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Sunday, December 31, 2023

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?

Friday, December 29, 2023

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. 

Monday, December 25, 2023

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.

Sunday, December 24, 2023

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.

Monday, December 18, 2023

Letting the Os in

 



Why the Great O Antiphons are so important.

Sunday, December 17, 2023

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.

Monday, December 11, 2023

An Anglican Catholic addresses some Roman Catholics

 



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

Sunday, December 10, 2023

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.

Wednesday, December 06, 2023

The Advent of Faith, Hope and Love

 



Why the Church is built around the Theological Virtues

Sunday, December 03, 2023

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.

Wednesday, November 29, 2023

Sunday, November 26, 2023

As the darkness deepens

Sermon for the Sunday next before Advent

Who is Jeremiah 
speaking to?

He tells us that God 
"will raise unto David
a righteous Branch,
and a King shall reign,
and prosper,
and shall execute judgment
and justice in the earth."

Is that message for us?

[PAUSE]

It would seem not.

Jeremiah
is preaching to
the peoples of Israel
and Judah
affected by the Great Captivity
and scattering
among the nations.

He tells of the coming Messiah,
the Branch of David,
the Root of Jesse,
the Lion of Judah.

But that's all past.

Jesus has come and gone.

What possible message
can Jeremiah have
for us now?

What can Jeremiah say
to this time
in which there is still
a barbarous war
in the Middle East
in which so much hatred
is being aired
and acted upon
with such great ferocity?

[PAUSE]

What message does Jeremiah
have for us
in a world in which
there is much 
darkness and depression?

Mankind is becoming
anxious,
fearful,
untrusting,
resentful,
demanding recompense
in order to find some closure
on the pains of living.

Mankind is seeing its demons
in Society,
in the Environment,
in the hearts of others,
in the stars and planets,
in the systems of living
which are supposed to protect
and allow for growth.

Mankind is now
imprisoned in a cage of freedom
which has been fabricated
by our fall from the face of God.

Mankind seems to be losing hope
and the darkness is coming.

[PAUSE]

But who is Jeremiah
speaking to?

He addresses precisely
those who have lost hope.

His words
are the words of God
- he is a prophet after all.

His words tell us 
of the growth of the Branch
the coming of the Kingdom
the establishment of justice.

He is not presenting
a final end
but the beginning of something
that, for us,
has already been sown
but is growing now
and will continue to grow
throughout Human history.

God's message through Jeremiah
is a message of hope.

God wants us to have hope
and hold it
and allow it to grow
so that faith and love 
may also increase.

God has never, 
never left the people who love Him
without hope.

Granted, 
we may not know what God is doing -
in fact we probably cannot know
what God is doing -
but he tells us to hold on
and continue to dare to hope
in Him
though the stars fall from the Heavens
and the angel trumpets echo 
around the earth,
though the dreaded horsemen
thunder across the nations
and men become sick and faint.

We hold on.

[PAUSE]

Advent approaches.

This is a time for us
to fast and pray
and to nuture the tiny grains of hope
that we have
because the Kingdom of God
is coming
and is now here with us
and we shall see it again
present with us
in the tiny Christ Child 
of Christmas Day.

The Devil will always
try to destroy that hope
in whatever way he can,
but, while the Innocents may perish,
the Christ Child will not
and He will give all good things
to those who lose for His sake.

The Innocents will receive their justice.

And we will see our hope fulfilled,
because we dare to cling onto it
for the love of Him
Who dares to hope in us
and shares His hope with us.

Glory be to Him 
that sitteth upon the throne
and to the Lamb
now and unto the age of ages.
Amen.

Monday, November 20, 2023

A present of presenting a present Presentation

 

Why the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lady hammers home the incredible story of our redemption.

Sunday, November 19, 2023

Making Jesus unclean?

Sermon for the twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity

Let's just be clear about this.

According to the Jewish Law
touching blood
makes you unclean.

And,
if someone unclean
touches you
you become unclean too.

How selfish of this woman, then,
to touch the hem of
Jesus' garment,
just to stop her bleeding.

She doesn't even ask him.

She just does it.

She makes Jesus unclean
without Him knowing.

Not only is Jesus unclean
but all whom He touches
become unclean.

Who knows
how many people
become contaminated
just because this woman
wants to stop bleeding.

Who knows how many people
have had their relationship with God
damaged
by one woman's selfishness.

[PAUSE]

That's the way
a Pharisee might see it,
all fixated on the Law
and the Rite
and the purity.

But there is something
they will overlook.

Does the woman's bleeding stop?

Yes,
of course.

So,
how can someone unclean
on the outside of society
unable to approach God heal her?

This healing comes from God.

It means that Jesus is 
not unclean.

Oh,
He notices the power leave Him
to heal her,
but see how He tells her
that her faith has made her whole.

He does not see selfishness.
He sees her trust in Him.

She knows that,
if He is the great Healer
that He has shown Himself to be,
if He is the Messiah
that she believes Him to be,
if He is the Son of God
that He claims to be
then He can never be made unclean.

She has complete faith in Him.

But she is scared 
nonetheless.

It's scary having
your faith tested!

The devil likes to put
his little grain of doubt
in your mind.

But Jesus Himself says
that a grain of faith
can grow bigger than anything
and she has that grain of faith
enough to dare to touch Him
and be healed.

She lets go
of the grip of the Jewish Law
with its restrictions
on clean and unclean
and allows the cleanness
of her faith
to bring her to the One 
Who, not only can heal,
but Who wants to heal.

