An Anglican Catholic view of Salvation

What is the Atonement in Anglican Catholic thought?

Thank God for chicken sandwiches!

Sermon for harvest festival

How much is 

a chicken sandwich, 

these days?

Would you buy one for £1? 

Okay if it's one of 

Mrs Miggins' sandwiches 

at a fundraising lunch, 

but not if it's from 

Scabby Joe's cart 

behind the bins at Tesco's. 

£2? 

£5? 

£10? 

That would have 

to be a good one!

What about $1500?

Would you buy 

a chicken sandwich 

for $1500?

[PAUSE]

What's it made from? 

Bread made 

at the hands of 1000 dusky maidens  

(or handsome young men, 

if you prefer)? 

Chicken directly descended 

from the court of Henry VIII? 

Butter from 

the real Ermintrude the Cow 

from the Magic Roundabout?

But a chicken sandwich 

does cost $1500 

and this has been proved.

[PAUSE]

A man 

- a youtuber - 

has shown that 

the cost of making 

a chicken sandwich 

from scratch costs 

that amount of money.

He bought the wheat, 

sowed it, 

grew it, 

did all that farmers do 

to make it grow 

into normal wheat. 

He reared 

and killed a chicken, 

himself. 

He made the butter 

from a cow he milked himself. 

He even added 

all the sweetners 

and preservatives 

that go into a chicken sandwich. 

All this cost him $1500.

What does this tell you?

[PAUSE]

We rely so much 

on the labour of others 

for the fact that 

we can go to the fridge, 

take out a chicken sandwich 

and eat it 

without sparing a single thought 

for all the work 

that has gone into

getting that sandwich 

into our fridge in the first place.

And then we moan 

when we have to go to work.

[PAUSE]

We see here 

the sheer complexity 

that forms our economy. 

No longer are we 

subsistence farmers 

eking out a meagre existence 

through days of back-breaking labour 

in order to have 

only just enough 

to eat in the evening.  

But our labour is hard, today. 

We still have to worry about 

getting enough money 

in our pockets in order 

to put food on the table. 

That worry is not just 

in terms of physical produce, 

but streams of 

data, cashflow 

and numbercrunching.

And, as we are finding 

in our sophisticated digital age, 

whatever we produce 

is still not immune 

from the effects of 

the weather, war or robbery. 

And we worry. 

We become anxious 

about the work we do, 

whether it's enough, 

whether we can cope 

with the demands made on us 

for our labour.

As good Christians, 

we bring our worries 

and the worries of the world 

to God. 

And what does God say?

[PAUSE]

He shows us lilies 

and sparrows.

"Ah! It's alright for Him, 

He doesn't need to eat. 

He can just magic up some food!"

"Why doesn't He magic up 

some food 

for us all?"

These folk have missed the point.

It is our labour together 

that means that chicken sandwiches 

do not cost $1500. 

If we choose to invest our work 

with the work of others 

then we reap the rewards 

which we can share. 

Our labour is not worth nothing.

It certainly is not worth nothing to God.

[PAUSE]

Work became hard for us at the Fall. 

God did not arbitrarily curse us 

with hard labour 

when we ate of the fruit 

from the tree of knowledge 

of good and evil. 

We effectively cursed ourselves 

by injecting laziness, 

cheating, 

fraud, 

corner-cutting, 

avarice and theft 

into our work. 

How much of our work exists 

just in order 

to protect ourselves 

from each other?

[PAUSE]

And God shows us sparrows 

to remind us that 

He does care and, 

if we seek Him 

and His righteousness first, 

we will have more than we need.

He shows us lilies 

to remind us that 

His Creation is beautiful 

and, 

perhaps, 

we should bask 

in its beauty so as 

to want to work 

to keep it nice.

God gives us motivation 

to invest our labour in His creation 

for love of Him, 

and that He promises 

what the world cannot 

- a huge return on 

that investment.

Often, 

our attitude to labour 

needs careful and serious review. 

Here, 

at our harvest festival, 

such as it is,

we give thanks to God 

for His goodness 

in providing the harvest 

as well as blessing those 

who gathered that harvest. 

This is right and proper.

But do we see 

the part we play in that harvest? 

Is there a part we should play 

in that harvest?

Alcohol and Anglican Catholics

 Why a hemina of wine really is enough.

Entitled to High Church?

Sermon for the seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

They say that a bad tenor is a form of piracy, being murder on the high Cs.

Why do we think that one note is higher than another? It's not as if we can see them - they are sounds, not sights. Yes, indeed, we may write notes as being higher or lower on the page, but why not left or right? Do we think that one note is higher than another because of how they are written, or is it something else?

[PAUSE]

It's interesting that different cultures have thought of notes as being high or low regardless of how they write the music down. Many think that it's because of where the notes feel in the body as you sing them. Low notes are in the belly and take less effort. High notes feel in the head and take more effort.

Indeed, it is the sense of effort that makes us think of climbing a ladder. Walking uphill takes more effort than walking down. 

You might now look and see why we're often called "High Church". We go to a lot of effort in decorating our churches and in the way in which we perform our liturgy. Low Church has a simple table with a white cloth. High Church has the Big Six on the altar with an appropriate frontal. The more ornate, the more effort, the higher church.

Low Church tend to put their effort into words and interior contemplation. High Church tend to put their effort into the decoration and engaging the senses. There is room for both.

To be high up in anything requires effort and people indeed put in the effort so that they can go up higher. The trouble comes when people think two rather pernicious things. They first think that their efforts entitle them to the high places, the best positions, the ring-side seats. They then think that, because they are in the high places, the best positions and the ring-side seats, they must be better than those who aren't.

