Why we have to be careful about the language we use to bring Christ to the people and people to Christ.
Monday, July 28, 2025
Sunday, July 27, 2025
Judging disciples
Sermon for the sixth Sunday after Trinity
"You Christians
are so judgemental!"
We hear that a lot,
but what does it mean?
We often find ourselves
in situations
where the Christian life
runs contrary
to the life of the world.
We have seen this
in the public votes
in Parliament
which have ruled
that there are circumstances
in which it is lawful
to take the lives of innocent people.
We also live in an age
where profoundly
destructive worldviews
are being taught
uncritically
to those who are
learning how to live life.
And we Christians speak out
and get pilloried for doing so.
But we have to be careful
because people do not like to be judged.
Why not?
They think that
what they are doing
is good,
not harmful,
beneficial,
even beautiful.
And the basis for their judgement
is that it "feels right" and
"isn't hurting anyone "
and "isn't trying to control people".
The basis of their sense of righteousness
is themselves
or it is the culture around them
telling them that they are right.
Their righteousness
is man-made,
not God-made.
Their righteousness
will change with the times
and they will look back on the past
and declare it immoral
"by today's standards."
But "today's standards"
will be immoral by tomorrow's.
[PAUSE]
Our righteousness
as disciples of Christ
has to exceed the righteousness
of the Scribes and Pharisees
of today.
Let's be clear,
there is no-one more
educated in the Law
than the Pharisee.
It's his job to know
and to follow all the little bits and pieces
of the Divine law,
but his basis for the Law
is the law itself.
The Pharisees righteousness
is based on a law
which is indeed God-given
but applied by a greater law
namely the Pharisee's
self-righteousness.
But doesn't the Church
follow the Divine Law?
What makes the Church
any better than the Pharisees?
[PAUSE]
Our Lord shows us
that the law
goes beyond the letter.
To.murder someone
means more than
sticking a knife into them.
We can commit murder
by calling someone a fool
and kill their place
in our hearts.
We can commit adultery
by looking lustfully at a women
just as well as getting her
into bed.
The law of the Pharisee
is written on parchment.
The law of God
is written on human hearts.
We've seen the effects
of applying the written law
inhumanely
and the effects have been appalling.
If the written law
has the capacity
to end the life of
an innocent person
then innocent people will die
and the world will think
that it has done a good thing.
And anyone who objects
will be regarded as
judgemental
and inhumanely
for allowing people's suffering
to continue.
[PAUSE]
This, of course,
ignores the sovereignty of God
and His ability
to turn our suffering into joy,
perhaps not in this life
but Eternally so.
All pain and suffering on earth
will end in time
and the heart that seeks
the righteousness of God
will find peace in Him.
Man does not have the capacity
to see the fulness of another's pain
nor the value that it possesses.
Man can only walk with those
who suffer and tend
the wounds inflicted.
Only God can reach the cause
of pain
because pain tells us
that something is wrong,
that there is a conflict
between what is and what should be.
The righteousness of this world
seeks to numb that pain
by providing a distraction
or a pleasure to distract
from sorrow
rather than addressing
the actual cause.
[PAUSE]
It is only through Christ
that we can see true righteousness
which will exceed the righteousness
of Scribe and Pharisee
because it is based
on Love
- not the sentimental feeling,
- not the legalised idea of compassion
- not the politically correct form of caring.
God is Love
and God is Righteousness.
He is the basis of morality
and if we make our judgements
based on His love,
then the World can call us judgemental
as much as it likes
but our judgement will be good
because it will pour the love of God
into the wounds of the suffering
and they will be healed in Him
eternally.
Monday, July 21, 2025
Saturday, July 19, 2025
Baited breath?
What does He say
that draws people to Him?
What words does He use
that makes Him worth listening to?
What is it about Him
that makes crowds of people
gather around Him
to the extent
that He can only teach
by launching Himself
out onto the Sea of Gennesareth
and using the natural acoustics
to magnify His words?
Our Lord is clearly
a phenomenal teacher.
But then,
we must admit,
He does back up
His extraordinary claims
with miracles.
If Our Lord is
the great Fisher of Men
what is He using as bait?
[PAUSE]
It is interesting that
St Peter probably does not use bait
to catch the fish.
This is why he fishes at night.
The idea is that the fish
don't see the net as well
and swim into it unawares.
If this is the case
then we see why St Peter
thinks Our Lord's words
to cast the net in broad daylight
as odd and perhaps
even a bit exasperating.
The result: two ships full of fish!
Clearly something
has drawn them to this place
where they can be caught.
Just like the crowd.
Something has drawn them
to this place
where they can be caught
by God
in broad daylight.
Why broad daylight?
If you can see the net
then you can choose
to swim into it
or not.
