Parenthood, Childhood, Servanthood

Sermon for the Sunday in the Octave of the Nativity

St Paul seems to suggest

that we are parenting all wrong.

Children should be 

just like servants!

Excellent!

Set your toddler to work

grouting the bathroom.

You! Five year old!

Do the taxes!

Newborns should

be cleaning behind 

the sink unit

with their tiny, tiny hands.

Or perhaps that's not

what St Paul means.

[PAUSE]

St Paul's point is

that children

are not in a position

to be given authority

over their own lives

for the simple reason

that they are unaware

of the perils and difficulties

of being grown up.

To be fair,

many grownups

are unaware

of the perils and difficulties

of being grown up.

We have to learn to function

and live good lives

with other people.

We can't take what we want,

and we need to know why.

A toddler is not capable

of understanding this fully,

which is why 

the chocolate aisle at Morrisons

is littered with screaming children.

We can't do what we want.

We can't snatch something

from someone else.

We can't hit those

who upset us.

Children need to learn.

This means 

that they cannot take

control of their lives.

Just like servants.

[PAUSE]

The servant's job

is to do as told

in order for the house

to function.

A servant may not 

be in a position

to understand what 

their employer is trying to do

but must trust that

fulfilling the given orders well

will result in 

the best outcome for everyone.

Of course,

this depends on

the trustworthiness

of employers.

But a child's life

depends on 

the trustworthiness 

of the parents.

[PAUSE]

In being born,

Our Lord puts Himself

at the mercy 

of Mary and Joseph.

It is at Mary's knee

that Jesus will learn

about God and

the Covenant God has made

with the people of Israel.

She will teach Him

why the rituals are performed,

why some foods 

are not to be eaten,

and what the commandments are.

But Jesus is God.

He knows all these things,

doesn't He?

[PAUSE]

Our Lord chose to be born.

He chose to be a child

in full knowledge

that the lives of children

are subject to the will

of their parents.

So He allows Himself 

to be taught,

but, in Mary,

He has the best teacher.

His Divine nature 

prevents Him from error

but He grows in wisdom

and stature under

the loving kindness

of His Holy Family.

He is our example 

of humility

by being obedient

to our Human nature

as part of His Divine nature.

The King of Kings is

obedient to us as a servant

so that we might be

obedient to Him

as children

so that,

one day,

we might be fully grown 

into His Divinity

and live as true adults 

in Heaven.

To be childlike

is to accept humility

and limitation

so that we might

live like stars for Eternity.

[PAUSE]

As good parents

we discipline our children

so that they learn

to live well

and grow in virtue and wisdom.

They may not like it at times,

but then do we always enjoy

being obedient to God?

Blogday 2023: Disillusionment and Reconfiguration

This blogling is eighteen years old. In the UK, this would make it a legal adult which is quite remarkable for something that essentially began by accident. Here we are, nonetheless, and the changes that have happened, even in this little space of time are not insignificant.

One thing that would be a surprise to the me of 2005 is that I chose to have nothing to do with the Coronation of King Charles III. Back then I was an ardent monarchist; now I would be hard pressed to say that I had any positive feelings to the monarchy. 

This may be a great disappointment to my monarchist friends. In many ways, it is a disappointment to me - I want to be a monarchist, but I have become disillusioned with the British Establishment.

Disillusionment ought to be a very positive thing, really. Illusions deceive because they mask what is true in order to present and sustain a false reality. 

To me, the Coronation was a beautiful illusion which I could not get behind. It gave the illusion that things were in keeping with our history, our traditions and our faith. It gave the illusion that things are okay in British society. It gave the illusion of the respectability and authority of Parliament. It gave the illusion of the respectability and authority of the Church of England in matters of faith and morals.

But things aren't like that.

Parliament has been shown to be run by people who are using it to serve their own interests. The COVID enquiry is demonstrating very clearly that MPs have routinely breached the COVID regulations in order to live a comfortable lifestyle while others who kept the regulations were prevented from being by the side of dying relatives.

The Church of England has shown that it cannot truly make a clear decision because the bishops are disengaged from both the Christian Faith and the people they serve in order to toe a party line in order to meet an agenda determined by the secular society so that it can maintain its position as Established in a country in which Christianity is now a minority.