And, to strengthen this point
He goes to a girl
whom everyone says is dead
and who laugh at Him
when He says she isn't.

And this dead girl
he touches
and the Jewish Law cries,
"Unclean!"

But the girl revives
and is alive 
and cannot now be unclean.

Where has the uncleanness gone?

In Christ
it is nullified
- made nothing.

The only uncleanness
is the scorn
that pours out of
unbelieving,
unkind,
unfaithful hearts.

It is not what goes into a man
that makes him unclean
but what comes out of his heart.

[PAUSE]

Our faith in Christ
is the beginning of our healing
and comes from the same grace
that God gives to everyone.

We cannot make Christ unclean 
with our presence,
we cannot contaminate His Grace
with our sin.

We can never despair
of the mercy of Christ
Who will forgive the sins,
no matter how great,
that we present to Him
in repentance and humility.

While we are contaminated
by the sins of those
around us,
while our sins can
and do contaminate
those around us,
they are blotted out
through the Love of God.

Our baptism
has made us clean
and started the process
of justification,
sanctification
and glorification
in us
which will continue
for as long as we turn to Christ.

Monday, November 13, 2023

Benedictine Hallowe'en?

 

Why all Benedictine saints and souls?

Sunday, November 12, 2023

The Antidote of Occult

Sermon for the twenty-third Sunday after Trinity

Did you have a good Hallowe'en?

For many people
the association of All Saintstide
and the Occult 
is too uncomfortable.

They have a point.

Some people take Hallowe'en
as an excuse
to be unpleasantly morbid 
in what they wear
and in what they do.

Telling a good ghost story
reminds us that 
there is a world beyond our vision
and that the soul 
continues its existence after death.

The problem comes
when people seek
to use the "spirits of the dead"
to gain information
or to do their bidding.

That's clearly prohibited 
by Holy Scripture.

But there is something
very tantalising about
the idea of magic
and the Occult.

It appalls us
and fascinates us,
thrills us
and disgusts us 
at the same time?

Why?

[PAUSE]

Let's be clear.

What do we mean by "occult"?

The word literally means "hidden"
or secret,
and it refers to the belief
that our real world 
is surrounded by a hidden world.

Now here you might worry.

We believe in a hidden world.

We believe in Heaven and Hell
and the Third State between.

We believe in a hidden God,
and our sacraments
are outward signs
of hidden grace,
aren't they?

Is Christianity an occult religion?

Wow! 

That is a deeply uncomfortable
thing to say!

But before we start to worry,
there is something more.

There is something
profoundly different
about Christianity
and the truly Occult.

It is the Lord's Prayer.

[PAUSE]

The Occult is dangerous
because its central idea
is to use what is hidden
to do your will.

That's the central idea:
do what you will
is the whole law 
for those who follow the Occult.

Put simply
the Occult law is
"My Kingdom come.
My will be done."

As Christians know
it's God's will be done.

We see exactly that in 
Christ the King Sunday
and that He promises
Eternal Life
to those who serve Him
in Love.

We see exactly that
He fulfils His promises
in All Saintstide.

To those who prefer the Occult,
we Christians are saps,
victims and brainwashed 
because we prefer to serve
the will of God
than serve our own wills.

But serving our own wills
separates us 
from becoming aware of God
in our lives.

[PAUSE]

The sad thing is
that many people
turn to Spiritualism
as a result of the First World War
trying to deal with 
the intense grief
at the immense loss of life
of so many soldiers
in seeking to serve
their countries.

Ironically,
the soldiers give up 
their wills to serve
unlike the mediums
who seek to control
their spirits at their bidding
to cash in on the grief
of the bereaved.

[PAUSE]

What we do today
in remembering 
the dead servicemen and women
is the opposite of the Occult.

We generate their memory
by giving up our wills 
in the Great Silence
to their memory
and thanking God
for their sacrifice.

And, rather than 
manipulate the dead
to comfort the bereaved
we seek to bring
the bereaved to God 
by giving up ourselves 
to their pain
in sorrow, prayer and compassion.

St Paul is very clear:
we follow Christ 
because He is the King
and has command 
of the whole universe
much to the dismay
of the Occultists.

If we truly want
to reverse the influence
of the Occult
then we pray the Lord's Prayer
and put it into action.

Monday, November 06, 2023

An Anglican Catholic view of Soli Deo Gratia

 


Why the veneration of saints is good for the Church.

Sunday, November 05, 2023

How not to be dead

Sermon for the Sunday in the Octave of All Saints

"You're talking to the dead.
They can't hear you.
They can't do anything for you.
In fact, in trying to talk to them
you are committing
the sin of spiritualism
of necromancy.

In talking to the dead 
you are like the Witch of Endor,
not a Christian."

Wow!

Have you heard people 
talk to you like that
when they hear you say
"Hail Mary full of grace"
or
"St Anthony, pray for me"?

Are we really praying to the dead?

[PAUSE]

Let's listen to Jesus.

"Blessed are the pure in heart
for they shall see God."

"Blessed are those who are persecuted
for righteousness' sake:
for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven."

Those who are reviled and hated
for Christ's sake 
have a reward in Heaven 

If Christ is faithful
then His promises are fulfilled.

This means that
all those who have died
and have been faithful to God
are enjoying the Kingdom of God.

And St John says that 
they saints in Heaven praise God.

And we know that 
the Dead do not praise God 
so the saints in Heaven
are not dead, but alive.

St Paul also tells us
that we are surrounded by
a cloud of witnesses 
watching us run the race
to the Kingdom of Heaven.

