Thousands and thousands

Sermon for the second Sunday in Advent

The question is there for all to see. If you’ve managed to bind up the Devil in the bottomless pit for a thousand year, what would possess you to let him out again?

The Revelation to St John is a very difficult book to understand. We’re dealing with the vision of a man who sees Heaven and lives in a culture very different from our own. This culture has symbols and metaphors and cultural references that we have lost. We have to understand that. Our descendants will have the same problem. If we look at our mobile phones the icon we touch for “phone” is an old handset from a telephone that has been practically obsolete from the turn of the twenty-first century. In a thousand years, that icon will confuse our descendants.

This doesn’t answer the question. Why must Satan be released in a thousand years?

[PAUSE]

First, we do need to look at this business of what “thousand” means here. Is it a literal thousand years? The answer is no.

If we look at what St John is saying, the pattern is as follows.

Satan gets bound and put in the pit. Then the faithful are raised and reign with Christ for a thousand years in the first resurrection.

After the thousand years, Satan gets loosed from the pit to deceive the earth and war is made but it seems that he is quickly beaten and thrown into the fire for ever together with those whose names are not written in the book of life.

The clue which tells us that this thousand years is not literal is the fact that Our Lord does not reign just a thousand years, but reigns for ever. His kingdom shall have no end.

[PAUSE]

Time in St John’s Revelation is just as symbolic as everything else. What’s does a thousand years symbolise? Well, here’s the thing. According to the Jewish scholars of St John’s time, a thousand years before the Lord’s birth is the beginning of the reign of King David. Thus the thousand years mark the years of Jerusalem with all its ups and downs, with all the rises and falls, the captivities and freedoms, and the great temple. All this ends with the coming of the Lord at His birth in Bethlehem.

The first thousand years represents all the prophecy that points to Christ. It represents the rule of David and the Old Covenant. The second thousand years must therefore also point to Christ, especially the witness of His reign and the New Covenant. This is why God says, “Behold, I make all things new.”

While Christ is King, Satan is bound. But a king is only a king for as long as the people accept his rule, and the same is true for Our Lord. Our Lord does not force us to accept Him as our king, even though He most definitely is the King of Heaven. Satan remains bound for as long as people accept Christ as their king. The moment they reject Him, they are in the clutches of Satan. That’s when the rule of Christ ends for them. This is when the thousand years ends for those who reject God. There is only one fate for those who do reject Him: the second death – the permanent death.

It is not God who sets Satan loose. It’s us, and this is why he must be set loose for those who willingly and firmly refuse to recognise Jesus as King. In writing to the Corinthians, St Paul reminds us that there are times when we need to let the unrepentant go their own way. He says that we need to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Sometimes, that is the best we can do and hope that the prodigal son will return to the kingdom of Our Lord. Love can never insist on its own way.

In Eternity, Time means nothing – this is why the Book of Revelation is so confusing. We may live in times when respect and love for God are waning. We can rest assured, though, that while our time is short, the Kingship of Christ is always near us. While the Church stands, while the sacraments are available, and while the Gospel is preached, Christ is with us.

And one day soon, we shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.

Stumbling Scholarship

Sermon for the first Sunday in Advent

How many true gods are there in the Old Testament?

You will, of course say, just one. However, some scholars will say that there are lots.  Some will say that there is no one true god called Yahweh but that the Jewish people believe in different gods at different times in their journey. Some scholars will even point to the existence of a Mrs God who mysteriously vanishes.

These scholars will look at the words of the prophet Isaiah and say that this is evidence of God being one mountain god among many.

If these scholars are looking at the same text that we are, surely with all that training and study and translating and discussion, these scholars must be right.

Why aren’t they right?

[PAUSE]

There is a worrying trend in modern Bible scholarship which says that the Bible is a book like any other and is therefore open to the same methods of criticism as any other book. There is a whole academic industry out there which seeks to say, “Oh this bit of the Bible was added later” and “these words of Jesus are probably not authentic.” These scholars reject miracles on the grounds that they defy modern science and therefore could not possibly have happened.

These Bible scholars have forgotten one thing: it all starts with Jesus.

[PAUSE]

Here we are at Advent Sunday. This is the beginning of our liturgical year. Why do we start here? We start here because of Jesus. We start here just where the Jewish people started, waiting for the Messiah to come. We look to the places where God has already revealed Himself: Mount Sinai, Mount Tabor, Mount Carmel. Yes these are mountains but God is highly exalted. He is higher than the mountains. Not for nothing does the Prophet Isaiah say:

And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

We look for God on High and we await His coming, His Advent.

And He presents to us a man, a baby lying in a trough, so far removed from the heights of the mountains.

And the scholars will look at this baby lying in the manger and sniff, “oh it’s just a baby in a manger. That’s all. Nothing higher than that.”

[PAUSE]

They have eyes and see not.

This Jesus we see with the benefit of history, but a history wrapped up in tradition, passed on faithfully by Christians from the first until the last. Each Christian knows the truth and seeks to pass on the truth faithfully knowing that, if we deviate from the truth, then we lose it completely. This is why we have the Holy Scriptures written by different people each bearing witness to the same thing. This is why there are many different copies of the original texts of the Bible so that, if one were deliberately altered, we can compare it with the others.

And it all begins with Jesus.

[PAUSE]

Jesus bears witness to God. Being a Jew, Our Blessed Lord and Saviour affirms the Old Testament and spends his earthly ministry showing us how we are to interpret it. There is only one God, not a pantheon of gods of different mountains. There is no Mrs God. If there were then Jesus would have borne witness to her. Jesus, the humble son of the Carpenter and little Mary from Nazareth, no degrees or doctorates, no training in contextual criticism, no intention of being one of the established scholars, scribes and Pharisees, He alone shows us what the Bible says because it is all a witness to Him.

If you are confused, or if you just want to see how the Bible works, start with the Gospels for these are the eyewitness accounts of Who Jesus is and what He does. Hear His words. Then see how the Disciples take His words and form the New Testament. Look back at the Old Testament and hear Jesus speak there too. And hear Jesus speak through the Fathers of the Church, too, who base their understanding on the same Holy Scriptures.

[PAUSE]

It all begins with Jesus. All scholars worth knowing will start with Him. Bad scholarship always seeks to denounce the faith of good Christians who have gone before us. Good scholarship will affirm the Faith that we have received in the Bible, the Church Fathers and the Creeds. Good scholarship will begin with Jesus as He is.

