Holy Hierarchy (Batman!)

 

Why hierarchy is good for the Church.

My, my, my!

 

Sermon for the installation of the Dean of the Cathedral Church of St Augustine of Canterbury

Welcome to MY Cathedral!
MY Church!
MY parish!

[PAUSE]

Understandably,
an air of worry has crossed your faces,
and a certain discomfort
has entered into your hearts.

This doesn’t bode well!

What have we let ourselves in for?

Has the Bishop
installed a lunatic
as Dean?

Are we in for
longer sermons?
more miserable hymns?
compulsory confession
of all sins?
hymn numbers which aren’t
central on the hymnboard?

But this is MY Cathedral,
MY Church,
MY Parish.

Let’s not be mistaking that.

But let us also remember
that language is more complicated
than first we think.

[PAUSE]

“My” is a pronoun,
and we know how much
pronouns cause trouble
in this day and age.

People talk of “MY pronouns.”

You remember that
pronouns stand for nouns.

They are supposed
to make our language easier.

We don’t say,

“The Archdeacon set fire
to the Archdeacon’s
Canterbury Cap
with the Archdeacon’s flame thrower.”

We say,

“The Archdeacon
set fire to his Canterbury Cap
with his flame thrower.”

“His,” there, is the pronoun
standing for the Archdeacon.

But we are dealing
with personal pronouns.

And personal pronouns
must reflect our relationships
with things.

“MY Church!
MY Cathedral!
MY Parish!”

Did you immediately think
that “MY” means ownership
or control?

Does the “his” in “his cathedral”
mean the same as “his”
in “his Canterbury Cap?”

[PAUSE]

Well, does “his” in “his mother”
mean the same as “his”
in “his Canterbury Cap”?

Clearly not!

We don’t own
our mothers.

The “his” in “his mother”
means something different.

It tells us of his relationship
with a particular woman.

We hear St Thomas declare,
“my Lord and my God!”
but that’s not the same “my”
in “my Canterbury Cap
and my flame thrower.”

That’s as far from
being an owner or controller
as you can get.

[PAUSE]

When St Thomas says,
“my Lord and my God,”
what does he mean?

He’s being very specific.

He’s not only recognising

Jesus to be truly Lord and God,
but he is also making clear
his own relationship to him.

In saying “my,”
St Thomas is submitting himself
to the truth
that Jesus is Lord and God
and is worshipping Him
as such.

St Thomas
seeks that relationship
that connection between
himself and the Lord God of all.

In saying “my,”
St Thomas commits himself
to this One God,
and recognises that
he is not his own self anymore.

Rather than seeking
to possess and control,
St Thomas is relinquishing
possession and control
of his own self
and returning them to God.

Rather than using “my”
to draw into his possession,
St Thomas is using “my”
to give of himself.

[PAUSE]

These days,
pronouns have
become controversial
because they are always seen
as something to be possessed
and something to control
how others speak
and even speak of us!

But we see that
pronouns aren’t always
about possession,
they point to relationships
and things we value.

Each one of us can say,
quite legitimately,
“MY Cathedral,
MY Church,
MY Parish,”
even with that emphasis!

But our meaning
is not how the world
would have it.

The Devil would have us
try to possess
rather than
to give of ourselves,
because possession
separates us from each other
and from God.

Giving of ourselves
does the opposite.

It forges relationships
that join us together
and secures our salvation in Christ
not as individuals
but as a Church.

To say, “MY Church” properly
is to announce our commitment
to bringing people to Christ
and joining ourselves to them
in order that they might be saved
with us.

To say, “MY Cathedral” properly
is to announce our commitment
to being Catholic
through submitting to the authority
of our Bishop
even as he submits himself
to the authority of the same Church
in her antiquity,
her universality
and her faith.

To say “MY parish” properly
means to commit ourselves
to the upkeep of our community
to accept responsibility
for the maintenance of this building
and of its worship,
and make it a place
in which we can welcome
anyone and everyone
who enters through that door.

[PAUSE]

Welcome to MY Cathedral!
MY Church!
MY Parish!

Welcome,
MY Father in God,
MY brothers and sisters.

You have MY prayers.

Punching a hole in Easter

 

Why the Resurrection must change how we work.

Traumatic Joy

Sermon for the Day of Resurrection 

How can things

ever be the same again?

On Friday,

we watch That Man

in agony upon the cross

struggling to breath,

bleeding,

torn,

naked,

humiliated,

suffering a punishment 

that the Romans has designed

specifically 

to be the worst execution

imaginable. 

We watch

as His holy heart

gives out under the trauma

and He breathes His last

with that one last cry.

A cry of triumph!

A cry of triumph?

"IT IS FINISHED!"

[PAUSE]

It is finished.

He cries out

not of His life

but of the power of death.

He bursts through Death's door 

and having broken it open,

jumps through it,

plummeting into the darkness

but bringing, 

with His human nature,

the Eternal Light of Divinity.

And all we see

is His dead body,

the last drops 

of His precious blood 

dripping from His side

onto the ground.

For us,

there are tears, weeping,

confusion, despair.

How can things 

ever be the same again?

[PAUSE]

A broken heart,

crying bitterly in the garden,

remembers

all the gruesome agonies

inflicted on the One 

Whose crime was to love,

not carnally,

not condescendingly,

not possessively.

His one crime 

- to love so much

that death upon the cross

would not hold Him back

from telling the truth

that you matter.

You matter enough

not only to be created

not only to be valued

but enough to be saved

from the darkness within you

and brought face to face 

with your creator in Eternity.

And for this

His body is bruised

and abused

and torn and pierced.

And for this

the broken heart cries

in the garden

by the empty tomb.

[PAUSE]

"Mary."