They watch us and are aware 
of our lives,
they rejoice in Heaven
when sinners repent.

And the prayers of the saints
rise up before the throne of God
as incense.

For us Christians
Death has ceased to be a state
which prevents us
from living.

In Christ,
Death loses its power
to curtail our life
but becomes the gateway
to an opening up
of our little lives on Earth
into the Eternity of God's life.

So, when we pray "Hail Mary"
she heard us.

Even if a countless number
of people pray
"Hail Mary" 
every second,
she hears every single one
because she sees Christ
and is like Him 
because she sees Him as He is.

This is not being all-knowing
because the prayers
of a finite number of people
are finite, though large in number.

Only God knows the 
infinities of truths
that are and might be.

If Our Lady's life 
is Eternal now
then it lies beyond the comprehension
of those of us who are not 
in Eternity.

We can be sure
that the saints hear our prayers.

But we must be careful.

[PAUSE]

We may pray to St Anthony
when we lose our keys
as long as we don't expect him
to find them for us.

We can pray to Our Lady
for the undoing of 
the knots of our lives
as long as we don't expect her 
to be doing the disentangling.

The prayers of the saints
go to God directly.

Indeed,
nothing stops us
from praying to God directly.

It is God,
and God alone,
who answers prayers.

In praying to the saints
we are opening ourselves up 
to the Church.

Just as St James
bids us to confess our sins
in the presence of the Church
so we offer our concerns to God
in the presence of the Church
for those who stand around
are there to support us
to raise us up to God,
to will our perfection in Him.

The prayers of the saints 
are nothing less
than our expression of love for us
and to ask those prayers
recignises our need for love
and to love.

This is also why we pray
for the dead.

Our prayers are expressions 
of our love
for those we cannot reach 
and help physically.

To pray is to reach out in love.

To ask for prayers is to seek 
to be perfected
and allow others to love us.

It's not spiritualism
because we aren't seeking
knowledge of the future
or secret knowledge of Heaven.

We seek only love
for one another.

The communion of the saints
us exactly that.

It's just that some of us 
have passed through death
some of us haven't
and some of us 
have not yet been born.

But we are nonetheless
one Church because there is
one Lord Jesus Christ
who reconciles all who believe in Him
to His Father in His
one perfect sacrifice on the Cross
in which we participate
in the Mass.

[PAUSE]

The saints are not dead,
they live in Heaven
and yet surround us.

They pray for us
and so continue to love us
across death's divide.

They don't do anything for us
beyond the will of God
but stand alongside us
and support us 
as we stand before 
the Throne of Grace.

We may use the "direct line"
to God if we wish
but there are many friends 
around us right now
who see the Face of God
and want us to see it, too.

Thursday, November 02, 2023

Monday, October 30, 2023

An Anglican Catholic view of Solus Christus

 


Why Solus Christus is more about the Atonement than anything else.

Saturday, October 28, 2023

Fight the good fight... but with whom?

Sermon for the feast of Christ the King

"Soldiers of Christ arise,
and put your armour on .."

Thus begins the old hymn.

What pictures
are conjured up 
in your mind
when you think 
of being a soldier for Christ?

[PAUSE]

Perhaps,
you think of chain mail,
swords and shields and chivalry
all for a king
sat in bejewelled crown
golden armour and purple robe,
astride a beautiful white charger.

Rather a medieval view,
isn't it?

Perhaps you would prefer
something more up-to-date?

A soldier in camouflage,
bearing a rifle
and helmet
driving in a jeep
all for a king in a smart suit
and surrounded by
an entourage
of bodyguards.

Neither seem
to be the right model
for King Jesus 
and His soldiers.

It is possible for 
Our Lord to dress as
a medieval monarch,
a besuited king,
a tribal chieftain,
an enrobed emperor
but none seem to fit
the image of 
a man from Galilee
riding into Jerusalem
on a donkey.

We do get a glimpse
of Christ the conqueror
sitting on a white horse,
dazzling all with the brightness
of His being
with a two-edged sword 
proceeding out of His mouth
according to what St John sees.

Christ is the King
unlike any other.

[PAUSE]

This means that 
we have to be His soldiers
unlike any other.

It means that 
we have to fight
in a war unlike any other.

Let's not pretend
that we are supposed 
to sit down and let 
St Michael and His angels
fight for us.

We have to fight.

It seems odd
because
Christ has already won
the victory.

Why do we have to fight?

[PAUSE]

Our battle 
is with darkness,
seductive spirits
and doctrines of devils.

In a last gasp of rebellion,
the Devil and his apostate angels
want to convince us 
of anything but the truth.

Our fight 
is to be ourselves
as the image of God
and it is something that 
we have to do
because God wants us
to have a say in who we are.

This is our battle
and our victory
is Christ's victory
freely chosen
and freely given.

In struggling for Christ
the more we demonstrate
our love for Him,
the more we appreciate
His love for us,
the more we worship Him,
by showing that He is worth our struggle
even as He showed us 
that we are worth His.

[PAUSE]

"The King of Love my shepherd is
Whose goodness faileth never.
I nothing lack of I am His,
and He is mine forever."

There is no depth 
to a love without
a fight against hatred.

This is the king that we fight for,
however He may be dressed.


