Out of control Christianity

Sermon for the tenth Sunday after Trinity

Let's be clear.

Contrary to some 

conspiracy theorists,

Christianity is not about

brainwashing.

You are not being 

controlled by the Holy Ghost.

You can still do 

what you want to do

but you have to bear 

the consequences of what you do.

This is true

wherever you are.

St Paul states the facts.

Those who curse Jesus

are separate from the Spirit of God.

Those who bless Jesus

and call Him Lord,

sincerely and willingly,

are united in that Holy Spirit.

Indeed,

the point of a sermon

is to present you 

with the truth

and you are free to criticize it,

accept it or reject it.

But if a sermon 

presents Jesus as our Lord and King

and encourages you to worship Him

then you can be sure

that the Holy Ghost is at work

in both you and the preacher.

It's your job, then,

to listen out for what the Holy Ghost

is saying to you

which may not necessarily

be the words spoken to you 

by the preacher.

If you love God,

then you must keep 

His commandments

because His commandments

will give you precisely

what you want.

But you have to do it.

You can't lean back 

and let the Holy Ghost

do all the work,

otherwise there is no you

involved in your life.

God has created you

to be a free agent,

reflecting His own freedom

in your life.

So you are not controlled.

[PAUSE]

And you can be whatever

God has created you to be.

The point St Paul is making

is that whatever gifts 

or abilities God has given us

be it in administration or teaching, preaching or prophesying,

they come from the same Spirit.

It means that 

whatever lies behind

our ability

is linked by the Holy Ghost

to every other member

of the Church.

It is the Holy Ghost

that threads us all together

and knits us into one Church

not just regardless of who we are

but because of who we are

and because of Who God Is.

So, 

to curse Jesus,

to reject His death

to reject His commandments to love

to call good evil and evil good

cuts the thread

that links us to the Church

to each other

and to God.

[PAUSE]

By the choices we make

we can be cut off from the Spirit

and we can be rejoined to the Spirit

but the Spirit never leaves us

while we bear the image of God Himself.

It means we need to be critical

of what we hear in our pulpits

in order to hear how Christ is 

proclaimed Lord

and how that truth is

to be lived truly in our lives 

with sincerity.

We are free to become perfect,

the best version of ourselves

we could ever wish or hope to be.

The Way to that perfection is Christ.

And our travelling companion

is the Holy Ghost in Whom

the whole Church cries out 

in one voice saying,

"Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father."

Condoning embezzlement?

Sermon for the ninth Sunday after Trinity 

Is the Lord telling us

to make friends 

with those who have

earthly possessions?

Is He asking us 

to defraud our bosses

just so that we can have 

a bed for the night?

Is He actually  condoning sin?

[PAUSE]

The parable of the unjust steward

confuses us

because it does sound

as if Our Lord

is happy with

embezzling from the boss

in order to win friends 

for somewhere to stay 

that's safe.

But this cannot be just:

this is stealing

and the Lord hates stealing.

So what, then?

What does the Lord mean

by making friends of the Mammon 

of unrighteousness?

[PAUSE]

There are lots of questions here.

What we need to see

is the fact that it will be

these children of 

the Mammon of Unrighteousness

who will actually welcome us into

everlasting habitations.

It will be these children

who recognise us 

and welcome us in heaven.

Remember who will go first

into everlasting habitations.

It will be the poor,

the needy, the prostitutes

the sinners.

It will be those who,

in their degradation

repent,

and return to the Lord.

In fact, 

immediately before St Luke

records the parable 

of the Unjust Steward,

he records the parable

of the Prodigal Son.

It is those who 

recognise their spiritual poverty

and repent

and return to God

who find open arms

of love and utter joy.

These go into Heaven first.

Now look at what

the Unjust Steward is doing.

He is trying to ease

the debts of those

who owe lots.

He can't cancel the debts

completely,

but he can make life easier

for those who are in debt.

In his actions,

the Steward is making

friends with sinners

by making their debts easier to bear.

He is showing kindness,

knowing that his time is short,

and knowing that he can make

a difference in the lives

of those who could do 

with a kind word,

a bit of a hand,

the benefit of the doubt.

And we can do the same.

[PAUSE]

Our time is short

and death is coming

and we, too, must render 

before God

an account of

our every act,

our every word,

our every thought.

And we own nothing.

We have only what God

has given us.

But what we can do

is love.

What we can do 

is forgive.

What we can do,

rather than hate 

the fallen,

the misguided,

the deviant,

is love them

and show them 

kindness, warmth, generosity

and the benefit of the doubt

in full knowledge that,

in our own ways,

we are the fallen,

we are the misguided,

we are the deviant.

Rather than claw back

the exact amount

of the sins of others

thinking that

we do so

on behalf of God,

let us behave

how we would want 

Him to behave with us

and become humble

and repentant

and loving.

[PAUSE]

The people we show kindness to

will enter Heaven before us.

Won't it be wonderful

to feel their hands together 

with those of the saints

pulling us in before

the Divine Smile of God?

Definer labels

 

Why self-definition is a life-long struggle.

Mirroring away the debt

For the feast of the Holy Name, click here.

Sermon for the eighth Sunday after Trinity

We owe the flesh nothing.

Nihil, nada, zip, nothing.

St Paul is forthright about that.

We are not in debt to the flesh, 

but what does he mean?

What is this "flesh"?

What claim might it have on us?

[PAUSE]

Be clear on this.

God created you.

You are a body and a soul,

together,

inseparable,

each incomplete

without the other.

You do not have a body.

You do not have a soul.

They are not possessions.

Without either,

you are not you.

You are body and soul together.

So your body is not evil.

But you are not meant to be

a thing of earth alone.

Indeed,

you were created 

in the likeness of God,

to reflect His

face in the world around.

But we are all fallen,

and this means 

that we cannot perceive

God with us 

without His direct help.

It means that,

without God's grace

we cannot see the face of God

in our fellow human beings

or in ourselves.

It means that we can 

forget that we are

body and soul,

and look after the things that we can see

at the expense of

the things that we can't.

[PAUSE]

With God invisible to us

we treat only the desires

that come from our earth.

If we get the urge to eat

then we eat and,

unable to see the face of God

in ourselves

nor in others,

we eat and eat and eat

until there is nothing left to eat

for anyone.

Unable to see 

the face of God,

we make gods

out of the desires 

that we call "natural"

and satisfy them.

The need for food 

gets turned into

the god of gluttony.

If food is all we value

above all else,

we worship it.

The need to reproduce

gets turned into 

the god of lust.

If sex becomes 

the only way to express

our deepest love for another

then we value sex

above true love 

and we worship lust

rather than

the God that is love.

In making gods

of our desires

we allow them to claim rights

over us.

By investing our worship

in the gods of lust

we rely on them

to fulfill our needs.

And then we fall into their debt.

[PAUSE]

But there is only one God.

