The chains of sin and the chains of thinking

 

How being legalistic can make chains for the innocent.

The world in Church clothing?

Sermon for the eighth Sunday after Trinity

You have probably read the book,

“God is not Great”

by the late Christopher Hitchens.

He is of the opinion that

Religion poisons everything.

Is he right?

[PAUSE]

Our Lord is very clear.

A good tree produces good fruit;  

an evil tree produces evil fruit.

The idea is quite simple –

we know how good something is

by the effects that it has

on its surroundings.

For those outside the Church,

how does the Church look to them?

What effects has the Church had

on the world around it?

Well, here we begin

to meet people who say that

the church has damaged them.

We see people who say that

the church supports slavery.

We hear people say that

the church supports

sexism,

racism,

homophobia.

We hear of people talk about

the abuse that is going on in the Church

and which is being covered up

by priests and bishops rather

than being brought into the light

and dealt with according to the Law.

The abuse scandals are dreadful

and they damage the Church

because people outside the church

hold the church to the same standards

that our Lord gives.

A good tree produces good fruit,

a bad tree produces bad fruit.

Is the church a good tree or a bad tree?

[PAUSE]

Certainly,

we can look into history

and see how God punishes Israel

for falling away.

We can see how

the apostasy of the Hebrews

results in captivity in Babylon

and why the temple is destroyed by the Romans.

That would suggest that Israel is not a good tree.

You can probably see the problem.

The Church and Israel are

made up of individuals –

individuals whose actions

affect the whole society.

When we look at

what Jesus is actually saying,

we say that he is talking about

those who seek to lead the church,

those who seek to lead Israel's religion.

He is not holding the whole Church

or all of Israel to account,

but the Church and Israel together

suffer the results of the evil fruit

born from evil rulers.

[PAUSE}

We are born in sin.

We are not born sinners,

but from the moment of our birth,

we are surrounded by

the effects of the sins of other people

which weaken us and lead us astray.

It's also true to say

from the moment of our birth,

we are surrounded by

the effects of the good work of other people

which strengthen us

and lead us to God.

The society in which we are born

is filled with this chaotic struggle

between evil and good

and the effects of good works and sin.

The Lord is also clear

that the tree is judged by

the fruit that it bears when the fruit is ripe.

Even good fruit tastes wrong

when it is unripe.

So it is unfair

to judge the whole

based on the actions

of some of its members

at any given moment in time.

To see the good of the Church as a whole,

we need to see it in complete maturity.

That can't happen until the end.

But we can see some evil effects.

We can see evil

when abuse is committed

and covered up.

We can see evil

when the innocent

are corrupted.

We can see evil

when people are convinced that

they are better to be at home

rather than go to Church.

 We see evil when the faith of other Christians

is trodden under foot.

[PAUSE]

The trouble is that

we can't do anything

about the evil trees in our midst.

We can only deal with their effects.

One of the great successes

is that the Church shows us

what good and evil are.

We can only judge that abuse is evil

because we know what good is

and that this is still in Society around us.

The fact that Society knows that

slavery is wrong

means that

the teaching of the Church that

every human being is a dearly loved creation of God

regardless of race, sex, or any other aspect

has been learned in the world around us.

Of course,

from outside the Church

it is possible that what gets called good

might not really be good,

and what gets called evil

might not really be evil,

especially when evil seeks

to convince good people to change the rules

for something that is good in appearance

but hides evil under its sheepskin coat.

Without the Faith of the Church,

society cannot make the moral judgement

because the moral judgement

is grounded in Almighty God –

the same God Whom they have rejected

because of the sins of His followers.

In rejecting Him,

they reject the grounds

to judge the wolves in sheep’s clothing.

We cannot change

the evil effects in our midst,

but we can show the world

how to live a good life

by doing just that.

If we know God,

then we know what good is,

because whatever is good

by definition

follows the will of God

and fulfils His purpose.

All we can do is

to live lives dedicated to God

for then,

if we are a good tree,

we will bear good fruit

whether or not

the tree next to us is evil

and thus bearing evil fruit.

[PAUSE]

Christopher Hitchens is quite right

to call out instances of the evil

in the Church.

He can only do so

because the Church

has a moral law given to it by God

and which can be seen by all mankind.

We should be thankful for that

but we must make sure that

it is God who determines what is good

and not the Devil under his cloak of light.

St James - a legendary saint!

 

What does a Christian do when faced with legend in the lives of the saints?

