War of the Church Fathers?

 

What happens when the Church Fathers disagree?

Better the Devil you know?

Sermon preached at the Cathedral of St Augustine of Canterbury on the third Sunday in Lent

Do you know your devil?

We are often told,

"better the devil you know

than the devil you don't."

So do you know your devil?

[PAUSE]

We often have this image

that on our right shoulder

stands our guardian angel

who looks like

a small version of us

only prettier and cleaner

and without unsightly hairs,

dressed in white

with halo and wings

and a rather simpering smile

over its smug little face.

Whereas, 

on our left shoulder

stands our devil,

who looks like

a small version of us

only uglier and red-skinned

with furry legs, horns,

more unsightly hairs,

and a mischievous twinkle

in its malevolent yellow eyes.

Is that what your angel 

and devil look like?

If they do,

then be prepared for a shock.

Any devil

that tries to tempt you

will look more like 

the image that you have

of your angel...

at first.

But let's dispel a few rumours.

[PAUSE]

You do not have

a devil and an angel

sitting on your shoulders.

Your guardian angel does not

sit on your right shoulder.

It is beetling up and down

between you

and the Throne of Heaven,

defending you,

praying for you,

correcting your prayers,

trying to steer you

and warn you,

but by directing your attention

to what is good,

or revealing the bad,

and not by whispering

in your ear...

normally.

More importantly,

you have a conscience,

which is really what

that idea of

the angel on your shoulder

represents.

That conscience 

is directed towards God,

but because of our fallen nature

it needs to be informed

to be of use.

It can only direct you

in the paths of righteousness

as far as you are willing

to have taught it what is good.

You need to keep its user manual 

up to date,

install the latest updates

and recognise bad habits

the more you grow in faith in God.

We inform our conscience

by learning what is 

good, true, clean, holy, lovely

and ordered to a better 

life with God.

But why would your devil

look more like your angel?

There's a good reason

why it definitely

does not look

like a hornèd imp.

Well, we still have 

more rumours

to dispel.

[PAUSE]

You don't have a devil,

at least not in the sense

the Holy Scriptures mean.

You have a dark side of your mind

where all the negative ideas

you have about yourself lie.

This dark side has grown

from sins and bad habits,

and not always your sins

and bad habits.

From the Holy Scriptures,

however,

we understand that

it is possible

to be controlled by devils

- that is at the heart of what we call

demonic possession,

where the will is

completely enslaved

by the powers of darkness.

In these situations

those who are possessed 

cannot do otherwise.

We see, 

in the Bible

that devils can make us dumb

or make us super strong

and raving mad.

But that doesn't mean

that being dumb

or super strong

or having significant 

mental illness

is necessarily caused

by a devil.

But if your conscience

can be informed by

good habits and good practices,

it can be damaged by bad habits

and bad practices.

And that's what the devils want.

So,

they pose as angels

to persuade you

into bad habits

by making them

look good

or, at least,

inconsequential.

If they looked like imps

you wouldn't take them

seriously.

The devils' job

is to make sin look attractive,

desireable,

irresistable.

That way,

even if you break a bad habit,

you have to watch out

because if you go back to it,

you get seven devils

trying to tempt you.

The worst of it is that,

when you give in to temptation

and you feel sorry,

the devils then make you feel

that you are unforgivable.

They don't drop

the façade

of looking like angels.

Instead,

they make you look

like the hornèd imp,

they give you the red skin

and yellow eyes

and convince you

that you are the devil,

hell-bound

and hated by God.

That is the lie.

You don't have a devil.

You are tempted by them.

But you don't possess a devil

and a devil doesn't possess you,

God forbid.

So if there isn't a devil 

on your left shoulder

nor an angel on your right,

how do you deal with

all those conflicting ideas?

How do we separate

what seems good

but is bad

and what seems bad

but is actually good

from

what seems good

and is actually good?

[PAUSE]

Two things.

First, the goal of the Devil

is to separate you from God.

So, if you know Who God Is,

then you know 

when someone is trying

to separate you.from Him

by tempting you

into despising what is holy

and loving what is unholy.

The more you strive

to be holy,

the more you try to know God,

the more you will recognise

the devil that's tempting you.

Second, the Devil will try 

either to persuade you

that he is equal with God

or that he himself doesn't exist.