So in worshipping

these gods of lust

we find that we owe 

everything

to nothingness.

Our true worship

is for the God Who is Love.

True love bleeds and dies

to serve God

rather than 

allow biological needs

to become gods.

So St Paul says,

discipline your body,

kill the desires

that seek to become idols

in your life.

Focus on 

what will help you 

recover the face of God

in the people around you

and in your mirror.

Then your imaginary debts

will evaporate.

[PAUSE]

God is a spirit

and we must worship Him

in spirit and in truth.

That does not mean

hating the body

- quite the reverse -

we must live in the Grace of God

to give the body

the greatest privilege of all.

We give our bodies

the privilege 

of reflecting the face of God Himself.

Transfiguration in retreat

 How what is ruined need not be so.

Playing with Salvation

Sermon for the seventh Sunday after Trinity

Is Our Lord playing with us?

From seven loaves 

and some fishes,

he feeds four thousand men

and produces seven baskets

of leftovers.

Why the leftovers?

Is He just showing off?

Is He trying to show us

the superabundance 

of God's love by being wasteful?

Is this an example

for us to follow?

[PAUSE]

Clearly,

our environment shows that 

we have played fast and loose

with the things of this Earth.

We have wasted so much.

There is plastic everywhere.

Seas and rivers are polluted,

and animal species 

are suffering as a result

of our exploitation

of the environment.

But then,

we don't even treat our own selves

any better.

We even see our own bodies

as playthings

to do with as we will.

We seem to think of ourselves

as ghosts

which live in bodies

and have a right to enjoy them

in whatever way we deem fit.

We don't see ourselves

as one unity,

body and soul together.

If we have such

flagrant disregard for

our own selves

how can we care about the environment?

[PAUSE]

Seven baskets of leftovers.

What do you think 

the disciples did?

Ate them up themselves?

Gave them to the poor?

Fed the birds?

We are not told 

what happens to them,

except we know

that everyone had

enough to eat.

So it's unlikely

that these leftovers

we're eaten by someone

present, 

even the disciples,

or even the Lord.

But one thing that 

we can trust

is that they didn't go to waste.

These leftovers fed something

or someone.

Someone got the benefit

of so much leftovers

fish and bread,

from a hungry person

to hungry mould.

What is left is recycled

and reused,

because that is the way

that God has ordered Nature,

in order to be beautiful.

The Lord is generous,

not wasteful.

But we are wasteful,

because we use what we have

in a way that shows God

that we do not have the same

love, care and attention

to His Creation

as He does.

We are the only animal that can sin

because we are the only animal

that can understand

not only what's going on

but also how we can use

everything to our advantage.

We fail to see ourselves

as part of God's Creation

but rather think

that we are beings with our own

God-given rights

while closing our eyes to our

God-given responsibilities.

[PAUSE]

Our Lord's Holy Incarnation

shows that He has so much regard

for what He has created.

Given that we have fallen

into the sickness of sin

we have infected, 

not just each other,

but the whole world

with this sickness.

Our Lord comes to bring Salvation:

health to us

health to the world

in the New Heaven

and the New Earth

which He promises us.

We cannot undo

the damage that we have done

by bringing Sin 

into the world,

but can bring

the Christ's superabundant love

in to relieve the effects of that damage.

If Christ will pour seven extra baskets

of bread into the world

after feeding four thousand,

then we can rest assured 

that it will be no waste

but will bring good nourishment 

where nourishment is lacking.

[PAUSE]

We are creatures of God.

We deserve respect

because we exist,

not as playthings

neither of God,

nor of others

nor of ourselves,

but as beings capable

of bearing into the world

the seven baskets of love

over and above

the love that God has given us.

We do not play with Salvation,

we live it

and bring to those who need it

the One Who brims over

with that Salvation.

The Sacrifice of Uncrossed Fingers

 

How should the Christian approach politics?

Taking home the pay packet

Sermon for the sixth Sunday after Trinity

Pay day should be 

very satisfying.

After all, 

you work so hard

and to find out

that,

perhaps,

all your labours

have reaped their reward

means you can breathe

a sigh of relief.

Bills can be paid.

Provisions can be bought.

And,

for the lucky ones,

some treat can be afforded.

Pay day comes 

with a sense of relief.

And then St Paul reminds us

the wages of sin is death.

Looking forward to pay day now?

[PAUSE]

We are well aware

of the inevitability

of death.

And, as Christians,

we know that sin and death 

are two sides of the same coin.

We die because we sin

and we sin because we know

we're going to die.

Adam and Eve

brought sin and death 

into Creation

creating a fissure,

a deep crack in our relationship

with God

and in our likeness

to God.

That crack has spread

through all humanity

depriving us 

of the ability to hear God

walking with us in the 

Garden of Creation.

Sin and death are

both separations from God:

they are both sides of the same coin.

How, then, can we possibly die to sin

as St Paul tells us?

[PAUSE]

The beauty of death 

is that it stops sin in its tracks.

The dead man can sin no more.

But to die in sin

means that separation from God

becomes permanent.

How can we both be dead to sin

and remain alive?

You know the answer to that.

Our Baptism is into the death 

of our Lord Jesus Christ.

In Baptism, we are given the grace

to be born again

but, in order to be born again,

we need to be dead first.

The wages of sin

have to be paid first.

And the death of Our Lord

pays those wages

for the whole world.

Who are the wages paid to?

God?

No. 

God does not want 

the death of a sinner

but rather that he turn

from his sin and live.

To the Devil?

No. 

The Devil wants us to think

he has a right to our souls

but he lies

and the truth of God frees us

from his grasp

by death.

To death?

How can death be paid to death?

With life!

Death is the absence of life.

We can pay a debt

by giving what is owed,

and the debt dies.

We can pay a hole in the earth

with earth,

and the hole disappears.

Pay death with life

and there is no more death.

Pay death with eternal life

and death is destroyed.

The death of Christ

is the means of our life.

In being baptized into His death

our wages of sin are paid

and, 

in paying those wages

both sin and death 

are destroyed.

[PAUSE]

Baptism gives us God's grace,

His active presence

by which we are incorporated

into His death

and into His life.

St John Chrysostom says,

"complete freedom 

from sin is not a reality as yet.

 We are told to live for God 

in Jesus Christ our Lord 

and to lay hold of every virtue, 

having Jesus as our ally in the struggle."

We cannot be free from 

the effects of sin in this life,

but, knowing that we have

Eternal Life in Christ,

we can be sure that 

Death will be the end of Sin

but not of us.

[PAUSE]

Sin and death are two sides

of the same coin.

And,

with that coin,

Christ has paid the wages of sin

for us on His cross.

We, too, must take up our cross

that we receive at our Baptism

and we must venerate that cross

because we are crucified with Christ

and will be raised to Eternal Joy

in Him.

The Sacred Feminine

 

Why the church needs to show society how equality of the sexes works.

