I want this morning to savour the collect for the 12th Sunday after Trinity so you may find it helpful to look back at the text of it.
It’s dated, like most of our liturgical prayers, before the 7th century so it’s been said or sung in this Church throughout its history. At the Reformation Archbishop Cranmer retained the traditional prayers seeing them as a key element of the continuity of the Church, as was the case in the more extreme Lutheran Reformation. The result is Anglicans, Roman Catholics and Lutherans pray today with the same words Sunday by Sunday. Following their Latin originals the Collects have a flow suitable to their being sung as well as being said.
At St Giles our current selection from Common Worship employs all three traditional liturgical prayers: the Prayer Book Collect and the prayer over the gifts and postcommunion prayer we supplement from the new Roman Catholic translation of their Latin originals.
Like the prayer over the gifts and postcommunion prayers the collects are pretty meaty and run counter to the soundbite culture of 140 character tweets. We need patience to gain from their depth and meaning. That’s why we’re encouraged to take our news sheet home to reflect further on their beauty and challenge as well as that of the Sunday scripture readings.
The Collect is always on the front page of our news sheet. It’s used, at all services during the week, at daily Morning and Evening Prayer and midweek eucharists, unless there’s a Saint’s Day with collect provided. The Collect is preceded by the invitation ‘let us pray’ and a brief silence beforehand so it can truly ‘collect’ our individual prayer aspirations
I’ve said before, to worship here is to stand like dwarves on the giant shoulders of Christian tradition. This tradition is allied to the Holy Spirit only as we own it, and enter into its depths, otherwise it can be emply ritual that goes over our heads. This is why I’m giving a wake up call in specifically speaking to the collect today. I’ve got to admit a certain self-interest however. The different scripture readings in use at 8am and 10am on the last Sunday of the month - Prayer Book Sunday - were a motivator! I’m able to prepare one sermon instead of two!
So let’s read again the Collect for Trinity 12.
Almighty and everlasting God, (who art/you are) always more ready to hear than we to pray and (art wont) to give more than either we desire or deserve: pour down upon us the abundance of (thy/your) mercy, forgiving us those things (whereof/of which) our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask, but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ (thy/your) Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
The original Latin opening runs: Omnipotens sempiterne Deus, qui abundantia pietatis tuae: et merita supplicum excedis et vota which is literally translated: Almighty everliving God, who in the abundance of your kindness, surpass the merits and desires of those who entreat you.(RC 27th Sunday). Or, as in Cranmer, art always more ready to hear than we to pray and (art wont) to give more than either we desire or deserve:
The structure of collects is generally fivefold – first addressing God, second describing God in a way that relates to the forthcoming request, third making the request, fourth in some prayers, though not here, the expected result of the request and fifth the Christian conclusion or doxology. The collect structure is as such a very good guide to making our own individual prayers so they are our teachers.
Trinity 12’s collect addresses God as exceedingly generous: always more ready to hear than we to pray and (art wont) to give more than either we desire or deserve:
That’s a wondrous thought - we could spend the whole week reflecting upon it. The kindness and solicitousness of the best parent or friend is but pale reflection of God’s concern for our good.
After this great affirmation the collect continues with a big ask. Pour down upon us the abundance of (thy/your) mercy, forgiving us those things (whereof/of which) our conscience is afraid, and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask
As Christians we either under or overestimate the miracle of forgiveness.
Some of us, maybe out of knowledge of psychology, minimize our evil traits as being not altogether our own fault. We’re not as struck by the miracle of forgiveness as we should be since we’ve been taught, wrongly, to doubt we need it.
Others are so aware of their accountability they find it hard to ask for forgiveness and end up wallowing in wounded pride, whilst looking a gift horse in the face.
Yet – and this is the miracle - through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our sins, once confessed, are no longer our business before God, save the little business of making restitution to one’s neighbour where that’s necessary.
This miracle of forgiveness links with the resurrection itself.
The One who rose from the dead brought a new beginning that serves new beginnings, day by day, hour by hour, for those who bring him their shortcomings.
It’s no coincidence that collects end with praise to the Trinity starting with a resurrection affirmation Jesus Christ (thy/your) Son our Lord, who is alive and reign(eth)s with (thee/you), in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
I conclude with a quotation from Bishop Wand’s commentary on the end of the Trinity 12 Collect:
If we are conscious of needs that have not been met, there is every reason why we should bring them before God. Certainly we cannot plead our own deserts, but we can plead the merits and mediation of Christ.
Christ, the all-perfect Saviour, takes us by the hand and leads us up the altar-stairs to the great throne of God. God sees us thus in the company of his Son, and seeing there the promise of what we shall be he adopts us not only for his Son’s sake but also for our own. Then he showers his richest blessings on his adopted children.
So be it – Amen!
Sunday, 26 August 2012
Sunday, 19 August 2012
Salvation - Gift, Promise, Choice John 6 Trinity 11 19th August 2012
Has anyone ever asked you if you were saved? How would you answer?
This morning's Gospel has a lot to say about salvation and what it is to be saved. These last few weeks we’ve been reading through the 6th Chapter of St. John's Gospel, a chapter that ends with Peter's famous summary: Lord, to whom shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God.
