A meal of fish, lamb and bread.

Sermon for the seventh Sunday after Trinity

Seven loaves.

Oh, and a few small.fish.

Well they were a bit of an afterthought, weren't they? Is their presence significant?

Practically, we would expect fish to be on the menu. These folk are travelling with Our Lord from the Sea of Galilee. And of course, St Peter, St Andrew, St James and St John are all fishermen. It stands to reason that there are dried fish about for a snack.

But there aren't that many. In comparison with four thousand people, the number of fish is tiny. The miracle still holds. 

So why aren't there fish at the Last Supper? If fish are a common food, why doesn't Our Lord give us Himself under the appearance of fish? Why does He give Himself under the appearance of bread?

[PAUSE]

The first thing to note is that while Our Lord is feeding four thousand, He is not giving them communion. The miracle is purely practical: four thousand hungry souls require something to eat. At the Last Supper, Our Lord is in a completely different setting - a last meal with His friends to establish His Church through the covenant in His blood. The presence of the fish in the feeding of the four thousand shows us that Our Lord can take what He is given and use it to supply people's needs.

But the question still stands. Why give us His body and blood under the appearance of bread and wine?

[PAUSE]

As we see, fish are only really available in fishing communities. Bread, on the other hand, is universal, whether it be leavened or unleavened. This makes it easy for the Church to be universal and for the sacrament to be readily available.

But wouldn't it be more obvious if Our Lord used lamb in Eucharist rather than bread? Isn't He supposed to be the Paschal Lamb that takes away the sin of the world.

Again, we run into the fact that bread is widely more available than any meat. It also has another property that fish or lamb don't: it can be broken and divided and still remain largely the same.

Those who don't believe in Our Lord's presence in the Eucharist often jeer at us when we receive communion.

"Well, which bit of Jesus are you eating there?

His arm? His big toe?"

They don't understand what they are saying, but they have just explained why Our Lord is umder the apoearance of bread - one wafer looks much like another. We aren't receiving a bit of Our Lord: each one of us receives His whole body, soul, mind and divinity - His full self!

Bread mediates that for us.

How He does it is as mysterious as the miracle of feeding four thousand people with five loaves and a few fish. We don't know how He does it. We know that He does it.

This may confound physics and metaphysics, but Our Lord shows us that as His body is broken for us, it doesn't make Him less. Rather it makes Him more present because He reaches more people.

Does that mean the Body of Christ can be divided?

[PAUSE]

Well, yes, insofar as it can reach more people who hunger for the love that He has for us, but no in that what each one of us receives is truly Him indivisible.

This is the paradox. This is the miracle.

Perhaps also we see how it is possible that there is One Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church and yet there be so many churches. The Body of Christ is divided to reach as many as will receive Him but is united in the One True Lord Jesus Christ to Whom be all honour, praise and glory forever!

The Continuity of Continuing Anglicanism

 

Why continuity is vitally important for what it means to be human.

How not to be angry?

Sermon for the sixth Sunday after Trinity preached at the Cathedral Church of St Augustine of Canterbury

When people 

encounter the Christian Faith,

they usually very quickly

bring up the question of Hell

and what you can be 

punished for Eternally.

Can you go to Hell 

for using your neighbour's WiFi?

Can you go to Hell

for staring too long

at a naked dummy 

In a shop window?

Can you go to Hell 

for eating somebody else's 

cheese straws?

Can you go to Hell for emotions?

Can you go to Hell for...

Enough already!

[PAUSE]

There is an obsession

among non-Christians

and the Eternal flames.

Why?

The idea scares them.

Some say it isn't true

and deny the existence of Hell

or that Hell is eternal.

Some will become worried

that a single action

will lose their salvation.

An old Victorian belief

is that a dodgy potato

could send you to Hell

through indigestion.

It is ridiculous.

[PAUSE]

Our Eternal fate is based 

on how we grow in God.

When Our Lord shows us

the parable of the talents

He shows us that what matters

is the conscious effort 

that we put into our faith

that makes the value 

of the talent increase.

It isn't how we seek to grow in Christ

it's that we seek to grow in Christ.

We cast ourselves into Hell

for rejecting Christ

to the extent that we alter ourselves

in order that we cannot be saved.

If we refuse the Eternal medicine

then we shall be Eternally ill.

Hell is serious.

Deadly serious.

[PAUSE]

Yet Our Lord seems

to show us that what we do

can destine us for Hell.

If we are angry with our neighbour

without a cause

we will have to make an account

before the judge.

If we say to our neighbour, 

"Raca!" 

- "Empty head"!

an unthinking insult 

said in the heat of the moment

- will have to make an account 

before a full blown tribunal

of the supreme court.

If we call our neighbour, 

"you fool"

(the Greek word is

where we get our word, moron)

deliberately and wilfully,

filled with anger,

then we are destined for Hell!

These are the words of Christ,

and they make us

uncomfortable.

[PAUSE]

But we need understand 

what Hell is.

We say, 

"eternal separation from God".