The Devil's Protection Racket

Sermon for the seventh Sunday after Trinity

How do you understand the word yield?

Saint Paul tells us that we have yielded our members servants to uncleanness. We often understand the word yield as meaning to give something up after a struggle. For example, we might think of soldiers yielding to the onslaught of the enemy. All we might think of a yield of grain, that is what the wheat gives up to us at harvest time. If we have yielded to unrighteousness, does that mean evil has conquered us?

[PAUSE]

It's true that we are in the midst of a battle with sin. Every day we are tempted to sin and often we fall into sin. Often we lose our battle against temptation, does that mean we are in danger of death?

It's important to understand what St Paul means here. When he says yield, he doesn't mean that our life is ripped away from us as the spoils of our war with sin. He actually means that we offer ourselves to sin in some kind of protection racket led by the Devil. Look at him tempting Our Lord with an easy life if only He would bow down and worship him. The Devil means that we see sin as the stronger power and so we pay it service so that we choose the path of least resistance in order not to get hurt and rather live a quieter life. If we don't, he promises us a hard life of persecution and temptation.

St Paul is saying that before we encounter Our Lord’s Incarnation, we live lives which trouble us least and this means sinning in order to go with the flow. We allow ourselves to become servants of uncleanness because that’s what everyone else is doing, and what everyone else is benefitting from.

The temptation is to see ourselves as victims of sin and that we cannot do anything but sin against God. If we succumb to this temptation then we spend our lives cowering in fear of sin and death and this is not the life that Christ wants for us for perfect love casts out fear.

St Paul says that the Devil’s protection racket is a sham. We have a choice. We always have a choice. We are not so far conquered by sin that our service to uncleanness is inevitable, for he tells us to yield ourselves as servants to righteousness and holiness. He is presenting us with a different narrative for our lives.

Before we meet the Lord, the stronger pull on our lives is our own belly, our own righteousness, our own intellect blinded to the truth of God. When Christ Our God appears, our eyes are opened. No longer are Sin, the World and the Devil the strongest forces in our lives, but Christ is. We see Christ the conqueror on the Cross, crucifying the powers of evil. We see Christ bursting the gates of Hades in triumph to open the way of righteousness for all those who have died. We see Christ rising again and destroying the sting of death.

This means that our battle has ceased to be a foregone conclusion. We may be weak in the face of the temptations of evil, but we have one who has already won the war on our behalf. It means that while we often fall into sin, we need not see ourselves as victims anymore. To define ourselves as victims means that we have been utterly conquered by our oppressors so that we cannot accept that in paying dues to sin, we make others victims too. To be a victim means that we cannot forgive because to forgive would rob us of our identity as a victim. To say that our sin is inevitable means that we have given up the fight to be with Our Lord.

Our lives are not defined by victimhood but rather by growth in Christ. This means a life of struggle against sin in which we fall many, many times in the same old ways. It means struggling against our weakness, struggling against our need to be accepted by the world, struggling not to take the path of least resistance and to swim up against the flow. If we truly believe that Christ has conquered sin and death then our focus and duty is in the service of righteousness and holiness whereby God makes us right with Him and sets our lives apart for Him.

[PAUSE]

The Devil’s protection racket tempts us to focus on being a victim. If the Cross shows us that Christ is the perfect victim then His victimhood bursts the power of Hell wide open. There’s no need for us to pay any more heed to sin but rather to turn and grow in Christ.

 

St Osmund - a true Anglican Catholic

 

Why rite and ritual matter in God's Holy Church.

You fool!

Sermon for the sixth Sunday after Trinity

Is Jesus in danger of Hellfire?

"Of course not," you say,

"What a silly thing to say!"

But listen.

Our Lord says clearly,

"whosoever shall say, 

Thou fool, shall be 

in danger of hell fire."

But later, 

He says to the Pharisees,

"Ye fools and blind: 

for whether is greater, 

the gold, or the temple 

that sanctifieth the gold?

Ye fools and blind:

for whether is greater, 

the gift, or the altar 

that sanctifieth the gift?"

Twice does He call 

the Pharisees fools.

Surely, by His own words,

Jesus is in danger of Hellfire.

[PAUSE]

Of course Our Lord

sits at the right hand 

of the Father in Glory.

So what's happening here.

What does Our Lord mean

by calling someone

a fool

and why are we 

in danger of Hellfire 

if we do?

The word for fool

that Our Lord is using

has a sense of being unable to speak.