In flagrante morte

A Ghost Story with deep apologies to Dr James

The Reverend Dr Osmund Trimble removed his scarlet and black gown, assiduously inserted the coat hanger and hooked his academic regalia onto the door, taking care not to scratch the wooden panelling. His tippet and square followed immediately, hanging on the door looking altogether like the figure of a downcast don. Trimble then turned his attention to the papers on his desk, gathering them carefully so that his treatise Against Vain Repetitions should be preserved carefully during his absence from the college. Shortly, his scout appeared to inform him that his cab was ready, goodbyes were exchanged, and the Don found himself on his way to his brother’s parish in Caxton-Burleigh.

“Why, Brother, college life has rendered you as pale as a paschal candle! What would Mother say?” opined the Reverend Mr Eadwig Trimble. It was true, Dr Trimble’s complexion had been rendered pasty, one would surmise, by the long evening hours poring over Aquinas, Ockham and Taylor whilst Mr Trimble was as fat and ruddy as an embarrassed hog and of a more gregarious character than his academic older brother. The family resemblance was unmistakable but the difference in living was very easily discerned upon both the faces and characters of the two clergymen. The one, prim, stiff and proper slightly hunched from studious scrutiny, the other scuffed, rumpled and rotund from exercising his cure of country souls in the hospitality of their country kitchens.

“Mother would have tutted loudly and forced another rasher of bacon onto my plate,” mused the Don, “and it would not have made the slightest difference to my complexion, but rather to the distress of my digestion.” The brothers gazed out at the rain-soaked park in front of the Rectory shrouded in the mist oozing lazily over the ground from the not-too-distant marshland. Moorland and marshes formed the parish boundary and made for a muddy experience for the churchgoers at Rogationtide as the Rector had quicky discovered. The Don breathed deeply, “You are, at least, blessed with cleaner air here. The college always smells of candles, cigars and Town. Though, do I detect some trace of sulphur?” “Ah! Marsh gas!” the Rector took a little pleasure in claiming rare knowledge not hitherto possessed by his brother upon his first visit to the Rectory, “you’ll get used to that. Look out of the window on some nights and you’ll see the ignis fatuus playing about on the marsh. ‘Pixy lights’ the locals call it and try to scare the youngsters away from it with tales of being carried away by the little folk.”

“Really? I believe the Scots call it ‘Will o’ the Wisp: ‘will,’ in this case meaning wily or deceitful. Of course, many simple folk are deceived as it’s merely a luminescence arising from the prevalence of the sulphide of hydrogen and methyl hydride.” The Don, as usual, did not notice the Rector’s eyes roll nor a sharp sniff escape his nostrils as he restrained once more thoughts he had been able to set aside during their years of distance. It was never clear to the Rector whether the Don did this deliberately to show his intellectual superior or whether he simply could not contain his thoughts from his time spent imparting knowledge onto both the willing and unwilling student. Either way, memories best left forgotten were crowding his head and he paused momentarily to recollect himself.

“Ah! You try telling that to my flock!” the Rector half-laughed, “they are still very much into their old ways: not so much in their practice now, but in their memories of those who did focus on the old laws of nature. For them, the reality of the dark spirits of wood, fen, marsh and glen is merely a synecdoche for the dark forces that surround Man and cause him to fall again and again.” “Oh?” the Don raised a quizzical eyebrow, “do you really indulge such fancy among your parishioners? You always were prone to fancies, even at Mother’s knee.”

“Well, it doesn’t hurt to be accommodating for the sake of pastoral care,” rejoined the Rector sharply, trying in vain to puncture an ego that had participated only in the nominal care of a collegiate church together with other Fellows of the college. “There’s a lot of common ground that one can make with the laity, in my opinion. I have often been able to engage people who are afraid of the spectral that they might find much protection in the Church. For example, not too far from here, they say the road is haunted. Coaches and carts have been forced off the road by a pair of enormous hairy hands that appear from nowhere and grab those of the driver and force them from the road. People are scared, but I remind them that just as our bodies can be controlled by diabolical forces, so we are still free to call out for aid to Our Blessed Lord and His Saints for protection.”

“Likewise, there is another story of the Great Black Dog – a harbinger of doom which bears but one cyclopean eye of burning yellow and prowls silently to devour the unsuspecting travellers who stray onto the moors by night. I remind them of the Compline reading to be sober and vigilant because their enemy, the Devil, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. They take great comfort when some grain of God’s truth may be found in their beliefs.”

“Well really!” scoffed the Don who could barely conceal his mirth beneath his hand rubbing his chin. “I really can't believe that you would encourage such ridiculous fancies. You are using their fear to draw them into the church, rather than dispelling it. These folk need to be told that they can be liberated from fear when they see things as they really are. Those hairy hands you mentioned probably nothing more than an hallucination arising from the panic that a somnolent driver feels when navigating a particularly uneven and treacherous stretch of road across the bleak and barren terrain. The black dog is nothing more than an appeal to Norse mythology conjured up by a memory of some deformed hound who once lived on the moors within living memory and glimpsed at twilight. Those ‘Pixy lights’ are also a case in point: there is a perfectly rational explanation for them without invoking little people of dubious existence.”

The Rector became somewhat ruddier as his face flushed with less-disguised anger. His manner became more constrained visibly as he wrestled once more with the resentment held lifelong at his brother's high-handedness. Memories of their mother laughing with his brother at the latter's ridiculing of his own childhood stories seethed up in his mind like the marsh gas in the darkness at his parish boundary. He knew, however, that it was best to let the Don have his way: he would be gone soon. As the light dimmed, the two clergymen returned to the Rectory to satisfy their appetites with a not insubstantial dinner prepared by Mrs Hobany, the Rector's housekeeper.