British society is in the grip of a postmodern deconstruction whereby History is reduced to malleable narratives which mask the objective reality in order to legitimise differing viewpoints based on subjective criteria. Traditions are reinterpreted in order to be acceptable to everyone's narrative except those narratives which affirm a fearful "tyranny of the objective."

Oh dear, I do sound like a miserable party-pooper, don't I?

I rather hope that I am not. One of the realisations that I have had over the past eighteen years is that I am not a Nominalist: there is an objective reality that underlies existence. Well of course, that's God, you might say. Agreed, but where I differ from the postmodern Nominalists is that I believe that things have natures - that they possess a way that they should be. Having completed doctoral research on this has really allowed me to crystallise this in my mind. Having a nature means that we can tell a things purpose and where things have gone wrong. Masek's Maxim essentially says that if one can legitimately ask "what's wrong with that?" then there is a nature from which the thing might be deviating.

A penguin that can fly in air is going against its nature. We can tell something is wrong. This means that Sir David Attenborough can make coherent programmes about penguins. Likewise he can also point to the damage done to the penguins' habitat by showing that something is wrong with the way the penguins are behaving. Penguins have a nature that means that we can tell that they are penguins and not black-and-white ducks.

Likewise, medicine relies on there being a human nature. It is not natural for humans to be continuall coughing, so someone with a persistent cough needs treatment. It is not natural for human beings to be suicidal, so someone contemplating suicide needs someone to understand, be compassionate and help them.

The nature of a good Parliament is that it forms laws for the good of the people, and is itself consistent with the laws that it forms. 

The nature of a Church is that it worships God as Trinity and is consistent with the Gospel it has received once and must deliver that same Gospel to all people throughout Time and Space.

The nature of a monarch is to rule and govern fairly and wisely.

Of course, things fall short. I am not bewailing the imperfection of things. I am bewailing the denial that there is an inherent nature in things - a denial which seeks to give human beings an authority that they do not possess, namely to mould objective reality subject to their desire. This becomes dangerously close to Aleister Crowley's "'do what thou wilt,' shall be the whole of the law."

I believe that Anglican Catholics can play an important part in re-establishlishing nature by acting as a central thread around which society gets reconfigured. I have argued in my thesis that Anglican Catholics are Realists and not Nominalists. This sets us apart from the Nominalism that allowed the Reformation to go far too far. 

A senior Protestant clergyman once said that Anglican Catholicism was in danger of turning into Old Catholicism. I don't see anything wrong in that. If Anglican Catholics have recovered the Catholic faith of the pre-Reformation whilst not rejecting the need for that Reformation, then we are indeed old Catholics of a sort, though not as the type of Old Catholic that has become an episcopus vagante and falling into the morass of postmodern liberalism into which the CofE has fallen. The trouble is that Protestantism has embraced that Nominalism which has allowed it to fragment because, without the binding of universals and natures, there is nothing of substance to keep things together, not even the BCP.

People will say to me that I have missed out on history in steering clear of the Coronation. This may be so but there was nothing there any longer for me. I remember as a boy watching a replay of the coronation of Her Late Majesty and being enthralled by it. That, to me, was a danger because I know that I would not be enthralled this time knowing that the crown would be placed upon the head of the King by hands that have torn the CofE and wider Communion to pieces and witnessed by those who claim offices in the Church to which they are not entitled.

I have been enthralled by Papal elections and took comfort that the traditions performed had retained their reason. Will I be enthralled again when the present incumbent leaves office? I don't know. It depends on how much of an illusion the Holy See casts. 

A reflection before Midnight Mass

 

Taking a leap of Faith.

Ikon of Christmas Dinner

Sermon for the Feast of the Nativity 

The feast of the Incarnation

is upon us.

For today, in many houses,

there will be joy,

fun,

laughter, 

overeating and drinking.

For today, in many houses

there will be misery,

fighting,

weeping,

hunger and thirst.

It seems that

the feast of the Incarnation

is no guarantee

of the good things in this life.

Indeed,

for many,

it is a day of anxiety 

and stress

in trying to make 

the perfect Christmas.

So intense is this pressure

that Christmas

loses all meaning 

in the attempt to

bring joy

into the lives of families.

What does this prove?

Does it show that,

perhaps, 

we should cancel Christmas

for the suffering

it inflicts in others?

[PAUSE]

We all want a happy Christmas.

If we are truly loving,

we should want everyone

to have the perfect Christmas,

regardless of who that are.