In fact, 

it might be related 

to our word

"mystery".

A fool does not know

what he is talking about.

To be a fool

is not to understand anything,

and to pretend that you do.

When Our Lord calls 

the Pharisees fools

He is speaking the truth

because they are blind

to the truth of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

He knows that 

they don't know 

what they are talking about

but are leading the people astray

and giving them 

unfair burdens to bear.

If Our Lord is justified

in calling Pharisees fools,

why can't we call people fools

if they don't know 

what they are talking about?

[PAUSE]

You already know the answer.

We might be wrong.

To judge another's knowledge

as being wrong 

means we have to be certain

that we are right.

We are judged

in the same way we judge others.

Our Lord judges 

the Pharisees fools

not for their damnation

but their salvation.

He shakes them

in love

so that they can see the truth

and that others see the truth.

But we don't have 

the same authority

because we don't have 

perfect knowledge

or perfect love.

It means that

we have to examine

ourselves

to see why we think

that someone is a fool.

We also need to 

examine ourselves

to ensure that

the person we think is foolish

is still someone

we love as a human being.

Our Lord makes it clear

that we are only justified

in calling someone a fool

to save them from Hellfire

out of love for them

and of God

and not for any sense

of our pride

or moral superiority.

This is why 

calling someone a fool

leads into danger of Hellfire.

Hellfire can only be avoided

by Love

and by Truth.

[PAUSE]

Our Lord 

is the Way out 

of the pains of Hellfire.

We would be

fools

not to follow Him!

Bound by Benedict

 

Why religion is inescapable.

The heart of the community

Sermon for the fifth Sunday after Trinity

You do all that anyway, 

don't you?

You're compassionate,

kind,

loving, 

courteous, 

considerate

and, rather than curse,

you bless people.

Of course you do! 

At least to everyone you meet.

But what about online?

[PAUSE]

It doesn't take long

on Social Media

before unpleasantness starts,

especially between Sci Fi fans 

and, sadly,

religious groups.

There is a lot of media,

videos, blogs, groups

which have titles such as

"Craig destroys Oppy"

or 

"Fradd shames White".

What they mean 

is that Craig and Fradd

have put forward

convincing reasons

why Oppy and Tate are wrong.

Notice how the use of language

is sensationalist

and designed to get

an emotional reaction,

designed to make you post a message

designed to make you interact

and keep interacting

so that social media platforms

earn more money from

advertising and promotions 

Craig, Oppy, Fradd and White

conduct themselves

with nothing less than

human respect and decency

in their discussions,

but the internet distorts their debates

into something that 

has greater importance

than it deserves.

Do you notice

that social media

is trying to distort 

your view of the world

and encourage you to be

angry?

[PAUSE]

St Peter wants to promote harmony.

Christians are meant 

to be together,

to look out for one another

and those outside the Church.

He exhorts us to be caring.

To love rather than hate.

To bless rather than curse.

To run away from evil

and to embrace what is good.

This is easier in a physical community

in which we see people face to face

and recognise the humanity

they share with us.

But, social media is different.

You sit alone

and all you may well be doing

is interacting with a box of lights

that reduces a human being 

to text on a screen.

It is because

the humanity of another

is obscured

that our sense of community

goes out the window.

It's easy to spread hate

when you don't see the person

whom you are hating.

[PAUSE]

St Peter doesn't need to know the internet

to help us know what we should be doing.

We are courteous and kind

for the good of other people,

but our motivation must come

from the love that we cultivate

within our souls.

We aren't courteous

because we fear the shame

that faces us if we are discourteous.

We are courteous

because courtesy is good.

We share,

not out of a sense of obligation,

but because sharing is good.

All good things come from God.

If we love God,

then courtesy,

kindness,

blessing and love

are things that we desire

precisely because they come from God

and not from Society.

Many people will tell you

that living the moral life

is something made by 

the society around us.

This means that Society

thinks that the moral life

is something it determines

and thus controls 

and, if you act in a way

that Society finds disagreeable,

then you will be held up 

to ridicule

and hatred

and never, ever be forgiven.

But God is not like that.

From Him, 

we will always receive love,

and kindness

and courtesy

even when things around us

are so black 

that we cannot even feel

His love for us.

It's because of Him

and His regard for us

that we show the same regard

for other people.

[PAUSE]

The way we interact online

should be just as we react offline.

We may appear to be alone

in front of the computer screen

but God is with us

and we remain His Church

in everything we do.

