Sex and the Baptist

 

How the laws of the world try to behead the Church.

Spitting image

Sermon for the twelfth Sunday after Trinity

It's rather disgusting.

Would you want

someone else's spit

on your tongue?

Even if they were trying 

to cure you?

[PAUSE]

It really isn't pleasant

to talk about spittle

and even mentioning it

make you feel uncomfortable

or even nauseous.

The fact is

that human beings

have to learn 

what disgusts us.

We are not born 

with knowledge of 

what's disgusting.

We learn by other people's

reactions.

Still,

someone putting their spit

on your tongue 

definitely sounds

rather unpleasant.

In the Old Testament,

it is regarded

as a mark of contempt

to spit in someone's face.

We still think that now.

The Greek word for spit

is ptoo-o.

You can hear it, can't you?

That's exactly the word

that St Mark uses

when he tells us

how Our Lord spits 

- ptoo! -

and is touching this man's tongue.

Behold, 

it is loosened

and the man is speaking.

There is certainly no contempt here.

So there is a difference 

between how spitting

is regarded.

Our Lord's actions are not

of those who will spit upon Him

on the day of His crucifixion.

Our Lord's actions

are nearer to the parent

rubbing off the dirt 

on their child's face 

with a bit of spit on a tissue.

However aware we are

of the germs and diseases,

or of the general ickiness

of someone else's spit,

we cannot deny the love of a parent

cleaning their children with a little spit.

[PAUSE]

We are presented with Jesus

as Creator here,

for He is creating a tongue 

that will speak praises

using the very substance of His own flesh.

In spitting,

He not only shows that He is human

but that He is divine

and that He is willing to share 

His divine nature with us

at the most intimate level

even as He shares 

His human nature with us

at the most intimate level.

[PAUSE]

Sometimes, 

the obstacle that is in front of us

is the assumption which

we have learned as children

and have carried into our lives.

Our Lord's spit

may give us the shivers,

but it should actually

draw us nearer into the mystery

of His Divine Majesty.

That should give us

shivers of awe and wonder

and allow Him to become

more present to us,

unloosing our tongues

to sing His praise and glory

for eternity.

Family truths

 

How sin, forgiveness, love and truth are part of the human family.

Writing the Gospel

Sermon for the eleventh Sunday after Trinity

"Through the words of this Gospel,

may our sins be blotted out."

The priest says these words

immediately after

the Gospel is read.

St Paul says that 

we are saved by the Gospel.

What does this mean?

[PAUSE]

We know 

that Jesus is our salvation.

Only through Him 

do we enter into Eternal life

with God,

free from sin,

free from pain,

free from despair,

free from death.

If we are saved by the Gospel,

then Jesus is the Gospel.

You know that

Gospel means 

"Good News"

and this makes sense,

for knowing Our Lord

is indeed good news.

How many Gospels are there?

[PAUSE]

You might say that

there is only one

because

there is only one Jesus.

Of course,

we know that there are 

four pieces of writing

which we call Gospels:

Matthew, Mark,

Luke and John.

There are other writings

outside the Bible 

that are called Gospels

but which are not actually

true Gospels,

such as

the Gospel of Phillip,

the Gospel of Mary Magdalene

the Gospel of Thomas.

These are usually texts which have been written over a century after

the true Gospels are written.

But St Paul also talks about

the Gospel he brings

and yet he speaks of

other gospels,

ones which mislead people,

gospels which he calls accursed.

So what is the true Gospel?

If that true Gospel is Our Lord,

what does this mean?

[PAUSE]

Our Lord is not 

a piece of writing,

nor is He a news report.

Certainly we read about Jesus

in the words of 

Matthew, Mark,

Luke and John,

but He isn't the words of 

Matthew, Mark,

Luke and John.

We are not saved 

by the words of

Matthew, Mark,

Luke and John.

We are saved by 

The Word of God.

It is the Gospel 

that is written by Our Lord

through His act

of Incarnation.

By taking our flesh

and being made Man,

He writes the Gospel 

in His own life.

If Jesus is the Life

then how His life 

plays out in our lives,

in our experience,

In our understanding

is the Gospel which saves us

and to which

Matthew, Mark,

Luke and John

bear witness.

The Four Gospels present

the One Gospel

telling the true story of Christ

and in which

we encounter Him truly.

If we listen to the Apostles

and Evangelists

not only do we hear the history

of the Incarnation

but we also hear our own history

as children of God

written in Eternity

by the Word of God Himself.

As we tell each other

the truth about Jesus Christ,

we tell the story of

how sinners are truly forgiven,

how the sick are truly healed,

how the dead are truly raised.

We tell not just a story,

but we tell what is real.

[PAUSE]

St John reminds us that,

just as he writes things down

so that we might believe

so also our lives

are written in the Book of Life

which is written 

by the Word of God

in the Word of God

in the Gospel of God.

The words of our salvation

are written in reality

rather than on paper.

Only the Creator can do that.

Through the words of this Gospel 

our sins are truly blotted out.

Anglican Catholicism and the Assumption of Our Lady

Why Our Lady's Assumption is important for Christians.

Weeping matters

Sermon for the ninth Sunday after Trinity

Why do we care about climate change?

After all, if we follow Christ,

we will be with Him 

for Eternity

in the New Jerusalem.

Surely, we don't have to worry

about patching up

the old Creation

but just sit and wait for the new one

to descend from Heaven

just as St John sees happen.

Of course,

you see the problem with this attitude,

don't you?

