When Ikons become Idols

Sermon for the tenth Sunday after Trinity

In the History of the Church of England, there is a difficult question of how many Oecumenical Councils we should recognise. Many Anglicans believe that it's the first four, but we Anglican Catholics believe that we should affirm the first seven. Why?

We try not to be arbitrary in our Faith. What reason is there to stop at Four Councils? Reasons do exist and clearly do edify our brethren,  but Anglican Catholics seek the maximum amount of correspondence with the Primitive Church that we can. For us, this happens before East and West split. The supposed Eighth Council was only called Oecumenical until after the Great Schism. The supposed Ninth occured in 1123 after the Schism. We can therefore should accept Seven Councils as a doctrinally maximal solution.

Many good Protestants object to the Seventh Council because they claim that it seeks to sanction idolatry. St John Damascene takes pains to demonstrate that we do not worship the images depicted in Holy Images any more than we in our day and age might confuse a photograph of our loved one with the real loved one! Our Protestant brothers make sure that we have checks and balances on our behaviour, though. Idolatry is a sin, and they remind us to check our motives and make sure that we venerate Our Lady and not our favourite statue of her.

Yet, as Anglican Catholics, we offer our own challenge to the world. The Seventh Council charges us to look for God's presence in the world around us. We must look at the world ikonographically. To ignore the presence of God in created things is literally to look pornographically - literally looking according to the flesh. This is the problem with pornography - it dehumanises and fails to draw us to the reality beyond just what we see.

The same is true of our gifts and what we possess. We can see them only as what they are and use them selfishly for our self-gratificatoon, as St Paul says, we can recognise that "all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will."

When we seek Christ in all things, we see the world anew. We cease to see it pornographically for our own ends, and learn to see the Truth behind it, seeing it ikonographically. We need to be prepared to lose our most cherished gifts for the glory of God so that we can more truly glorify God. To fail to do so is to turn our bodies - these temples of the Holy Ghost - into dens of thieves because they seek to take glory from God.

Whatever we have and whatever we don't have suffice only to point out the reality of God in our lives. We not only need to accept our limitations but look for Our Lord through them. Then and only then will we see Him and thus find our happiness and true worth.

Ordination of women: Salvation and sex

As usual, I’m going to have to raise the dead again, but I hope to do so in an edifying manner, mainly because it has been bugging me. The issue of women’s ordination is a chapter that I want to close and keep closed because I really don’t want to give the impression that this is the only reason why I’m an Anglican Catholic, and that it is the only reason that the Anglican Catholic Church exists.

Again, I will restate something that I want to make quite clear from the outset. The issue of the ordination of women is a big deal even today. Dawn French as the vicar of Dibley states that it is a small deal, but considering that it is a question  about how we understand the relationship between God and Humanity as well as between Man and Woman, it needs careful thought. In fact the Church owes it to women, especially those that it has belittled or demonised, to ensure that the reasons for asking the question “why can’t a woman be a priest?” are answered sensitively and in a way that demonstrates the humanity shared by both men and women. As a mathematician, I find the question of equality somewhat vexed, especially since human beings are not mathematical objects which can be compared absolutely. Nor can we really be reduced to measurable bits that can be compared. Personally, I’m beginning to think that the notion of equality is illusory and should be replaced with each human being seeking what we truly share with others in society. As a Benedictine, I seek to replace “equality” with “commonality”, an equivalence class with a true community.

So, as we retread some old ground, let’s return once more to Galatians iii.28:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.”

The Catholic Church teaches that this is a statement of salvation: that all types of people are saved by sharing in Christ’s humanity. Thus, say the proponents of women’s ordination, “if women share the same humanity of Christ and thus find salvation in Him through that salvation, why can they not share the priesthood of Christ? Why cannot a woman be an ikon of Christ as priest at the altar?”

First question: do women share the same salvation as men? St Paul in this verse from Galatians gives an unequivocal “yes!” in answer. The only means of salvation is by sharing in the humanity of Jesus so that He will share His divinity with us. That divinity is not a respecter of sex.

Second question: do women need the same salvation as men? St Paul says, “as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.” If you remember, woman was taken out of man, Eve from Adam. What does this mean? I’m going to put aside the literal interpretation of the account in Genesis of the generation of Eve from Adam’s rib aside and look at the allegorical interpretation. In this account we have a clear statement that, first, men and women are different, second, that they share humanity, and third, God has made the man the material cause of woman (God Himself being the efficient cause here).Genesis teaches us that man is the steward of God’s creation and that woman is his helper. This sounds like a divine inequality from the outset. It sounds as if man is the boss of woman and that woman must be beneath man because she is not original.

Yet, we must look to God Himself. If God causes Man in some way to beget Woman, then neither begetter nor begotten are alternately superior and inferior. Why? Look to God. God the Father begets the Son. Yet, God the Father can only receive His identity as Father because of the existence of God the Son. Likewise with the procession of the Holy Ghost. Just because the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father does not mean He is inferior to the Father but again the Father receives identity as the source of the Holy Ghost. Their differences of identity are relational, yet they are God. That is the doctrine of the Holy Trinity: it is an unfathomable mystery.

Likewise, we have the same mystery in humanity. Woman comes from Man and therefore cannot be superior to Man. Yet, it is God’s inscrutable decree that Woman comes from Man: Man is not her efficient cause – that is God alone. Therefore Man cannot be superior to women. Both Man and Woman require humility in order to relate properly to each other. Why? Humility originates from the dust: dust we are and unto dust shall we return.

Thus in Genesis, we see a fundamental difference in how men and women exist, yet share the same humanity. This is Scriptural and therefore a theological truth. I believe that this truth also exists scientifically. There are scientific, evidential differences between men and women which bear up only to say that they are different and yet are fundamentally and equally necessary for the existence of the human race.

Further, it is humanity that needs salvation from sin. Men and Women are both progenitors and victims of sin. Yet it is to be noticed that our first sins are different. For the woman Eve, it is disobedience and desire that allows her to succumb to temptation and to receive the fruit of the tree of knowledge. For the man Adam, the sin is to renounce responsibility and to blame not just the woman but God for making the woman. The sins are different yet they could have been the same. Does this mean, then, that we need salvation in different ways? We receive the same salvation – namely theosis – but in different ways. We know that our resurrection will entail our bodies as well as our spirits, and that indicates that we will still have maleness and femaleness in Heaven. After all, God created us that way. Our Lord’s resurrection body was still recognisably Him (I don’t buy into all these theories of a shape-shifting Christ). The visions of Our Lady have definitely been of her. There are male and female in Heaven: one just does not need to be one of those in order to be saved.

Third question: are men and women saved in the same way? Now that’s not a straightforward question as it looks. We are not saved as individuals but as a Church. As a Church we trust God to supply whatever is lacking and correct whatever is amiss. While we are saved only through the Divinity of Christ, we must receive that divinity by being perfected in Him. Our Purgatory is through the blood of Christ, but nonetheless, that Purgatory is particular as well as general. Look also at the prediction of our salvation in Genesis, just after our Fall.

“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

It is from the woman that the destruction of Evil will come: the salvation of the woman is different from that of the man. Again, we can’t read too much into this text, but not only is this a text that predicts the fall of Satan at the hands of the Son of Mary, it shows an inequality in how evil is to be destroyed, and how our salvation occurs. Men and women each find their salvation in Christ at the level of their persons in relationship with the Holy Church. The method of that salvation is particular to each human being, and a respecter of sex. Mary plays her part in Salvation by reversing the disobedience and desire shown by Eve: she is obedient and chaste. This meekness is not mere passivity. It is an active war against temptation and the degradation of humanity as fleshy vessels that we can have sex with. It is an active war against the demotion of Woman as chattel and the defacing of Man as commander. The obedience and chastity that Our Lady embodies is a loud NO to the destruction of humanity through the loss of one's sexual identity. Our Lady is a feminist and thus honours all of humanity.

In a mirror to Eve springing forth from Adam, Christ is born of Mary and undoes Adam’s sin by taking responsibility and glorifying God. He does so by His sacrifice upon the Cross, a sacrifice that He commands His Church represent. It is Man who must take responsibility for this sacrifice in response to his first sin. The High Priest is Christ and it is His priesthood that some men are ordained to re-present.

The Christian man and Christian woman both share a complementary existence as human beings. In rejoicing in the sex that God Himself gives us as part of our God-given identity, we seek to love, honour and obey each other, to take responsibility and to serve each other according to ourselves and our calling, to respect each other sexually and asexually.  Some men are called to be priests, but as the servants of all laity. It is a question of hierarchy but not higher-than-thou-archy. Priesthood is not something that will survive Salvation as it will become redundant when we achieve our theosis in Christ Jesus.

