St John, Burgess Hill 26th January 2020

Do you want a faith that stands on the authority of scripture and yet remains thoughtful?

Teaching that rings true to the faith of the Church through the ages?

Would you value worship that is awesome yet accessible?

A  Christian community with loose boundaries and a vision for caring within the community?

Here we are - the Church of England!

We do not look down on Catholic or Free Churches but hold hands out to both as 'the ancient church of this land, catholic and reformed' (Catechism definition).

Our worshippers are evangelical, catholic, charismatic and radical because the Church has to be all these things.

Yes, we have our problems, some of our own making, but many on account of the honesty with which we are facing up to a fast changing world.

The Church of England is part of the Church in England and has respect for those of other Faiths or no faith at all.

We welcome all who wish to engage with Jesus Christ through the Bible and the Sacraments and through Christian fellowship and service.

As they first said of Jesus, 'Come and see!'   

       

An advertisement I put in Horsted Keynes parish magazine some time back written out of concern about the bad press the Church of England was getting at the time.

It came to mind preparing this sermon based on part of the second lesson set for today from 1 Corinthians 1.10-12. Now I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you should be in agreement and that there should be no divisions among you, but that you should be united in the same mind and the same purpose. For it has been reported to me by Chloe’s people that there are quarrels among you, my brothers and sisters. What I mean is that each of you says, ‘I belong to Paul’, or ‘I belong to Apollos’, or ‘I belong to Cephas’, or ‘I belong to Christ.’ Has Christ been divided?

This call to unity coincides with the end of the annual week of prayer for Christian Unity held every year from 18-25th January. It seems to me that St Paul’s warning reaches us as a church at three levels, local, national and universal, so here’s a minute or two on each level.

First local. I see it as a privilege to be alongside St John’s for a few months. Obviously as a locum priest I barely have my feet under the table let alone the PCC table. Some churches without a parish priest can be headless-chicken-ish and that’s not my impression here. There is leadership - good interim oversight from the Churchwardens - which I call upon us all to respect. May the pastoral vacancy, with all its demands on them and us, serve for good as we work for our good and that of Burgess Hill. May we hand to the one to be appointed parish priest a high degree of unity and a sense of collaboration as we seek to promote Christianity and develop the life of St John’s with an eye to growth in faith, love and numbers. We should not be complacent but pray to God St John’s will continue as the coalition it is of catholic, evangelical, charismatic and liberal Christians that is outwardly focussed. The valuing of Christian unity here is evidenced by how long people stay on after the eucharist to talk with and encourage one another. 

Second, nationally the Church of England has reached under her Archbishops and the General Synod agreement to hold together despite divisions over the remarriage of divorcees, equal ordination and pressure for equal marriage. The latter is the major current threat to unity after truces on remarriage of the divorced, now left for parish priests to operate, and the ordination of women which has occurred respecting those who go with the wider Church’s opposition to this. In the English Reformation marriage and ordination were affirmed as sacraments – that is God-given -  but lesser sacraments and in that perspective groups that want the sacraments to better fit our western culture have taken the lead. Those who see the sacraments as being unchangeable without the agreement of the universal church are now in a minority. Changing sacraments is like changing the heating system in a church. There's upheaval and a chilling effect. The national church is still in the middle of this and our membership is in decline though that decline isn’t just related to our perceived inconsistencies given the UK’s increasingly militant secular culture. No easy answers on the issues of course, just patience. The Holy Spirit is saying one thing to part of the church and another thing to the rest. We must wait and see respecting our different views so as to maximise unity as a national church which believes its part of the ‘one, holy, catholic and apostolic church’.

Thirdly let’s look at that international level of the universal church. About this Christians should really be getting impatient. In first century Corinth there were Chloe’s and Apollos’ and Cephas’ groups. In the world of the 21st century there are not three but over 40,000 Christian denominations! Each of you says, ‘I belong to Paul’, or ‘I belong to Apollos’, or ‘I belong to Cephas’, or ‘I belong to Christ.’ Has Christ been divided? He has. His purpose to bring all things together is being much frustrated. There’s a need for each Christian church to recognise afresh that they exist by God’s grace - and so do the other denominations! Only as the different churches come together to the foot of Christ’s Cross and admit our need of his forgiveness are we ever going to be made one, as Christ certainly desires. This is happening worldwide whenever Christians opt to maximise cooperation with their sister churches. I am not so familiar with Churches Together in Burgess Hill but sense as in Haywards Heath a tension between mainline Anglican and Roman Catholic cooperation and that between charismatic networks. It's a task in hand - even intra-Anglican collaboration - but surrounded by spiritual apathy and unbelief our local churches need one another probably more than they realise to help one another bear the torch for Christ in our town and its surrounds.

The last Papal visitor to England, Pope Benedict, was welcomed to Lambeth Palace by theologian Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams with these soul provoking words:  In 1845, when John Henry Newman finally decided that he must follow his conscience and seek his future in serving God in communion with the See of Rome, one of his most intimate Anglican friends and allies, the priest Edward Bouverie Pusey.. wrote a moving meditation on this "parting of friends" in which he said of the separation between Anglicans and Roman Catholics quote: "it is what is unholy on both sides that keeps us apart". Unquote. That should not surprise us continued Rowan Williams: holiness is at its simplest fellowship with Christ; and when that fellowship with Christ is brought to maturity, so is our fellowship with one another. As bishops, we are servants of the unity of Christ's people, Christ's one Body. And, meeting as we do as bishops of separated church communities, we must all feel that each of our own ministries is made less by the fact of our dividedness, a very real but imperfect communion. Perhaps we shall not quickly overcome the remaining obstacles to full, restored communion; but no obstacles stand in the way of our seeking, as a matter of joyful obedience to the Lord, more ways in which to build up one another in holiness by prayer and public celebration together, by closer friendship, and by growing together both in the challenging work of service for all whom Christ loves, and mission to all God has made.

Wise words. "it is what is unholy on both sides that keeps us apart".
Christian unity grows – locally, nationally or internationally as Christians grow together in both holiness and mission. Let’s make that our priority as much as we can in the coming year. 

To come back to that Horsted Keynes magazine advertisement: 

The Church of England is part of the Church in England and has respect for those of other Faiths or no faith at all. We welcome all who wish to engage with Jesus Christ through the Bible and the Sacraments and through Christian fellowship and service. As they first said of Jesus, 'Come and see!'   

As they come, especially to St John’s, may they find less low church, middle church or high church but deep church.  Come Holy Spirit!