However,

the limitations 

of being human

are not removed 

even at Christmas,

even if we approach Christmas

on our knees

begging God

for a happy Christmas.

We have in our heads,

in our cards, carols 

and Christmas dinner

an idea of what the perfect Christmas

looks like.

But we cannot reach it.

The one thing 

that would truly make 

the perfect Christmas

is sharing our celebrations

with Christ Himself

sat at our dinner table.

Or would it be better

for us to be sat 

at His Christmas dinner table?

[PAUSE]

Again, 

we see the Incarnation

for what it is.

Christ becoming like us

so that we can become

like Him.

His humanity

comes to complete

our humanity.

His grace perfects our nature.

It perfects our nature.

It doesn't destroy our nature.

This is important.

[PAUSE]

Christ promises us

a feast

and rejoicing in Heaven.

This means 

He perfects our feast 

and rejoicing on Earth.

Our Christmas celebrations

become an image,

an ikon,

of the Eternal feast in Heaven.

It means 

we are not only permitted

to make merry on Christmas Day

but we are encouraged by God

to make merry on Christmas Day.

Our work and preparations

need to focus 

on making that 

ikon of Christmas celebration

visible to everyone

by first ensuring

that we have invited Christ

to be with us

and then consecrating

our decorations,

our food,

our games,

to the worship of the God of joy.

This doesn't mean being 

austere and serious and pious;

this means being your best self

the person that God created

with all the faults and frailties

and failures of being human

but a human nonetheless

bound for the joys of Heaven

in God.

Yes,

Christmas this year

may be miserable

but it is still possible

to see even in

the most impoverished,

the most distressing,

the darkest Christmas,

the meagreness

of the stable,

the manger,

the hay,

the smell of oxen, asses

and camels,

the pain of the birth,

the agony of the future Crucifixion

as foretold in the gift of myrrh.

Christ can be there

in sadness, fear and confusion,

because He of His Incarnation

in which He sanctifies

sadness, fear and confusion

so that they can become

vehicles to Heaven in Him.

[PAUSE]

God bless your Christmas Day

and be present with you

in its successes and failures,

the perfect sprouts, 

the burnt turkey

or the nothing-at-all

and bring a glimpse of Heaven

no matter what happens.

Heaven and the Incarnation

Sermon for the fourth Sunday in Advent

This year,

the fourth Sunday in Advent

coincides with

Christmas Eve.

This is fortuitous!

As usual,

we have been looking at

Death,

Judgement,

and Hell.

These all seem 

very negative but,

as we have seen,

the fact of Our Lord's Incarnation

makes them make sense

and, ironically, 

gives us a positive view

and basis for hope.

Last week,

in thinking about Hell

as exclusion from

the awareness of 

the Divine Presence,

we remember that,

just as Evil is the absence of Good,

knowing that 

there is evil in the world

means there must be good.

If there is evil,

then there must be a good

that is absent.

In the same way,

if we know what Hell is like,

the state from which 

we are saved,

then Heaven must be 

the result of being saved.

It is everything

that Hell lacks.

[PAUSE]

This is why today 

being the fourth Sunday

and Christmas Eve 

is so useful.

Today is the last day

before the Incarnation.

We are here,

awaiting salvation,

awaiting Our Lord's return,

awaiting Heaven.

The Incarnation is Heaven on Earth.

We see God as we are.

We see the One

Whom we love,

Whom we desire,

Who gives us Himself

so that we can live

in the light,

in the truth,

in the peace which passes 

all understanding.

While we see the Holy Baby

grow into a man

to teach us,

heal us

and die for us,

His very presence with us

and His promise 

to be present with us again

show us what Heaven is.

[PAUSE]

Even His last words on the cross,

"it is finished!"

show us that in Him

all is complete,

we are complete.

It is not just the crucifixion is over

it is that Jesus

has completed all things 

by reconciling us

to God

in the fullness of His Incarnation.

In a very real sense,

because of Him,

our lives are eternal now 

because He is present with us now.

Our Holy Eucharist

is our God-given way 

of continuing our relationship

with the Incarnate Christ.

He gives us Himself

under the appearance

of bread and wine

in order for us to 

receive Him as God Incarnate 

to our health and wholeness.

This is why our Mass 

should look like Heaven

because Christ is made present to us again,

just as He was present 

in the manger two millennia ago.

It is why we take our liturgy

seriously, gravely

and yet with passion

and joy.