One of the ways that the Church can respect women better is to equip them for prophecy and, further, to listen to their prophecy; even as the Apostles heard the testimony of St Mary Magdalene. If any church allows women choristers then should they not have female altar servers as well? A cantor is a much of a minor order as acolyte. That's really a different question and one that does not pose the same question as ordination to the threefold Sacred Ministry.

The Church has a duty to answer carefully why it is duty bound to restrict roles to men. She must be purged of misogyny as much as any other form of prejudice. The arguments are very sound for the male nature of the Major Orders. This does render them largely untouchable to the slippery slope arguments used against female altar servers, especially if we already allow women in what used to be known as the Minor Orders which had a very different ordination. No, the arguments against female altar servers will have to be better than that. On this question, I  have yet to settle my mind. If no good reason from Scripture, Tradition and Right Reason therefrom can be found for restricting the Minor Orders to men, then one must look critically to ensure that the Church is not engaged in misogyny.

Nonetheless, we have to see our sex as a blessing and actually rejoice in the restrictions that they possess because they are given by God as part of our identity. If there were no restrictions, then we would become amorphous and indeterminate and not really any thing. God's restrictions are for our good and we must trust Him even if we don't fully understand why He restricts us. We should rejoice in our masculinity and our femininity and obey the command to love God and neighbour. That way we cease to seek to be superior or allow ourselves to be inferior.

We are in an age in which it is now deemed good to break glass barriers. If God put the barrier there for our good, won't breaking it tear us to ribbons? Looking at the present age, I think it already is.

Why is it that we always want what we cannot have? That's what got us here in the first place!

Complaint about complaint

Sermon preached at Our Lady of Walsingham and St Francis on the Ninth Sunday after Trinity

How often do you complain?

In this day and age, we seem to have a lot to complain about. There is a lot on our minds both locally and nationally. We have an idea of what it means for life to be right, and life doesn’t fit that. What do we do? We find a friend, sit down and, as the old phrase goes, put the world to rights.

We could, of course, do something about the way things are and work hard to put the world to rights. That would surely be better than complaining about it, wouldn’t it?

There is a problem, though. Can you see it?

[PAUSE]

Whose rights are we following when we put the world to rights? That’s the question we need to think about when we are tempted to complain.

St Benedict comes down very hard on people who spend their lives complaining. He sees it as a vice that needs to be stamped out thoroughly. He isn’t talking about the type of complaining which we find in the Bible when people complain to God. He isn’t talking about the type of complaining when we bring important issues to our Governors and Leaders. He’s talking about a type of complaining that exists in a society but behind closed doors.

You see, complaint behind closed doors becomes conspiracy, and conspiracy ends up becoming something dreadful. The latest atrocities in the world are caused by people who believe that the world should be aligned to their way of thinking and, through harbouring complaint in their lives, have made their actions the be-all and end-all of their existence. If we have a burning desire for the world to be the way we think it should, then we must listen to St Paul’s words:

“Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”

The fact of the matter is that the World is as it is. God has created it and human beings are the ones who look after it and destroy it in seemingly equal measure. We destroy it when we seek to bend the world to our will. We look after it if we keep it along the same lines as our Creator intended. We may have legitimate cause to complain but, when we remember that God is really in control and that no Evil really can do us any permanent damage, there is nothing to worry about.

We must weep with those who weep, cry out and lament loudly. We must complain about the injustice in the world, cry out and protest loudly. God will hear us! Our Lord Jesus lives and dies so that our lamentations from the deepest pit are heard, but His death and resurrection brings us out of that pit through His love. Likewise, we must also work hard to communicate the Love of God first and foremost of all. We need to work to end evil before it even begins, and it begins in ourselves.

If we want to work to make the world a better place, we need to begin with repentance and seeking after God. We will make the world a better place if we root out from our lives all sin.

If we believe that this world is going to Hell, then we can pull it back by leading lives of goodness, truth and beauty. We may complain and complain legitimately, but we must seek the solution of that complaint in God within ourselves.

Above all, we must not let the Church become a den of complaint. We are the Church and we seek to bring God’s blessing on the world, not be a curse. We may react against unjust laws which fallible governments pass, but these laws will pass away – God’s love won’t.

When we’re tempted to complain, let us remember St Paul’s words to us: “If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”

We belong in Heaven, and we can bring this world closer to it, not by living our lives in complaint, but by seeing through that complaint the way of God in this world.

What do we really have to complain about?

The silence of the Magdalene

St Mary Magdalene is a wonderful supply of arguments from silence. She is regarded by too many as the wife of Our Lord, the first woman apostle and thus bishop, and an authoress of a Gospel. The trouble is that scriptural evidence for who she really was is very sketchy. Was she the prostitute who wept over the Lord’s feet? Was she the Mary sister of Martha and Lazarus? It’s all a little bit vague. One really can’t base any doctrine on the aspects of her life. Yes, she was the apostle to the apostles, but the apostles were the apostles to the whole world. Yes, she loved Jesus very much, but there is no evidence that they were romantically entwined. Yes, it’s possible that some of the facts collated in the four gospels were taken from the words of St Mary Magdalene herself; after all, how else did we get to know about the details of her story of meeting with the Risen Lord? But no reliable Gospel of hers can be found dating from her lifetime.

Yet, St Mary Magdalene has done something that St John the Baptist didn’t quite do. She has decreased so much that we know so little of her life so that Our Lord might increase. She is buried in the dusty tomes of History, but what lives on about her are the ways that she devoted herself to the Lord. She has preferred obscurity and myth to exact biography just so that the message of the Life, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord, His power to heal and redeem, His power to exorcise and to cleanse might be known to us who, like her, will probably fade in the memory of History but live on in Christ Our God.

Of course, many people will look to the details and miss the real point. Of them, Our Lord quotes Isaiah and explains: “By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: For this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.”

If we truly want to honour St Mary Magdalene, then we should stop speculating about her and listen to her testimony about Our Lord. We are not permitted to know her life, yet, if we continue faithful to the One to who she was faithful, then we will know her in Him.

But while there’s moonlight…

Indeed, there may be trouble ahead. This year has seen many notable deaths, destabilisations, and demoniacal acts of wickedness. There is an increasing shift towards the political right and, I am ashamed to say, a growing intolerance for people who aren’t indigenous to this country. Where is this all coming from? Well, one only has to look to the fallen dragon trying to chase the woman clothed in the Sun and her offspring.

This image has been in my head lately. It isn’t hard to see why.

And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth , and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Apocalypse xii)

I do not believe that the Apocalypse, this Revelation to St John the Divine is a book foretelling the future, but more a book that explains the present more than anything else. It puts forward almost the completeness of cause and effect. I know people who use the Apocalypse to give dire warnings about the future and who seek to marry up present events with the events of the Book so as to create a picture of the future. In some sense, they are right, but I think they might go into too much literal detail with some of the allegory. If it does see reality, then it sees it from an Eternal perspective in which Time itself goes a bit funny. Try to imagine your bedroom in every detail from no particular vantage point. That perhaps give us some idea of how St John was going through in what he sees.

Much of what he sees is symbolic. The number of the beast is either 616 or 666 (or even, I believe 606) – all of which link to the Emperor Nero. While that beast has been and gone and even potentially returned in subsequent despots, we can see that it is a figure that recurs through history. The themes keep coming back round and round again. The whole Bible describes this rather vicious circle for mankind: religious complacency –backsliding – apostasy – fall – languishing – lamentation – God’s redemption – resurrection – “Golden age” – religious complacency. It is a cycle that traces itself in our own lives as individuals, and it is a cycle that traces itself out at increasingly larger social groups, even to the World itself. It is as if the Parable of the Prodigal Son were put on loop.

So why have I quoted an entire chapter of the Apocalypse? Let’s just look at it.

A woman clothed with the sun? With her feet on the moon? With a crown of twelve stars?

There are lots of interpretations. The first is quite an obvious one. The Woman is Our Lady clothed in the light of God which shines through her through her purity. Her feet are upon the moon because she is a being that has her home in Heaven. The twelve stars are the twelve apostles who proclaim the child that she is about to bear – Christ Our Lord. This is the traditional image of the Theotokos.