Ironically,
it is those who swim
into Our Lord's net
who are saved.
Unlike St Peter,
Our Lord uses bait.
He knows that there is something
for which each of us
is truly longing.
It may not be something
that we realise we long for.
It may be a longing
which we mistake for another longing
or one which we try to cover up
with something
more accessible
and immediately gratifying.
Our Lord knows
what we truly long for
and He can supply it.
And this is something
that we crave because
we are created
and we look to our Creator
to make us whole again
from the wounds
Caused by the battering
that sin, the World and the Devil
inflict upon us.
Our Lord Himself is the bait.
He says,
"no man can come to Me,
except the Father
which hath sent Me draw him:
and I will raise him up
at the last day."
It is the Father
that draws us,
and if we see Jesus
then we see the Father.
And it is Jesus
who will raise us
from the depths of Death.
How?
Because in consuming His flesh
and drinking His blood
we become one
with Christ's humanity.
But it is the Divine nature of Christ
that draws Him up from Death
into Heaven
to stand before the Father.
If we are one with Christ
then we are drawn up into Heaven
to stand before the Father.
We have been caught
and landed
like a prize carp
on the end of a line.
While the carp may be cooked
and eaten
we have been drawn to life
and joy.
This is what Salvation is.
And we need to fall for it,
hook, line and sinker.
Monday, July 14, 2025
Sunday, July 13, 2025
Oh, for crying out loud!
Sermon for the fourth Sunday after Trinity
How's your Greek?
A quick test.
What's the Greek
for mercy?
You have no clue
until you remember
that you have sung
your "Kyrie eleison" today
and "Kyrie eleison" means
"Lord, have mercy!"
"Hooray!" you think
"The Greek for mercy
is eleeos!"
You're right...
but you're not right,
though you must be praised
for your reasoning there.
You're not right in the sense
that Our Lord isn't using
eleeos when He tells us
to be merciful
even as Our Heavenly Father
is merciful.
And now you're thinking,
"Oh, for crying out loud!"
And now you'd be nearer the mark.
[PAUSE]
We're often presented
with trying to reconcile
the mercy of God
with the justice of God.
How can we be both
merciful and just
to a murderer that says,
in all sincerity,
"I'm sorry, please forgive me!"
We can't let him off,
but neither can we ignore
his plea.
The Greek for mercy here
is oiktos,
and the "oi" bit
is a cry.
The mercy that is oiktos
should make us
cry "Oh!" to someone's predicament.
Oiktos is the mercy
that cries out in compassion
that recognises
a human being in distress.
Oiktos causes us
to raise our eyes
from a list of misdemeanours
and see a human being,
fallen and broken through life,
and yet failing and breaking others.
Oiktos is to see ourselves
in another
in all the pain and sorrow of life
and hold onto that.
Oiktos is having compassion
in the highest order.
But what of eleeos?
Why do we ask God
"Kyrie eleison"?
[PAUSE]
Eleeos is active.
Eleeos has the sense
of pouring oil on troubled water.
Oiktos is what motivates eleeos.
The cry of "oh" and recognising
the distress and misery in another
causes us to act with compassion.
Not by condemnation for sins,
but by finding a way to be generous
without diminishing sin.
Our God is generous and merciful.
He fills the barrel of mercy and love
and shakes it
and presses it down
to make more room
for mercy and love.
God, the perfect judge
knows full well how to deal
with repentant murderers.
He even made one a saint!
Oiktos forces us
to see the human being
behind even the most vile of crimes.
Criminals should receive
our pity that their brokenness
should influence them
into committing their crimes.
That doesn't excuse them.
They made their choice
to commit crime
and that must be addressed
proportionately,
fairly and fully
in law for the good of society.
But we must not ever,
for the love of God
demonise a criminal
on account of the crime.
A criminal is a human being
and a human being
is the object of God's love.
Yet, we don't want to love him
because of his crime,
so we turn him into a demon
because that makes it easier for us
to cope with.
[PAUSE]
Our Lord
is telling us
not to take the easy path
to judgement
and condemnation.
He is telling us
that we need to react
in mercy.
Yes, to hear the blood of Abel
crying from the ground
but also to hear the cry of Cain
fearing for his life
in his land of banishment
for murdering his brother.
As Christians
we are called to a life
knowing that we cannot
judge or condemn a criminal
to Hell,
and that is a life of discomfort
because we see sin,
and we see the sinner,
one we must hate
the other we must love
and yet separating the two
is far from easy.
We have to live in that tension.
We have to live
concerned that sin is called out
for what it is
and yet seeing our very selves
in the face of the vilest offender.
We only love our neighbour
insofar as we love
the worst of humanity.
That's hard.