Salvation, eternal life, is a gift, a promise and a choice - three headings gathering up the teaching of St. John Chapter 6 - so we'll take them one by one!
1. The Gift
Looking over the whole Chapter we see a tremendous emphasis on the wonder and mystery of the gift of Jesus.
The chapter starts with a tale of miraculous feeding. Five thousand are fed - an image of overflowing, wondrous grace.
Then Jesus begins to make many points about this sign, bringing out not just the meaning of that lunch in Tiberias but the ultimate meaning of all things - and how we can enter into that.
The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world he says in the passage we read two weeks ago, v33.
The multiplication of the loaves represents the abundance of life-giving grace that has come to the earth.
Who is the bread of God? He answers, I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever. v51.
What a gift! To live for ever! Always we are longing, we human beings. We long for security, for love, for identity, for purpose and reason for life - and here it is, all of that for which we long, offered at last - through the great mystery of Jesus, God come to earth, lifting earthbound beings to live with him for ever!
To be saved is to welcome the gift of Jesus, the Bread of Heaven. The passage on the Heavenly Bread interprets and brings out the full meaning of the gift we welcome in this service week by week.
Can there be a passage in the Bible which speaks more strongly about the need to participate in the Eucharist than verse 53 of St. John Chapter 6 just read to us: Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
Salvation is about welcoming Jesus - and what he has done by the separating of his body and blood in sacrifice. It is a gift given for us in the coming to earth, dying and rising of Jesus. You can't be saved, says Jesus, by contemplating your navel, by the vague religiosity of crystals and New Age, or even by our efforts for justice and peace, admirable as they are - but by welcoming the gift of Christ into our souls
Salvation is presented there as a gift - and also, secondly as a promise.
2. The Promise
You have the words of eternal life says Peter at the end of the chapter. He is confirming his understanding of the earlier teaching where Jesus makes it clear that when we welcome him we also inherit a promise,the promise of eternal life: Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life
When someone asks you if you are saved they are really touching on whether you feel sure that your life will not be lost when you die.
Are you sure? Do you know that you have eternal life?
I remember someone rather surprisingly asking a holy and thoughtful priest whether he believed in God. There was a long pause. Finally the wise old man replied - I'm not sure, but I'm sure of this - that God believes in me. Those humble, thoughtful words back away from arrogant certainty and they reach powerfully into our spirits.
We may lack belief but that doesn't stop God believing in us. We may be unworthy of salvation - but that does not stop God promising it! If I know I am saved it is because God has promised it to believers and I believe God - I trust God to keep his word to me - the key is knowing the promise.
Evangelism is about spreading good news, which means letting people know about the gift and the promises of God so that they can choose for themselves to believe - which brings us onto the last heading.
3. The Choice
At the end of this sixth chapter of St John’s Gospel we read in v60 that many of the followers of Jesus said, "This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it? And they choose to leave Jesus. He then says to the Twelve later in the passage: What about you, do you want to go away too?
When we contemplate the mystery of Christ we should be profoundly moved, awed by the generosity of God in sending his Son to save us and then giving us the choice of whether we accept him or not.
This is awesome - for us to be given a choice. Awesome, but also perilous for us to be so honoured with freedom to choose in a matter affecting our eternal welfare.
There is a further mystery of how God himself seems to make a hidden choice of those who do respond positively to him, so that our choice of God is almost pre-empted by his choice of us.
What a wonder and a mystery - the choices of God! We are saved by choice not by chance. No one has a right to heaven. You may think you're as good as the next person - but what does that matter when we are talking about having eternal life with God? Who are we, so full of deceit and inadequacy, made of the dust of the earth, full of frailty, to be worthy of God in his holiness?
Only by God's gift and his promise - and our choice of him.
Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.
To whom can we go? There is one giver of salvation who gives us today his flesh and blood as life to our spirit!
You have the words of eternal life You, Jesus, Bread of Life, promise us through our communion with you a quality of life that is in its nature unending.
And we believe Given such a gift and such a promise the choice is ours, to live not by chance but by a definite choice, a choice for Jesus our Saviour, to whom be glory, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
This morning's Gospel has a lot to say about salvation and what it is to be saved. These last few weeks we’ve been reading through the 6th Chapter of St. John's Gospel, a chapter that ends with Peter's famous summary: Lord, to whom shall we go to? You have the message of eternal life, and we believe; we know that you are the Holy One of God.
Salvation, eternal life, is a gift, a promise and a choice - three headings gathering up the teaching of St. John Chapter 6 - so we'll take them one by one!
1. The Gift
Looking over the whole Chapter we see a tremendous emphasis on the wonder and mystery of the gift of Jesus.
The chapter starts with a tale of miraculous feeding. Five thousand are fed - an image of overflowing, wondrous grace.
Then Jesus begins to make many points about this sign, bringing out not just the meaning of that lunch in Tiberias but the ultimate meaning of all things - and how we can enter into that.
The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world he says in the passage we read two weeks ago, v33.
The multiplication of the loaves represents the abundance of life-giving grace that has come to the earth.
Who is the bread of God? He answers, I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever. v51.