Yet, we could say something else. Twelve stars are the twelve tribes of Israel and thus the woman represents Israel itself, an everlasting Israel given that it rides upon the two celestial bodies which describe the times and seasons. The child born comes from Israel. Thus we have an image of the Messiah, and the continued persecution of the Israelites.

Or the woman is the Church, et c, et c.

We should not fall into the trap of saying either/or here, but rather both/and. The symbols play out that way in order to draw us into deeper and deeper mysteries of God and His relationship with the Church.

What we have here is an Eternal image, an Ikon that stands in Holy Scripture for us to gaze into and see God at work.

Is God at work? He seems awfully quiet lately. Indeed with Church attendance falling, and secular values rising, we are tempted not to see God at work. But then we are forgetting that we see God in ikons. As a species, we have largely become blind.

I hate my short-sight and I am praying to God for healing from it, but most of all I am praying that my vision may be repaired. My physical sight may be restored, like Bartimaeus, or it may not, but my prayer is for an opening of my eyes to behold God at work. I believe that He is, but I don’t believe that He is self-evident.

What we are also failing to see is that there is joy in living! We are so serious at the moment, and rightly so. Our hearts are darkened with mourning for those being destroyed by hatred, either outwardly, or inwardly. We have darkened eyes, and thus our joy is dimmed. This year we have lost great comedians and comediennes, and this is symbolic of our loss of joy.

All of the things we take pleasure in are becoming corrupted because we abuse them, and we can have them “on-tap”. We enjoy our food, and, because in the West we are able almost to reach out our hands and have them filled, we eat and eat and forget about the real business of living. Likewise with sex, in throwing off God’s fatherly command not to fornicate, we find ourselves with sex on tap. Beautiful people making themselves less beautiful by prostituting their bodies, even their images by giving them to all and sundry, blinding themselves and those who view them to the exquisite intrinsic beauty of every human being by setting them impossible standards. Sex becomes a means to possess another, rather than a chance to give oneself deeply, intimately to another in the hope of further joy in a new life created by God and to be nurtured in the womb of a loving mother. We have truly forgotten to be joyful.

I read chapter 12 of the Apocalypse with a joy that trembles at the power of God. That joy is called awe and it is a joy that we are forgetting. I used to be in awe of bishops, and trembled as they pronounced God’s blessing, yet there are so many bishops who do not preach the majesty of God’s love, and so many people pretending to be bishops just so that they can wear a mitre and try and instil that sense of awe in others that it is so difficult to see God’s presence. These people seek an intrinsic awe – an awe for being them – rather an awe of being an ikon of the presence of Christ.

This awe needs to return for me, and I must seek to kindle it as I seek to have my eyesight improved by the Holy Ghost. A bishop must humble himself and work to become as pure as Our Lady so that the Light of the Sun of Righteousness will burst forth through him, like the glass of a lightbulb. This is why a bishop, and indeed all priests and deacons need our prayers so much. It is so difficult to be an ikon of Our Lord’s Eternal Priesthood as expounded in the Letter to the Hebrews because of our fallenness.

I also see bishops who are sad because they are frustrated by the overwhelming task ahead of them. This gives me joy because they see their own inadequacy and I know that they are praying hard and going through dark times. Of course, I pray with them and for them as I do for as many people as my feeble, stupid little frame can. Yet, these bishops need to find their joy again and they will when they see the light that pours from their hands into the hearts of all whom they bless and upon whom they bestow those peculiar and yet magnificent little things called sacraments.

Just because there is great pain does not mean that there can’t be great joy at the same time. Giving birth is really, truly painful. As a man, I can’t imagine it save for some unpleasant images which make me feel ill just by concentrating on them. There is a joy to come, though for too few people. Just one person who loses a baby is too many. Where is the joy in that? Either it doesn’t exist or it is hidden for a time. The same is true of all tragedy and the question seems utterly unanswerable, even it is even a gross insult to the mourners if we try. How can there be joy in tragedy?

There can be. It’s called Hope.

Even in the darkest moment of our lives – and our lives get pretty dark – there is always Hope in God. The loss of a baby is devastating, but we can cling to the hope that God has remembered even that child and brought her to being and, yet further, transformed her into a being of His Eternal Light. That child will not be forgotten, ever. Principally, she will never be forgotten by someOne who not only cares, but can and will do something about it. This isn’t much when it seems that all the light in the world has gone out, but it is something. Life can go on, even if we don’t want it to amid all the pain and destruction around us. The pain will give place to joy in time. We have to give it that time, not by forgetting what has gone, but by giving it to God for Him to work His wonders.

Christians are called to enjoy life and to bring God’s true joy to life for everyone. While there is even the slightest glimmer of joy in this cosmos, the terrorist, the hatemonger, the desecrator, and the Devil himself cannot win. Indeed, we can have hope that, in the end of things, these have lost entirely and are flung far away from the children of God.

“There may be trouble ahead, but while there’s moonlight and music and love and romance, let’s face the music and dance.” What a wonderfully Christian idea!

Lenses of Passion

There is something terribly unEnglish about the power ballad. Power Ballads, I think, are a bit of an 1980s phenomenon, but they have influenced much in today’s popular music. The archetype seems to be Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse of the Heart”. There is a lot of investment in a physical expression of the passion within the heart focussed through the lens of an ideal romantic love. Why is it unEnglish? I think my American readers would rather guffaw at the sight of Tony Blair or David Cameron belting out some power ballad on the X-Factor. Being very, very English, I would probably snigger in polite company but go into my room to let out a sizable bellow of laughter – but then again, perhaps not.

Power ballads are an expression of fervent emotion, and it’s not surprising that we get a kick out of them as they are designed to resonate with the unexpressed passions that lie within the heart. Towards the end of the night, the Karaoke floor is often occupied by someone belting out something like “Take on me” by Aha, or “Want you back” by Take That, inhibitions drowned by a plethora of alcoholic beverages. This doesn’t happen during the day, and usually not without alcohol, this is precisely when our guard is down and we cease to protect those sentiments deep within us which we would rather not express.

Well, why not?

We have passions that burn within us which do rage and clamour to be heard, begging to be expressed. There are things we’d dearly love to say, but dare not. There are songs we’d like to sing, verses we’d like to recite, great acts that we’d like to do, but we dare not, and would rather lock them away inside us, perhaps only revealing them to those we’d really trust. Like an awkward teenager struggling to find something to say to the pretty girl who has just caught his eye, we shrink with embarrassment, loathing ourselves for even feeling these passions in the first place.

We lock them away and rely only on those who have dared to let that passion burn in public. This is why many of us need the poets, the songwriters, the artists, and the sculptors in order to give voice to what burns within us. These have the skill to tap into aspects of our humanity and focus it through a lens, a lens shaped by their exercising their special skills and thus allowing it to ignite one very particular fire.

These are brave souls.

We cannot let these passions escape because we fear their consequences. They reveal so much about our identities, our deepest desires and thus our most sensitive vulnerabilities. We conceal our passions for pretty much the same reasons that we wear clothes. Restraint of passion is as much to be expected in polite society as sobriety of dress is. It seems that we cannot deal with too much of other people’s humanity and we cannot cope with sharing too much of our own. Yet, humanity is, in the eyes of God, infinitely precious and intensely passionate. We are intended to love and express that love in a way that reaches out to others yet respects the boundaries that they set by which they cope with life. Becoming ultimately very vulnerable, naked and exposed, is an act of supreme intimacy. In some way, we all crave it, simply because we all hurt, we all want to be happy, and when we find joy, we want to express it as best we can. Yet, the poet, the composer, and the artist have their lens. It focusses the passion, gives it voice and form, and thereby prevents the fire from burning others, though it allows some heat to escape.

The destiny of each human being is to shine like a star in Eternity. Yet the burning of a star is too much for another to bear. We must acquire a lens, a focus, by which we can concentrate the heat of our humanity to burn our identity in the world to the greater glory of God and for the joy of others.
Every human being is religious – bound by a code of belief. It may be a faith in Science, or it may be a faith in God. That binding provides us with a lens by which we can focus the heat of our humanity deep within the world, revealing the joy that it is to be human in a universe that is largely indifferent to it.

Likewise, it opens ourselves up to lamentation where that is needed. We see so much that is terrible, atrocity after atrocity, torture after torture – Humanity using the heat of its being to impose its will on the innocent. We see and we wish to scream out in pain along with the victim, to voice our rage at the perpetrator, and even to the ears of God against His apparent indifference. Yet, how destructive our rage and fury! We end up committing the same atrocities with an unfocussed passion if we throw the lens away.

