Pages

Monday, October 31, 2022

On Ghosts and Saints

 



Why tales of the paranormal pale in comparison with the promise of God.

Sunday, October 30, 2022

Coming to the Defence of the Lord

Sermon for the Feast of Christ the King

Is Our Lord not worth defending?

He stands before Pilate
a man who has the power
of life and death over the Lord
- or so he thinks.

"Thine own nation and chief priests
have delivered thee unto me."

If Jesus is the King of the Jews
why have His people
delivered Him up for trial
and punishment?

Our Lord may say that 
if His Kingdom were of this world
then His troops would 
rush to defend Him.

So why don't the troops of 
Our Lord's true kingdom rush to help?

Why aren't there seraphim
swooping down from the sky
and scattering the hostile powers?

Why is this king
left at the mercy
of people who hate Him?

[PAUSE]

You obviously understand the reason.

Our Lord is become 
one with us 
for a very good reason.

Being saved from the Cross
by a squadron of angels
defeats the purpose.

If He is saved
then the Incarnation
is a complete failure.

But this leaves us 
with a strange situation.

What kind of King 
goes into the battle
single-handed
to a certain, painful death?

If Jesus is a true king,
wouldn't He send 
an angel to be incarnate instead?

[PAUSE]

That's the point.

His kingdom is
not of this world.

It's not a kingdom 
that we would recognise
because we think too worldly.

Our Lord is king
because He is God.

It really is as simple as that.

For us to be saved,
and made truly good,
we need true good to save us.

And God is true good
and Jesus is true God
and so Jesus is true good.

None less than the king 
can save us.

This is why His Kingdom
cannot work like our kingdoms.

Our Lord rules
by directing His Creation.

He did not need to create us.
He did not need to create anything at all.
He could have just sat
in Eternity and been satisfied
with that.

But, out of love
He chooses to create us,
and chooses to save us
and chooses to glorify us.

His will be done
in Earth as it is in Heaven
and that makes Him king.

His kingdom 
is a kingdom of recognising
what is true 
and loving that truth.

He doesn't need defence.

So why do we defend Him?

[PAUSE]

It's not God's honour 
that needs to be defended
because that honour 
can't be impugned.

What we are defending
is the faith of those 
who don't yet understand fully
and who might be tempted
by those who hate God.

If someone chooses to reject God,
that is on them,
and they must answer
for their choice.

But when someone has serious questions
about the church,
then we need to answer those questions
honestly and lovingly
and truly.

It is not human beings
that are against us
though they can be
the instruments of 
those who hate us.

The Devil uses troops
like tools, 
as simply means to his ends.

God can use us as tools, too,
that is His right as King.

But He never forgets that 
we are His,
and not just playthings
but intelligent creatures
who were made for love
and to be loved.

[PAUSE]

We defend the Church
from attacks by the Devil
using Christ's protection.

It's the King that goes 
into battle for us
not the other way around.

Monday, October 24, 2022

Raphael, Tobit and Salvation


 The importance of trusting the Archangels.

Sunday, October 23, 2022

Lying about Confession

Sermon for the nineteenth Sunday after Trinity

As sacramentalists, 
we are often asked,
"where is that sacrament in the Bible?"

Many of our brothers and sisters
say that there are only two sacraments,
namely, Baptism and the Eucharist.

Martin Luther thinks 
that there are three: 
he believes that 
Confession is a Sacrament, too.

Of course,
we believe that there are seven
at least.

In being present 
and hallowing the wedding at Cana
with His first Miracle,
Our Lord gives us marriage as a sacrament.

In breathing on His Disciples
He gives us the Holy Ghost
to confirm them for the task 
of spreading the Gospel.

In being anointed for His death
and rising again
He sanctifies the oil of unction
with which we are prepared 
for our own death
and resurrection.

In giving His authority to His disciples
over unclean spirits,
in commanding them to baptise,
in commanding them to say the Mass,
in giving them authority to remit sins,
and in offering Himself as victim
He institutes and sanctifies Holy Orders
and gives the Church the priests and bishops
that it needs to give His grace to all those who thirst for it.