What a gift! To live for ever! Always we are longing, we human beings. We long for security, for love, for identity, for purpose and reason for life - and here it is, all of that for which we long, offered at last - through the great mystery of Jesus, God come to earth, lifting earthbound beings to live with him for ever!
To be saved is to welcome the gift of Jesus, the Bread of Heaven. The passage on the Heavenly Bread interprets and brings out the full meaning of the gift we welcome in this service week by week.
Can there be a passage in the Bible which speaks more strongly about the need to participate in the Eucharist than verse 53 of St. John Chapter 6 just read to us: Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
Salvation is about welcoming Jesus - and what he has done by the separating of his body and blood in sacrifice. It is a gift given for us in the coming to earth, dying and rising of Jesus. You can't be saved, says Jesus, by contemplating your navel, by the vague religiosity of crystals and New Age, or even by our efforts for justice and peace, admirable as they are - but by welcoming the gift of Christ into our souls
Salvation is presented there as a gift - and also, secondly as a promise.
2. The Promise
You have the words of eternal life says Peter at the end of the chapter. He is confirming his understanding of the earlier teaching where Jesus makes it clear that when we welcome him we also inherit a promise,the promise of eternal life: Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life
When someone asks you if you are saved they are really touching on whether you feel sure that your life will not be lost when you die.
Are you sure? Do you know that you have eternal life?
I remember someone rather surprisingly asking a holy and thoughtful priest whether he believed in God. There was a long pause. Finally the wise old man replied - I'm not sure, but I'm sure of this - that God believes in me. Those humble, thoughtful words back away from arrogant certainty and they reach powerfully into our spirits.
We may lack belief but that doesn't stop God believing in us. We may be unworthy of salvation - but that does not stop God promising it! If I know I am saved it is because God has promised it to believers and I believe God - I trust God to keep his word to me - the key is knowing the promise.
Evangelism is about spreading good news, which means letting people know about the gift and the promises of God so that they can choose for themselves to believe - which brings us onto the last heading.
3. The Choice
At the end of this sixth chapter of St John’s Gospel we read in v60 that many of the followers of Jesus said, "This is intolerable language. How could anyone accept it? And they choose to leave Jesus. He then says to the Twelve later in the passage: What about you, do you want to go away too?
When we contemplate the mystery of Christ we should be profoundly moved, awed by the generosity of God in sending his Son to save us and then giving us the choice of whether we accept him or not.
This is awesome - for us to be given a choice. Awesome, but also perilous for us to be so honoured with freedom to choose in a matter affecting our eternal welfare.
There is a further mystery of how God himself seems to make a hidden choice of those who do respond positively to him, so that our choice of God is almost pre-empted by his choice of us.
What a wonder and a mystery - the choices of God! We are saved by choice not by chance. No one has a right to heaven. You may think you're as good as the next person - but what does that matter when we are talking about having eternal life with God? Who are we, so full of deceit and inadequacy, made of the dust of the earth, full of frailty, to be worthy of God in his holiness?
Only by God's gift and his promise - and our choice of him.
Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.
To whom can we go? There is one giver of salvation who gives us today his flesh and blood as life to our spirit!
You have the words of eternal life You, Jesus, Bread of Life, promise us through our communion with you a quality of life that is in its nature unending.
And we believe Given such a gift and such a promise the choice is ours, to live not by chance but by a definite choice, a choice for Jesus our Saviour, to whom be glory, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever. Amen.
Sunday, 29 July 2012
Trinity 8 (17th of Year B) 29th July 2012
The Olympics are here and the whole world is coming to London.
They’re coming either by plane or London’s going to them by satellite.
International travel has its moments as many of us will know.
Pity the Japanese tourist who took the train to Heathrow for a flight to Reading. She asked in broken English for Turkey and they put her on the night train to Torquay. The police found her wandering along the sea front of Torquay in the early morning looking for the Church of Santa Sophia on the Bosphorus. She thought she’d gone through the Channel Tunnel to Turkey!
We should never minimise the implications of miscommunication. Just one mistaken word for this lady took her dramatically off course.
How about communicating what we stand for as Christians?
I think the two main things we need to get across are these: God is good and the Church is OK.
Let’s take God’s goodness first.
Deep down people want to believe there’s a good God. It’s when they encounter horrid things and horrid people that faith crumbles. To use my story as an analogy, they get misled from Christianity and head for Torquay not Turkey – apologies to the West Country!
I have regular conversations with people in the village who question God’s goodness in the face of evil. They run, say on the Oregon cinema shootings, ‘what a waste of life – how can God allow it?’
No full answer can be given but, given chance, I would say I saw God’s goodness in the young man who gave himself for his girl friend by throwing himself over her to die in a hail of bullets.
No full answer can be given but, given chance, I would say I saw God’s goodness in the young man who gave himself for his girl friend by throwing himself over her to die in a hail of bullets.
If you condemn the Creator for the wickedness in the world you’re mainly condemning him for granting human beings the freedom to make their own choices.
70% of all website ‘hits’ worldwide are to pornographic sites. Would you use that as an excuse to condemn the internet when it hosts so many valuable social networks?
When it generates so much creativity through the sharing of ideas?