[PAUSE]

The Incarnation

is Heaven

because we shall be like Jesus

for we shall see Him as He is.

Letting the Os in

 

Why the Great O Antiphons are so important.

Hell and the Incarnation

Sermon for the third Sunday in Advent

Hieronymus Bosch

has a lot to answer for.

Have you seen his paintings?

They are  usually of 

souls of the damned

in Hell

being tormented by

grotesque demons

bent on making Eternity

as unpleasant as possible

for those who deserve it.

If this were the case

then we can justly ask

"How can a loving God

send someone

to be tormented for Eternity?"

[PAUSE]

The trouble is,

Our Lord is quite clear 

that we need saving from something.

"For God sent not His son

into the world

to condemn the world

but that the world through Him

might be saved."

Saved from what?

Whatever it is,

it is dreadful enough

for Our Lord to take on our flesh

and be made man.

Whatever we need saving from

is worth Our Lord's suffering

and death upon the Cross.

The Incarnation

is evidence of Hell.

[PAUSE]

The vision of Hell 

that Our Lord gives most 

is that of outer darkness

where there is wailing 

and gnashing of teeth.

It is a state 

of being 

shut out from joy,

shut out from the wedding feast of the Lamb,

shut out from being fully healthy,

shut out from being what we were created to be

shut out from eternal awareness of God.

Jesus is made man

not to condemn the world.

This means that it is not God

Who sends us to Hell.

We choose Hell

by desiring the world

instead of God,

by desiring the fleeting

instead of the permanent,

by desiring darkness

instead of light.

Our actions influence our desires

and our desires influence our actions.

In being able to think

and make free decisions

we actually have a hand 

in our own perfection.

But, we cannot become perfect

from our own actions.

We need Christ,

the Incarnate God,

to bring us to perfection

through the sacrifice

of His own humanity.

But having a hand

in our own creation

comes at a price.

We get to choose,

God's idea of our own perfection

or our own idea of our own perfection.

If we consistently reject God

then, as Love does not insist

on its own way

we are given what we want.

Eternity with fleeting things.

In Hell,

we are given what we want

except the awareness of God

but knowing that

 we are missing something wonderful.

And we watch everything

rot, fall apart, disintegrate

until all that is left

is just us alone in the utter darkness

knowing that once there was love

but now there is none.

The torment of those in Hell

is precisely the love of God

allowing His children to reject Him. 

It is He who hangs onto them

in the darkness

so that they do not fall

into nothingness

but their rejection of Him 

causes them 

the torment of hellfire 

that Our Lord warns us of.

[PAUSE]

Of course,

you might be tempted to say

that you could never be happy

if you knew your loved one

was in Hell.

Yet it is God's love

and yours giving them 

what they desire.

But we shall find 

all that we desire 

in the face of Almighty God

and perfection in Him.

Thus, His love

becomes our love

and we shall see those in Hell

with no less love for them

than can be given.

As God hangs on to them,

so do we hang on to them,

for even in Hell

there is love.

And we shall not lose joy

for those in Hell,

for the Lord has promised 

that if we have given up

even our family

even our fathers, mothers,

sons and daughters,

husbands and wives

for His sake

shall receive an hundredfold

in His glory.

Whatever joy is lacking

will be supplied in Christ

In superabundance

even if we don't understand it now.

[PAUSE]

Those in Hell

are shut out from 

experiencing 

the joyful presence of God.

But they have shut the door

from the inside.

An Anglican Catholic addresses some Roman Catholics

 

Why it is not helpful to bash each other across the Reformation.

Judgement and the Incarnation

Sermon for the second Sunday in Advent

How do you see

the Day of Judgement?

Do you have

the idea of 

some kind of court house?

If so,

who do you see 

as the judge?

Who do you see 

to be the counsel 

for the defence?

Who do you see

to be the counsel

for the prosecution?

Is there a jury?

Are there bailiffs?

[PAUSE]

Of course,

that's a very

twenty-first century

view of a court.

But the question

of Judge, Prosecution and Defence

seems very important.

If you remember your Te Deum

you'll remember the phrase

"We believe that 

Thou shalt come

to be our judge "

So, therefore 

Jesus is to be our judge

on the Day of Judgement.

Who is to be our Prosecutor?

That ought to be Satan

for "accuser" is the meaning

of Satan.

What about our 

counsel for the defence,

our advocate,

our mediator?