Our conduct online

should be shrewd as vipers

in recognising the traps of the Enemy

to get angry and post things

that belittle others

or make a mountain

out of a molehill, 

but we should also be

as innocent as doves

seeking always to interact

in a way that recognises the humanity

of the person we disagree with

and offer the same hand of friendship

that God has offered to us 

still bearing the wound of the nail.

[PAUSE]

Both St Peter and St Paul 

bid us to have God's mind,

and to hold it at all times,

especially when we are tempted

to think we are alone 

and can't be seen.

This way Society loses its power.

But, faced with such a threat,

Society will seek to punish those

who refuse to recognise its hold.

That's when the hateful messages start.

That's when we respond

with the most profound blessings

we can muster.

An Anglican Catholic view of Purgatory and prayers for the dead

 

Why praying for the dead is more natural than the doctrine of Purgatory.

For similar views on the relationship we have with the Saints, please see here:

The Hope of Dust

Sermon for the fourth Sunday after Trinity

“Vanity, vanity, all is vanity!”

Thus says the Preacher of Ecclesiastes.

What is vanity?

Well, if we do something in vain,

then there's no point in doing it.

There is no value in the outcome.

Something is done in vain

if it changes nothing.

So what does Saint Paul mean

when he says that

Creation is made subject to vanity?

 

[PAUSE]

 

It looks as if Saint Paul is saying

that our suffering is worthless.

If creation is subject to vanity,

then it can change nothing.

Creation has no effect on what is happening.

Our suffering,

which Saint Paul says,

is not to be compared with heavenly things,

is a thing of creation.

So it appears that whatever we do,

there is no point to it.

There is nothing we can do.

Our creation produces nothing.

 

[PAUSE]

 

It can't mean that can it?

If all our actions are worthless,

why are we commanded by our Lord

to preach the gospel at all?

Why does Saint Paul himself

offer himself up to all the

humiliations,

sufferings

and pain

even to martyrdom

if it is of no avail?

 

Saint Paul is very clear that,

in order for anything to have worth,

it must be given Grace

because Grace perfects Nature.

This means that

because God is the only One

Who deserves worship,

He gives worth to whatever

He is involved with

just by being involved in it.

Creation of itself

produces nothing that is eternal.

If modern cosmology is correct,

the Universe will

expand

and expand

and expand

until all the things are

far apart, cold and lifeless.

In this Universe,

at the end of time,

there isn't even dust.

As far as this Universe is concerned,

we are worthless

because there is

no lasting worth to give.

 

[PAUSE]

 

Saint Paul says that human beings

face the same corruption and decay

because we are things of Creation

but, crucially, we are given Hope.

 

Hope is not a vague emotion.

It's not the hope of,

“I hope it's not going to rain today.”

It's about looking to the future

with all its uncertainty

while holding the hand of God.

We have no knowledge

of the future

except that it is all destined for dust.

With our hand in God's,

we find ourselves

with the possibility of true worth,

because God alone possesses all worth.

He alone is to be given worship.

 

The world tempts us to lose hope.

We see that in the way that

important issues like

climate change

and how wars are progressing

and whether there is a threat

of a nuclear explosion.

Modern news services

seem to be alarmist in nature,

designed to take away the hope

that human beings should have

for the future.

But for the point of view of Creation,

it will all end as dust

and be blown

and scattered to the furthermost reaches

of the Universe.

Our Lord says there will be wars

and rumours of wars.

He tells us of pestilences,

famines,

invading armies

and even of the destruction

of the Temple.

That is what this Creation offers us apart from God.

But Grace perfects Nature.

The active presence of God

gives Nature its purpose

and an end that is filled with His glory.

If we trust Him,

then our universe ends in God

for eternity.

God subjects his creation to vanity

in order to give us hope that,

being freed from sin,

we might be washed,

justified,

sanctified,

and glorified in Him.

 

[PAUSE]

 

Without the Cross

our hope is vain.

Without the Cross

our future is dust.

Without the Cross

our suffering,

pains,

terror

and misery

mean nothing.

In God

all our sufferings

become as much badges of honour

as the wounds on

the hands,

feet

and side

of Our Lord.

All suffering in hope

becomes something

of which we can be proud

because it is a sign of

our perfection in God's grace.

The Cross is not vanity.

In Grace, neither are we.

The shameless self-publicity of an Anglican Catholic

 

Anglican Catholics and the wider Catholic Church

 A few thoughts on where Anglican Catholicism stands in relation to the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.