Here we stand waiting for His coming for yet another year. We stand looking up on high for we believe that is where we shall see Him. We stand longing for Him to come back. And we know that if we are faithful then we shall see Him in the glories of Christmas Day.

It is in the manger that the Truth of Holy Scripture lies. And no scholar can take that away from you.

The immediate future of the Mission of St Anselm and St Odile

Things never quite go according to plan.

 My work over the last year has taken on a particularly unusual turn as I find myself involved more in writing and assisting my Diocese in its administration. That and my duty to my family means that I have reluctantly asked my bishop to put my provisional mission of St Anselm and St Odile aside for the time being in order to play to my strengths and be more effective for the development of the Church. He has kindly agreed and so I find myself as a non-parochial priest with permission to officiate.

This has been a difficult position, especially in a culture when a priest has to be priest of somewhere. My Church does not have the pattern for oratories or internal oblates, though we do have Religious Communities around the world. The size of the Diocese of the UK prevents these rather, and the fact that I am happily married does prevent me from setting up a Benedictine Monastery here.

Of course, there is nothing to stop me from living in a Benedictine manner: my community is my family and I am still linked to the monks in Salisbury formerly of Elmore and Nashdom. My superior is my bishop – that has to be so. One of the dangers of having Religious communities in Dioceses that are too small for them is that those religious folk become laws unto themselves. This is true of the last two professed members of the Diocese who both left at different times, both in a fit of pique because they couldn’t get their own way. The exercise of humility is to rejoice when one doesn’t get one’s own way and carry on – tough to do sometimes but very good for the soul.

My hope is that, one day, we shall have the resources and time to take the Mission of St Anselm and St Odile out of its mothballs. It will still sort of be in existence as I will be saying my Offices and celebrating the Mass early on a Sunday morning. However, in order to develop those resources, I need to pitch in with assisting the Diocese in developing its resources. We are growing and this growth means taking seriously the need for infrastructure and grounding. I have tried to produce a contribution to the theological grounding of the Anglican Catholic Church and to the administration of my Diocese and my commitment must be there before I can hope to build a more personal ministry in my locality. Given that, in general, the diocesan model is becoming less geographic due to social media, it makes sense to step back and see where the true needs lie.

Of course, I beg your prayers that I may serve the Church faithfully and effectively.

Moving to Vespers

Last year, I made the decision to supply Readers with sermons for Mattins and Evensong and I have spent this year devoting my Sunday sermon posts to preaching for Mattins.

From next Sunday, being the start of a Liturgical New Year, I will be providing Sermons for Readers based on the readings from the Revised Lectionary for Evensong

I hope that this has been a useful exercise so far.

On a planet far, far away...

Sermon for the Sunday next before Advent

Astronomers now are detecting solar systems around stars that are so far way that they may no longer exist by the time the light from them has reached us. The way that we detect planets so far away is by looking at how the light from each star is being affected by gravity, or by changes in brightness or frequency. What astronomers are not doing is observing these planets directly through a telescope. As far as we are concerned, these planets exist only as measurements stored on pieces of paper or within the hard drive of a computer.

By faith, astronomers discover these far-off planets.

[PAUSE]

“Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”

What does that mean?

We can certainly understand Faith as the evidence of things not seen like the astronomers never see those planets and yet have some evidence to show for why they believe that. But what does it mean to say that Faith is the substance of things hoped for?

As Christians, we know that there are three things that will last forever: Faith, Hope and Love. We hope that we will be raised from the dead. We hope that we shall enjoy Eternity with God. These are articles of our Faith and we can find them in our Creeds.

That’s not all we could hope for.

We could hope that Time will run backwards so that we didn’t shut our fingers in the door last Saturday. We could hope that our computer will start behaving itself after we belt it with a sledgehammer. We could also hope that we will be served breakfast in bed tomorrow by trained kangaroos on hoverboards. What makes these hopes different from the hopes set out in the Creed?

[PAUSE]

The answer is Faith – the evidence of things not seen. We have no evidence that Time will ever run backwards. We have no evidence that computers that are smashed with sledgehammers run at all, let alone run smoothly. We have no evidence that hoverboards can exist, or that kangaroos can be trained to serve food. We cannot hope for things which we cannot believe will happen.

We have evidence that when we see a shadow that there is something that causes that shadow. From this evidence we are justified in believing that planets can exist orbiting stars far, far away.

Faith underpins what we can reasonably hope for. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and it is by Faith that all the people whose lives are recorded in Holy Scripture do such remarkable things.

[PAUSE]

Many people will tell you that having faith is the opposite of being reasonable. As we see, scientists have their faith that the laws of physics are what they have experienced and believe continue to govern how the Universe works. We Christians have evidence that God is Who He says He is. The very fact that your coffee cup doesn’t suddenly change into a rabbit, or that your arm doesn’t wink out of existence, and that events can be predicted, shows a Universe which makes sense to us and this is evidence that God exists to make the Universe make sense. Our understanding of how History works shows that there is evidence of Our Lord Jesus Christ and that there is evidence that what He says and does is true.

Our understanding of how we have come here to worship God is evidence that something has happened in the lives of countless Christians through the centuries for us to be here now.

[PAUSE]

We have plenty of evidence for Our God and Lord Jesus Christ and we are justified in living our lives according to this Faith. As we close our Liturgical Year, we find ourselves ready to begin again at looking at why we believe and taking heart that what we believe will bring us to the throne of God when He comes again in glory to judge the living and the dead.

By Faith, our hopes in Him will come true.

By Faith, pain and sorrow will end.

By Faith, our suffering will be shown to mean something truly wonderful.

By Faith, all wrong will be made right.

By Faith, we will see the Advent of our King.

Come, Lord Jesus.

The "wound" of Mutual Flourishing

I notice that a Dr Gabrielle Thomas has published an article in Ecclesiology about the fact that CofE Women Ministers believe "mutual flourishing" to be damaging to their ministry and feel that they are assumed to be flourishing automatically. They feel that they have to be the ones to make sacrifices so that a minority within the Church of England who cannot accept the ordination of women can flourish.

There is a lot of talk of victimhood, of unkind rejection and active hatred displayed towards Women Ministers by those who disaffirm their ministry. What I hear is appalling and demonstrates a lack of Christian charity. That needs to stop.

However, I am concerned that organisations such as WATCH play the victim card in order to score the emotive point while, at the same time, never addressing the actual issue: if someone does not believe that a woman can minister in the CofE how can that one worship with a woman minister if to do so means affirming that which they cannot accept.