Pushing forward and pulling back

Sermon for the fifth Sunday after Trinity

The Day of Judgement is here!

What do you see?

Perhaps you have the image

of Our Lord sitting on His throne

sending the sheep to Heaven

and the goats to Hell.

Perhaps you see Him

wearing a judge's wig

with a stern expression on His face.

Perhaps you hear Him

pronounce sentence

in a deep, grim voice

while all around 

angels circle 

ushering in the defendants,

escorting the blessed to Heaven

and driving the damned to Hell.

Perhaps, through it all

you hear that phrase repeated,

"Sin cannot stand in the presence of God."

Day of wrath and doom impending!

No wonder St Peter is terrified.

[PAUSE]

We are very used 

to the image of sin and punishment 

as being a legal affair.

And this is certainly

how St Peter sees it.

In recognising God standing

waiting for him on the shore,

he recognises

his own deficiencies

his failings,

his fear that causes him

to deny his God.

He cannot abide this

so He pushes God away,

 not only in fear of his life,

but also of shame for sin

and the fires of Hell.

Notice this! 

He is the one pushing God away.

God is drawing him near.

There is a bizarre tug of war here.

[PAUSE]

The image of God as judge

is perhaps too well established

in our thinking for our own good.

We only have human law-courts

and our experience of them 

and we frame our expectation

of God's judgement of us

in that way.

Some of us will only ever see

law courts on the television

and these will be overdramatic

and focused entirely

on the bad guy getting his comeuppance

and the good guy being acquitted.

But our law is a shadow 

of God's divine law.

What we fail to see

is the face of God

burning with a desire for us

to be whole again.

Look at the Holy Scriptures

from beginning to end.

Time and time again,

God comes to us face to face

but we turn away from Him,

so He approaches in a different direction

and we turn away from Him.

At every stage,

He presents Himself

sits with us

and tells us the truth.

He gives us every opportunity

to find Him,

begs us to turn to Him,

but in our selfish pride

we don't want to find Him

because our sin turns us away.

So we try and turn and turn and turn.

We spin on the spot

trying to cope with the presence 

of God that wills our good,

seeks our health

desires our presence

and rejoices in our being.

Afraid that the image of God as Judge

will cast us away 

into the forgotten wastes.

And what happens 

when God speaks to us

when His very presence

shows us how fallen we are?

"Fear not!"

[PAUSE]

Fear not. 

The Judge is not what you think.

Yes, He discerns Good and Evil

but He does so knowing everything

perfectly.

He does so with the intention

of doing something about it

healing,

restoring,

cleansing,

forgiving.

The Light if His Goodness

burns our sinful souls

but, rather than push Him away,

we have to embrace Him

and let the burning love

rid us of our 

most cherished misery,

our favourite sins,

our greatest faults

that, for whatever reason,

we can't let go.

It's the goats who won't let go

and who run away in fear

that God won't let them be

as they want to be

and who refuse the courage

to step forward into the arms

of their creator.

They have their reward.

But for those who turn

and trust the Lord

when He tells us not to be afraid,

we are given ...

Work.

A job to do.

Fish for men!

Feed the hungry!

Clothe the naked!

Preach the Gospel!

Give opportunities for people

to see Christ,

to fear Him,

and to dispel that fear

by seeing beyond our childish

perception of what it means

to be Judge in purest love!

He gives opportunities

to confront people

with His love.

Invite them to Joy!

Reel them in!

Don't push them away!

[PAUSE]

Our Lord will sit in judgement on us.

He sees our sins 

and He hates our sins.

He hates them because

they stop us from coming to Him.

We should push them 

out of our way to Christ

and let ourselves get drawn in

towards Him

and to Eternal Joy in Him.

Churlish Anglican Catholics

 

How Oxford Movement Day is a happy day for Anglican Catholics.

The Importance of the Benedictine Abbot

 

Why a good abbot is vital for the monastery and what this means for the parish.

Love's judgement

Sermon for the fourth Sunday after Trinity

Be merciful and receive mercy.

Don't judge and you won't be judged.

Don't condemn and you won't be condemned.

Forgive and receive forgiveness.

Our Lord gives us two things to do

and two things not to do.

We are to be merciful and forgive.

We are neither to judge nor condemn.

But we do judge and we do condemn.

A man is judged guilty of murder 

and condemned to prison 

for ten years.

What's wrong with that?

We need judgement and condemnation

for the good of our society.

We need it in our personal lives, too.

If we make the judgement

that someone is a gossip,

then we don't confide 

our greatest worries 

with them.

If someone says something 

hateful towards another person,

then we condemn their words.

We need that.

Judgement tells us that 

there must be order in our society.

Condemnation tells us that 

there must be

fitting consequences

for our actions.

Our Lord cannot mean 

that we do away 

with the structure of our society

and our responsibility within it.

So what does He mean?

[PAUSE]

St Luke records 

these words of Jesus 

in his account of the Beatitudes.

Jesus pronounces 

who is blessed

and who can expect woe.

He also commands

that we are to love

even our enemies.

This means that

mercy, judgement, 

condemnation and forgiveness

have to be seen

in the context of Love

and to love

means to will 

intensely and actively 

the good of others 

regardless

of who they are.

We are to ensure 

that we only make judgements

in order to see 

what good the other needs to thrive

and be truly happy.

We are to ensure that 

we only condemn the evils

that beset other people.

[PAUSE]

True judgement is about discerning

what is good from what is evil.

But we are fallen 

and cannot always see 

what is good and what is not.

Certainly, 

we cannot make things good.

We cannot repair the damage

because we ourselves

are damaged.

It would be like 

repairing a pothole in the road

with a sponge.

If we discern evil in others

then there is evil within us

that can and must be discerned.

If we stand stoney-hearted

and allow others to be 

destroyed utterly by their sins

then we can expect the same thing.

We might not be able

to do good of ourselves

but we are able to do good

if we have God's grace,

because grace perfects nature.

We, the Church, 

have been given grace

to help,

to heal,

to strengthen,

and lead people

to their perfection

in God Himself.

Mercy and Forgiveness

are manifestations of that grace.

Judgement and Condemnation 

are reserved only for God

in the Last Day

Who knows the secrets of the hearts

of everyone created.

We don't take that upon ourselves.

We seek only to make people

truly whole

and truly happy.

We seek others' good

but we can only find their good

and ours

in Almighty God.

But seeking someone else's good 

without God,

using our own standards

will bring sorrow upon us.

If our judgement and condemnation

prevent another's approach to God

then we cease to be truly whole

we cease to be truly happy

because we fail 

to have reflected

the loving God in our lives.

There is evil to be judged,

and we can make that judgement,

but with God's love.

There is evil to be condemned

and we can make that condemnation

but with God's love.

But, if we lack

the love of God

and the love of neighbour

we all are worse off.

[PAUSE]

Love's judgement never destroys,

but what does love truly 

judge and condemn?

Can we do the same?