And what of confession?

Where do we see Our Lord 
actually administer the forgiveness of sins 
as a sacrament?

[PAUSE]

Well, you've just heard it!

"Take up thy bed and go unto thine own house."

That doesn't sound like 
what the priest says to us 
when we make our confession,
does it?

Look at the context.

The paralysed man 
comes to Christ on his bed,
paralysed and fearful
carried by the love of his friends.

But Our Lord knows Him,
He knows this man needs assurance.

This man needs to know that 
whatever he has done wrong,
however he has sinned 
so that he has had to suffer this palsy
as a punishment,
he can be forgiven
and whatever has caused this palsy
can be lifted. 

And so Our Lord gives that assurance,

But see how the scribes sneer!

"How dare this man blaspheme!

"Only God can forgive!"

You see their doubt that 
Our Lord's absolution of sins
is real.

You see how they 
cannot see 
the grace of God at work.

And so,
Our Lord shows them.

[PAUSE]

"Take up thy bed!"

We see the fact that
if the man's palsy is removed 
at a word 
from Our Lord,
then his sins must also 
be removed at a word. 

Sin is not just a legal wrong,
it is a sickness,
and Our Lord has come 
to be our physician
as well as our advocate in Heaven.

Here, in this room, 
surrounded by friend and foe
Scribe and Disciple
Sinful and Holy
a man's sins are really absolved
just as his paralysis is really removed. 

This is the sacrament of Confession
demonstrated by Our Lord
and bestowed upon His disciples
as the authority to remit or retain sins.

[PAUSE]

We will always be challenged by those
who do not believe that 
there are seven sacraments.

But they are there, and in the Gospel, too.

Most chiefly,
they are there for us to use
and be strengthened and healed,
because that's exactly why 
Our Lord gave them for us.

The sacrament of Confession
is real
and it is for our healing and wholeness.

It is there for us 
to be released from the paralysis of guilt
and freed to serve Our Lord 
in happiness and joy.

[PAUSE]

There are those who say,
"you don't need Confession."

Are you going to take that lying down?

Tuesday, October 18, 2022

The Hardness of Scripture and the Lightness of Luke

 


What St Luke does for the Bible and what the Bible does for us.

Sunday, October 16, 2022

When the Authorised Version lets you down

Sermon for the eighteenth Sunday after Trinity

Sometimes the Authorised Version 
just isn't good enough.

What a bold statement to make!

But it is true. 

Sometimes, the English language
gets in its own way
when we try to understand what it's saying.

Take Psalm 110 for example.

Our Lord tells us that it begins:

"The Lord said unto my Lord
sit Thou at my right hand 
until I make Thine enemies 
Thy footstool."

Now, who said what to whom?

[PAUSE]

The Lord said to my Lord. 

Who are we talking about here?

We can try going into the 
Biblical languages.

We don't fare much better with Greek.

That just translates to

"The Lord said to my Lord"

While this means that 
our English translation 
is pretty spot on,
it doesn't solve the problem.

We have to go to the Hebrew.

If we do, then we find that
the Hebrew translates literally as

"Yahweh said to my Lord..."

The Hebrew uses 
the Sacred Name of God here,
but it wouldn't be pronounced.

They would use the word "Lord" 
instead of God's Sacred Name.

What about the other "Lord"?

Well, both Jesus and the Pharisees
say that this other "Lord"
is the Messiah,
the Christ,
the Anointed One
the saviour of Israel.

And that's why the confusion arises.

So the verse says:

"Yahweh said to my Messiah..."

Well, this is all very well
and rather clever, 
but what does it mean?

[PAUSE]

There's one other word to worry about.

Who is the "my" in "my Lord"?

Well, this is David. 

It says so at the beginning of the psalm.

And Our Lord says that it is David too.

So this psalm starts

"Yahweh said to David's Messiah..."
"David's Lord..."

Now perhaps you begin to see 
that there is something 
very deep happening here.