The point is that there is victimhood on both sides. A woman minister finds her ember cards torn up and placed in her pigeonhole. A non-affirming Reader finds himself compelled by the female Rural Dean to affirm her ministry in an hitherto unknown "renewal of commitment". A woman minister receives "hate mail". A minister of SSWSH is labelled "sexist" and "bigot". A women minister feels that "Mutual Flourishing" means "being grateful and keeping quiet". A non-affirming suffragan bishop is prevented from becoming Diocesan by those who think that he can never be a focus for unity for those who affirm women's ministry.

It all sounds like six of one and half-a-dozen of the other, doesn't it?

Of course, the victimhood of the straight white male is inferior to everyone else's victimhood. Interesting that ending victimhood means pushing it all onto the straight white male. Why not seek to end it wholesale?

What is utterly clear is that Dr Thomas is absolutely right. Mural Flourishing is anything but. It is a compromise that pushes underground the battle for the Catholic Faith in the CofE. The sad fact is that the Catholic Faith in the CofE is to all intents and purposes extinct. Forward in Faith is now an elephant's graveyard where the Catholic Priesthood has come to die. Every time WATCH open its mouth, there is silence from SSWSH. 

If the CofE truly wanted mutual flourishing then it would have told FiF that it could walk away with buildings, parishes, pensions and the blessing of the CofE. At least women ministers could be protected and Catholic parishes allowed to thrive apart.

However, I would still very much like to hear how forcing people of differing views on women's ministry to worship together would encourage flourishing. I have never heard WATCH answer that question, mainly because it seems that they simply cannot countenance the possibility that someone does not accept that women can be priests. If only they would stop forcing women to be perpetual victims and actually address the issue head on.

The Papal Temptation

I posted last year on Pope Francis' decision to re-word the Lord's Prayer when he says that God doesn't lead us into temptation. I made the case that Our Lord was led into Temptation as part of His participation in our suffering as human beings. To be human is to face trial, test and temptation and to suffer the agonies therefrom which are caused by the conflict between the flesh and the spirit. It is an agony which we should not want because we want to follow Christ wholeheartedly and it is our human frailty whereby we do not do so.

Pope Francis is not a father: his communion forbids this of priests. Not one celibate priest will know the agony of serious illness in their child. Not one will experience that moment where one's faith is tested to the limit at the prospect of losing their little one. Yet, we know that faith must be tested if it is to be of any worth and refined. Faith is not an anodyne theoretical concept, but must be lived.

Children die every day: some die in the womb, others suffer an agony which they are too young to express. Seeing a little boy lying in a gurney as his life ebbs painfully away causes us to question God. And it is God Who has led us here to present us to the facts of the human condition. It is God Himself Who has led us here to this point as our human compassion rips us to shreds. And the temptation is to turn to Him and tell Him to get stuffed.

Our faith is as weak as we are and we are not always strong enough or capable to cope with the reality of our life and death. We must recognise this weakness in humility rather than some cavalier bravado which will result in our faith crumbling under our own hubris.

In changing the Lord's Prayer, the Pope removes the statement of our humility, that we cannot face the temptation into which God would lead us in understanding His world and the consequences of its suffering. Only He has been able to bear all this on His shoulders upon the Cross. While we have crosses to bear, and must venerate those crosses, we must remember our breaking point and trust God not to bring us there.

"Lead us not into temptation" is a statement of humility, a recognition of the misery of the human condition, the truth of its sanctification upon the Lord's Cross, and the hope of its transformation in the Life Eternal. Change that, and you rob yourself and others of the participation in the great good that God can work in all things for those who love Him.

When the car keys just don't want to be found

Sermon for the twenty-second Sunday after Trinity

You were holding them in your hand just a moment ago. And then you put them down. And now they’ve gone. And you can’t think for the life of you where they’ve got to.

Sound familiar?

[PAUSE]

Losing things is part and parcel of cluttered lives. Lose fifty pence and it’s a source of irritation. Lose your car keys and that irritation turns into some vigorous searching. Lose your car keys five minutes before your important meeting and that’s when the panic really sets in.

And then your car keys walk up to you and say, “here I am! I’ve come back!” and you’re ecstatic.

Except that this doesn’t happen, does it?

[PAUSE]

This seems to be the problem with the Lord’s parables. It’s all very well comparing the joy of the shepherd finding the lost sheep with the joy in Heaven over the repentant sinner. It’s all very well, comparing the relief of the woman who lost a piece of silver with the relief that the angels have when we turn back to God. Perhaps this is all the parables say to us – just a simple message of how happy God is when we turn back to Him. So why does the Lord choose these parables to show how happy He is when we repent? Why not go with the father rejoicing at the return of the Prodigal Son? Or with a story of someone saying, “I’m sorry” and being reconciled with another?

After all, the sheep didn’t choose to be found, neither did the coin. Does that mean that we are all going to be found like a sheep, or a coin, or the car keys? If so, where does repentance come in? Why bother repenting of our sins?

[PAUSE]

In each of these situations, there is always the possibility that things have gone for good. When you hunt for your car keys, there are always these horrible thoughts like, “oh no, someone’s stolen them!” or “oh no, I’ve locked them in the car!” or “oh no, I left them on the wall outside.”

Until you’ve found it, your sheep could be in the jaws of a wolf. Until you’ve found it, the coin could be in the pocket of a thief. There is always the possibility of loss.

This is where human beings differ from coins, sheep and car keys. We can make choices. We can choose to be found. We can choose to hide. We can choose to wander off and we can choose to come back. We have this capacity to choose otherwise we wouldn’t be urged to repent at every turn.

And this repentance means that we have to choose to hate our possessions, our families, our friends, our very selves.

Hate’s a strong word, isn’t it?

[PAUSE]

We know that God is Love and we are to love God. We know full well that to love something in God’s place is idolatry. This means we have to love everything else less than God. We also know that hatred is the absence of love. If we are to love God most of all, then we must have less love for other things which means we must hate them more.

The hatred of which the Lord speaks is not an absolute loathing, it means loving less. We are to love our possessions, our families and our selves less than God. We are to put God first before all that we hold dear. If God is comparing Himself with a shepherd who loses a sheep, or a woman who loses a silver coin, and then goes overboard in celebrating their return, then He is demonstrating very clearly the concern He has for finding us. We remain lost while we choose not to repent and the moment we do, He finds us, scoops us up and cries out with joy, “it is finished!”