A few thoughts on where Anglican Catholicism stands in relation to the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.

Measure for measure?

Sermon for the third Sunday after Trinity

How tall would you say you are?

Would you use feet and inches?

Would you use metres and centimetres?

Or would you use a different measurement?

[PAUSE]

In order to take measurements,

we need a standard to measure them by.

A yard is the distance

between the king’s outstretched arm

and the tip of his nose.

You see, the problem of course.

King Edward I’s yard

is going to be considerably longer

than King Charles I’s yard

at least before the latter’s execution.

A foot is twelve inches

and an inch is the size of a thumb.

An ounce is the weight of a thumb

which is why ounce and inch come from

the same Latin word for thumb.

But these aren’t fixed

so we have to be careful

to measure things against

the same standard.

[PAUSE]

Which is greater in value:

one or ninety-nine?

Of course,

we are very tempted

by the mathematical answer.

If ninety-nine is substantially

greater than one,

then that one is certainly

not as valuable as the ninety-nine.

You might then say that

it is better to look after the ninety-nine

and forget about one that is missing.

It makes no sense

to ignore ninety-nine sheep

over one lost sheep.

It’s just a sheep after all.

There’s nothing special about it,

we’re told.

It’s just one sheep out of a hundred.

One percent.

And yet, to the Good Shepherd,

it is as valuable as the other ninety-nine.

That takes some getting used to.

Any one of the hundred sheep

is as valuable as the other ninety-nine.

We can see that easily.

While the shepherd has left the ninety-nine

in search of the lost one,

one of the ninety-nine could wander off

and get lost.

How can any one sheep be as valuable

as ninety-nine other individual sheep?

[PAUSE]

The trouble is that we’re looking

mathematically,

and mathematics isn’t the system

that God uses to give value to His Children.

We know that from His very nature:

how can Three be One?

It’s clear that God is not concerned

with making value-judgements

based on numbers

or even on a notion of equality.

The labourers who arrive

at the eleventh hour

are paid as much as

those who were there at the first hour.

No-one gets defrauded

but everyone is treated fairly,

just not mathematically.

[PAUSE]

In our society,

we focus on

equal pay for equal jobs

equal rights

equal responsibilities.

These are good issues

to consider in a society

that seeks to be fair,

but here value is not really based on love

but on practicality.

When we consider

that we have no rights with God,

let alone equal right,

that we have no right to equal pay

for equal jobs,

that there is no

equality of outcome

or

equality of opportunity

in God’s valuation,

then we realise just how bound up

with human politics we are.

Our Lord shows us

that our value of human beings

cannot be based on number

let alone on social status.

It means that we cannot

value our neighbour

based on any comparisons

with anyone else.

Our love of neighbour

has to be unconditional

and unique.

We want their perfection

in God,

not based on what

we consider to be perfection

but a perfection determined by God.

When we are faced with those decisions

as to whether to save

five lives or one,

as long as we make the decision

in the agony of the purest love we can muster,

we do the right thing

because we aim for everyone’s perfection

and allow God to save the lost.

[PAUSE]

Love is not a

mathematical way of thinking.

It goes above and beyond

any form of measurement

that we have at our disposal.

The only thing we can count on

is the love of God.

 

The Titans of Consequence and Intention

I recently watched the film Titanic and I find myself somewhat devastated by the recent events with the deceased members off the Titan submersible. Search and Rescue searched the depths of the ocean for days in the hope that they could find the sub only to find that it had been destroyed days before and that their efforts had been in vain from the outset. The consequences of their decision to search for survivors is the realisation of tragedy. It saddens me that some people seem to think that these Search and Rescue heroes have wasted their time and tax-payers' money.

[BEGIN SPOILER ALERT]

I've also read reviews of Titanic, and a common observation is that, had not Rose stayed in the lifeboat, then Jack would have had enough room on the wardrobe to be saved. It's easy to say that with hindsight, and of course that is a very reasonable observation to make based on the events in the film. Those who make such an observation are missing something important. Both Jack and Rose in that time together have held on to the rule, “if you jump, I jump.” It's a rule that defines their relationship throughout the film that they are in this together sink or swim literally. We have to be careful here, because the outcome itself doesn't matter. The outcome is that Jack dies and Rose lives. Those are the consequences of the actions. Those are the consequences of " if you jump, I jump” but, as the theme song says, their hearts go on. The love that Jack and Rose have for each other which has grown throughout the tale has the character of Eternity and taps into the glory of being human and being alive. There is more to their experience than the dreadful tragedy that unfolds and the tale ends with Rose passing gently in her bed to be reunited with Jack in the great afterlife.

