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!

Trinity 10 (18B) St Bartholomew, Brighton Pride Sunday 5.8.18

It’s Pride Sunday and St Bartholomew’s rejoices with those who rejoice in the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender community.

Brighton & Hove Pride Festival promotes itself as ‘a dazzling display of inclusivity’. I feel Pride-d out with family members attending the Pride in London Parade a month back, another platform, I quote ‘to raise awareness of issues and campaign for the freedoms that will allow the LGBT+ community to live their lives on a genuinely equal footing’.

We provide our own ‘dazzling display of inclusivity’ at St Bartholomew’s which makes space for friendships to grow between heterosexual and homosexual, married and celibate young and old, rich and poor, employed, retired, unemployed - where do you end?

St Bartholomew’s rejoices with its gay members this weekend standing by them and the wider gay community as they seek to become more fully what God has made us to be. As today’s section from the letter of Ephesians expresses it we are being equipped for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ… speaking the truth in love we must grow up in every way into him. (Ephesians 4:12-13,15)

That sort of growth - towards citizenship of heaven - comes as we grow more rooted in apostolic faith, in the soil of holy church, so we blossom not just in our humanity but in divinity, in holiness. Our sexual orientation is second to living lives oriented to Jesus Christ, loving him and aspiring to make him loved. The friendship and understanding we build among our congregation at St Bartholomew’s are vital to our mission in the secular culture of Brighton. Here is true inclusion, true life, as the Gospel affirms. The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. (John 6:33)

To help strengthen our mission we need to build understanding across the diverse group we are so as to be ever more attractive to the people of Brighton who pass in and out of our doors.

The epistle mentions speaking the truth in love. Here are some truths of apostolic faith we might ponder in the complicated and sensitive realm opened up to us by Pride Sunday.

First all love is of God, love between friends, husbands and wives, parents and children and we all need more love in our lives so we can come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.

Second Scripture applauds same-sex friendship as for David and Jonathan in the Old Testament and those between Our Lord and his apostles, especially Saint John.

Third the Christian tradition opposes the sexualising of friendship, in particular physical sexual activity outside of marriage.

Fourth the Sacrament of Marriage is recognised as a divine ordinance in which the delight and tenderness of sexual union between husband and wife mirrors Christ’s love for the Church and the love of the Father for the Son in the Holy Spirit.

Fifth same-sex marriage has no basis in scripture or Christian tradition which affirms marriage as the foundation of family life in which children are born and nurtured. Sexual intercourse effects life-giving love with inseparable unitive and procreative aspects.

Sixth Our Lord starts his Sermon on the Mount by warning against lust. I say to you that everyone who looks at someone with lust has already committed adultery with them in their heart. (Matthew 5:28) Our sexual preferences are incidental to the great failing of treating anyone as an object even in our hearts.

It’s those principles of apostolic faith that inform the church’s pastoral ministry. That ministry of care is shared by all Christians not just the clergy. On that account I’ll earth what I’ve said in a few pastoral examples with names changed.

I think of Steve, a young man who holds to these principles who’s been an active member of a political party. The other day he told me he was thinking of a career change because his Christian views were increasingly alien to his Party making him unselectable. He needed my care.

Then Miriam in a same sex relation with twins who in talking to me informally about their baptisms, asked me whether the church could approve their parents union. In that conversation I left the door open for the delightful infants whilst affirming marriage by nature as a physical union of man and woman. I thanked God I wasn’t her parish priest!

Joe who’s gay talked to me about his possible call to the priesthood. I advised him to be honest about his state of life in the discernment process and courageously face up to the House of Bishops guidance that, I quote, on account of ‘the distinctive nature of their calling, status and consecration’ the clergy ‘cannot claim the liberty to enter into sexually active homophile relationships’.

Sally’s a Lesbian active in her Church who has to deal with a lot of hassle from friends in the LGBT community because of her faith. A new report by gay rights charity Stonewall has underlined the bullying LGBT people face from those within and outside of their community. It’s estimated one in ten gay Christians face Sally’s trauma.

On Pride Sunday we think of such folk and the Christian principles that guide them and us. I hope my examples illuminate struggles we should be sympathetic to. Many of us may be in a different place but we’ve all got a duty of care especially to those who belong with us here at St Bartholomew’s.

I can’t resist a poke at Pride as a title which we know as the chief sin. Pride’s the sin that cuts you off from God on account of determined and aloof self sufficiency. LGBT pride’s opposite though isn’t humility but shame. It’s good there’s a movement of inclusion to counter such shame about the way you are which is why we rejoice with those who rejoice this Pride Weekend. Losing shame about how you are doesn’t absolve Pride’s followers from accountability for the way they live their lives, especially  for Christians, commitment to apostolic faith.

We all live in need of mercy. Our sense of our need of mercy is our strongest witness to those in our circle living without belonging, purpose, empowerment, forgiveness or direction to list qualities implied by the Lord’s prayer I mentioned two weeks ago.

As we welcome the bread of God… which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world we seek, each one of us before God’s altar this morning, a deeper sense of his mercy to serve our contribution to the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ… speaking the truth in love we must grow up in every way into him.

Birth of St John the Baptist June 24th 2012

Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’

In today’s Old Testament passage we have a strengthening word and talk of a herald.

When John the Baptist was miraculously born, as the Gospel narrates, his birth was talked about throughout the entire hill country of Judea. He came to be seen as that herald, a voice crying out: In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.