Yet He is always near us,

whether we reject Him

or not.

In Hell, 

we reject any knowledge of God.

God is love

and anger leads to hate.

In Hell, 

we know only hate,

we will not know love,

even though God still loves us.

In Hell,

we make our own rules

because we reject God's authority.

In Hell

we judge by what 

we say is right,

because we reject God's goodness.

Imagine so many people together

for Eternity

all rejecting faith, hope, love, 

truth, order, generosity,

reason, common decency,

even health of body and soul,

because they know better than God.

This is why Hell 

is so mindnumbingly terrifying,

and anger born of hatred

leads us here.

[PAUSE]

So, if we're angry with someone,

we should leave our gift at the altar

and be reconciled?

No.

That's not what Our Lord tells us.

Hear His words:

"If thou bring thy gift to the altar,

and there rememberest 

that thy brother hath ought against thee,

leave there thy gift 

and go and be reconciled 

with thy brother..."

He's telling us

that if we think

someone is angry with us,

then it's our job

to be reconciled.

But that's backwards,

isn't it?

[PAUSE]

No. 

If we think someone

is in danger 

of going to Hell

because of their hatred of us,

we need to do something,

because that is what love does.

If we love our neighbour

as the Lord commands,

then we cannot simply

let them go to Hell.

We have to fight for them.

Our Lord wants us

to love those who hate us

because He does not want

anyone to end up in Hell,

and hatred leads to Hell.

Of course,

there is only so much

that we can do.

If someone is not willing

to give up hatred,

then we must draw a line

once we have done what we can.

But we remember

that all things are possible

with God.

This is why the Cross is so important.

Upon it,

Our Lord reconciles us

with God.

God hates our sins so much

that He would rather die

than just let us go to Hell.

As far as we can,

we live at peace with everyone.

When someone hurts us,

we forgive

and take the hit.

If we think we've hurt someone

we do what we can

to reconcile and repair.

Anger is an emotion.

We all feel it at times.

That's all it is,

so we treat it like an emotion

and not turn it into a way of life.

Anger is not a way of life.

Christ is.

Doctrinoclasm or Doctrinolatry?

What is the healthy attitude towards Church Teaching?

Dreadful Cathedrals

Sermon for the Anniversary of Consecration of the Cathedral of St Augustine of Canterbury

Some people step for the first time into this cathedral. They look around at its relics and ikons, the image of Our Lady of Walsingham, the altar with its coloured frontal, the friendly and warm congregation and clergy, and what do they say?

"How dreadful is this place!"

And what's your reaction?

Probably, "blooming cheek!" and you're probably wondering whether you are so cross at that, that you would consider even wasting a delicious after-Mass cheese scone by pelting them with it.

You would have to be incandescent with rage to do that.

And yet, "How dreadful is this place" are the first words of our Mass for the anniversary of our beloved cathedral.

Is it a dreadful place?

Should it be a dreadful place?

[PAUSE]

Of course, you know what to do when you want to understand something that doesn't sound right. We need to find it's context. It's the same procedure that Our Lord Himself uses upon the cross when He cries out, "My God, My God! Why hast Thou forsaken me?"

We know it isn't the case that God has forsaken Our Lord, but rather we know that Our Lord is drawing everyone to Psalm 22 which prophesies His crucifixion and points to His resurrection.

The same is true here.

"How dreadful is this place?"

[PAUSE]

Where's it from? A quick search leads us to the famous passage of Jacob's ladder. Jacob is dreaming a dream and seeing angels ascending and descending a ladder. He is speaking with God Himself. And God is blessing Jacob, showing him His promise of a glorious inheritance.

And Jacob wakes and, as we see him try to come to grips with such a vivid dream, we hear him say, "Surely the LORD is in this place; and I knew it not."

And we see how terrified he is as he says, "How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven."

He is awestruck because God is not a tame god who is all nice and cuddly and winks atvus when we are naughty and calls us, "Bro".

No. God is terrifying and His power can tear the universe to shreds, atom by atom. He is to be feared with that healthy fear that we might lose Him through our own sin and fallenness. We cannot be in His radiant presence with sin in our hearts, and even when Jacob, Moses, Elijah, and Isaiah see Him, He tones down His magnificence so that He can talk with them.

And He becomes incarnate so that we can still see God and be with Him despite our sin.

To see Him as He is will be terrifying but we remember that He is for us.

[PAUSE]

How dreadful is this place?

We love our cathedral, but is it dreadful?

Is it the house of God where people can be struck by His presence when they come in.

Oh, it needs to be warm and inviting. We want people to come in, but we want them to encounter the Living God. 

We have to remember that, even outside Mass, this building houses the centre of the universe In that tabernacle, veiled with fabric and metal, is Christ Himself, present to us right now. 

A Cathedral should be a place of awe, of quiet reverence and hushed tones. Not full of discos, golf courses and lego which distract from the true presence of God. But full of prayer, ikons, and the sacramental presence of the most Divine.

We see the cathedra, symbolic seat of the apostles who are witnesses of Christ and witnesses of us and who still operate through our bishops.