[PAUSE]

Jesus is standing,

looking out over Jerusalem

and He weeps.

He weeps for 

the coming destruction,

for the razing of the temple

and its reduction to rubble.

He weeps that 

Jerusalem has missed Him,

has ignored Him,

has mocked Him,

and will crucify Him.

If He has any confidence 

in His own ability 

to save,

to create,

to release from slavery,

then surely

He would not need

to weep 

over Jerusalem.

Why weep?

[PAUSE]

The fact that Our Lord is weeping

shows that what he is weeping about

is affecting Him deeply.

In His human nature,

He weeps 

because that is what 

human beings do.

We need understand

why Our Lord is weeping

and this is clear from what He says.

The people refuse to hear Him.

He has come 

with salvation,

forgiveness,

redemption

and love

for everyone

- precious, precious gifts -

and nobody 

wants it.

What the people want

is their own version

of religion

a version in which

the temple of God

is filled up

with junk,

things that don't matter,

and blocking the way

for people to worship God

in the temple

in the simple honesty 

of their worship.

Our Lord is weeping

tears of sheer frustration

tears which need to be seen

so that we can know

that our salvation 

is dearer to Our Lord

than it is to us.

The trouble is

that we don't know

just how much we need 

what Christ is offering us.

He speaks of 

the destruction of Jerusalem

as a result of 

rejecting Him.

This destruction

is part of the reason

for His tears.

And He weeps

because this destruction 

could be avoided

if people will turn to Him 

and live.

He weeps because Jerusalem

has chosen her own

snug, comfortable, social version

of God

rather than the true and eternal Christ.

[PAUSE]

Our Lord cares about us

here and now

and wants us to realise

that rejecting Him

will lead to a complete destruction

but accepting Him 

will lead to joy.

He wills us to our perfection

and, in His human nature,

it hurts Him when people 

reject what is truly good.

These are Our Lord's tears

for what is lost.

His victory in the cross 

is that the way to Salvation

is open to everyone single 

human being who has ever lived,

just as the veterans

have won the battle 

for our rights to be free.

But if the door to our prison 

has been opened

then it's up to us to walk out 

rather than choose to sit in darkness.

[PAUSE]

Our Lord's tears are not in vain,

for His Church hears His voice

and clears the temple 

to receive Him

through repentance from sin

and repentance to Him.

The New Jerusalem

is filled with those

who prefer to receive Christ

than to face ruin.

Our duty is to keep 

the Church clear

from worldly matters

that distort and flatten 

the truth from above.

We also have a duty

to look after our world,

not for its sake

nor for our sake

but out of respect

and love

for Almighty God

Who created it.

If Our Lord

can weep over Jerusalem

out of love 

and yet knowing

its destruction,

then our planet's climate 

should matter to us

even if we seek Heaven

rather than Earth.

An Anglican Catholic view of Galatians 3:28

 

Why this verse needs to be interpreted correctly in order for the Church to grow.

Light mountaineering

Sermon for the feast of the Transfiguration

Jesus takes Peter, James and John up the mountain and is transfigured before them.

So many questions in one sentence!

Why does Our Lord take only three disciples up the mountain to be transfigured? 

Why not be transfigured where they are in front of all the disciples?

Why go up a mountain?

Why be transfigured at all?

[PAUSE]

The Church Fathers are not unanimous as to why Our Lord is taking just St Peter, St James and St John with Him up the mountain. We do know that these are the disciples who have the greatest impact on how the Church grows. St Peter founds the Church of Antioch and the Church of Rome. St James is the first disciple to drink the cup of martyrdom after his missionary travels. St John speaks to the world through his Gospel and letters.

All three have a ministry that is seen by the World. Their light shines throughout the world. And where better to shine the light of the world than from the top of a mountain where everyone can see it? 

The Transfiguration acts as a light house a beacon of the Christian faith where a little of Christ's divinity bleeds through into our world from Eternity. This is the light set on the hill. Why do so few people see it?

[PAUSE]

People don't see the light because they prefer darkness. Light shows up the deficiency of our comfortable lives. It is those who accept the truth of how much they lack in living who begin to seek the light.

Seeking the light means a struggle - a long climb up the mountain of our cold, hard and rocky existence when it would be easier to let go and fall back into the comfortable darkness, accepting that our lives are flawed and living with those flaws rather than seeking the light.

But it is Jesus who is taking Peter, James and John up the mountain to meet the Light. Jesus is not just the end of our struggle to the light, He is the means by which we find it. He is the Light by which we see the Light. He is accompanying us in our struggles even when the darkness prevents us from seeing Him.

St Peter, St James and St John are the ones who are called to witness the Transfiguration at the express and clear decision of Our Lord for His purposes and we may not know precisely what these purposes are. Their ministries to us give us some idea of why, but it is clear that they struggle with Our Lord up the mountain to see the Light of the World. This mountain is their struggle.

The other disciples have their own mountains. One disciple will let go of his struggle and fall back into the darkness, but the others will see the Light and bring others to the Light as a result of their ordeal.

[PAUSE]

We, too, have our cross to bear and our mountain to climb. We cannot reach the Light without climbing. We cannot be a Christian without an arduous struggle against our fallen selves. We cannot be a Christian without accepting that we are flawed but then we cannot be a Christian by accepting those flaws as a part of us. 

Thankfully, the Christ that we see transfigured at the top of the mountain is the same Christ Who climbs with us bearing His cross and giving us strength to bear ours.