You have to take the rough with the smooth and that’s a truth that goes right into the heart of God. The Cross of Jesus shows what wickedness does to God (1 Peter 2:24). Can you look at the Cross and say he doesn’t care about it? In Christian faith we have a God who suffers along with us, and comforts us in our weakness. God uses our suffering, as he did even in that Oregon cinema, to help us support one another in the face of evil.
As Christians we’ll always struggle to communicate to non-believers that God is good. We can argue as I’ve just done but our arguments are often undermined by our lifestyle. Our living a good life counts most in getting God’s goodness over to others. We need ‘to walk the talk’. For that we need God’s help, which is one reason we’re here on a Sunday.
God is good and the Church is OK. Do you believe it? Unless you do you’ll never be an evangelist.
There’s a widespread perception that Christians are hypocrites.
A hypocrite is someone who pretends. I don’t pretend Jesus has the truth or is the truth – I know it - but I try also not to pretend I fall short of him.
It’s hard!
If someone says they believe in Jesus, but his followers are hypocrites, they’re partly right. They’ll need advising that if they follow Jesus they too will get called hypocrites. It goes with the calling.
Jesus gives us a vision. We try to live up to it - and we fail.
Where would we be though without the vision Jesus gives? We’d be heading for Torquay not Turkey! We’d have a wrong aim in life.
Having his standards is like having your alarm clock set half an hour ahead to make sure you’re never late!
Jesus taught things that would keep us on our toes, pressing forwards towards his perfect standard.
Forgive your brother or sister from your heart he says (Matthew 18:35). Everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart (Matthew ). Do not worry about your life (Matthew ).
I regularly confess I fall short. Jesus teaches we should confess. Every church service includes confessing our failings. Jesus never said his followers would live up to him, but he did say they should strive to be perfect as our heavenly Father is perfect (Matthew ).
In the Bible we read how people who cheated other people came to Jesus and were forgiven - people who’d stolen - who’d sold their bodies for sex – all came to Jesus and were welcomed.
Ephesians Chapter 2 verse 4 says God is rich in mercy. If someone tells me they believe in Jesus but Christians are hypocrites I’ll tell them how the mercy of God covers my sins.
I’ll tell them of the God and Father of Jesus who loves sinners and gives them not what they most deserve but what they most need.
If the church falls short of Jesus it’s also true that Christians need the church.
When people complain about the non-Ok-ness of the Church I ask them how I can better get close to Jesus than through the church?
Where else can I hear God’s word expounded? Or encounter the Lord by praying with other believers? Or welcome the promised Holy Spirit?
Where but in the fellowship of the Christian church can I receive the spiritual food of the precious body and blood of Jesus in Holy Communion?
A great evangelist had a fireside chat with a young man who insisted you could believe in Jesus without going to church.
Having reminded him that faith in Jesus grows up in a community, the evangelist reached down for the fire tongs and took hold of a brightly burning coal.
As he held it aloft the two men saw it change from red to orange to black. The young man was in church the next Sunday!
Even if there is hypocrisy in the church Jesus is there also, among his people, waiting to warm their souls.
That’s the best answer we can give. It’s Jesus’ own answer. Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them (Matthew )
Here we are - gathered before a good God in a church that’s being made OK by him through what he is to give us this morning in word and sacrament.
Saturday, 14 July 2012
Trinity 6 Sunday 15th July 2012
It’s the preacher’s default to distil the three readings into one truth and spell that truth out to mind, heart and will.
This week for a change I’m going to resist that and take the readings one by one in their own right.
On this 15th Ordinary Sunday and sixth Sunday after Trinity we have:
Amos 7.7-15 which gives insight into the necessary tension between where a religious body is and where it should be moving to.
Ephesians 1.3-14 which is the earliest eucharistic prayer listing with thanksgiving the great blessings of Christian faith.
Mark 6.14-29 which describes how St John the Baptist lost his head.
So let’s start with Amos. Scripture calls him a prophet but he himself denies it if you look at the end of the first reading. I am no prophet, nor a prophet’s son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, “Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”
In scripture prophets and priests are linked respectively to challenging and maintaining the status quo. In our passage Amaziah, the priest of Bethel is a sort of Dean of Westminster Abbey of his day as an appointee of the King of Israel. Even the band of prophets were King’s men in those days. This is why Amos says he’s no prophet’s son. Though a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, God took him saying “Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”
Last Sunday our status quo as a religious community was challenged as we reflected together. Was Fr Keith an Amos like figure? Whatever – but I felt there was something of a shaking out of complacency as God, set a plumb line or marker against us.
We were reminded that we need more church members and all of us need to take more responsibility for bringing them in.
I would go further: sheep produce sheep, not shepherds. If 8th July raises more fervour for each one to reach one that will prove its worth for the inspiring half day it was.
Then we heard how we as a church are ‘fundamentally uncool’ to young people. That’s unsettling! More so our priest isn’t so cool – positively discomforting!
If the Holy Spirit is the Comforter he’s also the dis-comforter. As he used Amos, he’ll use some of the thoughts received last Sunday to get us all on our toes, priest and people. Please pray for Thursday’s PCC as we shape up our strategy from Sunday’s input.