[END SPOILER ALERT]

What is especially resonating for the Christian here, is that it is never the consequences that have the final say. It is not just the consequences that determine whether an action is good or bad. Our actions are weighed by their intention more than the consequences. Throughout Holy Scripture we have people doing the right thing for the wrong reasons, for example the Pharisees. They hold the law so that they can be seen to hold the law and be praised for it. We see even good men like Abraham make questionable decisions, such as passing his wife off as his sister in order to save both their lives from a perceived threat that isn't actually there.

Actions are weighed in Eternity by our intentions, and our intention should always be measured against the word of almighty God. It is our intentions that come before the consequences, and we can never fully anticipate what the consequences will be. Consequentialism is not a valid moral theory on the grounds that we cannot see what the consequences will be. Good actions may have far reaching bad consequences. We can bake a cake for an poor, elderly person to celebrate her 80th birthday only to find later that her youngest niece has died from an anaphylactic reaction to the nuts that we used to bake our cake. The kindness intended is not obliterated by the tragic consequences.

The Christian duty to obey the Government is indeed a duty with its roots in Holy Scripture. If the Government issues a law which is truly unjust then the Christian should refuse to obey and willingly accept the consequences. If the Government imposes an order on its subjects that is not unjust then it should be obeyed even if the consequences are tragic because the Christian obeys the Government for the love of God. Like Jack and Rose, a good society says, “If you jump, I jump” or, perhaps more pertinently, “one for all and all for one”. To decide whether a law is unjust or not requires careful consideration and measuring against the full weight of Catholic teaching. If we know the mind of Christ well then we are in a better position to make that judgment.

The Christian needs very carefully to consider the intentions and why they follow the course of action that they do. It is only by living a life in God, acquiring the mind of Christ, that we know what is good. To focus on consequences alone misses the point. Consequences that we see in this life are earthly, they will pass away, and they will be rectified in the great final judgement of God who will make all things new. To sneer at those whose well-intentioned actions have had unfortunate consequences is the mark of one who misses the point of worship because they hold the consequences of this world to be of greater value than acquiring the mind of Christ on the grounds that they are more immediate. To shout, “I was right and you were wrong” whether in triumph or not does nothing to demonstrate Christian love but rather belies a bitterness of soul that requires healing from the Divine Master.

The fruit of the Spirit is grown not from consequences but from the exercise of love from the intentions made. Generosity cannot be grown from a heart that is made bitter with “I told you so”s but rather from a heart that is prepared to embrace the tragedy of another’s actions in Faith, Hope and Love. The remembrance of the consequences of our actions will pass away, but those three remain and we know which is the greatest of the three.

Searching for Secret Saints

 

Why do we commemorate St Gervasius and St Protasius?

Not the Wedding Singer

Sermon for the second Sunday after Trinity

The Christian tradition

has had some

truly wonderful consequences.

One of those consequences

is the choral tradition.

Every church is blessed

by singing of hymns and psalms.

What is truly wonderful

about singing in choirs

and singing with choirs

is that we sing together all as one.

We might not sing in unison.

Choirs usually have

four voices singing in harmony,

but they sing together in harmony.

This way the church lifts up

one united voice to God

in praise, thanksgiving and worship.

What this means is that not only are we united in voice, but we are united in spirit. There is another way we can be united in spirit but not to our benefit.

 

[PAUSE]

 

In the parable,

Our Lord tells us about

the guests invited

to the wedding feast.

We notice that

they reject the invitation

with one consent.

They decline as one, literally.

That's rather striking, isn't it?

These people,

invited to a wonderful wedding,

decline it almost in unison.

What can this mean?

We notice that

they each bring an excuse

for not going.

Why would someone

turn down a wedding

to look at oxen?

Why go and see

a piece of ground instead

of enjoy a wonderful feast?

And why not relive

your wedding day

by attending someone else’s wedding

and bring your joy to share?

 

These excuses appear feeble

to say the least.

But they are all made in the same voice.

They form a choir of feeble excuses

effectively inviting other people to join in,

to join in rejecting the wedding feast.

There is something

deeply upsetting about their behaviour.

Being presented with

a beautiful opportunity

to truly enjoy themselves,

these folk together mumble their excuses

and run away.