Our Lord Jesus asks these questions of the Pharisees.

If David calls this person "Lord" 
and David is the king of Israel,
then clearly this "Lord" 
whom the Pharisees recognise as the Messiah
is greater than David. 

This Messiah is both the Son of David
and yet before David.

How can this be?

[PAUSE]

Hindsight is a lovely thing,
and we Christians 
know the answer already.

The only way that this Son of David
can be before David
is if the Messiah is God Himself.

And if the Messiah is a son of David,
then He must be a human being.

God and Man simultaneously.

Here, in our Gospel reading
we see Our Lord Jesus Christ
prove Himself to be God Incarnate
to those who will not listen,
to those who wilfully will not understand,
to those who will laugh at His claims to be Christ
and thus to be God,
to those whi will kill Him for saying so.

[PAUSE]

Even today, 
we still hear the same heresies.

"Jesus was just a good man."
"Jesus was like God but not really God."
"Jesus didn't exist."

We know better,
and our Gospel tells us so,

It may not convince those
who refuse to engage with Our Lord,
but it should strengthen our faith
that when we preach 
a doctrine as difficult understand
as that of the Holy Trinity - 
three Persons, one God -
we have it right 
even if we cannot fully grasp it ourselves.

The major point is
that if Jesus Christ
is both human and divine in one Person,
then, as he shares in our human nature
we share in His divine nature -
that's exactly what salvation is.

It's not just being saved from Evil,
it's being healed so that we can
enjoy living God's life in us
with our lives in Him.

As Christians,
we embrace the mystery 
and find greater joy
in listening to the Lord
tell Our Lord 
that His enemies - Sin and Death
are put down beneath His feer
and ours too.

The Lord speaks to Our Lord
and we hear His words
and are healed Eternally.

Monday, October 10, 2022

What to know and how to know it

 


A few thoughts about the relationship between Science and Religion.

Sunday, October 09, 2022

Sayonara Sabbath

Sermon for the seventeenth Sunday after Trinity

You do know
the Ten Commandments,
don't you?

Are they meant for us, though?

[PAUSE]

You might say,
"Yes, of course!"
but they are part 
of the Old Covenant.

Remember,
that covenant was with
the Children of Israel,
not with Gentiles.

If we keep these Ten Commandments,
then shouldn't we also
circumcise our boys
and eat no pork?

Why these Ten 
and not the other six-hundred
or so?

[PAUSE]

Of course, you realise
that these commandments
are repeated in the New Covenant.

They are moral commandments,
not ritual commandments.

They are for everyone,
not the priests alone.

The New Testament is filled
with teaching 
the necessity to worship
God alone,
not to make idols,
not to blaspheme.

St Paul reminds us
to honour our parents.

The Lord Himself
prohibits
murder,
adultery,
stealing, 
bearing false witness
and coveting.

Hang on!
There's one missing!

Which one?

[PAUSE]

There is no mention
of observing the Sabbath day
and keeping it holy.

Indeed,
Our Lord seems to be 
quite severe on those who keep it
and encourage others
to do the same.

The Disciples transgress tha Sabbath
by picking corn to eat.

The Lord Himself
heals people on the Sabbath day.

Does that mean
the Sabbath has lost its meaning?

[PAUSE]

In a sense,
Jesus is showing the Pharisees
that they have lost the meaning
of the Sabbath.

God gives the Israelites
the commandment 
to observe the Sabbath day
because they have just 
escaped slavery,
and God wants them to be
free to rest,
to enjoy life
not to live to work
but work to live.

The Sabbath is made for Man
not Man for the Sabbath.

Over the centuries,
the Sabbath becomes
a set of enforced rules
that miss the point 
of not being slaves.

These Pharisees
have forgotten what was intended.
They have hardened their hearts
as at the waters of Meribah and Massah,
and they are in danger
of not entering into God's rest,
that great expanse of freedom
and joy away from the burden 
of sin, death and misery.

Thus, the Sabbath remains
part of the Old Covenant.