The passage from Acts puts John to the centre of salvation history, which is why his Feast is one of a select few to eclipse the Sunday of the Year. Paul’s speech in Acts 13 talks about God’s choice of Israel and how God has brought to Israel a Saviour, Jesus, as he promised; before his coming John had already proclaimed a baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. And as John was finishing his work, he said, “What do you suppose that I am? I am not he. No, but one is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of the sandals on his feet.


St John the Baptist, next to the Blessed Virgin Mary, is of all mortals most blessed. He beheld the Lamb of God and got others to see the same. His words are with us, enshrined in the liturgy. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.


The collect or special prayer for today speaks of God’s providence behind John’s birth and his witness to Christ adding lead us to repent according to his preaching and, after his example, constantly to speak the truth, boldly to rebuke vice, and patiently to suffer for the truth's sake.


As I read these phrases I recalled last week’s thoughtful and challenging sermon by Cavan Wood with those three points about a dedicated Christian life – obedience, care for the vulnerable and readiness to suffer. I also recalled the current national debate about same-sex marriage and it is that which I want to speak to as part of this morning’s address.

Speaking the truth is costly as John the Baptist discovered when he crossed King Herod. We keep the lesser Feast of John’s beheading by Herod on 29th August!

I hope what I share this morning won’t lead to Father John’s beheading!

Sexual ethics is a minefield for any preacher.

Christians believe sexual intercourse between husband and wife to be a sign of faithfulness and self-giving that mirrors Christ’s love. Sex is about life-giving love. It is about the irrevocable gift of self. Procreation, the associated gift of children, flows ideally from such life-giving love.

Our sexuality is given to joyfully unite husband and wife and generate new life. Just as glue-sniffing distorts the good use of glue, promiscuous sexual activity is a misuse of this great gift for bonding and creating human beings.

Like all God’s gifts sex can be misused. Our Lord spoke to this when he taught that if we look at someone lustfully we’ve already committed adultery. That’s a levelling teaching if ever there was one!

So what about same-sex marriage?

First we should lament uncaring comments about homosexuals made seemingly in the name of Christianity during the current national debate. It’s bad enough to be in a minority without being kicked by those who profess a loving God.

The good news of God’s love is for all people, gay or straight. That truth is basic, so that my main concern as a priest is about orientation towards God rather than sexual orientation.

When people privilege me in seeking spiritual direction – how they can come closer to God – I counsel marriage or celibacy as biblical ideals and warn against cohabitation since, lacking Christian authority, it may quench the Holy Spirit.

At the same time I recognize so much of moral decision making isn’t black or white but the choice between shades of grey. I sympathise as one who shares the confidences of folk struggling towards the ideal. Many of those who so struggle are opposed to dropping the ideal.

In the last fifty years the prevalence of contraception means the so-called ‘unitive’ and ‘procreative’ aspects of sexual intercourse are largely separated so most sex is unitive. It seems unjust in this respect to challenge homosexual sex. It too isn’t procreative but it does unite people, even if it falls short of the two Christian ideals.

Like many I accept the positive value of civil partnerships in providing just protection for same-sex faithful unions before the law.

What I and the Church as a whole can’t accept – and like St John the Baptist I must ‘speak the truth’ – is redefining marriage, changing a sacrament, so as to make a minority group more comfortable. There is far more at stake than gay rights in changing a sacrament.

A same-sex marriage would indeed have two of the three essentials of marriage – permanence and fidelity – but the third, offspring, would be artificial. I recently met a lesbian couple having twins by intervention of a male friend. I assured them of my prayers for their children’s welfare and they assured me they’d be looking for male role models for them to compensate their female parenting.

Many of you may have similar acquaintances. The Christian and widely held view of marriage as between a man and a woman is being challenged across the western world by such developments. The official Church of England response to the government plans to legalise same-sex marriage defends the inherited understanding of marriage and opposes the new idea that men and women are simply interchangeable individuals.

The Church of England as ‘the ancient church of this land, catholic and reformed’ seems to have set its face against reform of the sacrament of marriage to suit homosexuals, holding rather to catholic and universal practice. That is my own position, as with the sacrament of holy orders, that the Church of England lacks authority to change a sacrament unilaterally without the consent of the universal church i.e. Roman Catholic and Orthodox as well as Reformed. Others disagree – not all Anglicans see marriage and ordination as sacraments – and they view Anglicans as Spirit-led pioneers. Time will tell who was on the right side of these church debates.

The atheist gay columnist Matthew Parris who is opposed to same-sex marriage gives me encouragement. He recognizes the basic family-orientation of marriage and the damage that could be done to this by encouraging a solely ‘unitive’ understanding.

The debate will continue. The disestablishment of the Church of England might be a consequence if Church and State end up with different definitions of marriage.

Last Sunday Cavan identified three aspects of a dedicated Christian life – obedience, care for the vulnerable and readiness to suffer. We have the same reminder in today’s Saint who points us to constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake.

Affirming the truth of marriage certainly involves us today in patiently suffering for the truth's sake. In the Same-sex marriage debate our tone is so important though. Rebuking the vice of promiscuity, heterosexual and homosexual has its place, but the vice of homophobia also needs rebuking as part of our care for the vulnerable.

Christianity’s a way of life and it’s one way. There are other ways and we need to have the deepest respect for those who chose other options. Sometimes the most powerful truth we can share is that of our failure to live up to what we see as true and our sense that God accepts us just the same. As we shall say shortly in response to John the Baptist’s words of invitation, ‘Behold the Lamb of God’: Lord, I am not worthy to receive you, but only say the word and I shall be healed.