It's almost as if

the wedding feast

is unpleasant or even frightening.

Why would anyone think that?

 

[PAUSE]

 

Clearly,

the Master of the Feast

is someone who

polarises opinion,

you either love him or you hate him.

The way that

Our Lord tells this parable

suggests that

the people who

reject the invitation

are the Jews who have rejected God.

This is why the Master of the Feast

beckons in people

who would not be thought suitable.

These represent the sinners,

the strangers,

the gentiles.

That's not to say that

all the Jewish people

reject the wedding feast,

for clearly the apostles

and ma6ny other people of Jewish background

willingly embrace the invitation.

But it is the Scribes and the Pharisees

who look at Jesus in horror

as they watch him

dismantle the hypocrisy

and lust for status unearned.

[PAUSE]

What seems to be at issue here,

is what we truly value.

There is something about this feast

that people don't want,

or that they prefer their comfortable little lives

to attending the feast.

These are people

who are not willing

to be transformed by God.

They do not wish

to be clothed with His wedding garment

at His wedding feast under His rule.

They want their own way in life,

and they see in the wedding feast

a threat to the rule of their own hearts.

 

So they reject the invitation

with one voice.

Just like the church choir,

they are singing the same song,

and it is not a song about God.

Their song is of themselves and,

although they sing it together

with that one spirit of rejection,

they excuse themselves in different ways.

This song is discordant and dreadful to hear.

 

[PAUSE]

 

The people who attend

the wedding feast

know that they are

unwashed,

unprepared,

unworthy

and yet they still come.

They come because

they know that the wedding feast

is now open to them

and that they will be clothed

in wedding garments

which will look resplendent.

They know that they will

have the fine food,

hear the fine music,

drink the fine wine and rejoice.

They accept because

they have no desire

to put such a wonderful invitation

below the silly cares of this life.

They accept because

they realise the poverty

in which they live,

and see the riches which are freely on offer.

They reject their lives as they are,

and see something better.

 

[PAUSE]

 

Those who reject God's invitation,

will never taste of the feast.

That's what our Lord says.

They shall never enter into his rest.

That is their free choice,

the offer is there for them

but they don't want it.

The same offer is open to us:

do we really prefer our lives as they are

to the life of perpetual joy?

An Anglican Catholic reflects on the Mass

 

What is the significance of the Mass in Anglican Catholic worship?

Encouragement not to encourage

Sermon for the Feast of St Barnabas 

How encouraged are you?

We celebrate the feast

of Saint Barnabas,

though, of course,

his name is Joses.

Barnabas is his nickname,

if you will.

Some translations say that

Barnabas means

“son of consolation”,

others say that his name means

“son of encouragement”.

Which translation do you prefer?

[PAUSE]

The way that we use

the idea of encouragement

is not always positive.

You are encouraged to think about why!

Do you see that,

sometimes,

we understand encouragement

to mean being

directed towards something

that we might not actually want.

We hear of people being

gently encouraged

to accept something

that they might find undesirable.

Some people are encouraged

to the front door

which is then promptly shut behind them.

Perhaps these days

encouragement has this negative meaning

of being controlled subtly

with a pretence of niceness about it.

If we are encouraged

to do something that

we don't want to do,

how do we stand up against it?

 

We need encouragement.

[PAUSE]

You can see very clearly

that the word encouragement

really means to have courage

put into you.

You are encouraged,

you are given courage,

you are strengthened,

you are confirmed.

It's no wonder then,

that when you look at the Greek word

that is used to translate

Barnabas’ name into Greek,

we find that it is the same word

that we use for paraclete.

St Barnabas is a paraclete.

St Barnabas is someone

who is an ikon of the Holy Ghost.

This is why he is given

the name in the first place.

He is someone

who does not want

to direct, control or gently coerce.

He seeks only

to strengthen people

in their fight against

sin, the world and the devil.

St. Barnabas is well-named,

and he acts alongside St. Paul

in bringing consolation, strengths and hope

which accompany

St Paul’s own form of encouragement

in his teaching and preaching.

We can see that very generosity of spirit

in his giving up of

an expensive piece of land

giving the proceeds to the Church

in order to strengthen it

as it begins its great Mission.

 

Of course,

St. Barnabas and Saint Paul

are only human and they quarrel.

This, too, is an encouragement

because it shows that the Saints

are truly human

and share that fallenness with us.