It's the mention of her name

that brings her to her senses.

Just as her name was spoken

before the world began

to bring her into being,

so her name again brings her

into being once more

brings her back to the feet

of the One Who died for Love.

"My teacher!"

To see Him alive before her

what joy!

What joy indeed

but what confusion.

Friday happened.

The agony happened.

The crucifixion happened.

There in His hands.

There in His feet.

There in His side.

There is still the crucifixion.

It is not taken away.

not undone, 

not nullified.

How can Mary begin

to process this?

And yet,

all she sees 

is Him alive

so much more alive

than she has ever seen Him.

If crucifixion cannot break Him,

then what can?

But the crucifixion happened 

and

in His hands, feet and side,

that crucifixion will not be erased

for they are proof of love, 

badges of honour,

commitment to all those

who suffer agony in life. 

While He bears His wounds

we see our own wounds

inflicted upon us 

by the Darkness that 

wants to possess us

but cannot.

For while we suffer 

the trauma of living

and place all that trauma

into the wounds of Christ,

we reject any claim

that the Devil makes

on our lives.

We live,

each one of us

with the agonies

that Life inflicts on us

that others inflict on us

that we inflict on ourselves,

and,

intermingled with those agonise

there is the Resurrected Lord.

Joy in the midst of pain. 

Not happiness,

because happiness 

is a thing of chance 

and Earthly expectation.

But Joy 

- the knowledge that with our death

our suffering is given meaning

and worth.

Because we bear our cross

with Him

to the bitter end,

unlike Judas,

we shall be raised 

with Him.

In trauma there is Joy,

for trauma ends with 

the the shout of triumph

"IT IS FINISHED!"

before Death itself

is broken to pieces.

How can things 

ever be the same again?

The veiled ikon of humanity

 

Why the veiled ikons of Passiontide reveal the image of God in us.

A question for Palm Sunday 2025

As we listen to the Long Gospel, how is the labour of our lives reflected in the Passion of Our Lord? How is our hard work sanctified?

Anglican Catholic Passions

 

How dispassion done properly leads to compassion. 

Six of one and half a dozen of the other

Sermon for Passion Sunday

There are so many arguments 

going on these days, 

particularly on Social Media.

Everyone is convinced

that they are right

and they will not be

corrected by anyone.

If anything, 

online arguments 

make things worse.

[PAUSE]

What we see constantly 

is that whatever argument

someone gives,

their opponent will twist the words

or seek to invalidate them

by denying their value.

Online arguments 

are usually between people 

who are right

in their own eyes.

Worse still,

arguments like these 

between Christians

usually end up with the phrase,

"well, you're not really Christian then,

are you?"

Arguments between Christians

usually end up 

with one side grabbing Christ

and saying,

"look, we possess Him,

you are wrong and not really of Him."

And, rather than being grabbed,

Our Lord just passes through them, 

hides Himself 

and leaves the temple.

[PAUSE]

Here on Passion Sunday, 

we see Our Lord

facing a concerted argument

with the Pharisees

who are demanding 

His submission to their 

regulation of His ministry.

The Pharisees are always right:

they are supremely authoritative 

in the Law

and ensuring that others

are bound by that Law

despite breaking it themselves

with the excuse of 

their own self-justification.

They will not listen to Christ

because they are convinced 

that He cannot be Christ

because He does not agree with them.

To the outsider,

this looks like one of 

those online debates

with one group of authorities 

arguing with a maverick preacher.

As arguments go,

it looks like six of one

and half a dozen of the other.

Except that the maverick preacher

suddenly says something 

that the others find blasphemous 

and they try to stone Him.

But He disappears from view

and that's the end of the argument.

But the Church is always 

involved in arguments.

How can we be sure

that we aren't the Pharisees?

[PAUSE]

"He who that is of God

listens to God."

This must be the defining aspect

of any engagement that we have

as Christians in any debate.

The great Oecumenical Councils

look very much like

some of the online arguments. 

Passions run high,

there is shouting 

cursing, brawls, 

even, sad to say, murder.

We Christians cannot escape 

the fact the our founding councils

were not organised debates.

But it isn't the loud, angry debates themselves 

that have lasted.

It is the doctrine that has come forth

that has lasted 

and has been accepted 

by the Catholic Church

because the Church is of God 

and so it listens to God.

The fact that we know

that Christ is of the same substance 

as the Father

is because 

the Church listens to God.

It is after the noise of the debate

that the truth comes out

but only for those 

who are willing to challenge

their own position 

in the argument. 

It is only after the Resurrection 

that the self-righteous hypocrisy 

of the Pharisees is truly revealed.

They seek to win the debate

there and then

by playing the blasphemy card,

and picking up the stones.

The Church cannot seek

to win debates

when it seeks to win hearts

just as Christ seeks to win our hearts

and thus procure Our Salvation 

through His Cross.

The Church knows that

the same old arguments, 

the same old heresies

and the same old insults

will happen again and again.

But the Church, 

rather than seeking to end the debate

continues to listen to God

and pray for the Salvation of souls.

The true Church seeks not

the death of a sinner

because Her Master

seeks not the death of a sinner.

This is what marks the Church out

from other authorities:

its purpose must be Love:

leading people back to God

and giving them the nourishment 

of the Sacraments He instituted.

[PAUSE]

The Pharisees' debate 

ends definitively with the 

destruction of the temple.

But before then 

their argument is mortally wounded 

upon the Cross.

Their argument is self-serving

and ends in self-destruction.

Christ's argument is life-giving

and endures even death.

In an online debate 

listen not to the argument

but to what God is saying to you.

Arguments are usually 

six of one,

and half a dozen of the other.

But only Christ's teaching

preserved by the twelve apostles 

will be the Truth.