The brothers retired to sherry before the fire after dinner. “Will that be all, Mr Trimble?” asked Mrs Hobany keeping one hopeful eye on her coat hanging up by the front door. “Mrs Hobany, thank you. Dinner was excellent, as usual,” beamed the Rector. The Don’s face was less than complimentary but he held his tongue even though his disapproval was more than apparent to the Rector and, thankfully, less so to the housekeeper: the donnish plate had been rearranged rather than emptied. “But before you go, Mrs Hobany, I’m afraid we’re getting rather low on candles. I don’t know whether you know of any to hand.”

Mrs Hobany smiled craftily, “’to hand,’ you say, Mr Trimble? I hope you don’t think I am accustomed to walking around by the gibbet! I will have a look, sir, but I am afraid we might be getting somewhat low. Last month’s Benediction and Exposition certainly laid our candle stores rather low. In fact, you might actually do better by visiting the gibbet!” Here she laughed heartily, and the Rector laughed also but with markedly less enthusiasm, casting an eye at his brother. The Don’s eyebrows raised again. Mrs Hobany cloaked and departed into the night allowing a brief gust of winter wind to dance around the room before the door was shut for the duration.

“To hand? Gibbet?” the academic sneer was quite unmistakable, “what is this? Another superstition?”

The Rector sighed, knowing that he must give his brother an account and regretting every moment his attempt at familial reconciliation. “It is said that, in their housebreaking, smugglers, robbers and other ne’er-do-wells would remove the left hand of a hanged felon from the gibbet and fashion from it a candle known as the Hand of Glory. Once lit, it would render the occupants of the house catatonic while their house was plundered. It is said that the spell was only broken by extinguishing the flame with milk. This area was known for it – you will have noticed Gibbet Hill on your way here.”

The Don laughed; it was a mirthless laugh full to the brim with contempt but, finally perceiving the flush of impending ire upon his brother’s face, he rose from his chair to bid him goodnight. “I shall be awake for a while in order to complete my sermon for the Lord’s Supper tomorrow. Good night.”

“It’s called the Mass!” hissed the Rector to the newly-closed door.

------------

“Good grief, what’s that you’re wearing?” asked the Don as he placed his large scarlet and black hood over his surplice. “My chasuble!” The Rector was peeved by the constant sniping at his High Church practices. He has invited his brother to stay and to preach at Mass as a sign of good faith, a gesture of reconciliation, an attempt to forgive and let bygones be bygones. “Good Lord, is that the ‘vestment’ you think King Edward meant when…Ouch!”

The Don’s foot had connected with a heavy wooden box that protruded from behind the wardrobe. It was quite solid, about the size of a smallish tea chest. “Oh, I am sorry!” exclaimed the Rector who was not that sorry at all. “While taking out some of the box pews, one of the workmen found that wedged in a recess in the masonry.” “What’s in it?” enquired the curiosity of an established academic. “I’m not sure,” the Rector rubbed his forehead, trying to remember what the workmen had said. “something about it smelling a bit queer – ‘greasy’ was the word he used.”   

Before the Rector could protest about any filthy substances arising from the box staining his chasuble, the Don had flung open the lid to reveal a rough fabric that did indeed smell very greasy. Pushing the fabric aside with the end of a verge, the Don exclaimed, “well, that’s your lighting problem sorted out. Here are candles – lots of them!”

And so there were. “My! They’re not the best quality candles, are they?” The Don had ventured to pick one up. “They are very greasy and – see! – the wick looks as if it is made of twine or old rope - all a-mould, too! Cheap, badly prepared and treated – no doubt about that – and stuck in the wall for who knows how long.” Here, the assiduous Don went to the piscina and washed his hands thoroughly. Unnerved and a little irritated at the potential threat of mould impinging on his chasuble, the Rector rang the bell and announced the first hymn.

-------------

The Mass was not well-received. Many of the parishioners left quickly with muted goodbyes to the Rector and avoiding the gaze of his brother. The folk who had grown up in the country customs and practices were affronted that their supernatural beliefs had been so unequivocally described as primitive fearmongering, and that three-quarters of an hour had been spent proving that thesis with quotes from Cranmer, Bullinger and the Books of Homilies. With their ways thoroughly mocked, the Rector was painfully aware of the growing undercurrent of opinion that some might prefer to return to the old religion rather than be belittled by the new. Twenty-nine years of hard pastoral work, building the parish and finding points of contact between the underlying superstition and the Doctrine of Christ were in serious jeopardy. The Don was a clever man and his critique thorough.

The clergymen unvested in silence. The box lay by the wardrobe, its lid greasily ajar.

The rest of Sunday was spent with a minimum of conversation. The Don buried his head in The Sentences while the Rector stood at the window gazing towards the marsh deep in thought. Evensong was much less attended than usual; even the choir were depleted and their music half-hearted and sullen. The sun was setting as the Office began and, by the pronouncing of the Grace, the star-punctuated gloom of a clear winter night was firmly established. The brothers left the church and, towards the marsh, they could see the little flames of blue bobbing among the vegetation. To the Rectory and Mrs Hobany’s roast lamb they repaired through the damp air.

The Don had definitely preferred the lamb dinner to the pork of the previous evening and his demeanour had certainly relaxed and become less baleful following a job that he had considered well-done at the Lord’s Supper. The Rector had not eaten as well as usual, nor had he been as willing to talk about anything more substantial that the adiaphora of the renovations of the church. Mrs Hobany, as the previous night, appeared at the door. “Will that be all, Rector? I’ll try and get those candles for you tomorrow.”