This is how the words of the poet are prophecy. They give us a language by which we may voice our passions in such a way as to speak yet not reveal too much of ourselves beyond that which is beneficial.

For the Christian, we have two lenses like a telescope that allow us to live human lives that burn with passion and yet express it well. The first lens is that of Holy Scripture, the greatest anthology of poetry every gathered and inspired by no less than the Holy Ghost, God Himself. Yet, this lens requires another lens to focus it, and to give it the finesse of expression that we need in order to cry out in joy and jubilation, misery and lamentation, fury and indignation to the Almighty. This is Liturgy – the “work of the people”, Holy Tradition, the teaching of the Church, the lex orandi. Through these two lenses, we cast our words out into the deep. We pray for the World and let the World hear our pray that it may have hope.

Of course, God sees the fire of our humanity, after all, He ignited it. He has also allowed Himself to be burned by it so that He can reach into the very depth of our souls and passions and redeem it from being quenched by the icy coldness of Hell. In turn, the Christian must allow himself to be burned by the heat of others’ passions. We must never lose our passion for Christ and for humanity! Nor must we squander it, nor leave it unfocussed, nor allow the fire to scorch others through unfettered intellectual or physical violence. Instead, trusting in God always, we must dare to find our lens in life by which we can focus our passions into the world and ignite the fire of Love. Love is far more than an emotion. It burns deeper than any worldly passion, but finds its expression through our deepest passions. Focussed by Scripture and Tradition, we will truly set the world on fire in the love of God!

Wolf-spotting

Sermon for the Eighth Sunday after Trinity

You’re looking at a flock of sheep grazing out on a field on a warm summer’s day. You see the spring lambs are fast growing up. You see the blue paint on newly shorn backs, and, every so often, you hear the familiar “baa”. As you look, you see one sheep behaving strangely. It isn’t ampling like other sheep, it’s pacing. The other sheep are grazing, this one is only pretending to graze, dipping its head to tufts of grass, every so often then looking round somewhat furtively.  It appears to be sniffing and sizing up the other sheep.

What would you say?

A wolf in sheep’s clothing?

Well, indeed. But isn’t a wolf dressed up like a sheep easy to spot?

[PAUSE]

Our Lord is pretty clear that false prophets are like this wolf in sheep’s clothing. They are up to no good. We are told that we can spot them because the true intentions of a false prophet will eventually reveal themselves to us. We have to watch carefully, and as soon as we spot it, we raise the alarm.

So how does one tell a real prophet from a false prophet? What are the fruits of a good prophet?
First we do have to listen carefully to them. There is only one Catholic Faith and that is contained in the three creeds. One good thing to listen for is how they treat Our Lord’s being.

Listen.

If they try to separate Our Lord’s humanity from His Divinity, they are false prophets. The Lord Jesus Christ is fully human and fully divine, not by changing Divinity into Humanity, but by taking Humanity into Himself.

If they try to separate out any one aspect of Our Lord’s incarnation, they are false prophets. The entirety of the Lord Jesus’ life is for our salvation, not just one little bit. You cannot separate the Crucifixion from the Nativity, nor from the Resurrection. There is One Lord Jesus, and He is eternal and indivisible.

If they try to see any one human being as a means to an end, then they are a false prophet. Our Lord is clear that every human being is a cherished child of God and is worth His Incarnation for their salvation as much as us or anyone else.

If they try to change or alter the meanings of the Church’s teaching to suit an agenda, they are a false prophet. There is only One God and He is Eternal, saving every human being regardless of Time and Space. We learn the meaning of the Church’s teaching by reading Holy Scripture and listening to the early Christians and how they interpret them before the Eastern Church separated from the Western Church.

Finally, if they try preach the hatred of any human being rather than the hatred of the works of the Devil, they are a false prophet. All sin separates us from God, but none of us are irredeemable unless we make ourselves so by rejecting God. Even then, we still reach out to those who are seeking to lose themselves.

These are a few ways in which we can spot a false prophet, but there are others, and it is only by knowing the difference between the works of God and the works of the Devil that we will know how to spot the wolf trying to get in our midst. If we hold onto God as a loving father, we will see and be safe in Him.

The Feast of St Benedict 2016: Obedience brings hope

It seems to me to be a lovely coincidence of language that the word “obedience” has relevance in both Latin and Hebrew. You will have heard of the prophet Obadiah whose name in Hebrew means “servant of YHWH” or “worshipper of YHWH”. The “Obad” bit is the Hebrew for one who waits for the command of the master or mistress to do their due service.

We get our word obedience from the Latin “obedire” which is in essence a compound of “ob” and “audire” and which also has this idea of listening and giving ear to commands issued.

On this, the Feast of St Benedict, we Benedictines give ear to the first word of The Rule “Ausculta” “Listen, my child, to the precepts of the Master.” The Benedictine way is that of listening to the world and bringing it to God as it is. All around the world, there are Benedictine monasteries, or communities bound by the Benedictine Rule, whose principle aim is to be offering the “Opus Dei” - the work of God – on behalf of the World. They exist not to be conformed to the world but to exist in some kind of scandalous defiance of Pure Love against the distractions wrought by the Devil in order to tear Man from God. These Monks and Nuns listen to their superiors who, in turn, listen to hear the voice of God in their community and draw it ever closer to the Divine presence. An abbot and an abbess must always be those who have the best hearing, and must pray and beg prayers that their hearing may be kept unimpaired.

Both the Latin and the Hebrew would have us be obedient to God, sitting at His feet like St Martha waiting for Him to command, rather than allow ourselves to become distracted by the world’s trivia.

Obedience brings hope.

There are lots of trivial things in comparison with being present with God. Yes, we have to work and cook and clean, and teach and learn, and pick up and drop off, and look after, but all earthly work is trivial in comparison to the work of God. It is obedience to the work of God that is of the greater importance. The skill of being truly obedient is quickly disappearing.

I see this most in the current political climate. A democratic vote did not go the way that nearly half the people wanted, and so there is a cry to hold another one so that we can “get the right answer”. Major political parties are tearing themselves apart because they do not have the leaders that they want. The result is instability and potential chaos.

We are living in a culture in which the individual wants its own way all the time, and tries to disguise that way as being truly democratic. We are rapidly losing the virtue of obedience, i.e. looking for ways to listen to and thus serve one another. These days, authority figures only deserve obedience if they show themselves to be truly infallible. In order to lead a country, there must be no scandal in your life otherwise the Media will pull you up for ridicule and thus question your competence to lead.

We have a democratic system which is far from perfect. As a budding anarchist, I find the prospect of democracy as being little more than a media-driven talent show based on the pithiest soundbite and the cheesiest smile. But I can’t change it. For the good of society, it is necessary to submit myself to the laws of this country because they provide some order and stability for this Country. Yet, I listen to this Country and what I hear is a cry for some certainty, some strong leadership, some reliable statement that all will be well. People want to hope, but in the absence of that hope, they busy themselves with trivia in order to drown out the cacophony in the world around them. They can’t find it because every institution they’ve encountered is corrupted by the World.

Obedience brings hope.

St John the Baptist cries, “prepare the way of the Lord!” He was not infallible, but his words have been given infallibility by the Holy Ghost. If we are listening, then we do hear these words spoken, and, if we reflect on them, we can hear that these words have divine origin through a human mouthpiece. Our Lady ponders all that her infant Lord says to her in her heart and is obedient to Him. He in turn honours His mother and His Father, and even His step-father. He is obedient to the Law of God.

In the Church, our leaders are all fallen. Even in the Catholic Church, we have had paedophile priests and hypocritical, practising-gay bishops, and shrill, unpleasant preachy laity, all who have contributed to the faithful falling away and losing themselves in trivialities of their own making. None of these have listened to the message of Love, or if they have, they have perverted it for their own ends rather than converted their lives to commitment to the Truth. It is no surprise that the Christian Faith is struggling. A Sunday morning is indeed better spent wandering the country side, or playing on swings, or reading a book rather than going to a Mass in a church that ignores the Divine Mandate of reaching out. If people do not see hope in the Church, then they have every reason NOT to enter it.

Obedience brings hope.

We Christians have to obey. We have to listen and work hard at the work that we have been given. God commands and, if we love Him, we must obey. Love breeds an obedience of her own, not born in coercion, but born in devotion, care, attention and joy.

A bishop may be corrupt, but he is still a bishop and one must pay due obedience to the office and not the person. Yet further, one must be obedient to the laity, nay to any human being whatsoever, however sinful. The obedience demanded by love will seek to listen to the Divine image resonating in that person like the chime of a bell, and in hearing that chime will obey the mandate and serve in the most appropriate way.