Well, 

that's Christ.

But Christ is the judge.

That can't be right.

And we have further problems.

We are guilty of sin,

so we must be punished.

And then some will say

that Christ takes the punishment

of our sins

upon himself.

So the judge is 

our advocate

and receives the penalty

for our guilty verdict

while we go scot-free.

Confused?

Well, we have just 

stretched an analogy

to its breaking point.

[PAUSE]

If we see our salvation

purely in terms of a law court

then we miss 

some very important details

which make Our Lord's Incarnation

very powerful and awe-inspiring.

We know that

we need salvation

because we are fallen from God

and separated from Him.

We cannot see Him.

We cannot hear Him.

We cannot tell right from wrong

without Him.

All because we are born in sin.

This is not the state

in which we are created

- not the state that God wants for us.

Our salvation consists

of putting this fallen state right.

This is at the 

very heart of Judgement.

The Incarnation

of Our Lord Jesus Christ

is our judgement.

He shows us that we are fallen

and then seeks to reconcile us to God

with a new covenant

sealed in His own blood.

But God's blood 

is His life.

To take His blood into us

rejuvenates us.

To take His body into us

repairs and nourishes us.

To receive the Body and Blood

of Our Lord Jesus Christ

is to receive

communion with Him

life in Him

reconciliation to Him.

Jesus says,

"unless you eat

of the flesh of the Son of Man

and drink of His blood

you shall not have life within you."

Incarnation makes

Christ physically present

and this allows us

to find that reconciliation in Him.

This is Christ's judgement

and it is judgement

for all who want to receive it.

To recognise our sin

shows us that we need Him.

To confess that sin,

to accept His covenant

and receive His Grace

brings about God's judgement upon us

and we are saved.

[PAUSE]

We believe that Christ shall come

to be our judge.

This means

we have nothing to fear

from the Day of Judgement

for perfect love

casts out all fear.

The Advent of Faith, Hope and Love

 

Why the Church is built around the Theological Virtues

Death and the Incarnation

Sermon for the first Sunday in Advent

In Advent,

it is customary 

to think on 

the Four Last Things,

Death, Judgment,

Hell and Heaven.

We do so 

in preparation

for a great mystery:

Word made Flesh

God made Man

Divine made Human.

A seemingly impossible

happening.

The immortal

becomes mortal.

Why?

Why not just become

an immortal human being?

Why bother to die?

[PAUSE]

We know that 

sin and death are 

two sides of the same coin.

We sin because we die

and we die because we sin

as St Paul tells the Romans.

But Jesus doesn't sin.

So why does He die?

The Problem is

that we don't necessarily die

because we sin. 

Look at the Holy Innocents

who die 

before they even commit 

a sinful act.

They die

because of someone else's sin

- Herod's murderous paranoia.

Human beings die

because of sin

and Our Lord

chooses not to be an exception

to this.

He embraces full humanity,

empties Himself 

even of immortality

relying on the grace of His Father

to be fully human

and live the human life.

And that means 

openness to death.

But He need not have died.

It is possible that He didn't have to.

The problem is

that we killed Him.

[PAUSE]

Of course,

it is the perfidious

rulers of the temple

and Jewish religious leaders

who are directly responsible

for Jesus' Death.

They use the crowds 

as an instrument

in their cry of "Crucify!"

and thus the crowd sins 

through ignorance and weakness.

But God knows.

God sees all this

in His Eternity.

And, 

knowing that Jesus dies,

God uses that death

as a means of life.

This is the genius

of Almighty God

to use the Death of His Son,

whom the Pharisees 

chose to murder

freely and without coercion,

to undo the power

of sin and death

and give life to all 

who would seek 

to live in Him.

[PAUSE]

In Adam,

we are separated from God

and at the mercy of a world

corrupted by sin

and, in our weakness,

we die.

Look at the news

and see the connection

between sin and death.

Then look to Christmas Day

and see God Incarnate

born to end sin and death

by making death

a gateway to Eternal Life

in Him.

The world may indeed

go to Hell in a handcart

as the saying goes,

but that is not the fate

of the Christian.

While we may 

be devastated by 

the levels of sin, death,

depravity and decay around us,

we can still look into the manger

just as we have done for 

two thousand years

and see the same hope

that sin and death will pass away

because the Word of God

will never pass away.

The Incarnation does not end in Death:

it ends in our life into Eternity.