The Ephesians passage counts God’s blessings, as we also had reason to do last Sunday. If you weren’t there - I announced a grant of £50,000 towards enlarging and upgrading the Martindale kitchen, converting the toilet by the main entrance into a disabled WC and forming a large window in the north wall of the main hall. This grant from the Verity Waterlow Trust has been augmented by a £10,000 gift from Derek Crowson leaving us £10,000 short of the £70,000 we need for the work. Last Sunday another £1,000 was pledged towards this work, set for mid-November, and further donations are welcome to bridge the funding gap of £9,000.
When people are generous with God they’re giving back in gratitude for all God gives to them. Just look through that second reading...It speaks of our adoption as God’s children, our redemption through Christ’s blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, ...the obtain(ing of) an inheritance...and the seal of the... Holy Spirit.
God who’s given us his dear Son Jesus Christ has given us all things in him. The money to be invested in the Martindale furthers God’s plan in Horsted Keynes that’s part of his plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
One of the challenges set forth last Sunday was to build relationships between the church and the village, especially through the Martindale, so all that we know to be precious, the things Paul lists in the reading, may be made evident to those around us.
Through the various enterprises in the Martindale church members and non-church members engage. Through our prayers, and its refurbishment, we look to them engaging with St Giles more fruitfully for the good of young and old in Horsted Keynes.
I said earlier that Ephesians 1.3-14 is one of the earliest eucharistic prayers – eucharistic meaning thanksgiving. The passage lists God’s mighty work among us in Jesus Christ. Our facilitator spoke of critical mass and the mass as critical. Of St Giles need to build a critical mass eg of youth for outreach and also to see the mass or eucharist as critical since it has in it the wherewithal to help us do what God wants us to do.
The more thankful we are, the more we live Ephesians 1 and the eucharist, the less inhibited we’ll be by pride and foolish self reliance as a Christian community. Self reliance is the major obstacle to hearts opening and being enthused by Jesus Christ who calls us as a church into greater dependence upon him.
In the Gospel account from Mark 6 of John’s beheading I was tempted to see my own fate as uncool leader of an uncool church! When the Bishop of Guyana was with us last week he’d wisdom about engaging youth. Yes John the Baptist got beheaded for his forthrightness but he also won respect from his hearers for it, and a place in the church calendar. People, young people especially, as Bishop Moss reminded us, feel they can engage with folk who’ve a definite and not a shifting world view. It’s the people prepared at times to tell us it as it is that are end up being most formative in our lives.
I visited an atheist recently who dragged me over the coals for an hour but for all of that I sensed he was in serious pursuit of the truth that I am about, despite the time he gave me. So with King Herod and St John the Baptist. When Herod heard John, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him.
Truth speaks to power. Christianity is true. There is a God who both made us and loves us. As we witness to that, something inside of people is stirred, even if, as Fr Keith reminded us last Sunday, surveys show that it takes seven such stirrings before folk start coming to church.
For 1000 years the Christian community here at St Giles has been a generation away from extinction. The truth of what we stand for is a counter to the powerful apathy and unbelief around us. We shouldn’t lose heart but take courage to be forthright at time about the truth we share - even if it costs. You won’t lose your head in Horsted Keynes!
If there is a theme through today it is prophetic in that way. Amos and John the Baptist encourage us to speak the truth God lays on our hearts with courage and prudence. Paul in our second reading calls us to fresh awareness of all God has given us in Christ which will energise our faith.
In seeking a critical Mass for growth here we shall indeed do well to see the Mass as critical. Let’s then be open now in a quiet moment to what God is giving us this morning in the table of the word and the altar of communion so we can gratefully seize upon his leading.
This week for a change I’m going to resist that and take the readings one by one in their own right.
On this 15th Ordinary Sunday and sixth Sunday after Trinity we have:
Amos 7.7-15 which gives insight into the necessary tension between where a religious body is and where it should be moving to.
Ephesians 1.3-14 which is the earliest eucharistic prayer listing with thanksgiving the great blessings of Christian faith.
Mark 6.14-29 which describes how St John the Baptist lost his head.
So let’s start with Amos. Scripture calls him a prophet but he himself denies it if you look at the end of the first reading. I am no prophet, nor a prophet’s son; but I am a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, and the Lord took me from following the flock, and the Lord said to me, “Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”
In scripture prophets and priests are linked respectively to challenging and maintaining the status quo. In our passage Amaziah, the priest of Bethel is a sort of Dean of Westminster Abbey of his day as an appointee of the King of Israel. Even the band of prophets were King’s men in those days. This is why Amos says he’s no prophet’s son. Though a herdsman, and a dresser of sycamore trees, God took him saying “Go, prophesy to my people Israel.”
Last Sunday our status quo as a religious community was challenged as we reflected together. Was Fr Keith an Amos like figure? Whatever – but I felt there was something of a shaking out of complacency as God, set a plumb line or marker against us.
We were reminded that we need more church members and all of us need to take more responsibility for bringing them in.
I would go further: sheep produce sheep, not shepherds. If 8th July raises more fervour for each one to reach one that will prove its worth for the inspiring half day it was.
