To live is Christ –
or living is Christ in today’s translation of Philippians 1:21 – what does that
mean?
What does it mean to 1st
century Paul and 21st century you and I?
To Jasmine whose happy day
of Christian initiation this is?
To live is Christ. It’s
a mystical saying, four words that sum up the life philosophy of Christianity’s
greatest teacher. After a blinding light of revelation on the road to Damascus
Paul had carried resurrection news of Jesus to the four corners of his world
and now he is in prison. The words we read today are a letter from one under
sentence of death who writes to me,
living is Christ and dying is gain.
What assurance! Assurance
linked to personal knowledge of our risen Saviour Jesus Christ. The Lord who
had said to him what he would say to us this morning: Your
way leads to a hopeless end. My way leads to an endless hope!
To live without Christ is
to live towards a hopeless end. To live with
Christ is to live towards an endless hope, for dying Jesus broke the power
of death and rising opened joyous eternity to all who’ll live in him.
To live is Christ. What
does that mean? It means to live your life with the gift of faith, rooted and
grounded in the Christian community, walking with them in the way of Christ and
the worship of his Church. So says the baptism service!
This is the way Harry,
Milly, Anthia, Anicia and Jasmine want to follow and its lovely for Anthia and
Anicia, baptised and confirmed last year, to be standing by their little sister
this morning as the family commit her to God’s family of which they’ve made
themselves part.
To live is Christ. Making
an analogy with classic figures from ancient history St Alphonsus Liguori who lived
in the 18th century wrote: Diogenes
went about seeking a man upon earth: hominem quaero; but God seems to be seeking a Christian among the many faithful: Christianum
quaero. For very few are they who have the works, the greater part have
only the name; but to these should be said what Alexander said to that cowardly
soldier who was also named Alexander: change either your name or your conduct:
Aut nomen, aut mores muta. But as written elsewhere it would be better if these
miserable creatures were put in confinement as madmen, believing as they do,
that a happy eternity is prepared for him who lives well, and unhappy eternity
for him who lives ill, and yet living as if they do not believe this.
We cannot say with Paul to live is Christ unless we not only
believe in and pray in Christ’s name but also act in Christ’s name, act
as if we believe.
Ten days ago I attended the
Chichester diocesan clergy conference at the University of Kent. 300 priests
and deacons worshipped, prayed and learned together gaining a new sense of
purpose and collaboration under the leadership of our diocesan Bishop Martin
Warner and his assistant Bishops Mark Sowerby of Horsham and Richard Jackson of
Lewes. We were privileged to stay in freshly restored rooms at the University,
to be fed like kings and to worship with Archbishops, so to speak, down the
road in Canterbury Cathedral.
In his closing address
Bishop Martin, who is like me a Latinist, took an ancient motto lex orandi lex credendi which means ‘the
law of praying is the law of believing’ and added lex agendi, the law of action. The bishop wants seamless connection
between Christian worship, the Christian creed and Christian action. What we
pray is to be more fully linked to both what we believe and what we do with our
lives and in our churches.
To live is Christ and
to be rooted in Christian prayer, teaching and action. Bishop Martin extended this challenge to us
as fellow priests and diocesan leaders to form up a diocese that’s younger,
financially solvent and better at risk-taking.
He wants tighter and more immediate communication across the church in
Sussex and many more gifted laity operating in the counsels of the diocese,
especially in finance, property and liaison with the political world.
Above all he applauded the
virtue of kindness as a key quality of life in Christ. If to live is Christ that is to live kindly, literally in kindred,
related to one another, to those whose nature, whose humanity we share. All of
which is counter to the depersonalising commodification of the person that afflicts
our culture.
The German philosopher
Nietzche was no friend of Christianity and famously said: Show me that you are redeemed and then I will believe in your redeemer.
He had a point. St Augustine was fully aware of that point 1500 years
before him when he said No fragrance can
be more pleasing to God than that of his own Son. May all the faithful breathe
out the same perfume. If to live is
Christ it is to be Christ to others through kindness.
To live is Christ
which means not as mean-spirited, narrow-mind sour pusses lacking in mercy but
as those who know forgiveness from God and who show it to others.
I know that my redeemer lives said Job in words prophesying Christ’s resurrection. To
know that redeemer and his redemption from the tendency within to harm others
is the work of the Holy Spirit. It is also the basis of hope in the face of
death, as Paul adds, after saying to live
is Christ, to die is gain. We are
in life if we’re in Christ, life that can never die, eternal life.
Your way leads to a hopeless end. My way leads to an
endless hope!
God’s nothing to do with death he’s our life and hope for ever!
To live is Christ is
to know that life, to know that your redeemer lives, that he is your redeemer and that he lives in you by the grace and the
fruit of baptism.
It’s to be the fragrance of
Christ, giving people opportunity to breath in the perfume of his Spirit’s work
in our lives.
To the joyless we bring
joy, to the loveless we bring love to the unforgiving we bring forgiveness.
May such grace be ours
through the eucharist we celebrate this morning.
No comments:
Post a Comment