Obedience brings hope.

In recognising the fallen nature of the world, we can turn our gaze to the True Light and in obedience work that which will make this world better. There is healing in God for all who would obey the Divine Physician’s commands. In our sick society, we can bring healing by working to a better end, serving God first, and then the people. We listen to God through prayer, through Scripture, through the Sacraments, and through the souls around us. We listen to our leaders, disagree with them if necessary, but obey them so that society may be served. This way we can bring stability to community, and hope to all who live their frightened lives within a shell of trivia.

The List

I wonder. Does your parish have a list? 

I mean a list of names that get read out at some point during the liturgy. They seem to be the same old names week after week, and you never quite know who these people are. Why not? Because they are often too sick to come to Church, and so you never meet them. For many people, even those who have been there a long time, it seems rather odd to be praying for people whom you don't actually know and will probably never meet.

It's obvious why we do it. We are to love our neighbour as ourselves. These folk are ill. We pray to God for their healing and wholeness in the sure and certain hope through our faith that He will hear our prayer and give them that peace that the world cannot give.

I find it truly wonderful that we can still offer to God sacrifices but without the bloodshed of so many animals, Actually, that's what makes the sacrifice so great: if we hold animals to be of great value, then offering them up becomes a true sacrifice. Of course, in the Letter to the Hebrews, we know that the blood of animals is not enough to reconcile humanity with God. In the Mass, we offer the sacrifice with the Blood of Christ shed once for all upon the altar of the Cross. The Mass is a sacrifice, and the names on the list become part of our intentions for offering this One Perfect Oblation.

But what are we praying for, and why aren't we praying for everybody?

During the Offertory the Priest says, and the people pray: "We offer unto Thee, O Lord, the cup of salvation, humbly mercy: that in the sight of Thy divine majesty it may ascend as a sweet-smelling savour for our salvation and for that of the whole world."

We do indeed pray for everyone in the Canon of the Mass, the living and departed alike, for all their intentions. The purpose of Mass is to make present the Body and Blood of Our Lord Jesus Christ for the good of the world and this does mean that we are presenting everyone's problems to Our Lord. He is concerned with our everyday lives, even at the minutiae, but the chief concern of the Christian Soul is to seek first the kingdom of God in times of trouble and in times of joy. God is an infinite resource and can micromanage things where it is necessary, but also wishes us to exercise free-will and thus may often choose to withdraw from micromanagement. The Lord is economical with His power, for our benefit.

Yes, we pray for all who suffer and we are to suffer with them. Yet it is not possible for one man in Toronto to suffer with an unknown little child in pain on the banks of the Ganges. He prays for people in such a case, but cannot single the child out. We can only do what we can. We are to love our neighbour as ourselves. Potentially, any other human being can be our neighbour, that's the point of the Parable of the Good Samaritan. In reality, our love can only stretch as far as the people with whom we come into contact. It can intend to stretch around the globe, but in practice, only as far as we can personally experience. The Church, however, is the link between all who suffer, and it is the Church suffering with those who do suffer that can make the difference. Individual members of the Church "plug themselves" into the Church whenever they attend Mass.

So, in our parish, we can only remember those who are actually connected with the Parish in someway. The power of the laity is that they bring the memory of those who need pray to Mass. All Christians are called to be a blessing to the world, and it is by presenting the needs of those they meet to Almighty God that we make these supplications to God known in the sacrifice of the Mass. We pray for bodily relief from sickness because being ill is horrible, and we bring to God the desire for Him to bring some great good out of their illness. Sometimes that is a full healing, sometimes that is preparation for a happy death. For Christians, a happy death is guaranteed in our Faith in God, even if it is terrible for family and friends.

In remembering the suffering of others, we ourselves become not only more human, but more united as one human in one human being and thus united in God. Pain and suffering are part of the human lot, and we need to tell our priest if there is anyone who is in need of prayer as part of our Christian duty. The priest has a duty to present that prayer at the altar. This is why The List exists. Prayer will achieve something, namely the deepening of the relationship between humanity and God bringing comfort to those who need it and the hope that things will get better, even if the sickness is unto death.

The List may seem useless, but as an expression of the work of the Church, it is invaluable. It should not be used as a substitute for doing all that we can to help those who do suffer!

Reconciling Mass

Sermon preached at Our Lady of Walsingham and St Francis on the Sixth Sunday after Trinity

Our Lord can say some very difficult things at times. Listen to what He tells us.

Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

We know that hatred of other people is something that will indeed bring us closer to Hell than to Heaven. We also know that human relationships are complicated, difficult to manage,  and desperately infuriating. There are times when the thought of a certain individual or individuals causes much emotional upheaval. Yet the Lord bids us to love our neighbour as ourselves.

Yet that's not what He's quite saying here. Who's the one who has been offended? If you listen carefully, you'll hear.

Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee.

[PAUSE ]

It is when we know that our brother has got something against us, not we against our brother. If we suspect that we have offended someone, then we have to sort it out. We have to seek reconciliation from our hearts. Not superficially. We have to want to be reconciled. Just as we tend to hate people only in our hearts, think them fools, imbeciles, and the lowest of the low, so in our hearts we must turn. How important is this?

Our Lord says, " Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift." It's so important for us that God would forego our honouring Him in order to be reconciled with anyone we have hurt. We have to prefer our neighbour's welfare above The Mass!

Really? We have to worry about earthly things before meeting the Great God of the Universe in the Sacrament?

Of course.

God does not need our worship. What He wants is us to be reconciled with each other as well as Him. If we can't be reconciled over earthly matters, how can we expect to be reconciled with Him Who knows our sins in every horrid detail?

Our Lord's whole life has been one of reconciliation of Humanity with God. Thus our worship of God must begin with a fervent, and active desire to see the people we have hurt and to put things right. This is why there must always be a confession of sins before Mass. Our worship means less than nothing if we don't.

Less than nothing? Yes. For without recognition that we need to be reconciled with our neighbour, our offering becomes as unworthy as Cain's and that whole affair ended with Abel's blood on Cain's hands.

[PAUSE ]

Reconciliation is not easy at times, but it must begin in the heart. We should say sorry to God for each time we harbour evil thoughts against our neighbour. If we are true in our resolution to love our neighbour as ourselves then that is enough. We may not be properly reconciled in this life, especially when the other person has seriously hurt us. However, the closer that Christians get to Christ, the closer we get to each other. Reconciliation then becomes almost automatic and unavoidable.

It is possible that our worst enemy gets to Heaven with us. How will we cope with that thought?

The Precious Blood: Unification through rendering

Only a few weeks ago, we celebrated the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart in which we say the Lord's side rent by a spear wielded by a Roman Soldier. Here we see the division of the flesh of the Body of Christ, a hole that does not appear to have healed in the Lord's post-Resurrection body. The flesh is rent apart but not in a way as to separate the holy body into two pieces. It is because of this rent that the consecration of the world comes about. The Blood of Our Lord pours out upon the earth as the Holy Sacrifice is made and through the hole in His side, the earth finds redemption and the way back to God. This is the same single sacrifice that we (re)present in our Masses. Every time we celebrate our Mass, we are here at the foot of the Cross, united by that wound in the Lord's side as well as the other precious scars that cover His body. We, in our schisms and separations are nonetheless reunited by the blood which pours from Our Lord and brings us the same New Covenant. We are united through a tear - another of God's wonderful salvific ironies.

I spoke below about how Continuing Anglicanism has had a tendency to fracture. In recent years, there have been attempts to reunite with increasing success. For me this bodes well as I am committed to the unity of all who hold the Catholic Faith. Last time, I wrote:

within the Continuing Anglican Church, St Thomas Aquinas will need to find how to sit next to St Gregory Palamas. Reason and Philosophy will have to dwell with Mystery and Unknowing. How are we going to agree on the validity or expression of doctrine of Original Sin when the East rejects it and the West affirms it? Can a soteriology based on The Day of Judgement be reconciled with one based upon a break from prison by Theosis? Personally, I believe it can, but it will take more than I could ever comprehend to work out the details. Is the movement a convergence? I pray so.

Personally, I think this is where the Continuing Anglican Movement fits in. If we really are a "Movement" rather than a "Staying-where-we-were-ment" then our movement must be in the same direction as all the Catholic Churches with a view to the visible unity of those Catholic Churches. We may be separate fingers in the Body of Christ, but we should take unity seriously.