Then we heard how we as a church are ‘fundamentally uncool’ to young people. That’s unsettling! More so our priest isn’t so cool – positively discomforting!
If the Holy Spirit is the Comforter he’s also the dis-comforter. As he used Amos, he’ll use some of the thoughts received last Sunday to get us all on our toes, priest and people. Please pray for Thursday’s PCC as we shape up our strategy from Sunday’s input.
The Ephesians passage counts God’s blessings, as we also had reason to do last Sunday. If you weren’t there - I announced a grant of £50,000 towards enlarging and upgrading the Martindale kitchen, converting the toilet by the main entrance into a disabled WC and forming a large window in the north wall of the main hall. This grant from the Verity Waterlow Trust has been augmented by a £10,000 gift from Derek Crowson leaving us £10,000 short of the £70,000 we need for the work. Last Sunday another £1,000 was pledged towards this work, set for mid-November, and further donations are welcome to bridge the funding gap of £9,000.
When people are generous with God they’re giving back in gratitude for all God gives to them. Just look through that second reading...It speaks of our adoption as God’s children, our redemption through Christ’s blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, ...the obtain(ing of) an inheritance...and the seal of the... Holy Spirit.
God who’s given us his dear Son Jesus Christ has given us all things in him. The money to be invested in the Martindale furthers God’s plan in Horsted Keynes that’s part of his plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
One of the challenges set forth last Sunday was to build relationships between the church and the village, especially through the Martindale, so all that we know to be precious, the things Paul lists in the reading, may be made evident to those around us.
Through the various enterprises in the Martindale church members and non-church members engage. Through our prayers, and its refurbishment, we look to them engaging with St Giles more fruitfully for the good of young and old in Horsted Keynes.
I said earlier that Ephesians 1.3-14 is one of the earliest eucharistic prayers – eucharistic meaning thanksgiving. The passage lists God’s mighty work among us in Jesus Christ. Our facilitator spoke of critical mass and the mass as critical. Of St Giles need to build a critical mass eg of youth for outreach and also to see the mass or eucharist as critical since it has in it the wherewithal to help us do what God wants us to do.
The more thankful we are, the more we live Ephesians 1 and the eucharist, the less inhibited we’ll be by pride and foolish self reliance as a Christian community. Self reliance is the major obstacle to hearts opening and being enthused by Jesus Christ who calls us as a church into greater dependence upon him.
In the Gospel account from Mark 6 of John’s beheading I was tempted to see my own fate as uncool leader of an uncool church! When the Bishop of Guyana was with us last week he’d wisdom about engaging youth. Yes John the Baptist got beheaded for his forthrightness but he also won respect from his hearers for it, and a place in the church calendar. People, young people especially, as Bishop Moss reminded us, feel they can engage with folk who’ve a definite and not a shifting world view. It’s the people prepared at times to tell us it as it is that are end up being most formative in our lives.
I visited an atheist recently who dragged me over the coals for an hour but for all of that I sensed he was in serious pursuit of the truth that I am about, despite the time he gave me. So with King Herod and St John the Baptist. When Herod heard John, he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him.
Truth speaks to power. Christianity is true. There is a God who both made us and loves us. As we witness to that, something inside of people is stirred, even if, as Fr Keith reminded us last Sunday, surveys show that it takes seven such stirrings before folk start coming to church.
For 1000 years the Christian community here at St Giles has been a generation away from extinction. The truth of what we stand for is a counter to the powerful apathy and unbelief around us. We shouldn’t lose heart but take courage to be forthright at time about the truth we share - even if it costs. You won’t lose your head in Horsted Keynes!
If there is a theme through today it is prophetic in that way. Amos and John the Baptist encourage us to speak the truth God lays on our hearts with courage and prudence. Paul in our second reading calls us to fresh awareness of all God has given us in Christ which will energise our faith.
In seeking a critical Mass for growth here we shall indeed do well to see the Mass as critical. Let’s then be open now in a quiet moment to what God is giving us this morning in the table of the word and the altar of communion so we can gratefully seize upon his leading.
Sunday, 8 July 2012
Vision day sermon by the Rector Sunday 8th July 2012
This morning’s eucharist extends to include our vision day and so this sermon will have a ‘state of the church’ feel.
In today’s Old Testament reading we heard how Israel united around David as King. This contrasts with St Mark’s account of the controversy that surrounded and still surrounds the Son of David, Jesus Christ.
Where did this man get all this? They say. Is not this the carpenter?
Who is this Jesus? remains the question central to the church’s vision and mission. Is this person what the creed says he is - God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God - or is he not?
Belief in the divinity of Christ is as heavily eroded in Horsted Keynes as in any part of our post-Christian society. I say this on the basis of a good number of conversations with locals. The historic divisions of Christianity between Catholic, Evangelical and Liberal shrink before this greater division.
Is Jesus the Son of God or is he not? We believe he is. How do we best live and act to as to intrigue people about Jesus so they see in him the God who made them and loves them? How can St Giles Church better help our village believe in God Father, Son and Holy Spirit? That’s going to be the biggest question for St Giles Church in any generation - being true to what and who we’re founded for.