The Devil will try to dominate you.

And he's right,

he is stronger than you,

but he is not another god.

Indeed, 

Jesus is the strong man

who breaks into the Devil's home

to carry out those

who are enslaved to him

- that's us.

Our Lord is the strong man

who carries us out

of the Devil's clutches

because we are God's priceless treasure.

And if the Devil

should try to persuade you

that he doesn't exist

and that all the evil in the world

comes from you,

then remind him

that he must exist

because Our Lord's foot 

is crushing his head.

[PAUSE]

The more we get into good habits

the more will we recognise

when we are duped.

Our angel will guide us

if we ask it.

The Devil will flee from us

when we oppose him

with Christ at our head.

The Devil can

circle our head as much as he likes.

We just 

don't let him sit

on our shoulder.

The core beliefs of.an Anglican Catholic?

 

Are you really a miserable sinner?

The consequence of Us and Them

Sermon for the second Sunday in Lent

"She's not one of us!"

"Stay away!"

"She's got no part in our nation!"

This is what the Canaanite Woman hears.

Already even in the first century,

politics in the Middle East

is complicated

and emotive.

The people of Canaan

are worse than Samaritans.

Their practices are disgusting

and no faithful Israelite

has any dealings

with such low life.

And this woman is one of them.

Keep her away.

[PAUSE]

Yet,

still she calls out

to the One she believes

can free her daughter

of devils.

She knows how vile she is

in the eyes of the Jews.

The Master's disciples,

naturally urge that she be

sent away.

She is used to that.

She hears his voice,

"I am not sent,

but unto the lost sheep

of the house of Israel."

This is the response

everyone expects.

The disciples know

that Our Lord

is supremely faithful

to the Jewish law.

The Messiah

is prophesied

to fight for the salvation

of the people of Israel.

And He does!

He comes to Israel first

knowing that,

when they reject Him,

He is justified in 

reaching out to the gentiles.

There is no surprise.

And despite the fact

that she knows is

this Canaanite Woman

this most unclean of the unclean

still sees in the Christ

something worth fighting for.

something to pursue.

She doesn't know

she is a bit premature.

But then,

does she have a choice?

He is special;

He is a wonderworker;

He speaks the truth;

He is loyal to His nation.

And so she fights 

through the protests,

derision

and hatred,

and worships the God

she is not allowed to approach.

"Help me!"

The Christ stops

and bothers to speak to her,

"It is not meet 

to take the children's bread,

and to cast it to the dogs."

The Jewish people smile smugly

for the Christ has put her 

in her place.

He's not for the likes of her.

He's proud of His nation.

Not going to be sullied by 

associating with her.

[PAUSE]

Dogs?

It's the word He uses

but it is not the word

she expects to hear.

She is expecting

a different Greek word for dog

that has always been used

to describe her Canaanite people

as being unclean and impure.

But the word He uses,

He calls her a puppy, a pet dog

one of those animals

for which there is affection

Immediately,

she sees them snuffling

round the family 

at the table

being fed treats.

If this is what she is to Him

even these little dogs 

get a scrap of kindness.

"Truth, Lord,

yet the dogs eat of the crumbs

which fall from the master's table."

And something shifts.

Not in the Christ,

for He knows what He does.

"O woman,"

He says.

Already this is significant

for "O Woman" 

is how He addresses His mother

at the wedding in Cana.

"O Woman"

a term of respect

of acknowledgement

of seeing her

without the Nationalistic label

"O Woman,

great is thy faith!"

Her faith has crossed 

the divide caused by

tribalism

Nationalism

political jingoism.

It's a woman

talking to a man

- a man Who just happens

to be God.

Her faith in Him

is greater

than the derision

of those who hate her.

"Be it unto thee

even as thou wilt."

And a way away,

a devil screeches

as the barrier of hatred is lifted

removing his protection

from being evicted.

The woman

who has struck at 

the barrier

that separates her and God

has let the light of Christ

pour forth onto her daughter

freeing her from darkness.

Jesus knows her

and through this

knowing her faith

He shows up the pettiness

of those who cling to their

national identity

above the good of a human being.

As we know this

because this is recorded for us

in the Gospels,

not as an.example

of Jesus being rude or unkind

but of showing that His love

will not be constrained 

by anything man made.