[PAUSE]

Repentance costs a lot – even our very lives – and the Lord bids us look at the cost carefully. After all, what is the cost of Him finding us? Hint: the answer’s on the altar.

The heart of worship

Sermon for the twenty-first Sunday after Trinity

We are often accused of worshipping our ikons, holy pictures and statues. We are often accused of worshipping the Blessed Virgin or one of the saints. We are often accused of worshipping the Book of Common Prayer, or the old language, or the old hymns.

Is this true? Are we worshipping these things?

There is a sense in which we are, but this needs careful thought.

[PAUSE]

Perhaps you remember that the word “worship” comes from an old Anglo-Saxon word meaning “worth-ship”, that is, the act of giving something worth. It means that anything we give any personal value to, that thing we worship. There are fifty-pence pieces with Peter Rabbit on them and, to some, these are more valuable than fifty pence. They are of greater worship to collectors. A photograph of our family is of greater worship to us than to someone who does not know our family. Worship is a very personal thing.

So yes, an ikon of the Blessed Virgin Mary is of greater worship to the Catholic than a picture of Rita Ora. The Book of Common Prayer is of greater value to an Anglican than a copy of His Dark Materials. But is this the worship that goes against the Second Commandment?

[PAUSE]

English is often a very poor language in comparison to Greek. There are three words in Greek that mean worship, dulia, hyperdulia, and latria. We might translate them as veneration, profound veneration and full worship. Only God is worthy of latria, that is, full worship. The Blessed Virgin is worthy of profound veneration, and the saints and angels worthy of veneration. Essentially, the Church says that we value the Blessed Virgin, the saints and angels, holy objects, and the rest, because we value God most. God is the source of our worship, and so the things He touches, we value more highly than those He does not.

We look at an ikon or a religious statue and our hearts and minds are drawn to whoever is depicted. If it is an ikon or statue of a saint then we allow them to point us to God. God must be the source of our veneration. He must be the reason why we venerate.

The trouble happens when we displace God from being the centre of our worship.

[PAUSE]

Whatever we worship more than God is an idol. If we value something in itself rather than because it points to God, then we have set up an idol. An idol need not even be a physical thing. God tells Ezekiel to speak out against those who have set up idols in their hearts. We can certainly see that this is true with money. Money doesn’t even have to be a physical thing anymore since many places are going cashless. Do we value money because we worship God? The very existence of money comes from a lack of trust in other human beings. If humanity truly valued God more, there would be no need of it as we see in the early Church forming Acts of the Apostles.

Idols of the heart need tearing down as much as any physical idol. This include ideas, thoughts, opinions and feelings. As soon as we create an idol, we separate ourselves from God. Where our treasure is, there our heart will be also. We can and should value human rights, seek to save the planet, feed the hungry and poor, but we do them because we love God first. It’s when we say that God must love these causes because we love these causes that the problem begins. Which comes first? God? Or the cause we feel passionately about?

The Creeds of our Church are ikons of the heart and need to be used as such. We see so many Christians falling away from the Faith because they have made idols in their hearts of things of this world. There are Christians rejecting the Creeds because they value modern thinking rather than what the Church has always believed. Are the Creeds idols of the heart? How can they be? They were written in order to paint a picture of Who God Is. No, they do not give a complete picture of God, but they are not wrong because they have been forged from what God has revealed to us about Himself. Take away any little piece of them, and we have a flawed picture of God. Hold onto that broken Creed, and it becomes an idol because it have been broken by us to fit our own sense of what is worthy.

[PAUSE]

One day, the Creeds will vanish away because the fulness of God will come and burst them with His truth like a wineskin. But we don’t value the Creeds for themselves: we value them because we love God. When He comes, we won’t need them. Our ikons can fall and burn and break and it must not matter to us because the Source of our worship remains whole and glorious in His Majesty. It is those who cling on to their idols who will be thrown away because they will not let go of something that is perishing.

What ikons do we have in our heart? How do we know that they are not idols?

The Death of Analogy

Sermon for the twentieth Sunday after Trinity

You probably already know that the first recorded word of Our Lord’s public ministry is, “repent”. Of course we understand that this is really a very positive commandment. We are to be like compass needles. Whenever we are shaken by sin, we spin round and turn back to God. Always we seek realignment to God. This is what repentance is.

But why? Why do we need to repent? Surely, when the time comes, God, in His Almighty Love for us will meet us where we are.

[PAUSE]

Our Lord points to two disasters that have befallen some people from Galilee. Some have reportedly been murdered by Pontius Pilate during their sacrifices. Others have been killed by the falling tower of Siloam. In each case, Our Lord is very clear. These people were no greater sinners than anyone else. However, if we do not repent, we shall be like unto them. There is no mincing of words here. 

Repentance matters.

What does the Lord mean when He says that we will be like those who died under tragic circumstances if we do not repent of our ways? What He is doing is using death as an analogy for what happens. We know that Holy Scripture contains many and varied violent deaths. We can point to those that perish in the flood. We can point to the Egyptians pursuing the Israelites. We can point to Sodom and Gomorrah, to Sisera, Jezebel, Saul, Absalom, those who perish in the captivity of Assyria and Babylon. What we see in each is that their fate is the fate of the unrepentant

Again, the Lord calls up a parable about a fig tree which does not bear fruit and is given a last chance before it is cut down. . God uses the analogy of death in this life to point to the second death, the death that follows the resurrection of all human beings in preparation for the Day of Judgement.

This Second Death sounds rather permanent, doesn’t it?

The Lord Jesus Christ is showing us precisely what He is here to save us from. Our Lord Jesus Christ comes to us, is born as one of us, lives and teaches among us, suffers and dies for us so that we might be saved. The cost to Him is huge so what He must be saving us from must be pretty huge as well. He saves us from Eternal Death – a fate we must accept if we choose to reject God.

How can a Loving Almighty God condemn us to an Eternity of Hell?

Simply put He doesn’t. As St Athanasius says, God became Man so that Man might become a god. St Athanasius is thinking of St John’s words here.

“Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”

 What God wants is for us to partake of His Divine Nature just as He partakes of our Human Nature. If He respects our Human Nature so much that He takes on human free-will as well, then He must value our choices even when they reject Him. Where our treasure is, there our heart will be also.

Our Lord warns us of the sin that shall not be forgiven. If God forgives all who truly repent then this unforgivable sin must arise from a wilful refusal to repent. If it is unforgivable then the sin will always remain and, if the sin will always remain, separation from God is permanent.