That's so hard.
It's hard to the extent
that we cry out "Oh!"
And then God hears "Oh"
and that stirs his oiktos
the mercy that hears the cry
of one troubled,
even scandalised by
the Divine love even for the most wicked.
And He has mercy
- eleeos -
on us because
we will probably fail
to be merciful
even as he is merciful.
Even if we fail,
we must never despair
of the mercy of God -
the mercy that hears a cry
and the mercy
that seeks to do something
about it
- all for crying out loud.
Saturday, July 05, 2025
It's just one...
Sermon for the third Sunday after Trinity
"Oh it's just one..."
"...just one biscuit
that's been dropped
on the floor."
"...just one page
that's been torn."
"... just one person
who missed the bus."
"It's just one..." is a
handy little phrase
that we like to use
so that we know
we don't have to care anymore.
Just one thing
is lost, broken or won't fit,
so we can put it aside
and worry about
the other things
that aren't lost or broken
and which fit into our scheme
nicely.
That surely seems reasonable.
We can't worry
about every little thing.
If we do
then we will
burn ourselves out
with too much worry,
caring too much about
things we can't control,
sweating the small stuff.
If we worry about
every little thing
then it hurts us,
we become exhausted
and fearful.
Some of us
are like that
and they need reassurance
and care
for a condition that
afflicted their lives.
Indeed,
the people who worry
so much
that it becomes
a disorder
must themselves
not be written off.
"It's just one
of those people
with OCD."
This makes for
an uncomfortable dilemma.
Do we care about things
too much
or too little?
[PAUSE]
The Pharisees
care a lot about
the observance
of the Law.
They are rigorous
and will let neither
t be uncrossed
or i undotted.
But woe betide anyone
who does not observe the Law,
the sinners,
the publicans,
the prostitutes,
even
the leprosy,
the maimed,
the sick.
They are completely
written off.
"Oh they're just sinners.
Not worth the time of day."
Human beings
who have no worth?
Human beings
in their God-given complexity
in their God-given dignity
that have no worth?
And the Pharisees
are effectively saying,
"Jesus, don't corrupt yourself
with these sinners.
Just associate yourself
with us, instead."
These sinners
have been completely written off.
They have no value.
There is no chance
of forgiveness,
reconciliation
or rehabilitation.
Once a sinner
always a sinner.
Oh doesn't that
sound utterly dismal?
[PAUSE]
Where the Pharisees
write people off,
Our Lord seeks to
write people on.
Anyone
who comes to Him
will be heard,
will be healed,
will be loved.
No exceptions.
"Ah," say the Pharisees,
"you just said,
that it would be
harmful to care too much
about things."
"Things," Pharisee?
People aren't "things!"
While we simply
cannot worry about
the needs of everyone,
we don't see people
as things.
If Our Lord speaks
of the joy of finding
a lost sheep,
or a coin,
then how much more joy
can there be
for finding
just one lost human being?
That joy makes
the Universe rattle
with millions of angelic feet
dancing in jubilation
on the head of a pin.
And that's just one human being.
Just one human being
returning to God
sets heaven ablaze
with delight.
Just one human being.
Just you.
If that's the joy
you cause God
when you return to Him
then imagine
the joy of so many other
people who repent.
There are infinities
too small to contain that joy.
[PAUSE]
It's very true
that we human beings
can care too much.
We can stress,
overwork
and forget about ourselves
in order to care for
absolutely everyone.
We can sweat the small stuff.
But perhaps we just need
to look at what we are valuing.
Just as the Pharisees
value the Law
above the spiritual
and physical needs
of those around them,
so can we value the wrong thing
in helping other people
to the extent
that we burn ourselves out.
God gives us two commandments
and one is certainly,
"love thy neighbour
as thyself.
But the first commandment
is to love the Lord our God
with all our heart and soul
and mind and strength.
Love God before Man.
Why?
Because it is
in loving God first
with all the faculties
that He has given us
that we learn to love
our neighbours
as part of our own being.
And this regulates us.
We cease to dismissal others
as just one of the crowd
and we cease to dismiss ourselves
as just one of the crowd too.
In our prayers,
we present ourselves to God
Who doesn't see our prayer
as just one among many
but values it
because He values us
as individuals
and refuses to turn us away.
He possesses every magnitude
of infinity
to care intimately
and fully for
every single human being
in every aspect
of their lives.
And he will not let us go.
In our prayer,
we bring our tears, sorrows,
cries for forgiveness,
cries for justice,
our bitterness,
our grief,
our loneliness
our longing for someone
to love us just as we are.
And God hears
each of these
and, in the invisible mystery
of His action
finds us and
brings us home,
not writing us off,
but writing us on His Sacred Heart.
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