It means we, too, do not need

to sit and bewail our fallibility,

but rather to present that fallibility

to Almighty God and allow Him to use our weakness

so that He might show His strength.

St. Barnabas is truly a saint

for us because he carries with him

the strength that God gives

to each of us through him,

and through the bishops who succeed him.

[PAUSE]a

St. Barnabas is on our side,

and because he is on our side,

we can be sure that

God the Holy Paraclete is on our side, too.

We are all encouraged to be more like St Barnabas

so that we might be more like

the Holy Ghost!

A moral dance with St Boniface and St Norbert

 

Will you, won't you, will you, won't you join the dance? (Apologies to Lewis Carroll)

The Importance of Pronouns

Sermon for Trinity Sunday

We still find ourselves

being accused of

worshipping three gods.

It seems very strange that,

even in this day and age,

we should still be accused

of worshipping three gods.

The church has this all sorted out,

hasn’t it?

 Are you able to say

why we do not believe in three gods

but one God in three Persons?

[PAUSE]

Our Lord says to Nicodemus,

 “verily, verily I say unto thee,

we speak that we do know,

and testify that we have seen;

and ye receive not our witness.

Our Lord’s use of the word “we” there

seems rather important.

Even right at the beginning,

God says let us make man

in our own image.

It seems everywhere

throughout the record of Holy Scripture,

that God himself uses

the pronoun “we” rather than “I”.

Yet he says to Moses,

“I am that I am.”

God’s pronouns are important.

Moses does not experience

Our Lord Jesus Christ

as the apostles do,

nor is the Holy Ghost yet made manifest

to the Israelites,

though surely He is there.

St John himself says

in his first letter

that there are

three on earth that bear witness:

the Spirit, the water and the blood

and these three agree as one.

 

The church certainly believes

that there are three in heaven

who bear witness:

the Father, the Word and the Holy Ghost

and these three are one.

They bear witness to our faith in God

and we believe in one God.

[PAUSE]

We know that God is One,

and that he is not made of parts.

He cannot be broken down into

left and right,

up and down,

front and back,

or even past, present and future.

None of these things

make any sense

when it comes to talk about God.

If this seems a little tricky

to get your head around

think of your own mind.

Your mind doesn't have a

front or back,

or up or down.

Doesn't it really have a past, present and future?

Whether it does or doesn’t,

you are not your mind

for you have both a body and soul.

Unlike God,

you can be broken to bits.

But nonetheless

God is three persons.

We see them each

individually

throughout Holy Scripture,

and the Church Fathers

have consistently taught

the doctrine of the Trinity

that we recite weekly in our Creed.

Even Our Lord says explicitly,

the Father and I are One.

And He says,

“We testify what

we have seen,

and ye receive not our witness.”

The Jewish law courts

require the testimony of

two others to

corroborate someone’s witness statement.

So, even here,

as Our Lord speaks to Nicodemus

about the Holy Ghost,

He is calling upon the Father

and the Holy Ghost to bear witness

that Man needs to be born again,

to be born from above by the Spirit.

Here are three persons

that speak about Heavenly things

to Earthly people,

and their testimony is one.

And yet,

there can only be One God,

for if there were two,

one would limit the other’s being 

in some way,

and God’s being cannot be limited.

There cannot be two sources

of all being;

there cannot be two founts

of existence.

But God has three persons

and God cannot be divided,

so each of these three persons

must be fully God.

[PAUSE]

We struggle

because we only have experience

of human persons,

of individuals limited

to space and time.

We can think of each of

Father, Son and Holy Spirit

as individuals,

but we cannot go beyond that

because we are Earthly minded.

The task that we have is

just to believe the truth:

One God in three Persons.

This is faith,

to receive the truth

even if we don’t understand it.

[PAUSE]

If we do receive this truth,

then we receive truth

about Heavenly matters

because of our Faith.

If we believe that

we must be born again

of the Holy Ghost,

which Our Lord tells us

is an Earthly matter,

then the truth of the Holy Trinity

is open to us

through the faith that we are given

and the grace

which accompanies

that faith.

The idea of the Holy Trinity

jostles in our mind

as we try out our

mental gymnastics,

but that’s exactly what should happen

when we try to think about

the One Who Is

and Who has entered into our lives

to bear witness about Himself

so that we might know Him personally.

[PAUSE]

If we struggle to answer

those who accuse of worshipping

three gods,

it may well be that

their concept of a god is small enough

to fit in their own minds.

Ours isn’t

and that’s because He is the

One True God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.