And that's the problem.

[PAUSE]

Our Lord presents us with a wedding with lots of rooms. These days, we think of tables at the wedding breakfast. The better tables are those closest to the bride and groom.

If the Archbishop were to come in and demand a seat between Bridegroom and Bride just because he is the Archbishop, we know that something is wrong.

The archbishop would be entitled to sit in the top place here and now, because he is the Archbishop and his high office would entitle him to take this position. His effort and position means that he has authority here. 

But a wedding isn't like that. "High" and "Low" at a wedding don't mean the same as "High" and "Low" in church authority. To think that because we have a high position in one way, doesn't mean that we have a high position in every way. We cannot presume on our sense of entitlement.

Our Lord is demonstrating the danger of presuming entitlement which effectively comes from worshipping entitlement.

And people do worship entitlement.

[PAUSE]

Some people seem to think that, just because they have put the effort in to achieve something, doesn't mean that they are entitled to have that achievement recognised universally.

Some people seem to think that, just because they think they have put the effort in to achieve something, doesn't mean that they are entitled to have that achievement recognised universally.

It doesn't work like that.

High Mass is as valid as Low Mass. What matters is how we approach the sacrament.

At the wedding feast, it's not what you have achieved that determines your place, it's your relationship with the bride and groom.

And the Wedding Feast of the Lamb is no different.

Those who believe that they entitled to sit in the higher room will be disappointed.

Those whom the Bride and Bridegroom recognise will be invited to go up higher.

[PAUSE]

The more we value Jesus, the less we value the entitlements of this life. The more we learn to approach Him in reverence at His altar, and the more we learn to take Him away with us in our hearts, in our minds and in our lives, the less we need for the trappings of pride and reputation.

We are entitled to Heaven, but only through the love of Christ.

Celebrating length of service

 

Why liturgy should take as long as it takes.

Bishop Apparent

Sermon for the 18th anniversary of Consecration of Bishop Damien Mead

Mitre, purple cassock, 

rochet, chimere, pectoral cross.

All items of apparel 

exclusive to a bishop.

Why on earth would anyone

long to wear them?

And yet some people do.

[PAUSE]

Look out on the street,

and you see people walking about.

They don't tend to stand out. 

Coats and hats, 

hoodies and jeans,

smart suits and scruffy tracksuits.

But a man

coming down the street

in a cope and mitre

seems rather odd.

Conspicuous,

attention-grabbing,

silly.

The dress of a bishop 

is distinctive

and indicative of

an authority

that comes down

through the ages.

It has a place

and that place is the church.

Indeed, where the people

gather around their bishop,

there is the Catholic Church.

The office of a bishop

is attractive to Christians

for this reason.

But can we be sure

that when we see

a man dressed as a bishop

that we see the Catholic Church?

[PAUSE]

Of course not!

An actor can dress as a bishop,

that doesn't mean that

he has the authority of a bishop.

Anyone,

man or woman,

can dress as a bishop

but only those who are truly

consecrated by the Church

are truly bishops.

And some people

long to dress as bishops

for that sense of authority

because they hope people

will listen to them

and give them some sense of respect.

These people

dress as bishops for themselves.

They desire the appearance 

of a bishop,

not the office of a bishop.

[PAUSE]

St Paul tells us

that to desire the office of a bishop

is a good thing.

To want to do

what bishops do

is something holy.

But not all are called

to do that.

Only those whom

God calls

and the Church recognises

in keeping with the authority

and teaching she has received

from Christ.

The first bishops

did not look like bishops

but they were bishops

setting the pattern for ours today.

The distinctive dress

of bishops may develop

over the ages,

but all bishops

possess the same, 

unchanging authority.

There is only One

Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church,

united across Time and Space,

and the bishops 

are an integral ingredient

of what it means for

the Church to be

Apostolic.

[PAUSE]

And we have a bishop,

and we are gathered 

around that bishop 

in order to do what the Church

has always done.

At the hands of our bishop,

we offer the Sacrifice of the Mass,

the same sacrifice

that the Church has always offered,

and we receive at His hands

the true Body and Blood

of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

This makes us members

of that One, Holy, Catholic

and Apostolic Church.

[PAUSE]

Of courss,

there will always be those

who say that

we are actors.

They will say that

our bishop is playing dress-up -

cosplaying.

They will say

that we are not really 

doing what we think we're doing.

They will say

that we do not

really have bishops

because we changed 

what bishops are.

But we haven't!

What do they think

we are doing?

Cosplay!

Okay, but why?

For what reason?

Why are you here today?

Why is our bishop here today?

We are here

in faith

to worship God in our Lord Jesus Christ

and offer the sacrifice of the Mass

according to the rites of Holy Church

and we intend 

to receive the Body and Blood of Christ.

Just as we intend 

to consecrate bishops

according to 

the One, Holy, Catholic 

and Apostolic Church

through the grace of God.

That is our intention.

It has always been our intention,

through 1054,

through 1534,

through 1992.

"Ah, you might intend it,

but it's not really happening,

is it?"

God will judge our intentions

and not men.

We will not force people

to receive from our bishops.

We will not insist 

that people accept our authority.

For Love does not insist

on His own way.

Let those who don't believe us

go their way in peace.

But as many as will have faith

and accept the ministry

and authority of our bishop,

these will receive

the fulness of 

the One, Holy,.Catholic

and Apostolic Church.

[PAUSE]

And to our bishop

who does the office of a bishop

rather than just 

looking like a bishop.

Thank you.

And 

Thank God.

Anglican Catholic Equivocation?

 

Does love mean love?