But what about the New?

Are we to be slaves in the New?

[PAUSE]

Christians have designated
Sunday as the day of worship.

It's not technically
in Scripture,
but is part of the great 
Tradition of the Church,
observed from 
the very earliest moments
of the Church's Mission
after Pentecost.

We separate the day
to meet for the Mass
and to focus our
attention on God.

Of course,
we should be doing that every day.

What makes Sunday special,
is that it's
the day of Resurrection.

It's a day when we should
make an attempt to 
go to church on
and meet with each other
in the light of the Resurrection
to receive communion
with God and each other.

But it should not be forced.

We go to church
because we want to
because we recognise our need for God
and because we are free 
not to go to church!

Yes!

We go to church
precisely because we are free
not to go the church.

Sunday and the Sabbath
should alert us
to what enslaves us.

If we are not allowed to 
seek healing
then how can we be free?

If we are not allowed
to put things down
and seek refreshment of our soul
from communion with Christ,
then how are we not enslaved?

[PAUSE]

Freedom means
becoming the person
God created us to be.

If we cannot find time
to becoming perfect in God
then we need a Sabbath
to sit down, 
rest,
and reconsider
in His presence.

We must not be too hasty
to pick up our worktools
and say, "sayonara, Sabbath!"

Wednesday, October 05, 2022

St Bruno and Continuing Anglican Community

 


Is there a way of bridging the gap between individuals and communities?

Sunday, October 02, 2022

Commanding command

Sermon for the sixteenth Sunday after Trinity

Your best friend's in hospital
and all you are told to do 
is 
"Cheer up! 
It might never happen."

It grates
because you have a good reason
not to be happy.

You don't like 
being told how to feel.

Your feelings are unique to you
and not to anyone else.

What does a person mean
when they tell you
to cheer up?

[PAUSE]

It's clear that 
they mean well.

They don't want you 
to be sad.

But the way it comes out
is that they don't want
you to be sad
because they find your sadness
uncomfortable.

The way it comes across
is that they don't want 
you to be sad
for their sake.

That may be wrong
but it's what it feels like.

It gives you no comfort
to be told,
"don't be sad"
especially if then follows 
a list of reasons
to make you feel better.

[PAUSE]

"Weep not" says the stranger
to the woman 
who has lost her son.

When your world collapses around you
Is there no better time to weep?

Weep not?

What a terrible command!

And yet...

[PAUSE]

One thing that we don't appreciate
in the English language
is the difference
between the Latin word for command
and the Greek word for command.

The word "command" is from the Latin
in which a officer's orders
would be put into his hand 
to read to his soldiers.

This could be anything.

Whatever is written
on the piece of paper
is to be done.

"Ours not to reason why,
ours but to do and die."

But the Greek command is different.

The Greek word for command
means that whatever is done
has a purpose,
a meaning,
a specific goal to achieve.

When Christ commands us
to weep not,
we can be sure,
utterly sure
that He means to remove
the cause of our sorrow.

When He commands us
not to be afraid,
we can be sure,
utterly sure,
that He intends
to remove whatever terrifies us.

Our Lord's commands
have a purpose.
They are not arbitrary,
or a show of His power over us,
or a source of amusement at
us being playthings.

He commands us
for our Good,
because He wills our Good.
He wills our perfection.

The will to perfection of another
is precisely what it means
to love.

This is why the Lord says,
"If ye love me,
keep my commandments."

This is not the command
of an inscrutable general
seeking to execute his own plans
seeing his men as means to his end.

This Jesus commands
in order that we be perfect.

Every miracle,
every sacrament,
every covenant,
every directive,
issued by Christ
has our perfection at heart.

This is why God 
deserves worship,
because He loves us .

This is why He should be obeyed,
because He wants nothing less
than our healing,
our growth,
our strengthening
to be the people He loved to create.

[PAUSE]

If we tell someone
not to cry,
or not to worry,
or not to be afraid,
then we need to give them a reason.

If that reason is anything less than
our active love for them,
it's not worth it.