As a small community within a small community we feel the rub of the words said about Jesus in today’s Gospel: ‘prophets are not without honour, except in their home town’. Villagers see us and they also see through us. It’s hard to do evangelism in a ‘knocking on doors’ form in a village. We ‘just’ need to get ourselves to be more intriguing Christians. I say ‘just’ – in Guyana we have a frustrating phrase people use when asked to do something which is ‘just now’. It can mean anything from a minute to a month! Becoming an intriguing Christian community is a Guyanese ‘just now’ business. It’s not a ‘fast food’ process but ‘slow cooking’ as we open ourselves to scripture, sacrament and the disciplines of prayer and spiritual direction.
I’ve got great expectations of today in that God is with us and we must expect great things of him - but I can’t see any short cut to the call we each of us have to immerse ourselves more fully in the Holy Spirit through renewed discipleship. We can’t be disciples without discipline.
The three headings of our current Mission Action Plan appeal to such wholeheartedness. Our MAP is about perceived needs and serving them in an ongoing way.
Within the big vision we share as a church – God’s glory and the salvation of the world – we have a focus: renewing our worship, engaging with youth and families and enhancing our buildings.
Three years on how are we delivering on these and what are the areas of need some of us might supply as the Lord leads them?
First renewing worship. Later on we want more of your wisdom. On the Looking Forward programme card we listed some achievements like the lay involvement in prayer ministry for individuals now offered after the monthly all age eucharist. This involved 10 people in training with Acorn Christian foundation. Then our monthly St Giles night has been largely concerned to provide a spiritual focus. You can be sure of that on Tuesday when we go Caribbean at the Rectory with the Bishop of Guyana! The card mentions the extra midweek eucharists. Quite often we get into double figures now.
Where are there openings to serve? We need another Sacristan to work with Colin and Lisa. Are there musicians keen to form an occasional band? Are there singers keen to join an occasional adult choir? Are there church members ready to share about how their faith relates to their life and work? A number of our members missing on Sunday due to work and family pressures gain spiritual nourishment in London Churches or elsewhere. Renewing worship is about refreshing our spiritual lives and we all gain from those ready to share how they do it, as Simon Witheridge shared earlier in the year. Renewing the prayerfulness of those who worship comes before changing service formats important as they are.
Our second mission action priority has been to engage with youth and families. Later on we want your wisdom on more helpful action. On the card we mention how Sunday Club continues apace thanks to Anne, Chris, Helen, Val and helpers. The monthly Junior Choir is at a turning point now Laura has stepped down. Liaison with the school is close thanks to Marion and both the governors and school assembly teams. I’m sure there is potential for mission unrealised in our Church School and some of you will have ideas on this. First Steps builds links with young families thanks to the team led by Chris who’s also involved in recovering the village youth club provision.
How can we better engage with youth and families? I suggest we all pray harder about this as so many pressures are against us. There’s talk of a family friendly happening after the monthly all age eucharist. Filling in for Laura may be as simple as this. Katie, Chris and parents could lead if someone volunteered to accompany choir on the piano for half an hour on Monday’s at 6pm. There must be a good few who play the piano in Church this morning. The next Choir is on St Giles Festival on 9th September.
Our third mission action priority has been to enhance buildings for better witness.
Over the last three years we’ve seen a lot of work on church primarily the refurbishment of the sacristy and vestry areas, the stabilising of the spire and introduction of glazed doors as well as the new high altar kneeler. The porch is now more of a welcoming statement. Friends of Horsted Keynes Church have formed up, a great lift to us all at St Giles. A lot of work has gone into agreeing the best site for a church toilet and we are in conversation with individuals whose generosity may help to move paper plans into a process of consultation and delivery but we’re talking hundreds of thousands. Such building plans put a sharp perspective on our finances and the failure to pay our parish share in full. The answer to this lies in church growth - getting more folk coming to Church - for which this day might be an inspiration. Meanwhile David and the finance team are working on a five year finance plan that will be affected by next month’s five yearly inspection of Church.
The second prong of the enhancing of buildings for better use concerning the Martindale has no such red or amber light but a green one. I can announce exceedingly good news - a grant of £50,000 towards enlarging and upgrading the kitchen, converting the toilet by the main entrance into a disabled WC and forming a large window in the north wall of the main hall. This comes from the Verity Waterlow Trust set up from the endowment of a lady at Westall House who left her estate to benefit the elderly in Horsted Keynes and Forest Row. The grant comes conditional on our funding the additional cost of the works. David Jenkins has drawn up plans and obtained five quotations, the lowest of which is approx £70,000 including a contingency sum. Mr Crowson has put his name down for £10,000 of the outstanding sum of £20,000 required. The PCC has acted in faith to underwrite the remaining £10,000 towards the refurbishment so that the work can proceed in the autumn. We are seeking funding from villagers as well as applying to trusts outside the parish sympathetic to the Martindale’s service of the community. You can see the plans today and we would welcome donations to bridge the funding gap of £10,000.