A battle of minds

 

Why shouting at each other is not evangelism.

Valuing Joy

Sermon for the third Sunday after Trinity

Why all this fuss over 

finding a single lost sheep?

Sheep go wandering off

every day.

Why call your friends together 

just to say, 

"look! I found my lost silver coin!"

Unless it is a rare silver coin

you might not think

much about it.

Surely there are better things

to rejoice over than 

a single silver coin

and a sheep with wanderlust.

[PAUSE]

Well here's the issue:

A lost sheep might seem

trivial to one person

but it isn't trivial

to this shepherd

who values the sheep highly.

A lost coin, 

even a ha'penny piece,

might have more value to this woman

than the billions in the bank

of a tycoon.

We each have a different idea

of what is valuable.

A thing is valuable to us

if it motivates us to do

or to feel something

to possess it

or keep it safe.

This is why Our Lord tells us

that where our treasure is

our heart will be also.

It's almost so simple

that we pass over it

without giving it a moment's thought.

We will only work 

for the things we value.

This is why the Lord tells this parable.

It's a parable about

the value we place on things.

What is insignificant to one person

is vital to another.

We only search 

for something lost

if it's something we value highly.

The harder we look,

the more valuable it must be.

If Christ is prepared 

to leave the Royal Court

of ninety-nine angels in Heaven

to save one poor human being,

then what does it say

about how much value we have?

This is why the beggar 

is called Lazarus,

and the rich man is not named.

It is the person who is valued,

not earthly riches

and we forget this at our peril.

Why are we so valued?

[PAUSE]

We have been created

to share in God's joy.

We are meant to be people

who rejoice in the Lord alway,

but we don't because

we start caring about things that get lost,

and spend our lives looking for them.

Sometimes, 

the things that we are looking for

don't exist in the first place!

It's something that we are to unlearn.

We need to unlearn 

our value of the world,

in order to value God most.

We worship only what we love the most

and we need to learn to worship God.

Only then can we rejoice 

in what we have

because we rejoice in it

for God's sake

and not for our own.

[PAUSE]

If someone asks us to rejoice

when they find something

that they have been looking for

then it is up to us Christians

to bring our joy with us

so that whatever was lost

and is now found

becomes a reason

 to thank God.

It is our Christian calling

to work at

turning happiness into joy.

That way we can consecrate

what was lost

and is now found

and make it a vehicle

for people to go one further

and find the God

Whom they lost

and is always there to be found

if people will just seek Him out.

[PAUSE]

We Christians can find joy

but it is hard work.

When we find it,

it is our duty to share it

so that others can rejoice 

in the Living God,

the source of all joy and gladness.

Beyond the Walls

Sermon for the second Sunday after Trinity

Three invitations. Did you count them?

To the well-to-do people of the city;

To the socially disadvantaged 

people of the city 

living rough in the streets; 

To the socially disadvantaged people 

who live outside the city 

in hedges and by the side of roads.

The only people we know 

who don't go into the feast

are those who live comfortable lives

and know that they need nothing

from this feast.

Only those who hurt

those who struggle to live

those who know that they need healing

those who know that there is joy 

but not in how they are living

those who know that the feast

will be more than they could ever hope for,

these accept the invitation.

But it isn't three invitations, is it?

It's just the one,

just the one "come to the feast!"

offered to everyone.

[PAUSE]

Our Lord's parable is quite clear.

The city is Jerusalem 

and those inside are the Jewish people

- people whom God has always loved

- people whom He has called to the feast.

But those who are satisfied

with their own lives

reject Him,

and the invitation that He has written

in His own Blood.

So He turns to those 

who see Him as their hope

and they receive Him.

Here are Peter, James, John 

and the others

who know that they need healing,

who know that they need joy,

who know that they need salvation,

who are wounded by the world's

pitiless indifference

who hate the brokenness of

their souls

who are tired of the battle

to be good within them

with its constant losses

failures 

and degradation.

They accept the invitation

but it isn't enough.

The feast is not big enough yet.

There is still room.

And so the invitation passes

beyond the walls.

[PAUSE]

It finds those outside

the Jewish race,

who suffer the same woes

and torment

and it gives them hope.

They, too, can come into the city,

further up and further in,

to the palace of the feast giver,

the king of the Jews,

The Lord God Himself,

The Father

Whose invitation is the Word of Life

Christ Himself

and Who draws all people

through His Holy Spirit.

It is the Spirit that fires the hearts

of men to spread the Word,

this invitation to Life Eternal,

of Eternal Joy

of Eternal Satisfaction.

Those who refuse

live out their lives

with what they have always wanted,

but their hearts 

are where their treasure is

and they miss out on

Life Eternal

Eternal Joy

and Eternal Satisfaction.

They are left with

an Eternal Life of sorts 

but nothing beyond their thoughts;

an Eternity of indifference

shown to others and by others;

an Eternity of never being satisfied

but never knowing precisely why.

Those who refuse the invitation 

shall not enter into God's rest.

[PAUSE]

What we have to do is clear:

Say "yes!" to the invitation

and spend lives inviting others

in our thoughts, words and deeds.

At the moment, 

we stand beyond the walls

but we are invited nonetheless.

We must prepare ourselves

for the feast.

We must lives turning towards God

We must let others know that

they are invited too.

We have to wait for the city gates 

to be flung wide

to lift up their heads

and we shall enter in

with the King of Glory.

Flesh and Spirit

Sermon for the Sunday in the octave of Corpus Christi

In some of our Churches,

they use the Thanksgiving after Mass

from the 1549 Book of Common Prayer.

This prayer gives thanks

for being fed with

the spiritual food

of the Body and Blood 

of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

What does that mean?

Does it mean that

Our Lord is only present

spiritually in the

Consecrated Host 

and Chalice?

This presents us

with a bit of a problem.

Our Lord says to His Disciples 

"a spirit hath not flesh and bones." 

He also says,

"the bread that I will give 

is my flesh, 

which I will give for 

the life of the world."

If the Lord gives His flesh

for us to eat,

and spirits do not have flesh,

then the presence of Christ

at the Mass

cannot be a spiritual presence.

We know also,

that God is a spirit

and this means that 

the Divine Nature 

does not have a body.

But Jesus is God,

fully Divine,

fully Human,

He has no flesh in His Divine Nature

but in His Human Nature.

If He gives us His flesh to eat,

then He does so from His Human Nature.

But Our Lord's Divine Nature is inseparable from His Human Nature.

This means that

Our Lord is present 

in the Consecrated Host

fully in both His Humanity

and His Divinity,

Flesh and Blood.

So how can what 

we receive in the Mass

be spiritual food?

[PAUSE]

God is spirit and

we are to worship Him

in spirit and in truth.

If we are to worship Him in spirit,

then we are spiritual beings.

The food we receive is not 

a spiritual presence.

It is food for our spirit.

Remember that 

our flesh is at war with our spirit.