[PAUSE]

Christians should fear Hell and we should fear it because we should want to be with God for all Eternity. And, further, we need to share in the urgency of bringing people to Christ so that they do not suffer the same fate. This is why spreading the Gospel is so vital. And the Gospel is very simple. Repent: turn to the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved and enter Eternity with God in pure love.

Punishing parties

Sermon for the nineteenth Sunday after Trinity

Have you ever been to a party and had the experience where you’re not entirely sure that you are in the same conversation as the people around you? You’ve somehow managed to be standing sort of near a group of people and there is a discussion going on but you’ve missed bits of it. Are you near enough into the group so as to be included or not? It’s a bit of a social dilemma.

Perhaps, then, you can sympathise with Samuel who has come to the house to hear this Jesus fellow and finds the place rammed full of people. He see Jesus there and he seems to be having a discussion with those who are closest to Him. Occasionally He says something to the crowd and then, at other times, Samuel can hear words which he is not sure are meant for his ears. You can understand that he gets a little confused.

He is rather grateful, then, when one of the disciples, a largish chap with a big voice and whose tunic appears to be covered in fish oil asks Jesus who He is talking to. Jesus doesn’t seem to give an answer to this question. Clearly, some people hear what He says, and some people do not.

Why is this?

[PAUSE]

We have to understand that, when Jesus wants to be heard, then He will make sure that everyone He’s talking to is actually able to hear Him. He gets in a boat to talk to a crowd of people who are desperate to hear the word of God. He speaks to them on a hill side so that they can all hear. They may not be able to understand what He says, but it is clear when He is talking to them. This is why we have been given the gift of the Holy Scriptures, so that we, too, might hear the words of Jesus.

But here we are with Samuel, only half-hearing what is being said.

We seem to be hearing two things. The first is the need to be watchful and vigilant for the Son of Man is coming. We remember that Our Lord tells us the parable of the wise virgins and the foolish virgins. The wise virgins are ready for the Bridegroom’s arrival and enter into the feast. The foolish virgins are unprepared and are shut out from the feast. Clearly Jesus has said this out loud and St Peter is confused as to whether Jesus means to tell this to all around.

The second thing we hear is that stewards who have been given charge over the household must also wait faithfully for the return of the householder. Those who do are rewarded with greater responsibility and honour. Those who do not are punished. Those who listen to God and do not do His will are punished severely. Those who do not know God’s will are punished less severely.

Why are we only half-hearing this?

[PAUSE]

The second parable is meant for the Apostles and for those who serve the Lord as leaders of His flock. These words are for the clergy, the bishops, priests and deacons. If we hear those words apply to us, then perhaps this is a sign that God is calling us to serve Him and His people as clergymen. This is why not everyone can receive this. Not everyone can be a steward, but all are servants of the Living God.

We all have to be ready for the return of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and this means hearing His will for the Church and then carrying it out. Those who do not, those who squander their lives as children of God in the service of their own bellies will not be allowed to enter the Wedding Feast of the Lamb.

Those priests, however, who do not listen to God will be cut asunder. They will be punished most severely. The priests who do not know the will of God will be punished, too, but in a way that corrects and brings them back to God. The punishment that priests receive will be much, much greater than the people they lead astray! It will be better for them to have a millstone tied around their necks!

[PAUSE]

If Samuel hears these words in the second parable then He has received His vocation. The ways of the world are to be resisted and the way of the Cross embraced. This is hard and Jesus is uncompromising but with good reason. He wants everyone to enjoy the Wedding Feast of the Lamb and not shut out from it permanently. If the way is hard then we must be diligent in prayer for each other. The priests of God also will be very grateful for each and every prayer offered up for them on their behalf. The good priest wants to serve. It is every Christian’s duty to help him do so.

United Kingdom divided?

Sermon for the Feast of Christ the King

What do you think about this?

The Prime Minister advises the Queen to suspend Parliament. The Queen suspends Parliament. Parliament takes the matter to the Law Courts who say that the suspension of Parliament was illegal and thus never happened. The Law rules that Queen did not suspend Parliament.

What we see here is a bit of a constitutional crisis in the United Kingdom over the issue of Brexit. Whether Brexit is right or wrong isn’t the issue: it’s the effect that this has been having on our society. The Queen has been shown to be a pawn in the hands of politicians who are seeking to broach an issue which has divided the British people almost exactly in half. The Queen is not a focus for unity any longer.

 [PAUSE]

Of course, there is a big difference between constitutional monarchs who are part of a democratic machine and absolute monarchs who call the shots. There are very few absolute monarchs now and those that are do not usually refer to themselves as King or Queen but rather keep up the pretence of being a democratic leader. In the past century, we have seen how democracy can be manipulated so as to produce some truly horrifying political leaders who have taken on absolute authority.

Even in the Holy Scripture, kings are absolute rulers who are more military leaders than part of a constitution that keeps their countries in order. Reading through the Books of Kings and the Chronicles and we find kings described as doing good in the sight of the Lord or doing evil in the sight of the Lord. Some become pawns of Babylon, others pawns of their wives. The evil kings raise up false gods. The good kings tear down the idols and restore the worship of the One True God Whom we worship with them. What is interesting is that there doesn’t often seem to be any discussion about division or devolution in many of these kings. Most of the people just follow what their king does, or at least that’s the impression we frequently get.

[PAUSE]

There is one big account of division when the majority of Israel breaks away following King Rehoboam’s decision to stamp his authority. Rehoboam is left with Judah alone and this division continues right up until the captivity of Babylon. Rehoboam’s mistake is to listen to the wrong advisors who tell him to increase the oppression of the people.

Kings and Queens can only be the focus for the unity of the country when they are at one with the people and embody within themselves the qualities which their subjects can respect, trust and support. The trouble is that we are often given reasons why our political leaders should not be respected, trusted or supported.

Behind this, though, is the fact that, in order to be a united society, we cannot always expect to have our own way no matter how passionately we feel. 

Division occurs when the sin of pride takes over and makes us unwilling to find common ground.  If there is to be any common ground between Brexiteer and Remainer then both sides have to compromise on the issue. If there is to be any common ground between Monarchist and Republican then there has to be some compromise.

[PAUSE]

We are already in an Absolute Monarchy because that is precisely what God is. King Jesus calls the shots but He does so with His people’s welfare at the centre of His kingdom. 