The Rector, although subdued in manner, was not subdued in his gratitude, and Mrs Hobany was warmly dismissed. She cloaked and opened the door, letting in another gust of wet wind which stole past her like a thief and whispered into the drawing room. As the door shut with its customary report a little more pronounced than usual, the draught suddenly gusted, the lights flickered and went out leaving the clergymen in sudden utter darkness. “Well, this is a fine pickle!” The Don stood and felt around for his matches, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the low light. “Ach! Candles!” exclaimed the Rector, “there must be surely some around here if only one.” “Well, we know where there are candles,” smiled the Don. “Good thinking!” replied the Rector not without an edge of bitterness, “you pop out to the church. I’ll check for any stubs lurking about the house in case Mrs Hobany has squirreled some away.”

The Don felt a little uneasy about having to cross to the church alone, but the door was kept unlocked and the candles easily located within the vestry. He left the Rector who seemed uneasy and mumbling curiously to himself something about not living off the fat of the land. The Don assumed that the Rector was engaged in some personal soliloquy about his brother’s life in college away from the countryside that they both used to inhabit before their education and vocations separated them. The Don mused about how irritable his brother had become, even more so than when they parted company years back after Mother had died. The church door stood before him now, dark though caressed by the gently night wind. Across the boundary, the blue lights bobbed and weaved. There was some little movement across the marches: a night bird perhaps. Into the church stepped Dr Trimble: into the church and into a darkness that still rang with the bells and smells of Mass and Office. It wasn’t long before the vestry was reached, the box opened, a few candles procured and one lit.

The Don hated the feel of the candles. They were definitely old and even yielded a little when firmly pressed. The lit candle smelled dreadful and the strange rope-like wick sputtered and smouldered. Nonetheless, it produced a good strong light. The other candles were wrapped in a handkerchief and tucked firmly under the arm before the church was quitted and the night entered once more. The Rectory was before him bathed in the cold moonlight. In the upstairs window, the Rector had evidently found a candle stub, for there was a light burning and, yes, that must be the Rector standing by it.

Crossing to the Rectory over the green, a movement startled the Don. Something large seemed to emerge lithely before him in the darkness. A gust extinguished the candle immediately and, with his eyes unaccustomed to the sudden darkness, all the Don thought he could perceive was some form of animal stood between him and the Rectory. Some form of animal, breathing heavily in long loud pants? Some form of animal with a solitary blazing eye and a deep growl?

Fear shot through him like a spark in stubble and, for the first time in years, the Don broke into something which some might call a run. He ran away from the eye and the black shape that bore it. His aim was to get around the shape to the back of the Rectory, but somehow he felt compelled by a sudden pressure on his shoulder to veer off towards the little blue lights on the marsh. He could not be sure that it wasn’t a hand guiding him inexorably into the marsh. He strained to see behind him, looking for the blazing eye or to discern the fingers that were pushing, ensuring that his flight was away from the Rectory.

Into the vegetation and mud he blundered. His pace was slowed as the marsh almost rose up to meet his feet and pull him down. Slipping and stumbling, the Don struggled to recover control of his passage until after some time – what luck! – he came upon a flat rock onto which he clambered, gasping for air and drawing in the sulphurous gas as he tried to catch his breath. He had dropped the candles from under his arm early in his flight, but he had held fast to the one that he had lit. He had held it tightly and his fingers had sunk deeply into the wax. Hearing noises around him, the Don reached into his pocket, thankfully finding his matches and lit the candle.

The illumination was welcome, and, for a moment, the Don relaxed as he could see nothing in the marsh around him. The blue lights were moving away into the depths of the marsh, and the shape of the Rectory was plain even down to the light in the upstairs window. There was no sign of the animal that had affrighted him and the Don began to assume that he had been spooked by the darkness and the playing of the light of the candle on the unfamiliar environment. It was then that he turned suddenly to witness a large hairy hand shove him off of the rock.

The Don fell into a particularly sticky bit of mud, his left foot sinking deeply. The hand seemed to have vanished as suddenly and silently as it had come. The candle had fallen into the marsh, too, but was upright and, miraculously still burning. The Don struggled upright and pulled at his left foot furiously, trying to extricate himself from the mud. The light of the candle flickered and the Don turned to see.

The candle was indeed upright and burning, but from beneath the flame the wax seemed to be rising up, growing in size and substance. Ever greasily, the wax formed fingers, a hand, an arm. The Don’s eyes widened, pulse quickened, marsh air was taken in in gulps as before him a vague human form crawled out of the greasy wax towards him, slipping and sliding purposefully across the mud and marsh. The Don pulled more and more at his leg, tearing his trousers and his skin as the form approached. He gave a shrill scream as the slimy, waxy hand grasped the tail of his jacket and the face of the thing made itself apparent. All the Don saw were two waxy, hollow eyeholes blazing malevolently from within with candlelight, and then the thing bore him to the marshy ground with scream upon scream upon scream.