We human beings

are broken.

Our nature is fractured.

We are at war within ourselves.

Our Baptism changes that

because we are given

the gift of the Holy Spirit

to dwell with us and in us.

And, to make us more spiritual,

we take into ourselves

the very Flesh and Blood

of God Himself

so that our bodies

and spirits are fed.

[PAUSE]

God gives us Himself

so that we can become

like Him

and participate

in His Divine Nature.

This is why we are grateful

for His feeding us 

with the food that will

grow our spirits

so that we can be like Him.

It carries the responsibility

for using what we are given

to sanctify the world

through battling against

the flesh of the world

which wants us

to deny Christ and become

just corruptible children of dust.

The Mass shows the world

that it is still loved by God

and this love is in such plentiful supply

that it breaks the boundary

between what is Human

and what is Divine.

We need to show this Mass to the world.

And, in ourselves,

we are to lift up Christ

and carry Him about,

so that through us

and by Him

the world may be brought back to Him.

We have a lot to do.

Perhaps we need to gain strength

by eating what is truly good for us.

Anglican Catholic Mass immersion

 

Why the feast of Corpus Christi is vital for Christian living.

Living Trinity

Sermon for Trinity Sunday

At Mass, we come to God, 

and God comes to us 

at the meeting place of the altar.

We can point to His presence with us

and, in the same faith,

we are fixed in His gaze

until we have taken Him

into our bodies and souls,

our lives and our hearts

where He dwells 

and makes us more like Him.

But God is Trinity in Unity.

We are not.

How are we meant to become

like God?

We need to learn to live the Trinity.

[PAUSE]

Our Lord Jesus Christ 

becomes a man,

so that we might become 

like Him

and live our lives

as committed members

of the Orthodox and Catholic Church.

We are not to live lives that are Arian.

Arians believe that Jesus is created,

more than a man,

but not of the same substance of God.

If Arians become more like that,

they will never see God.

They will never know 

true salvation

which lies beyond

the universe of created things.

We are not Arians.

Being Arian says that

our life can only be lived

in Creation

and separate from God.

Being Arian

denies that

the end of our journey

is God.

We are to live lives

in the hope 

of our return

to the visible presence of God

and not as part of the backdrop 

of the universe.

[PAUSE]

We are not to live lives that are Apollinarian.

Apollinarians think that God 

doesn't become fully Human,

that He puts on a human costume.

A god in a human costume is 

not being true

either to himself

or to human beings.

God is the Truth

and He loves us,

so He can't pretend to be human.

He becomes human

in order to be true to us

and to join us to Him.

If we live Apollinarian lives

then we see God as remote

and not fullyy invested in what we do

or who we are.

If we live Apollinarian lives,

then we push God away from us,

not trusting Him to be fully on our side,

rather than inviting Him

in to our lives.

[PAUSE]

We are not to live Nestorian lives.

Nestorians think that 

you can separate Jesus the Man 

from Christ the God.

They say that Mary is 

only the mother of the human bit

of Jesus,

not His God bit.

The Nestorian life says that 

we can live human lives 

every day of the week

but we have to be Christian 

on a Sunday.

The Nestorian life says

we can keep God in 

a separate part of our lives

and can live out the rest 

without worrying about 

His involvement in the rest.

But we are to lead lives

Inseparably with God.

We recognise Our Lady

as the Mother of God

and see that God is truly present

in our Humanity

so that we lead lives

in order to be truly present

in His Divinity.

[PAUSE]

We are not to lead lives

in which we think that 

being God and being human 

are the same. 

While we cannot separate

Jesus' humanity and His divinity,

we cannot pretend that

 they are the same thing.

Jesus is human,

so He has every aspect

of being human.

Jesus is God,

so He has every aspect

of being God.

Jesus' human nature

lives co-operating with His 

divine nature.

We have to live lives

In which we too

co-operate with God,

neither seeing ourselves in charge

nor leaving everything

up to God.

Our will is saved

by choosing God.

We are saved through God's grace 

and co-operating

with that grace.

[PAUSE]

We are not to lead Ikonoclast lives.

Ikonoclasts believe 

that the image of God 

should not make us long to worship.

They do not believe 

that an ikon can be holy.

They cannot tell the difference

between an ikon and an idol.

Living the ikonoclast life

means not seeing God

as being really present

alongside His creation.

Ikonoclasts separate God

from His creation.

For them, 

a photograph of Our Lord

would not stir up 

any desire to worship Him.

They do not believe that 

venerating an ikon

means that the veneration

is meant for who is in the ikon,

just as the kissing of a picture

of your mother

is an expression of your love for her

not for the picture.

We are to live in a world of ikons

reflecting God in the world around,

relating creation back to God

acting on our worship of God

through acts of veneration

whenever we are aware of His presence.

We are to live in a world of ikons

and using them to learn

how to become aware

of His presence again.

[PAUSE]

We are to live lives 

which reflect 

the Father, Son and Holy Ghost

as being real, supreme 

and always with us,

always willing to associate with us,

always present 

to love us,

forgive us

have mercy on us,

draw us,

save us,

and bring us to Him.

We do believe in one God,

Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

Filioque fisticuffs and Trinitarian tussles

 

Why the filioque issue does matter and why we need to engage with it.

Spiritual Takeover?

Sermon for Whitsunday

One of the more 

frightening afflictions mentioned

In the Gospels

is the possibility

of being possessed.

The idea that 

a devil has some control over you,

making you do things 

you don't want to do,

that it inhabits your life

at the very deepest part,

is truly terrifying!

We see the poor man

possessed by Legion

able to rip chains

and terrify the neighbours.

But we see him 

delivered by God

as the devils are cast out

into suicidal swine.

Being possessed 

is something that should 

and does worry us.

We do not want to be controlled

by anyone

or anything

other than ourselves.

But isn't this what happens

to the Apostles?

Do they not become possessed,

albeit with the Holy Ghost?

Is the Holy Ghost taking control

of people?

[PAUSE]

Some of us are afraid

of the Holy Ghost

for this reason.

They worry that 

the Holy Ghost 

will make them do things

that they really do not want to do.

They worry that He will

change their lives

in ways that 

they cannot bear thinking about.

The trouble is,

they are right.

[PAUSE]

Allowing the Holy Ghost

to enter your heart 

will change your life,

but He will honour where you are

in your faith.

Look at Moses.

He is frightened

of the task 

of telling Pharaoh

to let his people go.

God gives him powers

and even lets Aaron speak for him.

So Moses accepts and is transformed.

[PAUSE]

Our Lady accepts the gift

of the Holy Baby in her womb

and all is done unto her

according to the Angel's word.

The disciples aren't ready

for the Holy Ghost

until Our Lord ascends into Heaven.

At every stage, 

the Holy Ghost meets is where we are

but spurs us on.

We do not lose 

the freedom to choose.

The Lord says,

"If ye love me, keep my commandments."