Yes, He comes to save

the Jewish people first

because of His promises

to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

He is faithful to them 

but they reject Him.

And so, 

as the prophets foretell,

He comes for the people

of Tyre, Sidon, Cairo, Athens

Antioch, Alexandria,

Rome, London and Faversham

with the same promise

of salvation.

[PAUSE]

The faith of this Canaanite woman

saves her daughter

but it also reaches out to us

and challenges us

to see our fellow man

in all whom we meet.

The End of the Anglican Catholic Church?

 

What does the future hold?

Devil's Advocate

Sermon for the first Sunday of Lent

Let's play Devil's advocate.

How would you bring Christ down?

Yes of course, 

as Christians,

we know Christ to be God.

We couldn't bring Him down

even if we tried

and we don't want to try.

Sadly,

others do.

So how might they do it?

Well they need to show

that Jesus is not God.

They need to show

that He is not all-powerful

that He is not all-knowing

and that He is not all-good.

If the Devil 

can convince us

of just one of these things

then he has us.

And because Jesus is a man,

this should be easy.

If the Devil 

can convince us

that Jesus is only a man

then it's job done.

So how do we start?

[PAUSE]

Showing that 

He is not all-knowing

is tricky.

We might try

to show that 

He is not all-good.

But let's show

that He is not all-powerful.

That's easiest

That means we need 

to show that He is weak.

And He is weak too.

Look at Him

all hungry.

If He doesn't eat, 

then He'll die.

If He's God,

then He can change

these stones into bread

and feed Himself.

"Man shall not live by bread alone, 

but by every word that proceedeth 

out of the mouth of God"

Now,

is that more

or less powerful

than changing stones to bread?

Ah!

But if He does change

stones to bread

he can be fed

and show us that He is God.

He refuses!

So He's not all-powerful.

But what if he's right?

What if it's not the bread

that makes us live,

but the words of the mouth of God?

If He speaks the truth,

then changing stones to bread

would be needless

and, in the circumstances,

show us that He bows

to temptation.

So not turning stones to bread,

that's actually more powerful

and we still have no evidence

to show that

He is not all-powerful.

But we have no evidence

that He is all-powerful.

[PAUSE]

If He says

that we live by every word 

that comes out of His mouth

then let Him show it.

Let Him give proof

that He is all-powerful.

Send Him up

to the top of the pinnacle.

If He lives

by every word of God,

then, if He throws Himself down,

God's word will summon the angels, 

because Holy Scripture says,

"He shall give his angels 

charge concerning thee, 

and in their hands 

they shall bear thee up, 

lest at any time thou dash thy foot 

against a stone."

But if He does,

the He will not have seen

through the trick.

He will not know 

that He is being.deceived

into proving His word.

If He throws Himself down

then He might prove

that He is kept by God's word

but He will also prove

that He can be manipulated.

It will show that

He is not all-knowing

and not all-powerful.

[PAUSE]

"Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

So, He's not stupid.

He's not being fooled

by the clever ploy.

Last chance for now. 

Tempt Him

with everything

on the conditon

He stops worshipping God.

Every man has his price.

So offer Him

everything,

absolutely everything

to turn from God.

If He does,

He won't be all-good

because He doesn't worship God;

He won't be all-knowing

because He won't see through this trick,

He won't be all-powerful

for the riches of.the whole world

control Him.

And then we are done.

[PAUSE]

"Get thee hence, Satan; 

for it is written, 

Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, 

and him only shalt thou serve."

And that's the best we can do.

The Devil can't show that 

Jesus is not all-powerful

nor that

Jesus is not all-knowing

nor that

Jesus is not all-good.

To be fair,

Jesus hasn't shown

that He is all-knowing, 

all-powerful and all-good.

But He doesn't need to.

Watch.Him.

Watch what He does.

Watch Him.heal.

Watch Him forgive.

Watch Him teach.

Watch Him raise the dead.

And

Watch Him die.

Watch why He dies.

And watch Him rise in glory.

The Devil can

and will do his worst

and God shows us

why playing Devil's advocate

only leads us to see

the glory of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

To Him be honour

and glory unto the age of ages.

A literal Creation for Anglican Catholics?

 Is it necessary for Anglican Catholics to believe the Science of Creation?