---------

The inspector had a mug of hot tea pushed into his hand by his sergeant. It was very welcome and dispelled some of the chill of the winter morning. “Well?” asked the inspector, “has the doc said anything?” “Yessir,” said the sergeant, “severe burns and scalding. It must have been a freak explosion of marsh gas. The silly old fool must have lit that candle, judging by that bit of stub and – poof! – up he goes! I’ve not seen anything quite as bad as that before, though!” “Is the doc sure it isn’t foul play,” asked the inspector gazing somewhat queasily at his feet at the red and blackened hand belonging to the late Don. “Well, not yet, sir,” the sergeant turned aside from Dr Trimble, “he’s still dealing with the other body.” “Other body?” “Yessir, in the house. The housekeeper found him this morning – the Rector, at least we think it’s him.” The inspector rubbed his forehead with the palm of his hand. “Go on.” The sergeant checked his note. “Apparently, they found him hanging in one of the upstairs rooms but…” “But?” “Well, here’s the odd thing, sir. The Rector was considered to be a fat man, but what was hanging from the ceiling was little more than loose skin hanging on bones.” 

“Thank you, sergeant,” sighed the inspector, “you’ve put me right off my bacon sandwich.”

Wednesday, October 25, 2023

The temptation to bitterness

Something has happened to my Diocese that I really don't want to be the focus of this essay save to say that we have received a sleight that has made me angry. Rather than concentrate on what it was, I want to focus on the internal issue because that has a serious message for me and for others. 

My Church and my Diocese hold fast to traditional teachings of the One Holy Catholic Church and we do so unrepentantly and this means we run into conflict with those of a more liberal nature. In the past, many traditional Christians respond to sleights and conflicts with other sleights and maintain that conflict. Much "theology" is done in combat rather than in enquiry. Proof texts are thrown and the Fathers are mined in order not just to prove the opponent wrong but find some legitimacy for snubbing.

Anglo-Catholics are well known for the sharpness of their snipery and barbed rejoinders, but all these do is to perpetuate bitterness and ill-feeling.

I am angry on behalf of my Diocese because we work hard with meagre resources to preach the Gospel in Word and Sacrament only for that hard labour to be belittled, ignored, rejected, laughed at and cast aside. I feel that anger, not for myself but for the hard work of loyal Anglican Catholics who have tried to keep things going.

But, St Paul reminds me, I must be angry and sin not and let the matter pass. If I can see the hard work of my family in Christ, then God can see it better and with clearer sight. Our sins will be revealed but so will the grace which He has poured into our work.

The temptation is for things like this to make me bitter and, to my shame, I have allowed bitterness into myself which I deeply regret and seek to jettison as best I can. A Church built on bitterness cannot possibly stand because bitterness is shapeless and almost comfortable, not the firm and solid Rock on which Churches should be built. Our Lord refused the bitter gall on the Cross because He knew that it would numb Him to the pain of our sins.

If we are dispised and rejected, then we ought to rejoice because we participate in Our Lord's being despised and rejected. Many will say, "how dare you compare your piddling little woes with Our Lord's suffering?" But we are not comparing them: we are sanctifying our woes with His for through His Life the whole of our lives are sanctified in every aspect. This is the point of the Incarnation. Our woes may be small in comparison with the suffering of Our Lord or, indeed, with any of the martyrs past, present and to come, but it's not about comparison. The woes exist, regardless of degree, and each woe can draw us nearer to Christ. 

But for this participation to bear fruit to work, we have to emulate Christ in ourselves. This means casting out bitterness and pouring out forgiveness.

The ACC has had a reputation for being an angry Church. That anger was born of zeal and frustration, but we are established now. Our theological identity is distinct from the CofE and the RCC and at least as Catholic. Our fight for our identity is over because we know who we are in Christ. We have been granted a lampstand wherewith to shine the light of Christ on a darkening world and we must hold onto it through displaying our love for Christ and the love of Christ to all.

The recent sleight to my Ordinary and Diocese hurts and is not insignificant. I pray for the grace to grow and fight the real battle which is not against flesh and blood. It is fortunate that I can conclude with the collect for today's feast of St Crispin and St Crispinian. Please pray with me and for me.

STS. CRISPIN AND CRISPINIAN, MM.

Collect

O God, the invisible strength of those who fight for righteousness: assist us, we beseech thee, in our humble supplications, that we who on this day honour the glorious triumph of thy holy Martyrs Crispin and Crispinian, may for their sakes and at their prayers be defended against all spiritual wickedness. Through.


Monday, October 23, 2023

An Anglican Catholic view of Sola Gratia

 



What is the relationship between Grace and Merit?

Saturday, October 21, 2023

Body Music

Sermon for the twentieth Sunday after Trinity

St Paul says what we already know:

Music is good for you!

Indeed, St Paul
tells us very clearly
that music should do for us
what we think strong drink
ought to do for us.

A pint of beer
or a glass of wine
is certainly a good thing
for us to enjoy.

That's why there is
no commandment
not to drink an
alcoholic beverage.

If there were such a commandment
then Our Lord would have changed
water into Vimto
at the wedding of Cana
instead of the best quality wine.

A good pint of beer
relaxes the mind
and cheers the heart.
This is true.

The trouble is 
that there is a limit:
alcohol is poisonous
and ruins lives
when those limits are breached.

It's the existence of those limits
that St Paul worries about.

That's why he brings up music.

A hymn, 
a psalm 
or a spiritual song
will do good for the Christian soul
more than drowning sorrows
in pint after pint after pint
of Boddingtons.

But, bring up 
the topic of Church Music
in Christian circles
and there will be more bitterness
than pint after pint after pint 
of Boddingtons.

Why?

[PAUSE]

Like choosing a beverage,
music is a matter of taste.

One person's Beethoven
is another's Britney Spears.

St Paul is very clear
that music is for the soul
and the soul is what makes us live;
the soul is what makes 
this lump of flesh us;
the soul carries our existence
as individual human beings.

There is not one single piece
of human music
that will appeal
to every single human being.