And then He says,

"and I will pray the Father

and He shall give you

another Comforter."

Our keeping of the commandments

comes before,

and separately from,

the giving of the Spirit.

That's not to say 

that we can work our way

into Heaven

by keeping of the commandments.

But rather we can work out 

our salvation

with the Holy Ghost

alongside us,

not controlling us,

so that our salvation is completed

and perfected

by His grace.

It also means that

when the Holy Ghost comes

He is not going to take us over

so that we can just sit back

and let Him do all the work.

While we may be His,

the Holy Ghost

will not possess us

and turn us into His puppets.

We are given 

the immense dignity

of our own free will.

God created that in us

He wants us to use it

and He wants to perfect it

by living alongside us.

That is what Paraclete means:

one who works alongside,

a side-kick almost!

[PAUSE]

But the Holy Ghost is dynamic

and, for love of us,

demands that we be dynamic too.

He may respect who we are,

even who we think we are,

but still He wants us

to become the person who He created

- the person we truly want to be.

Eventually, in Him,

the person that we think we are

becomes the person

that we really are.

[PAUSE]

We are not God's playthings

or Jesus' Holy Incarnation

makes no sense.

Although life in the Holy Ghost

can be intensely uncomfortable

at times,

that discomfort comes

from a world that is passing away

possessed by the spirits of

Apostasy, Apathy and Complacency. 

The Holy Ghost living with us 

means that

we are living alongside

Eternity itself.

The more we grow in love,

the more we want to say, "yes" 

to the Spirit

and the more we say, "yes"

to the Spirit

the more we grow in love.

Growth in Anglican Catholic Housegroups

 

How can a little church minister to the whole of the country?

Always nigh

Sermon for the Sunday after the Ascension

Repent! 

For the end of the world 

is nigh!

Heard that before?

The end of the world is nigh.

It's always nigh.

Worrying about the world

is something that

has plagued mankind

for centuries.

St Peter sees the end of the world

as being imminent in his time.

Even before him, 

many have worried 

about whether all things

will end in some catastrophe

in their time.

What is different from their time

and ours

is that we have a pretty good idea

of how the world might end

and what will cause it.

Unlike St Peter,

we can see the world

and what's happening.

We have good reasons 

to fear and worry

especially about our children

and our children's children.

There is a key difference

in how we see the end of the world

and how St Peter sees

the end of the world.

[PAUSE]

It seems that we look at

the end of the world

with fear and trembling.

We dread the horrors of the future

the pain and suffering

and the destruction

of all that is familiar.

St Peter has that future.

Rejection. Persecution. Crucifixion.

His Jewish heritage destroys itself

by hating him 

and throwing him out of the synagogue.

His stability of life in the fishing village

is taken away from him.

His life ends on a cross

upside down

in agony.

St Peter goes through

the end of the world

but he welcomes it.

We fear the end.

St Peter looks forward to it.

So do all the other saints.

They long for the end -

not because they want destruction -

but because they know

that what comes next

will exceed

any joy they can imagine.

[PAUSE]

As we stand 

and watch Our Lord

ascend,

body and soul,

into Heaven,

we are told that

He will come again

in the same manner.

We have nothing to fear.

But we do fear.

[PAUSE]

We fear because

we are still attached to earthly things

and earthly things will be destroyed

even our bodies.

God tells us not to cling to 

earthly things

but we do.

What do we do, then?

The key is holiness.

[PAUSE]

Holiness is about separation.

Whatever is separated

out for God is called holy.

God is holy because

He is separate from His Creation

and anything that is

separated for Him

shares His holiness.

And we are to share His holiness.

We have to be separated out,

set ourselves aside,

for God.

This is how St Peter

faces the end of his world,

trusting not in anything he has,

but that God has called Him out

into a better, more glorious world.

St Peter is holy, 

which is why he is called Saint.

Our lives, too,

must be set aside

from the purposes of the world

for the purposes of God.

We are always close

to the end of the world -

it could happen any minute -

but that's not a reason to be afraid,

or to give up

living for God.

Lives of prayer,

of devotion,

of seeking God in Creation,

of living the best lives we can

according to what is truly good,

of bearing our cross

as Christ bears His,

this is the path to holiness.

[PAUSE]

We are meant to be holy,

for God is holy. 

Not even the end of the world 

can stop us 

if we turn to Christ in love.

Ascending on the humdrum

 

Why monotony is the way to God.

Canonically Catholic

 

A reflection on St Vincent of Lérins' famous canon.

Asking for reality

Sermon for Rogation Sunday

What are you asking God for?

Our Lord tells us that 

whatever we ask the Father for 

in Jesus' name, 

He will grant us.

It sounds like 

a licence to print money,

but you know that it's not.

St Paul is in prison.

If God would give Paul

whatever he wanted,

then he might be free from prison.

If God gives us what we want,

then why is St Stephen stoned to death?

If God gives us what we want,

then why does He not take 

the cup of suffering from 

His Only Son,

even when His Only Son

begs Him 

to let the cup pass from Him?

[PAUSE]

We worship God 

and that means

not treating Him 

like a genie.

We may ask for 

the things that we want,

but we cannot expect 

our prayers to be answered

in the narrow prison

of our own desires.

We can expect 

our prayers to be answered.

We should expect 

our prayers to be answered,

but they will be answered in a way 

that makes us more real.

St James tells us

that it is not enough

to say the words.

We have to do the work.

Doing the work

makes what we believe

obvious.

Doing the work 

takes our faith from

the vague clouds

of fact and theory in our heads

and shows the world

that we do have faith in God.

We are not saved by faith alone,

because faith is never alone.

A faith that exists just in the mind

does nothing for the body.

And we are to be saved Body and Soul.

Faith is the gift of God.

Free will is the gift of God.

And free will makes 

what is in our mind

become real.

Faith and free will go together.

And Faith also comes with 

Hope and Charity.

And it is Our Lord present

in body and soul

Who saves us 

Body and Soul.

If Faith saves

then it never saves us alone.

[PAUSE]

Whatever we ask God for 

requires faith in God,

but faith must be worked out.

Faith is the paper on 

which God has written 

His covenant with us

in the blood of His Son.

That covenant needs working out.

We need to play our part.

And God will play His.

And what does God promise us 

in this Covenant?

[PAUSE]

He promises

our hearts' desire.

He promises 

the one thing 

that will give us true joy

more than cars 

or money

or health

or wine, women and song,

more than 

freedom from prison,

freedom from persecution,

freedom from a painful, miserable death,

He gives us the one thing.

Himself.

And, in order to give us Himself,

He makes us more real

than we can know,

so that we can

enjoy his presence

for Eternity.

[PAUSE]

But this means

seeing the things that we desire

as not being the things 

that will make us happy

but as being the things

which show us 

what we really need from God.

If we want a fast car

then we might really want

a sense of exhilaration

of fresh air

and speed. 