In recent years, the ACC has been criticised for its stance on Unity: it has provided a perfectly clear statement on what it means by Church Unity and how it seeks to ensue it. As Archbishop William Temple says, "The way to the union of Christendom does not lie through committee rooms, though there is a task of formulation to be done there. It lies through personal union with the Lord so deep and real as to be comparable with His union with the Father." Unity is ultimately eschatological in nature. We become united to each other as we become united in Christ.

This is where an honest scholarship helps. Both Rome and Constantinople are united in the same Councils and yet one has an Augustinian view of soteriology. the other does not. Is St Augustine of Hippo responsible for the division between Continuing Anglicans? I would not describe myself as an Augustinian in that my views on original sin tend to be more in line with the Eastern than the Western. We inherit an affliction of the human condition caused by the first sin, not the actual guilt of Adam and Eve. Baptism is a regeneration and an incorporation of the soul into the Body of Christ and inoculates the person in the remission of sins. This we see in the outpouring of the blood of Christ. The blood is mixed with water. The Blood of the Covenant is mixed with the water of Baptism. The baptised is grafted into the Vine so that the Blood can flow into it.

The ACC is committed to Church Unity in its quest for union with God. In being Anglican in her culture, it possesses a scholarship which was once respected by theologians of every stripe until the tyranny of the living tried to usurp the democracy of the dead. Thus it does make sense for efforts to be made in this area with a view to finding the root of the divisions between Roman and Eastern Orthodoxy. As Anglican Catholics we have a peculiar position: we seek the doctrine of the Early Church having a common heritage of the first millennium with both Churches, a further half-millennium with the Roman Catholic Church, and then another half-millennium distinct from both. Yet we are committed to the long game of being part of the True Vine. We are a branch, however small, despite being disregarded by larger branches. Yet, the sap of that vine is the Blood of Christ of which, by Anglican tradition, we encourage the laity to share in that one cup.

In this unique position and with our reputation for sound scholarship, we do have an opportunity to see how to reconcile Augustinian and non-Augustinian theology and thus find the common language between East and West which will allow us to engage in fruitful dialogue with both hemispheres. We need to see how to place the theology of St Augustine in the East which didn't receive the Greek translation of his work until the 14th Century and in the West where it has been fragmented and distorted by extremists among the Reformers. The notion of Limbo has gone, replaced with Mystery. We do not know where babies who die unbaptized go. We are not provided with that information. what we are provided with is the knowledge that God is Faithful and loves His creatures. We can only leave it there.

We in the Western Church have embraced Philosophy more soundly than in the East. We do need to embrace Mystery more and remember that Reason may convince but often is more speculative than certain. Reason can only ever be at best asymptotic to the Truth. What does this mean? An asymptote is something to which we can get arbitrarily close but never reach.The Truth is closer to us than we can sometimes see and record via any theological science but theological science cannot attain that Truth. Yet, we must also realise that, with Reason firmly based on God's revelation to us both in Scripture in the greater and the World around us in the lesser as testified by Psalm xix and Roman i.18-21, our philosophical speculation does afford us an asymptote to the Truth rather than a divergence away from it. Thus, with Divine Mystery we may temper our speculations accordingly. All we have to do is look into our veins and see the the Blood of Christ coursing through them giving us life and communion with others even if they cannot see it.

Organic unity in that sense already exists, yet visibility of that unity is also a sign of hope to a darkening, bloodless world whose existence is being sucked dry by the parasitism of Evil in its futile mission to acquire some substance of its own. Churches standing together is an affront to the Devil which is why the divisions exist. We only truly embrace the Truth by embracing each other clinging to our common fallen humanity and knowing that the Church has been given the means to give the necessary grace to bring healing to a wounded world. The wound in the side of Christ was opened to repair the mortal wound in Humanity. By fastening our wounds to His, the Divine blood flows into us and makes us what God intended us to be.

Our Faith bids us believe that St Thomas Aquinas does stand with St Gregory Palamas in Heaven before the Throne. St Thomas realises how straw-like his philosophy is. St Gregory appreciates how close philosophy assists people to find God. What is Mystery in Heaven when one has God in plain sight? Surely Science and Mystery become the same thing. That's how the Church will be unified, just as Man and God are unified. It's something we must long for, but know that it's coming and rejoice! In another irony, we rejoice in the spilling of Our Saviour's blood! Would He have it any other way?

A protest Church? I protest!

One of the sad facts of ACC history is that there was a schism in the late 1990s when Bishop Leslie Hamlett left to form the Holy Catholic Church. His argument was that the ACC was more of a protest Church than seeking any actual affirmation of doctrine. Of course, one could argue that the HCC was then a protest movement from a protest movement which itself was a protest movement from a protest movement... et c. Naturally, I have no desire to demonstrate any disrespect for members of the HCC. Does the ACC have a case to answer?

All schism within the Church is an embarrassment and scandalous, especially when the Church isn't very big to start with. The fact that Continuing Anglicanism has fractured I think rather demonstrates how fractured the parent body of the Episcopal Church was to start with. We must also add in the fact that there have been some very strong personalities that have caused repercussions with their words (and sometimes actions) which have not served the movement well.

Should there be these things called "movements" within the Church? Movement implies motion and that implies either a destination or a withdrawal. In the case of the Oxford Movement, it was a movement to reclaiming the Anglican Heritage of the pre-Reformation, especially the heritage of the Early Church. That was the Tractarian Goal. That heritage has both Eastern and Western parts in it which does explain why there is a certain dichotomy among Continuing Anglicans. Just as the Eastern Church had one language - Greek - and the other had another - Latin. So Continuing Anglicans occasionally have difficulty hearing what another is saying.

This needs to be addressed, but can only be really done so when the East and West Patriarchates have done so. Until then, within the Continuing Anglican Church, St Thomas Aquinas will need to find how to sit next to St Gregory Palamas. Reason and Philosophy will have to dwell with Mystery and Unknowing. How are we going to agree on the validity or expression of doctrine of Original Sin when the East rejects it and the West affirms it? Can a soteriology based on The Day of Judgement be reconciled with one based upon a break from prison by Theosis? Personally, I believe it can, but it will take more than I could ever comprehend to work out the details. Is the movement a convergence? I pray so.

From the point of view of the Chambers Succession, the movement called "Continuing Anglicanism" becomes visible in the 1970s in the U.S. when the Episcopal Church of the U.S. puts forward several changes which result in changes to the sacraments and the lex orandi. A vote is taken, the changes adopted and those who protest at the result leave the authority of ECUSA. Again we have political and religious dimensions to this that have to be separated out clearly.

In voting to implement changes to sacraments and liturgy, the Episcopal Church have voted substantive changes to the Faith in order to accommodate the sensibilities of the contemporary culture. The Continuing Anglican movement becomes a protest movement against the politics of the Episcopal Church and, consequently, leaves the political jurisdiction of that Church. It does, however, seek to continue what was in the Episcopal Church before the vote. Thus, the Episcopal Church have departed from what they hitherto affirmed and have thus protest against the religious interpretation that Continuing Anglicans actually continue. The same is true in the Church of England, which is why the Continuing Anglican movement is now present in this country.

To say that we are a protest Church is true in the sense that we exist because we seek to keep things the same as they always have been and do not believe that the changes to the Faith are warranted. We exist as a separate movement in the same way as a non-smoker continues to sit inside the pub while the smokers go outside to light-up. The smokers say, "we're going outside to smoke. Come join us," The non-smokers say, "no thanks!" possibly with some unbecoming comments about how smoking is not healthy. The group of non-smokers becomes apparent precisely because the smokers have left. Likewise, we have become visible because our parent Churches have left us. Is that a protest? Perhaps makes us like the Democrat members of Congress who stage a sit-in to discuss gun control. The thing is, we're still here and we were not in a position to force people to stay; the majority have left the building. In that sense, there is no such thing as a Continuing Anglican movement. We are a Continuing Anglican Staying-where-we-were-ment.

The Church of England was intended to be a political protest at the government of Rome; religious reforms came in later but have never been universally accepted. The Church Papist, the Laudian, the Caroline Divine, and the Non-Juror have always been lurking in English History. The lack of a comprehensive definition of what it means to be Anglican has meant that we in the ACC have had to pick a particular interpretation of that adjective and use that to describe us. For us, "Anglican" means that we are "Anglo-Catholic". Even then, that term is rather subject to change. There are Romanising Anglo-Catholics, and Puseyites. I suppose that makes me an Anglican Papalist Puseyite! This does mean that we have doctrine and thus a particular substance that, although is not unique to us - we hope it isn't!! - means that we have some recourse to answering the question "can I be saved?" in the same way as any other Catholic.