Throughout His ministry He calls for human beings to recognise the common humanity that we all possess and which He has chosen to possess too. Yes, Christianity is probably regarded as the most divided religion on the planet, but each group of Christians will have Jesus Christ at the centre of their worship. Everyone who calls themselves Christian has some focus on Christ the King. Like the divisions in society, the divisions between Christians are all because of human pride somewhere along the line. When Our Lord Jesus Christ comes again in glory, Christians all over the world will flock to hear His word and do His bidding and find unity in Him.

[PAUSE]

This should be the Christian principle for choosing our leaders. As Christians, we must learn to see Christ in every human being on the planet, even in our worst enemy. We can only do this through being active in the practice of our religion. The more we see Christ in others, the more we will know whom He gives us to lead us because we will perceive Christ the King within them. 

The Good News about wasps

Sermon for the eighteenth Sunday after Trinity

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings. It seems that if you bring bad tidings, then people are just not going to be as impressed with your chiropodist.

Like Gary Larsen’s deer, messengers of God’s Word do seem to have unfortunate birthmarks in the shape of rifle-range targets. It is always the messenger who gets shot, like the prophet Urijah. He upsets the princes of Israel simply by repeating Jeremiah’s prophecy from God. He tries to run away but is found and killed with the sword.

And just what is this bad news which costs Urijah his life and puts Jeremiah’s in peril?

[PAUSE]

If you bring the message back to its basics God is saying, “if you do evil things then horrible things will happen to you. If you turn back to me then those horrible things won’t happen.”

It’s a really simple message and it’s full of good news.

First, the message confirms a basic fact that evil breeds evil. Why is that good news? It means that evil can be limited. In order to stop evil spreading, we have to stop doing evil things. 

Remember, God’s Creation is very good, even if we don’t fully understand it. Evil spreads like cracks in the ice or like a ladder in ladies’ hosiery. We stop evil by seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. It means working hard to be Holy because He is Holy.

Secondly, the message shows us that God is in complete charge. By creating, He has set the laws of nature so that things can be as they are. Gravity pulls things down. Wasps sting. Plants need water to grow. These are all consequences of the way things have been created. This means if we drop the plate, it will break. If we annoy the wasp, it will sting us. If we do not water Aunt Sally’s prize begonia then Aunt Sally will not be happy when she gets back from Magaluf.

Thirdly, the fact that there is a message at all shows that God cares. A god that creates and then leaves its creation to itself has no use for prophets. A god that just wants its own way done all the time forces its will upon men. The very fact that there are prophets such as Jeremiah and Urijah shows us quite clearly that God cares and that He does not want to force us into obedience.  

To hear anything from God, even words of His displeasure, really is good news for us. It means that God cares, that we matter, and that our lives have meaning, worth and the potential for great things by pleasing God. So why do the messengers of such good news get shot?

[PAUSE]

This is the strange thing. It’s because people prefer darkness to the light. People want complete control over their lives. In many ways God has given us complete control over our lives but, crucially, what people want is to have complete control over their lives without negative consequences. 

They hate  being reminded of that. Indeed, to do away with the consequences of living, people reject God. We see this all around us. People claim the right to live immorally and, in order to do so, either tell God to go away or claim that He says something differently from what He has always said.

To tell people what God actually says risks getting targeted and shot. This is precisely what Our Lord says will happen to all who follow Him and proclaim the Good News.

However, the same Good News tells us that if we lose our lives for Christ's sake, then we will regain them and receive more. 

[PAUSE]

Christians will never win popularity contests. But then, perhaps if we do, we might have lost sight of how Good the News really is.

A question of Quicunque

One of the drawbacks from being a user of the Monastic Breviary conforming to the Book of Common Prayer rather than the Book of Common Prayer itself is that one does not encounter all three Creeds with regularity. For example, on Christmas Day, according to the full Office of the BCP, the Apostles’ Creed will be said at Evensong, the Nicene Creed at Mass and the wonderful Quicunque Vult at Mattins: all three Creeds announce Our Saviour’s Nativity. I tend only to meet the Quicunque Vult at Prime on Trinity Sunday just as I don’t say the Te Deum daily but only on Sundays and Feasts.

The Athanasian Creed is not by St Athanasius: it does not seem to have come from Greek origins, nor do Athanasius or his contemporaries mention it. It does, however, bear some resemblances to St Vincent of Lérins’ thinking and, if it is not his work, then it may be one of his contemporaries in Southern Gaul.

It is central to the faith of the Church of England.

Article VIII. OF THE THREE CREEDS

THE Three Creeds, Nicene Creed, Athanasius's Creed, and that which is commonly called the Apostles' Creed, ought thoroughly to be received and believed: for they may be proved by most certain warrants of holy Scripture.

and to the Continuing Anglican Churches, as the Affirmation of St Louis says:

The Creeds

The Nicene Creed as the authoritative summary of the chief articles of the Christian Faith, together with the "Apostles' Creed, and that known as the Creed of St. Athanasius to be "thoroughly received and believed" in the sense they have had always in the Catholic Church.

We should, therefore, be thorough in our reception and belief of this statement of our Faith and, for those who have not met this Creed before, I append it below.

How is it possible that a good Christian does not know this work? The Athanasian Creed, is slowly being forgotten through its rarer use, the intricacy of its language and through some rather unpalatable statements about those who do not keep the Catholic Faith.  This is unfortunate, especially when we know that Faith is central to our salvation. In order to be saved from the disease of Evil, the Darkness of the soul and from the agony of being separated from God, we have to believe in God. Sadly, many people seem to think that believing in a god of their choosing will do. While the Quicunque Vult, like the Apostles’ Creed, does not possess the ratification of an Oecumenical Council, we can certainly see that it is utterly unequivocal in the Trinitarian nature of the Catholic Faith and in the correct understanding as to Who Jesus Christ is. It presents a challenge to us to ensure that we are on the right track.

Many Orthodox Christians would find within this Creed a statement which is tantamount to the filioque, to wit:

The Son is of the Father alone: not made, nor created, but begotten.
The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son: neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.

Again, we find that St Maximos the Confessor’s understanding of the procession of the Holy Ghost from the Father through the Son still fits here. It is a single procession, but that single procession involves the other two Persons of the Trinity: the Father as the Fount of the Godhead, the Son as the Door of Salvation through which the Holy Ghost enters into Creation. Thus the Quicunque Vult has a perfectly Orthodox reading.

But what of the Hellfire and Damnation that this Creed possesses, and which many find unpalatable? First, we notice that the Creed warns against departure from the Catholic Faith. We need to keep the Faith “whole and undefiled”. Why?

Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen. And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (St Mark vi.16)

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (St John iii.16-18)

He that hath received his testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him. The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. (St John iii.33-36)

Our Lord is very clear: in order to be saved from Evil. We must believe in the only-begotten Son of God.

Of course, there are those who find this unpalatable because they find an incompatibility between the Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnibenevolent God and the issue of those who do good things but don’t have a right belief. Obviously, the judgement of God lies with the individual and I cannot enter into that because I do not have the right to interfere. However, there is no logical incompatibility between the existence of God and the existence of Eternal Hellfire, despite many protests to the contrary. We must remember that Omniscience also involves knowledge of all possibilities and this means all possible free-will choices that an individual can make. We must never despair of the Mercy of God, but then we must not despair of His Justice either – they’re probably the same thing.

It is my intention to read and reflect upon the Quicunque Vult at least once a month – probably at Prime on Sundays when it was supposed to be read. If other Christians did the same, especially those whose faith needs a bit of a boost, then I suspect the quality of our Christian witness would increase most satisfactorily.

 

QUICUNQUE VULT salvus esse, ante omnia opus est, ut teneat catholicam fidem: Quam nisi quisque integram inviolatamque servaverit, absque dubio in aeternum peribit. Fides autem catholica haec est: ut unum Deum in Trinitate, et Trinitatem in unitate veneremur. Neque confundentes personas, neque substantiam separantes. Alia est enim persona Patris alia Filii, alia Spiritus Sancti: Sed Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti una est divinitas, aequalis gloria, coeterna maiestas. Qualis Pater, talis Filius, talis [et] Spiritus Sanctus. Increatus Pater, increatus Filius, increatus [et] Spiritus Sanctus. Immensus Pater, immensus Filius, immensus [et] Spiritus Sanctus. Aeternus Pater, aeternus Filius, aeternus [et] Spiritus Sanctus. Et tamen non tres aeterni, sed unus aeternus. Sicut non tres increati, nec tres immensi, sed unus increatus, et unus immensus. Similiter omnipotens Pater, omnipotens Filius, omnipotens [et] Spiritus Sanctus. Et tamen non tres omnipotentes, sed unus omnipotens. Ita Deus Pater, Deus Filius, Deus [et] Spiritus Sanctus. Et tamen non tres dii, sed unus est Deus. Ita Dominus Pater, Dominus Filius, Dominus [et] Spiritus Sanctus. Et tamen non tres Domini, sed unus [est] Dominus. Quia, sicut singillatim unamquamque personam Deum ac Dominum confiteri christiana veritate compellimur: Ita tres Deos aut [tres] Dominos dicere catholica religione prohibemur. Pater a nullo est factus: nec creatus, nec genitus. Filius a Patre solo est: non factus, nec creatus, sed genitus. Spiritus Sanctus a Patre et Filio: non factus, nec creatus, nec genitus, sed procedens. Unus ergo Pater, non tres Patres: unus Filius, non tres Filii: unus Spiritus Sanctus, non tres Spiritus Sancti. Et in hac Trinitate nihil prius aut posterius, nihil maius aut minus: Sed totae tres personae coaeternae sibi sunt et coaequales. Ita, ut per omnia, sicut iam supra dictum est, et unitas in Trinitate, et Trinitas in unitate veneranda sit. Qui vult ergo salvus esse, ita de Trinitate sentiat.

Sed necessarium est ad aeternam salutem, ut incarnationem quoque Domini nostri Iesu Christi fideliter credat. Est ergo fides recta ut credamus et confiteamur, quia Dominus noster Iesus Christus, Dei Filius, Deus [pariter] et homo est. Deus [est] ex substantia Patris ante saecula genitus: et homo est ex substantia matris in saeculo natus. Perfectus Deus, perfectus homo: ex anima rationali et humana carne subsistens. Aequalis Patri secundum divinitatem: minor Patre secundum humanitatem. Qui licet Deus sit et homo, non duo tamen, sed unus est Christus. Unus autem non conversione divinitatis in carnem, sed assumptione humanitatis in Deum. Unus omnino, non confusione substantiae, sed unitate personae. Nam sicut anima rationalis et caro unus est homo: ita Deus et homo unus est Christus. Qui passus est pro salute nostra: descendit ad inferos: tertia die resurrexit a mortuis. Ascendit ad [in] caelos, sedet ad dexteram [Dei] Patris [omnipotentis]. Inde venturus [est] judicare vivos et mortuos. Ad cujus adventum omnes homines resurgere habent cum corporibus suis; Et reddituri sunt de factis propriis rationem. Et qui bona egerunt, ibunt in vitam aeternam: qui vero mala, in ignem aeternum. Haec est fides catholica, quam nisi quisque fideliter firmiterque crediderit, salvus esse non poterit.

 

WHOSOEVER will be saved: before all things it is necessary that he hold the Catholick Faith.
Which Faith except every one do keep whole and undefiled: without doubt he shall perish everlastingly.
And the Catholick Faith is this: That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity;
Neither confounding the Persons: nor dividing the Substance.
For there is one Person of the Father, another of the Son: and another of the Holy Ghost.
But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one: the Glory equal, the Majesty co-eternal.
Such as the Father is, such is the Son: and such is the Holy Ghost.
The Father uncreate, the Son uncreate: and the Holy Ghost uncreate.
The Father incomprehensible, the Son incomprehensible: and the Holy Ghost incomprehensible.
The Father eternal, the Son eternal: and the Holy Ghost eternal.
And yet they are not three eternals: but one eternal.
As also there are not three incomprehensibles, nor three uncreated: but one uncreated, and one incomprehensible.
So likewise the Father is Almighty, the Son Almighty: and the Holy Ghost Almighty.
And yet they are not three Almighties: but one Almighty.
So the Father is God, the Son is God: and the Holy Ghost is God.
And yet they are not three Gods: but one God.
So likewise the Father is Lord, the Son Lord: and the Holy Ghost Lord.
And yet not three Lords: but one Lord.
For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity: to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord;
So are we forbidden by the Catholick Religion: to say there be three Gods, or three Lords.
The Father is made of none: neither created, nor begotten.
The Son is of the Father alone: not made, nor created, but begotten.
The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son: neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but proceeding.
So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons: one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts.
And in this Trinity none is afore, or after other: none is greater, or less than another;
But the whole three Persons are co-eternal together: and co-equal.
So that in all things, as is aforesaid: the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity is to be worshipped.
He therefore that will be saved: must thus think of the Trinity.
Furthermore it is necessary to everlasting salvation: that he also believe rightly the Incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For the right Faith is that we believe and confess: that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man;
God, of the Substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds: and Man, of the Substance of his Mother, born in the world;
Perfect God, and Perfect Man: of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting;
Equal to the Father, as touching his Godhead: and inferior to the Father, as touching his Manhood.
Who although he be God and Man: yet he is not two, but one Christ;
One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh: but by taking of the Manhood into God;
One altogether, not by confusion of Substance: but by unity of Person.
For as the reasonable soul and flesh is one man: so God and Man is one Christ.
Who suffered for our salvation: descended into hell, rose again the third day from the dead.
He ascended into heaven, he sitteth on the right hand of the Father, God Almighty: from whence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead.
At whose coming all men shall rise again with their bodies: and shall give account for their own works.
And they that have done good shall go into life everlasting: and they that have done evil into everlasting fire.
This is the Catholick Faith: which except a man believe faithfully, he cannot be saved.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost;
As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