It's not really the car

we want, 

it's the experience that

having a car might 

give us.

If we ask Him,

God will give us

His Holy Spirit

to thrill us,

give us a blast of the clean air

from Eternity

and the sense of His power

rushing through Creation.

But this means 

that we must 

be prepared to go 

wherever the Holy Spirit

leads us.

If we want to be healthy

then we might really want 

a life free from pain.

But God can give us this life

through His Son

in our own resurrection

from the dead.

But this means we cannot

be satisfied with 

our own relief from pain

and must work to relieve

the pain of others.

Their pain must become

our own pain.

If we want the company

of a pretty woman or handsome man,

then we might have a longing

for the company of someone

who truly loves us

and whom we find able to love.

God loves us

and, if we ask Him,

He will show us His beauty

which will go beyond anything

created.

[PAUSE]

Our Lord Jesus Christ says that, 

if we ask,

we shall receive.

We can ask for the universe.

But we cannot be satisfied with that

because we can have

the Creator of the Universe

Himself.

What do you really, really want?

Nipping the nose of bad priests

 

Why St Dunstan's strictness is good for the Church.

Grace and favour

Sermon for the fourth Sunday after Easter

What is grace?

You hear a lot about grace 

in the Church, 

from the Gospels, 

in the sacraments 

and from the pulpit. 

Have you ever stopped 

to think about what 

grace actually is?

[PAUSE]

Tuesday's child is allegedly full of grace.

A good ballerina is graceful.

What does that mean?

Is it because she has 

complete control over her limbs?

Is it because she can

display the music in her body?

Or is it because we find 

her movements beautiful?

[PAUSE]

The Greek word 

we translate as grace 

can also mean favour. 

If something is graceful 

then it is favourable, pleasing, fitting.

Grace is not something

the ballerina possesses.

It's something we see in her,

something good.

[PAUSE]

The Angel tells Mary that 

she is full of grace.

Actually, he says something stronger 

In a single Greek word, 

Gabriel says 

not only that she is full of grace,

but that the act of filling her with grace

is complete, finished, done.

She is perfected in grace.

She has God's complete favour.

She is completely good!

This sounds very alien 

to ears two thousand years distant

and two thousand years sinful.

How is Mary good?

Only God is truly good.

So where good is, God must be.

"Hail Mary, full of grace,

the Lord is with thee!"

[PAUSE]

If God finds favour

in something He has created 

then He is present with it.

We now know that grace is 

nothing less than

the active presence of God.

Grace is a good gift,

and a perfect gift

that comes down to us 

from the Father of Lights.

It is something He wants us to have.

Mary has it 

because she chooses to receive it.

And we need to receive the gift, too.

Every sacrament the Church possesses

is a means of grace,

and gives the active presence of God

to all who receive it.

[PAUSE]

Our Lord enters the waters of the Jordan

to be baptized by St John.

His active presence in the water

means that the water in the font

is transformed into the same water

in which He bathes 

and washes away our sin,

and draws us into his family.

Our Lord breaks bread and says,

"This is My body".

This means that the bread is transformed

 into His body, and the wine, His blood.

And we are given His active presence

to nourish us

and prepare us for life's journey.

Our Lord blesses a marriage 

with His presence

and so sanctifies every marriage.

He is handled by His apostles,

and so gives them the power 

to bestow the Holy Ghost

for confirmation and ordination.

He is anointed with oil for His burial.

He forgives sins and tells His disciples to.

It is the active presence of Christ

in each of these actions

that make the sacraments 

not empty symbols,

but real displays of God's favour

and desire to be with us,

live with us,

love us,

forgive us,

heal us

and perfect us.

[PAUSE]

St James says:

"Every good gift 

and every perfect gift 

is from above, 

and cometh down 

from the Father of lights, 

with whom is no variableness, 

neither shadow of turning. 

Of his own will begat he us 

with the word of truth, 

that we should be 

a kind of firstfruits of his creatures."

God does not change and so

God's grace does not change.

The sacraments that we receive

are the same sacraments

that are received by 

St James,

St Paul

and anyone they give them to,

provided that 

we do not change how 

these sacraments operate.

God's grace begets us

with His Word of Truth

because 

Christ is the Word of Truth.

To be favoured by God

is to have Him with us

as we live our lives.

The Church is the means

by which every human being

may receive God's grace.

That is her purpose.

While we are with her,

we do receive God's grace

- grace which we can give

to those others

who dearly need to know

not only that they are lovable

not only that they are lovely

but they are also truly 

and completely

loved.

What should you expect of the Anglican Catholic Church, part the second

 

Addressing members of the Continuum, how do we reach the people who need us?

What can we expect of the Anglican Catholic Church?

 

What face does the ACC present to the world?

Mirror, Mirror on the wall...

Sermon for the third Sunday after Easter

What do you expect to see 

when a mirror is broken?

It depends 

how badly it's broken, 

doesn't it?

It might be completely broken, 

glass shards everywhere, 

but you will still see yourself

 in any single one of those shards.

What if it's just cracked?

Well, then something 

interesting happens.

 If you look at yourself in 

an uncracked piece, 

you will appear normally. 

But, if your reflection 

goes across a crack, 

or even a missing piece, 

then there will be distortion 

or even gaps in your reflection.

 It's only when there is 

a crack or a warp in the glass 

that your reflection looks odd 

and doesn't behave in the way 

that it should.

What a broken mirror doesn't do 

is show a reflection of anyone else

other than the person looking into it.

[PAUSE]

When something is broken, 

it does not behave in the way 

it's supposed to. 

If it's just cracked, 

then it may well work 

reasonably normally for a time 

until something widens that crack 

and bits break off. 

The same is true for us. 

We are broken because of Sin. 

There are cracks in our being 

and we do not work properly. 

Look at our wills. 

If there is a crack in our will 

then it causes a split in 

what we want to do. 

We can want to do good and, 

yet, 

at the same time 

want to be utterly selfish. 

St Paul recognises this fracture 

when he sees in himself that 

he doesn't do the good 

that he wants to do

and that which he doesn't want to do, 

he does.

This is why even the very best of us 

are confused by 

our own sinfulness. 

This is why the people 

whom we revere most 

fall and sin and disappoint us.

Essentially the problem comes 

when the reflection of God in our lives 

falls over our cracks 

which distort our view.

[PAUSE]

It's seems as if we have two wills, 

but we don't. 

One part hunts for the things of the Spirit, the other for the things of the World. 

Both bits of your will 

want the same thing 

- to be happy, 

but you are confused as to 

how to get there. 

But, the more we follow 

our lust for worldly things, 

the bigger the crack gets 

and the more the reflection distorts.

Whose reflection?

It isn't yours!

[PAUSE]

Each one of us is 

supposed to be a reflection of God. 

The more we sin, 

the more the crack 

in our being widens. 

When we confess and repent, 

the more we focus 

on the unblemished part 

of the reflection of God in us.