In our fallen state,
we are deafened to
the music that would truly
raise all who hear it 
for it is the Voice of God Himself
for God is Beauty itself.

So music is subjective
and this poses problems
but it shouldn't.

[PAUSE]

As far as Church Music goes,
its function is to beautify
the written words of the Liturgy
and draw people to hear the
"Holy, Holy, Holy" 
of the Seraphim circling
the Throne of God.

The trouble is 
when we identify Beauty with
Entertainment.

We should not have music 
that entertains us
but rather something that helps us
lift our hearts to God.

Just as the old English
of our Liturgy
is sometimes difficult
to understand,
wrestling with it 
helps us do our Liturgy well
because it keeps us honest
and humble before God.

Likewise Church Music
is there for our souls' benefit
not our ears,
though making it easy on the ears
is helpful.

Church Music
must convey 
our reverence for holy things
as well as the orthodoxy
of our faith.

Too many modern church songs
are written
for the express purpose
of making us feel great 
rather than lifting the soul to God.

We know that 
the Psalter is the prime hymn book
of our faith,
and there are songs sung
by Moses,
Miriam,
Judith,
Tobit,
Zacharias,
Our Lady,
Simeon
and quoted by St Paul.

We can trust 
that these express
the truth of our Faith.

But this is our Church Music.

What about in private?

[PAUSE]

There are times
when we need 
to sing our own songs -

Songs of joy,
Songs of grief,
Songs of praise,
Songs of lament.

And these will bubble up from within.

We need these
in order to be honest 
with God and ourselves.

If music is to temper
our desire to drink to excess
then we need to be able 
to sing our own songs well.

We have to do this
outside the Liturgy,
for the Liturgy 
is not about any one person
but our collective expression
of worship.

But we can write, 
learn and sing
those songs that 
speak to God from our souls
and which 
open our souls
to the Beauty that is God.

To do this correctly
requires hard work
but it is good work
and does not have 
the same limits as 
the amount of alcohol
we can consume.

Alcohol is easy to enjoy
at first
but its pleasure cloys.

Singing spiritual songs
is hard to do at first
but its good increases
the more we sing.

[PAUSE]

But what if we can't sing?

What if we have a voice
that sounds like
two chainsaws
that have become 
enmeshed
or like a piece of glass
that has got wedged
under the kitchen door?

To such folk,
King David says that
we can praise God 
on the well-tuned cymbals
AND
we can praise God
on the loud, clanging cymbals.

Let everything that has breath
praise the Lord!

Monday, October 16, 2023

An Anglican Catholic view of Sola Fide

 



Why "Sola Fide" does not do justice to Protestantism.

Saturday, October 14, 2023

Holiness omitted

Sermon for the nineteenth Sunday after Trinity

Archbishop Cranmer
should have employed
a better proof reader.

We believe in 
One Holy, Catholic
and Apostolic
Church.

But the Book of Common Prayer
leaves the word "Holy" out
but it's there 
in all the texts 
that influenced
our prayer book.

There could be 
lots of reasons
for this,
ranging from
forgetting it
to mistranslating
early sources of
the Creed.

The fact remains,
we believe that
the true Church
is Holy
- set apart for 
the purposes of God.

Does the omission
really matter, though?

[PAUSE[

Of course it does,
and Archbishop Cranmer himself 
believes in the Holy Catholic Church
because he keeps it
in the Apostles' Creed.

It matters because
it describes the difference
between what we want to do
and what we should do.

Look at it this way.

Can an atheist be kind?
Can a Marxist be compassionate?
Can a Muslim be faithful?
Can a Sikh be selfless?

We have to answer
an emphatic "YES!" 
to all of these.

But it's clear that
being kind,
compassionate,
faithful and selfless
don't depend on what we believe.

On the other hand.

Can a Christian be cruel?
Can a Christian be heartless?
Can a Christian be adulterous?
Can a Christian be selfish?

Regrettably history shows
that they can.

Regrettably our own experiences
show that they can.

But what we know is
that when a Christian
is cruel, heartless, adulterous
or selfish
there is something wrong.

Cruelty, heartlessness
adultery and greed
should not be part of 
Christian nature.

St Paul is clear about that!

But we are to do the right thing
and reject the wrong thing,
not because they are right or wrong
but because we are part 
of God's family - the Church.

Jesus says,
"If ye love me,
keep my commandments"
but it is clear that
the commandments can
be kept
without loving Jesus.

It is because we love God
that we keep His commandments.

It is because God is
kind, compassionate,
faithful and selfless
that we should be.

This is where holiness comes in.

[PAUSE]

To be holy
is to stand in relation to God.

We are enlightened by
Christ's light,
reconciled to God 
by Christ through Baptism,
taught by Divine Grace,
our eyes opened by 
Christ's healing touch.

That is why sin should not be
part of our lives.

We are holy 
only if we strive to be holy
by living good, moral lives,
in humility,
repentance,
prayer and love.

It is the love of Christ
that motivates our good deeds.

It is the love of Christ
which calls us even 
to lay down our lives
and shed our blood.

We love our spouses
because we love Christ.

We love our neighbour
because we love Christ.

In all things we do
we do for the love of Christ
and,
when we fail,
we pick ourselves up,
turn to Him in humility
and try again.

[PAUSE]

Archbishop Cranmer 
knows the Church is Holy.

It is our faith that 
sets us apart for God
and what we do 
confirms that faith.

That's why we cannot
omit holiness from the Church
even if we forget to 
write it down.