What is true is that our language has probably been rather polemical, and this does lend credibility to the charge of us being a "protest church". The key thing is for us to develop some further substance so that we don't exist for the sake of protest. The fact that we hold to the doctrine that the Catholic Faith cannot be altered by political acts means that we are necessarily in opposition to those that believe that the Catholic Faith is a product of culture. If we voice that opposition, then that is a protest. Yet, to gain substance and credibility, we must actively live that rule.

If we protest against the ordination of women, then what are we doing actively to ensure not only that women have a valued presence within the Church and can find expressions of spiritual leadership if, like St Hilda and St Hildegard, they are called by God to become spiritual leaders? How do we demonstrate that the male priesthood is not a tacit suppression or exclusion of women?

If we protest against abortion, then how do we work to end the need for it? How do we contribute to the welfare equally of mother and baby? How do we invest our resources into making the practice unnecessary? Do we, by our living as well as our speaking and writing, encourage and inspire others to seek the commitment of marriage as the environment in which man and woman can give themselves to each other in loving tenderness for the purpose of bringing a loved child into the world? How do we make our society safe for women so that they can live without the fear of being raped?

If we protest against same-sex marriage, then how do we demonstrate how love really works within celibate friendships? Do we regard divorce as another version of same-sex marriage as we should? How do we value a person who just happens to be a homosexual? Do we actively assist society in seeing that sex is not the be-all-and-end-all of human existence and that celibacy is not only valuable but venerable?

You see, the more we shout loudly and make noises and yet forget about the way we live life sinfully, the more that our protests do nothing about the issues that afflict society. Indirectly, all of our sins contribute to everyone else's like merging ripples on the surface of the water. As Our Lord says, "let he who is without sin cast the first stone." Yes, we need to be able to stand up and say "that is a sin" but equally we need to be able to lead folk out of sin. It's like shouting "fire" and not telling anyone where the fire escape doors are.

None of these questions can be answered by waving a placard and shouting.

What we often forget is that we, the Church, are called to be a blessing to the world. This was supposed to be the people of Israel, however with the incorporation of gentiles into the Body of Christ, the Church at least shares the call to be this blessing. This makes it all the more necessary for us to live our lives in order to distribute that blessing.

If the Anglican Catholic Church is a protest Church, then let it be because we protest on behalf of the human race against Evil, and let us do so actively reminding ourselves that we do so as part of the Catholic Church. There is very little point in protesting against the Church of England or the Episcopal Church if there are projects and activities within them that feed the hungry, give water to the thirsty, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, visit the sick, visit the imprisoned and bury the dead. People will see these good works and will not see that supporting the transgender manifesto threatens the safety of women, or supporting the right of a woman to abort at any time threatens the life not just of the unborn but also the newborn. They will see the benefit of gene therapy, but not see the impending issue of eugenics.

Of course, the argument could be made by some that the Devil can clothe his vile actions with good works just as he can clothe his lies with truth. Absolutely right! This is why the doctrine of the Church has to be on the firmest footing so that the whole Catholic Church is on the same verse if not agreeing with the same tune. With the Church living out her faith as well as speaking about it, we have greater opportunity to demonstrate that we mean what we say ion an age of soundbite, branding, and superficiality. We must call out sin, but back up its excision with grace, forgiveness and the fullest support.

We also have to be protesting against Death too. The issues that I've outlined above are evils enshrined in Time. They will end with the human race. The existence of the Church is a loud "NO!" to the cadaverous face of the Grim Reaper. We have been given that voice by the Resurrection of Christ. We have the strength to stand up against the end of our lives precisely because Our Great High Priest has made that journey for us, laying out the Catholic Faith like Ariadne's string in the Labyrinth so that in Him we can find the way out of our prison and live with God in Eternity. This is the greatest protest that we can make and none more worthwhile. All of our actions, our good works, our doctrine, dogma, and discipleship, all are pointed towards the destruction of Death in the abyss. All that exists in the repository of the Faith testifies to the worth of each individual from beyond the confines of Time and Space, and it is our job to give expression to that testimony.

We fail to do that if we continue to protest in a way that does not demonstrate the intrinsic worth of precisely everyone involved in the issue we are protesting against.

The Anglican Catholic Church exists because it seeks to continue its protest by staying put and growing in the Faith that it has received. The question we need to ask is whether we truly are growing in the Catholic Faith - not necessarily numerically, but in spirit. If we're a sexist church, a purist church, a church where we're better than everyone else, a church that's all talk and no substance, then we'll deservedly die out, and good riddance!  For, in that case, there is too little evidence that we live the Faith once delivered to the saints.

Our reality and recognition as a Church depends on living a Catholic life. Of course, with the fragmentation of Continuing Anglicanism, we need to make sure that what we mean by "Catholic" is clear. We know that we take the Vincentian Canon as our definition, but do we really live out a faith that is recognisably Christian everywhere, at all times and to everyone? If we do, or at least strive to, then it doesn't matter what we're called, just as long as it involves Christ Our Lord, and we protest our allegiance to Him in spirit and in truth.

Is our protest noted, and by whom?

Fishing for expectations

Sermon preached at Our Lady of Walsingham and St Francis on the Fifth Sunday after Trinity

Does the future look bright to you? In many ways, most of us hopefully have a lot to look forward to – birthdays, anniversaries, goals in life. For many others, the future is a frightening place full of uncertainty and difficulty. Many people can become unable to function precisely because they are afraid of how this will affect the future.

The bad news is that there will be pain for all of us. There will be temptation. We will be affected by sin, either our own or someone else’s. There will be loss, decay and breakages which will affect our lives. Worse still, if we actually honour our calling to be Christians, Our Lord warns us that we will face persecution, ridicule, social sanctions and, possibly even death. We cannot afford to forget our brothers and sisters in the Middle East who are suffering like this right this very minute. This could make us afraid to be Christians.

These are hard facts and the Bible doesn’t shy away from them. Look at poor Job who seems to be punished for something he didn’t do. Ecclesiastes reminds us that both Rich and Poor will end up in the grave. For many people, they will say, “well then, what’s the point? Let’s give up on God and just enjoy life.”

There are times when we’re tempted to feel the same.

[PAUSE]

Simon Peter toils all night with his friends trying to catch some fish. If he doesn’t find any, he will have nothing to sell. If he has nothing to sell, then he will not get any money which he needs in order just to live. In the morning, his nets are empty and the future is not looking too good. Enter the Lord Jesus.

Years later the same St Peter now tells us, “The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil. And who is he that will harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?” In his time listening to Jesus speaking to him, St Peter has come to realise that seeking that which is truly good is the way forward in life. He has been told, “seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness”.

This is how we are to live life at each and every moment, seeking the kingdom of God. Whatever is troubling us, whatever we need, whatever is oppressing us, we need only focus our attention on the kingdom of God. Why?

The kingdom of God is our home. It is with us now, with anyone who accepts Our Lord as king of their lives and who thus wants to live out that rule. St Peter says, “Be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous; not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing. For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.”

He is speaking about the same kingdom of God that he met those years ago. Our Lord Jesus says, “Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught.” Through his sleeplessness and worry, St Peter says, “Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing; nevertheless, at thy word I will let down the net.” In saying “yes” to Jesus, St Peter accepts His rule and is rewarded for his faith. Our Lady says “yes” to the rule of God and is blessed by becoming the Mother of God.

[PAUSE]

Life may weary us, bother us, frighten us, infuriate us. However, if we can get into the good habit of seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, then all the things we really need will be added unto us, and we will be happy. When we pray each day, we need to ask God for the grace to seek Him out and find Him.

Then we can expect to find Him. We will be carried through all of our troubles, though we will still feel the pain. However, in God, the pain will end and even become for us a badge of honour, just as the wounds of Our Lord are the means to a greater grace and a greater joy for us.

If we remain faithful to God, our troubles will not be as bad as we think. In fact, the joy will break the nets of our expectations!

Political Church: a confusion of categories?

Of course, Jesus was political! He died because He challenged the government, both local and global, and He was executed ultimately for reasons of political expediency.

The Gospel issues a challenge to all human beings, all human organisations and all human governing bodies. Does that mean that Our Lord has a view on how governments are run? Is He Conservative or Liberal, Left of Centre or Right of Centre, or Centre?