Political fleshy arms

Sermon for the seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

Whom do you trust, these days?

Chances are that politicians aren’t going to be high on your list of trustworthy people at the moment. All kinds of accusations of corruption and abuse of power are being levelled at the most important people in our society. Perhaps we should be taking God’s word through Jeremiah seriously.

Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.

That’s what God tells us, and it’s true. If we trust in any human being to the exclusion of God, then we have made an idol of that human being and we will fall with them. It’s even there in our language: we idolise our heroes. Groups of Christians are named after their founders and leading lights – Luther, Calvin, Jansen, St Benedict, et c. If we rely too much on them then God says we must fall.

[PAUSE]

Our Lord Jesus does not mince words when he upbraids the Pharisees, the spiritual leaders of Israel. He lays into them because they love their power more than God to the extent that the people who follow them are suffering. It seems that political leaders are not people who deserve our trust.

Yet we can put our trust too much in our political systems. We know that democracy is a good form of government: we fight for it; we seek to make it available to all people; and we end up idolising it. Look how some churches value Democracy so much that they are willing to put the truth of Christian Doctrine to a vote. The democratic vote has damaged the politics of many of our strongest nations causing division and resentment.

If we make flesh our arm and depart from the Lord, then we will fall.

[PAUSE]

This is the problem that we have in the West. We have made idols out of ideals that are not God. Human Life, Human Liberty, Human Dignity, Human Justice, Human Prosperity – these are not from God. Only in God do we find true Life, true Liberty, true Dignity, true Justice and true Prosperity because all of these are aspects of God’s being. It is the belief that we have a right not to be controlled that is preventing us from accepting that we need to be ruled.

All of our politicians are flawed. Certainly all of the politicians whom we regard as great are flawed characters. Would the likes of Churchill or Lincoln be elected to office now? Chances are that, as soon as they stand for office, the Press would rake up sins from their pasts and whip up the crowds to demand that they stand down. That’s how our society works: we build up heroes and then knock them down. Perhaps we even build up heroes in order to knock them down.

If we have lost God in our society then we have lost the means by which we can escape this idolisation of our leaders. Churchill describes Democracy as the least worst form of government. If our leaders sin and repent then we should forgive and learn to trust again.

[PAUSE]

Our society is missing God. We want our own way and we want leaders who are perfect. We will never be satisfied unless we find the perfect leader and follow that leader. There is such a leader – the Shepherd of our souls. If we learn to trust God then political turmoil will pass us by. If we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then we learn how to vote responsibly and play a part in our imperfect Democracy.

But Democracy will fall because there is only One God and His Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven. We have to prepare ourselves for that when He comes again in glory to judge both the quick and the dead.

In the meantime, we must learn to be Holy for God is Holy, and sanctify our politics through prayer and attention to God. We must accept who rules us and remember that we are merely passing through to a better Kingdom.

Sincerity and Society

Sermon for the sixteenth Sunday after Trinity

Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man, if there be any that executeth judgment, that seeketh the truth; and I will pardon it.

Is God talking to us in the same words as He uses with Jeremiah?

[PAUSE]

 It doesn’t take much to look at the way our society is and see clear parallels. Is God saying to us, “How shall I pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken Me, and sworn by them that are no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses. They were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife.”

While these sins are nothing new, we do live in a society which used to be proudly Christian and is now denying either that God does not exist or that He is not worth worshipping. Even within the Church many are more concerned about fighting for sexual freedoms than the worship of God. There are many who call themselves Christian but who will not believe in the physical Resurrection of Our Lord. There are many who call themselves Christian but who believe that the writers of the Bible made mistakes in conveying God’s message to us. There have been church leaders who have even scolded St Paul for not being inclusive of people’s lifestyle choices. There are many who call themselves Christian – even church leaders – but who do not believe in God!

If our society is committing the same sins as Jeremiah’s Jerusalem, can’t we expect to receive the same consequences as Jeremiah’s Jerusalem? After all, God doesn’t create one rule for one person and another rule for somebody else.

[PAUSE]

Preaching God’s Word, too, is getting more and more difficult. Why? Again, look at our society.

“[T]hey have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.”

God’s words through Jeremiah remain true.

To be honest, nothing much has changed. Many preachers have been saying the same thing through the ages that our society is a sinful, godless society. While we are troubled by this, we should not be troubled unduly. We might find ourselves fighting the tide of popular opinion, going against the flow and standing alone against the world but this is our calling as a Church.

Christians build their house on the rock that is called Christ and we cling to it like limpets. Our Lord Jesus Christ says very clearly that God is our Father and that He is a Good Father. God does not ignore the prayers of anyone who earnestly and honestly calls to Him. This does not mean that we can pray away our pain and suffering in this life but, rather, our pain and suffering for God become sacrifices by which we can reach out to our fallen society. The more that people swept along by the tide of the false god Progress see that there is a rock to cling to, the more they will find comfort in the Righteousness of God.

[PAUSE]

It is precisely the Righteousness of God that people need to see. If the Church wants Society to seek God then we need to seek Him first, to ask Him for the things needed to proclaim His Holy Word to generations that are deaf because they will not hear. A church that is concerned with the things of the world is no church because God is not of the world. Such a church will present dust to those made of dust.

[PAUSE]

The Living Church will say to God “Thy Kingdom come. Thy will be done” and suffer the consequences. But what are the consequences that the church of the world will suffer? In which church are we?