 What we cannot do 

is close and repair the crack. 

That needs God's creating Grace. 

The will of the Flesh pulls away 

from the will of the Spirit. 

So St Paul tells us to focus on 

that part of our will 

that seeks the spirit 

because we can still see God 

reflected in that bit, 

despite our fragmentation. 

The more people see 

God reflected in us, 

the more will they see 

how to be good 

and seek the things of God. 

The more we recognise 

the will of the Flesh and reject it, 

the more will we show up the world 

for being silly and foolish 

- not by violence, ridicule or shouting, 

but by simply being obedient 

and quiet for God.

[PAUSE]

God looks at you 

and sees Himself. 

That surely is a wonderful 

and frightening privilege. 

Rejoice and reflect Him 

as best you can 

for the world needs it!

Signal strength

 

How do we use the sign of the cross in our lives?

Firing the Synod

Sermon preached at the XXXth Synod of the Anglican Catholic Diocese of the United Kingdom

The planet Jupiter

is fascinating

for many reasons.

It is the largest planet

we know

in our Solar System.

The Great Red Storm

on its surface

is more than

twice the size of our planet.

It has the largest number of natural moons

that we know of

and a magnetic field that probably

helped shape our Solar System.

Its gravity is enough

to trap the larger rocks into its orbit

thereby saving planet Earth

a bit of a bashing.

However, the planet Jupiter is a failure.

Despite its vast size,

it hasn't enough gravity

to compress and combust

the gas that forms it.

Jupiter could have been another star,

but it failed to ignite. 

[PAUSE] 

Ten virgins,

all pure as the driven snow,

all chaste,

all demure,

all socially acceptable,

all preserved from stain.

Yet only five get to go into the wedding feast.

The other five failed to ignite

because they didn't have enough oil.

What do we see here?

The pattern should be familiar to you:

it is not the following of social rules

that gets you into Heaven.

It's not the impression of sanctity

or holiness that cause our Salvation.

It's more than that.

There may be something important lacking.

Something internal.

Jupiter lacks enough substance

so it cannot burn.

The Virgins lack oil in their lamps,

so they cannot shine their light.

Having the appearance of the right materials

is not enough for the fire to start.

What is lacking?

[PAUSE]

We remember today St Catherine of Siena.

She is a noted Doctor of the Church.

So what is her diagnosis of those

who cannot start a fire?

What does she say is lacking?

She says quite clearly,

"be who you are meant to be

and you will set the world on fire!" 

Is she right? 

Many would say, "yes!"

but for precisely

the wrong reason.

We know full well that the Church isn't

about being who you want to be.

That’s the mistake the World makes.

The person of the world says,

"I am who I say I am.

Accept it, or else!" 

Listen to that again.

"I am who I say I am!"

You can really hear the problem, can't you?

Only One can say,

"I am that I am!"

and He rules the Universe.

It precisely this reason that

Traditional Christian Religion

is not popular at the moment.

It is precisely this reason

that some Christians

are trying to change the Church

so that it will say,

"you are who you say you are

and God loves you for that."

That is, of course, unbiblical,

unfounded

and unmitigated rubbish!

[PAUSE]

God loves you for who you are

- this is true.

But loving you means

a burning desire for your good.

God loves you

so that you shine as the person

He created you to be.

He desires your good.

But what is your good?

Nothing less than your perfection in Him.

We are to be perfect even as our Heavenly Father is perfect.

The Church is about

you being who you are meant to be.

Who you are meant to be

is God's decision, not yours.

Only God gives meaning.

Now, God created you

but He also allows you the freedom

to shape your life as you see fit.

That is part of the glory of being human:

we get a say our own creation.

We are indeed free

to be whoever we think we are.

But, leaving God out

of our lives of self-creation

means we will never be

who we are meant to be.

We cannot be perfect without God. 

 

[PAUSE]

In trying to become who we want to be,

we do set the world on fire.

The fire we cause destroys.

We burn up the world around us.

We burn up our environment,

our community,

our family and friends

and even ourselves,

just to get our own way.

We want what we want and,

literally,

to Hell with the consequences!

Just to become the person

that we want to be,

we cut off our noses to spite our face

in glorious vindictiveness

against God Himself

Who tries to show us who we really are

in His love.

We would rather burn up than let God ignite us.

We would rather disintegrate

into the ash of our own making

rather than shine like stars for all eternity.

[PAUSE]

But we needn't destroy.

Look at the burning bush

– aflame with the glory of God,

burning with a fire that illuminates

the sight of Man

to see God once more.

But the bush is not consumed.

It does not burn away,

and Moses catches fire from it

and he does not burn away.

 His face shines so that

people cannot look at him

for he burns with God's fire

and yet he does not burn away.

That is what we are meant to be.

This is what the Church is for.

We are the lamp for the world

set upon the hill for all to see.

We are like Abba Lot.

[PAUSE]

The desert father, Abba Lot,

goes to see the elderly Abba Joseph

and says to him,

 “Abba, as far as I can I say my Little Office.

I fast a little.

I pray.

I meditate.

I live in peace and,

as far as I can,

I purify my thoughts.

What else am I to do?”

Abba Joseph, in his great age,

stands up,

stretches his hands towards heaven

and his fingers become like ten lamps of fire,

and he says to Abba Lot,

“If you will, you can become all flame.”

We have all the ingredients to burn:

we have the Catholic Faith,

a Catholic Bishop,

a Catholic Liturgy.

We have Bible, Altar, Font.

We have the Church Fathers,

the authority to remit sins,

the Holy Sacraments, 

the Word of God Himself!

We have everything we need to burn.

We just need to be

who we are meant to be.

We just need the humility

to accept who God means us to be.

We need to struggle and be prepared to struggle because of this discrepancy

between who we really are 

and who we want to be.

Like Jacob, we wrestle with God

over our own existence

until, out of love,

He puts our hips out of joint,

so that we might understand

and accept ourselves in Him.

And who are we meant to be?

 

[PAUSE]

We are the Anglican Catholic Church

and we are meant to be exactly that.

As a part of the wider Catholic Church,

we are meant to bear the Faith once delivered to the saints,

the Faith that applies

at all times, in all places and for everybody,

to the English-speaking and English-cultured people.

We are to help people struggle with Life,

in the midst of our own struggles with Life,

so that all might find God.

This is what we are meant to be

and this is how

we are to set the world ablaze.

We can only do so if we hold together

in the unity of the Holy Ghost,

living our lives alongside the saints,

 like St Catherine,

who only appear to have died

and whose lives still burn brightly with God.

We can only do so if we are humble before God and each other.

If we shame the world by laying aside

our own hobby-horses,

our own selfish desires,

 our own self-importance

in order to share the same

Communion of Our Lord Jesus Christ

and thus further the burning love of God

for mankind in a world

that is growing cold.

[PAUSE]

 

Do you know who God means you to be?

How will you set the world on fire?