The reason that the Continuing Anglican movement exists in its various parts is because of the question: "Can Church Teaching change with time?" We don't accept slavery, but neither does the Continuing Anglican Movement accept the change in the matter of sacraments. The two are not in the same category - one is essentially a question of the political status of people, the other is a question of the Covenant that exists between God and Man. The trouble is that the categories cut across each other because of the nature of how Man lives his earthly life and how he aspires to his Heavenly life.

My bishop and I voted on opposite sides of the recent Referendum. The question is, should I have toed the line and voted just as my bishop voted? The answer is no: we voted as citizens of the UK, not as clergymen. Any authority that I have as a priest and any authority that my bishop has cannot be political. Any authority that we have is derived from our sharing in the priesthood of Christ in the ordering and regulation of how the church ministers to the laity. This is often forgotten by some members of the Church, especially in times past. One could refer to the Cardinals as "Princes of the Church", but the word "prince" can only ever be used in the original sense of princeps - leadership. Leadership need not be political, at least, not in the sense of one person getting their own way in a community. An Abbot of a Community has a leadership bound up with the Rule and no further. The trouble is that any community of people will raise questions of "who's in charge?" and "who gets to say in which direction we travel together?" Thus politics will naturally arise within the Church, that does mean that it will need to be regulated by the Faith, NOT by the law.

Of course, Canon Law is designed to be such a regulation. We recently had to remove a senior clergyman because he had violated the rules of administering the sacraments. Are there rules of administering the sacraments? Should there be rules of administering the sacraments? Of course there should, but the rules on the application of sacraments come from our walk with God and understanding His intentions for them. That's not human politics; that's our willing subjection of our lives to Christ the King. Canon Law is about the ordering of the running of the Church. It is not about (or should not be about) the ordering of the lives of Churchfolk. The spirit of Canon Law can only ever be the organizing presence of the Holy Spirit. God orders the lives of Churchfolk as they seek Him as the community called the Catholic Church.

The movement for the ordination of women has put forward the argument that preventing women from being ordained is akin to condoning slavery. For an Anglican Catholic, like me, there is a confusion of categories here. Ordination is a sacrament which arises from the Covenant relationship that the Church has with God and cannot be changed because the nature of humanity as a creature made in the image of God and fallen from grace does not change in time and, clearly, God is Eternal and thus changeless. Slavery is a political problem and can only be tackled politically by people who believe it to be morally wrong, as the Church does but, admittedly, has not been very proactive in combatting it at times to say the least!

Let's just look at these two issues as they arise biblically.

First, the ordination of women:

This is a true saying, If a man desire the office of a bishop, he desireth a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; Not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; One that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover * he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. Likewise must the deacons be grave, not doubletongued, not given to much wine, not greedy of filthy lucre; Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience. And let these also first be proved ; then let them use the office of a deacon , being found blameless. Even so must their wives be grave, not slanderers, sober, faithful in all things. Let the deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling their children and their own houses well. For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. These things write I unto thee, hoping to come unto thee shortly: But if I tarry long , that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. (I Timothy iii)

How is Paul addressing Timothy here? As a political leader? No. He speaks that St Timothy may how he ought to behave himself in the house of God which is the church of the living God. The rule here is that of God and within the governance of the Church, not the governance of living in the world. It is clear that in mentioning the word "husband", the rule of the sacrament of Ordination is intended solely for those of the male sex, not for political reasons, but for reasons of the Covenant, the means of grace and in keeping with the faith enshrined in the entirety of Holy Scriptures. But then I've fleshed out my arguments elsewhere. The trouble comes when this Canon Law is applied as a political law and women are seen as spiritually lesser, which is clearly not true! Our Lord Himself, in declaring the greatest to be the least and the least the greatest, does away with this idea of ranking people within the Church. Notice that he asks Timothy, "For if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?" This again is not the political rule of a house, but the rule of the house according to the Christian Faith. That is the context of St Paul's direction.

On the issue of slavery:

Children, obey your parents in the Lord: for this is right. Honour thy father and mother;  (which is the first commandment with promise;) That it may be well with thee, and thou mayest live long on the earth. And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath : but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ; Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; With good will doing service , as to the Lord, and not to men: Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth , the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free. And, ye masters, do the same things unto them, forbearing threatening: knowing that your Master also is in heaven; neither is there respect of persons with him. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand . Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel, For which I am an ambassador in bonds: that therein I may speak boldly , as I ought to speak. (Ephesians vi.1-20)

In what context is St Paul addressing the Ephesians? Clearly, he is addressing them about how to live in society, among people who may or may not share their faith. In telling servants to obey their masters, we see a recognition by St Paul that the circumstances of men come about by political means. We are to accept the government we have because that's the way things are and in remembrance that our destiny is not bound up with any politics. If slavery is indigenous, then Christians have to find a political way of dealing with it in accordance with the Christian Faith and the rule of Christ's Kingship. A Christian may engage in the civil disobedience of an unjust law, i.e. where the political law contradicts the Divine Law, but must accept the political sanctions that the disobedience requires. Here we can see that happen with Daniel who accepted the punishment of the lions' den for the civil disobedience of an unjust political law.

When we discuss Church matters, we do need to be able to separate political stances from Divine Law. This is why there are such schisms in the Catholic Church. If the Pope is a bishop, then he cannot be a monarch. His authority comes from God as a ruler of the Church, not from politics as a ruler of the lives of men. The two are in separate categories, and the categories get confused. I would like to conjecture that all schisms within the Church arise from this confusion and suspect that many heresies arise in the same way too.

This also means that we have to look very carefully at our Canon Law and constitutions and, as far as is possible, make sure that we have removed from them laws which arise not from God but from men and especially from issues of politics. Personally, I find that canons and constitutions can lead to political position which do not adequately express the will of God. I therefore, being a bit of an anarchist, do distrust living by canon and constitution as living by a rule book. As a Benedictine, I do have a Rule, but remember that the Christian notion of Rule is a stick by which we can review our relationship with God. It is not an absolute as St Benedict readily admits. If we accept Christ as King, then we are to live by His rule and not by ours. From a human point of view that sounds a bit anarchist. I suspect the late Fr Jim Petty might agree with me!

How to avoid the syllabus of errors

Sermon for the fourth Sunday after Trinity

Did you know that the word mathematics actually comes from the Greek word meaning disciple? This is true. The best mathematicians should therefore be the best disciples. Clearly, this means that people with maths degrees are going to Heaven before anyone else.

Of course, that’s not true at all. But Our Lord does pose us a little problem.

If we’ve heard of Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking, then why haven’t we heard of their physics teachers? If we’ve heard of Nigel Kennedy, why haven’t we heard of his violin teacher?

Is Jesus really right to say “The disciple is not above his master; but every one that is perfect shall be as his master”? Clearly, it is possible for the one who learns to outstrip his teacher and change the world. You can get the Nobel Prize for literature when your English teacher does not. What’s gone wrong here?

[PAUSE]

It is clear that Our Lord is not speaking of academic pursuits nor of formal education. Remember, it’s not academic knowledge that gets us into Heaven, it’s getting to know God and following Him that matters. In educational parlance, the Learning Objective of Our Lord’s ministry is to receive Salvation and Reunion with God. We learn to be disciples of God Himself. What does Our Lord teach us while He is with us? What’s on the syllabus?

[PAUSE]

The syllabus is composed of four parts. They are called Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. In these, we see that every action recorded by Jesus teaches us something. He may teach us explicitly by teaching us how to pray. He may teach us via parables where we have to listen carefully to Him to understand His meaning. He may teach us by His actions of forgiveness, reconciliation, blessing, and healing.

The trouble is that we all fail to live by this teaching. If we are perfect only then can we be just as sinless as our teacher. The teacher here can only be Our Lord, not a priest, pastor or academic, and we can never be better than Him. Even if a priest, pastor or academic teaches us about what Jesus says, they cannot ever be greater than Our Lord.

This is because every teacher is a disciple too: they aren’t the creators of what to learn. They can only teach what they’ve been taught. The teaching doesn’t begin with them. It can only ever begin with God Himself. It means that we all have to be humble. Not one of us can say that we’ve got everything sussed out; we cannot say that we fully understand another’s position; we cannot be the judge of others if we are no morally better than others. We always have to go back to the Teacher – Our Lord Jesus Christ.

If we see the speck in another’s eye, then we must go back to Our Lord who will teach us mercy, forgiveness, and love by showing us the beam that is in our own eye. If we take that responsibility onto our own shoulders, then we will only fail, and lose more than we did to start with.

Mercy, compassion, forgiveness, and love are lessons worth learning. We need to make sure that we keep going back to school to learn them.