being.
The saints are not dead.
[PAUSE]
And, we know that St Peter says
the ears of the Lord
are open to
the prayers of the righteous,
and their prayers ascend
before God like incense.
St Jerome says,
"If the Apostles and Martyrs,
while still in the body,
can pray for others,
at a time when
they must still be anxious for themselves, how much more
after their crowns,
victories, and triumphs are won!"
We also no that
nothing in Heaven and Earth
or under the Earth,
not even life and death
can separate us
from the love of Christ.
And the saints are righteous
because they show
the love of Christ to us
even as Christ in Heaven
shows His love for us on earth.
[PAUSE]
So,
the saints are alive,
but are no longer
bound by Time and Space.
The saints still love us
because they are perfected
in the love of God,
and Love is something
that requires action.
The saints have passed
through death
but are neither
separated from God
nor from us
because nothing separates us
from the love of God.
The saints pray
just as they have
throughout their lives
hungering and thirsting
for Righteousness' sake.
Prayer is more than just words.
It is a communication
at a deeper level between
us and God
and
us and those who love God.
Likewise,
we pray for our departed loved ones
for their happiness in God.
This prayer is an expression
of our continued love
for those who have died.
The saints prayer for us
is an expression of
their continued love
for us who are yet to
undergo death.
This is true communion
for these prayers
bring us closer to God
because God is love.
This is precisely
the communion of the saints
a communion expressed
through mutual prayer
and, at its summit,
Christ Himself
in the Blessed Sacrament
of the altar.
[PAUSE]
We should rejoice
that we have such
a cloud of witnesses
cheering us on
bringing their concerns for us
to God,
and that our prayers
do the same
for those in need
whether living
or departed.
There will be those
who try to show us
that we are wrong,
who say the saints are dead
who say the dead heart nothing
who say that praying for the dead
does nothing.
But these are they
who do not understand prayer
who do not understand death
and who do not understand
that Love and Power are the same in God
and grow in the hearts
of those who hunger and thirst
for Righteousness' sake.
May Holy Mary,
Mother of God
and all the Holy Angels and Saints
pray for us
and may the souls
of the faithful departed
through the love of God
rest in peace.
Amen.
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