I hope what I’ve shared is both encouraging and challenging. God in Christ is at work among us answering our prayers and challenging us to deeper discipleship. In some ways St Giles stands distinctive, over against the community, in proclaiming Jesus Christ as Unique Son of God and Saviour. In other ways we stand alongside the village favoured by much good will, as in the Martindale refurbishment. There is work to do, nevertheless, and we want all aboard on this progressing work.
Sunday, 1 July 2012
Trinity 4 1st July 2012
I want us to get into the gospel reading this morning. We stood with attention to hear it read because the church bids us hear the words and acts of Jesus as if he were present to speak and act today. It’s that sort of understanding I want to hold you to as we sit and read it again together in four sections.
Verses 21-24 When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered round him; and he was by the lake. 22Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet 23and begged him repeatedly, ‘My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live.’ 24So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him.
Some background information. By Mark Chapter 5 we see Jesus getting well into his public ministry which is continually opposed by the Jewish leaders. Jairus was a Jewish leader and came from a group in Capernaum opposed to what Jesus was teaching about God being God of all and not just God of the Jews.
Why did Jairus approach Jesus? He was in deep trouble and must have sensed behind the arguments people had with Jesus something about this man that could help. Very often I find people who don’t want the church’s preaching are more than happy to receive the church’s prayer. Jairus came also out of love for his daughter. People want the best for their children.
How did Jesus respond? He made himself immediately available. I was at a priests’ meeting two weeks ago when we were reminded that availability is part of sacrifice and at the heart of the ministerial priesthood. Jesus didn’t put Jairus on his to do list he went with him right away.
Let’s read on v35-37. As we do so I should note the Gosepl passage selected skips over v25-34, the account of the healing of the woman with an issue of blood who touches his cloak on the way to Jairus’ house which explains the first phrase While he was still speaking:
35 While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader’s house to say, ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ 36But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, ‘Do not fear, only believe.’ 37He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James.
His friends came to break the sad news to Jairus. ‘Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?’ It was only natural to stop Jesus coming. All was over. But was it? In dealing with Jesus we’re dealing with God in human form and the possibilities of God exceed human imagination. As we heard in the first reading God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living (rather he) created us for incorruption, and made us in the image of his own eternity. Christ’s resurrection revealed his divinity. It helps us look death in the face. Here in the raising of Jairus’ daughter we see the trailer if you like to the great drama to come.
Do not fear, only believe. Put faith in the One who is stronger than the evil you fear. To put faith in God – in Jesus – is to recognise your humble place and to invite the greatness of God to touch our situation. Two men looked through prison bars. One saw mud and one saw stars. The woman or man of faith has an eye trained above and not too down to earth. These words of Jesus are an encouragement as we approach our vision day next Sunday knowing something of our needs as a Church – a new choir leader is needed for example. Where will they come from? Do not fear, only believe.
37He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. Perhaps these three were privileged because their faith in Jesus was that bit firmer than the rest.
Let’s read v38-40 38When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39When he had entered, he said to them, ‘Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping.’ 40And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child’s father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was.
Mark’s Gospel is the earliest and simplest of the four. Sometimes you can see the raw account he gives tidied up in Matthew and Luke who largely copy Mark. What an emotional roller coaster you see in these verses as the people turn from weeping and wailing loudly so that they laughed at Jesus. When we lose someone we love it can feel as if our whole being is torn apart emotions and all. Jesus himself knew this. We know he wept once at the death of (his) a friend (Lazarus).
(Any one know who Jesus once wept for? The shortest verse in the Bible - John 11v35 - Lazarus.)
The child is not dead but sleeping. In those words Jesus tells us the full picture of death. Death is a sleep from which there will be an awakening for judgement. This is why we have St Giles cemetery which means, from the Greek, St Giles ‘sleeping place’. It is this understanding that lies behind church and school rules that honour and preserve the peace of the cemetery.
Let’s read the last section verses 41-43 41He took her by the hand and said to her, ‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ 42And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. 43He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.
In v40 we read how Jesus put them all outside before he worked his miracle. Those who making so much noise and who lacked faith were a hindrance to what he was about.
Notice the determination of Jesus. When we bring God into a situation he helps settle and determine things.
‘Talitha cum’, which means, ‘Little girl, get up!’ Here rarely, because the Gospels were written in Greek, we’re given the actual words spoken by Jesus in Aramaic. In those days little girls weren’t thought of as highly as they are today. It was an extraordinary thing for Jesus to leave the crowd to visit a young girl and speak in love to her as he did. Jesus Christ, though for his own reasons he excluded women from his apostles, did more to raise the profile and dignity of women than any other major religious leader in history.
So we have the miracle, a great wonder as Jairus’ daughter is resuscitated. And a lovely last touch, reminding us that God is never unconcerned about our lesser matters, he told them to give her something to eat.
So we meet with Jesus this morning knowing not only will he give us himself as food in the eucharist but that he is concerned to give us this day our daily bread.
We meet with Jesus who would make himself as available to you and I by his Spirit as he made himself available to Jairus in the days of his flesh.
We come to Jesus without fear but with belief, to put faith in One who is stronger than all the evils we fear. We come to Church this morning to put faith in God and to invite his love and his greatness to touch our situation and to lift us as he lifted Jairus’ daughter.
Sunday, 24 June 2012
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.
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.
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