[PAUSE]

We love our cathedral because we have fought for a place where we can see angels ascending and descending from heaven and hear the word of God speak. We work to make this the house of God.

How dteadful is this place?

Can we ensure that it stays dreadful?

Colouring Chalcedon and Constantinople

 

Is it possible to begin reconciliation between the Chalcedonian and non-Chalcedonian Churches with a lick of paint?

The reality of judgement and condemnatiom

Sermon for the fourth Sunday after Trinity

Have you noticed that one of the main objections to Christianity is that it is a list of dos and don’ts? People don’t like being told what to do. People especially do not like to be told “don’t do that!”

You can see why, can’t you? There are so many bits of conflicting advice and laws that we get confused, irritated and exhausted when all we want to do is get on with living life and finding some happiness in this rather strange world.

Our Lord also seems to get in the act. Be merciful. Don’t judge. Don’t condemn. Forgive. Give to others. How many times has someone said to you, “Jesus says not to judge. So you shouldn’t judge.”

Of course, we don’t take into account what Our Lord actually says.

“Judge not, and ye shall not be judged. Condemn not and ye shall not be condemned.”

We must judge whether something is evil and condemn it. If a man murders another to steal his watch, we are surely able to make the judgement, “that’s murder!” and then to condemn the man as a murderer. That is just and right.

However, if we condemn someone as lazy because they are unemployed then can we honestly say that our judgement is sound and our condemnation correct? We know full well, that Our Lord is telling us that the only judgements we can make are based on solid and full possession of the actual facts, not on our personal assumptions. Murder isn’t always easy to prove, but when the facts are considered – motive, evidence and opportunity – then we can make the judgement. There might be miscarriages of justice, but look at how they happen. Miscarriages of justice occur when there is information that is missing or distorted – a gap in what is real.

And that’s the point. If we judge others based upon our own criteria and our own assumptions rather than on what is real, then that is the only justice that will be available to us.

Look at the dos and don’ts that Our Lord gives us. They are not arbitrary.

We must not judge without expecting to be judged – we will judge our own selves by our own standards. We must not condemn – we will condemn our own selves by our own standards, and no-one can do anything about it. Judging others and condemning others can’t put things right. They can’t restore the balance. They can’t undo the wrong. They can’t bring people back to life. Judgement and condemnation are only means to an end. They aren’t ends in themselves.

If we condemn someone for being lazy, what do we expect to happen? Do we honestly expect the person to immediately find a 72 hour a week job? Our condemnation does nothing because condemnation has nothing to give to put the situation right. In the same way, judging someone doesn’t make that person right. Condemnation and judgment aren’t the end. They can only tell us that something is wrong, and what is wrong may be with us.

But look at what Our Lord does tell us to do.

Be merciful. Forgive. Give.

Why?

Because that’s exactly what God does.

God judges, yes, and judges minutely. We cannot escape God’s condemnation of any one of our sins or wrongdoings. But that isn’t where God stops. God judges so that He can put things right.

God is merciful when we sin and that makes is easier for us to be reconciled with Him. Likewise, if we are merciful, then it is easier for anyone who wrongs us to be reconciled with us. Mercy does something about sin and evil.

God forgives us when we sin. This robs sin of its hold over us and allows us to turn to Him, knowing that there is a way back to Him. Likewise, if we forgive, then we rob sin of its power both over the one who sins against us and also its power over us. Forgiveness does something about sin and evil.

God is generous to us and gives us what we need. This restores what is good. If we are generous, with God’s help, we can restore some goodness to the situation reducing the presence of sin and evil. Generosity does something about sin and evil.

St Paul points out to us that the Law is very good about telling us about what is right and wrong, but can do absolutely nothing about it. God’s grace however, can do something about what is right and wrong. This is why we Christians are not playing pick-and-choose with which Old Testament laws we follow. We follow the ritual and ceremonial laws only in accordance with what Christ does for us in His Life, Death and Resurrection. Circumcision is upgraded to Baptism. The Passover is upgraded to the Eucharist. We follow the moral laws because Christ ratifies them in the New Testament. Murder remains murder. Fornication remains fornication.

The difference is that Christ gives us His very self to help us deal both with murder and the anger that leads to murder, and to help us deal with adultery and the lust that leads to adultery. Mercy and forgiveness do not stop the necessary consequences of murder and adultery, but they point us to the God Who can and will make all things new in Heaven.

Murder can be undone by the Master of Life and Death. Adultery can be undone by the One Who reconciles all who love Him in Himself. But murder and adultery can ONLY be undone by the One Who has perfect knowledge and perfect power. This is why we imperfect creatures have forgiveness, mercy and generosity as ways of putting away sin and evil until God undoes them completely in the New Heaven and New Earth.

We learn what is right and wrong from God’s law and, by educating ourselves carefully, we grow in that knowledge. By exercising mercy, forgiveness and generosity, our judgement and condemnation of evil will bring forth a greater love for our neighbour and draw us all ever closer to the love of God.