Missing the Mission

As the countdown tentatively begins towards my priesting, I am struck by the size of the task ahead of me. First, there is the fact that my poor Bishop has again suffered a major blow to his health which does put a small question-mark over whether the ordination will go ahead as planned. He is adamant that it will, and so I remain confident that all will take place as the Diocese expects.

However, underlying this injury, there is something that is really bugging me. I am reminded of the text: "And Jesus saith unto them, All ye shall be offended because of me this night: for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered." (St Mark xiv.27) Our Lord, in His inimitable fashion, is drawing us to the prophecy of Zechariah.

And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends. Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd , and the sheep shall be scattered : and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones.  And it shall come to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.  And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God. (Zechariah xiii.6-9)

It's rather disconcerting to think that our shepherd has been smitten again, and this naturally calls us to question whether there is something going on spiritually. Is the ACC being smitten in order to be purified? Or is our witness becoming dangerous to those who would that the Word of God be suppressed? If you have seen The Omen (1976), there is a remarkably staged scene with a pane of glass which halts one protagonist from removing the devil-child from the Earth.

As Christians in the U.K., we do face an increasingly uphill battle to broadcast our Faith to a society that describes itself as post-Christian. The main trouble is that most people have a very straw-man view of what Christianity is about or take their superficial experience of it as being true of the whole. As I walk through  the streets, youngsters shout, "praise the Lord!" intending to be ironic, but failing to realise that their flesh has just done that which they will not to willingly. Their assumption is that I am an evangelical Gospel preacher! I really don't think that I look like such a character. I've also been asked to bless a chap so that he can get back some money owed to him, as if God is a genie who specialises in bailiff duties.

The trouble is that so many people think they have Christianity summed up. While I appreciate that the Church has been indeed hypocritical and, at times, wholly unrepresentative of the God in which we believe, this doesn't render our Religion null and void. Indeed, our failings are predicted again and again in the very text that we hold dear. Christianity is all about the failure of humanity to be truly human and how it took God to show us how, not only by example, but also by giving us the opportunity to be perfected in Him. Even then, this is only a fragment of the situation.

There are just so many false assumptions that people make about Christianity. The Problem of Evil is indeed a problem that we all face, but it is also a problem for atheists as well as theists. Indeed, Alvin Plantinga has demonstrated that the Eurythphro dilemma has a plausible solution, reconciling the existence of evil with the existence of an omnipotent, omniscient and omnibenevolent God. Of course, if an Atheist wants to prove the non-existence of God, the sure-fire way is to assume that God exists and show that this leads to a complete contradiction. I don't see many atheists taking that challenge up seriously.

If Christians are to present a good case to society, then the Mission must lie in challenging the assumptions that are being made. This means listening to the stereotypes, misconceptions and even the hatred that people have for what they perceive the Church to be. Yes, there are concerns with some of the ways things have been done and the Church will have to account for its errors, but those errors are not doctrinal, but rather political and pastoral.

What does the Lord command? To make disciples of all nations. To baptise in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. And also...

After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither  he himself would come. Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among  wolves. Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way. And into whatsoever  house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again. And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say,  Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. (St Luke x.1-11)

What is interesting here is that there is no question of trying to convert people by browbeating. The disciples are called to be doctors, healing all those who are ill or in pain. The Mission is about being uplifting, bringing the Kingdom of God near enough to people for them to see it and have the option of taking it into themselves. It is a Mission of showing God to people and for them to recognise His image in themselves. Atheists like to tell us that we don't think they can be good. We know that this is not true but we must show them, not force them to accept precepts they don't care about.

This calls for an enormous amount of faith on our part, and it is something that we should pray carefully about, because God wants labourers for His harvest. We can possess all kinds of things which we believe will help us to do the task, but God sends us out without them asking us to trust totally in Him. Only then do we receive from God the gifts that He wants to give us which we cannot carry if we are already carrying the baggage we've brought with us hitherto.

Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.  Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. (St Luke x.19-20)

So we see, we simply have to put our trust in God and watch Him at work in us, but somehow we need to go out and do something. Boy, that is such a frightening thought! But then, God is not expecting us to do it all at once. There will be a place for us where we have to stay. We have to be faithful to that place because in that place we will have all that we need to get by. Masses and sacraments are fundamental to our experience of the real and living God, but people need to know that they are available. Indeed, they have to be brought into the community as a sure outward sign of the grace that God gives us. We remember that the Church is a sacrament in itself.

It is clear that we are supposed to take our time, but we cannot bide our time always. Our prayer lives should be active and our listening profound. We must set aside things of which we have no immediate need and we need to trust God. We also need to remember that while the task is big for us, it is not so big for Emmanuel - God with us.

Christianity: Meet the family!

Sermon preached at Our Lady of Walsingham and St Francis, Rochester on Fathers’ Day 16^th June 2013

 

In your opinion,

what is the most important thing

a father has to have?

 

Does he have to be loving?

 Kind?

 Fun?

Able to change a dirty nappy

without the need for a clothes peg

on his nose?

 Generous?

Firm?

 Even-tempered?

Patient? Able to be able

to withstand being hit on the nose

by a well-aimed doll?

 

Actually,

the most important thing a father has to have

 is a child in the first place.

 

You cannot be a father,

or a mother for that matter,

without a child.

 

What makes a father a father,

and a mother a mother

is having someone to call son or daughter.

 

Of course,

it is the quality of that relationship

that determines whether

you are a good father or mother.

 

 

Most of us would agree

that to be a good parent,

you need to be loving,

kind and self-sacrificing,

and very, very patient.

 

Is it possible to be loving,

 kind, self-sacrificing and patient

 and not be a parent?

 

[PAUSE]

 

It is while Jesus is teaching

 Pharisees, Scribes and the general people

 that someone comes up to him and says,

 "Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without,

 desiring to speak with thee."

 

And Jesus makes the strange reply,

"Who is my mother?

and who are my brethren?"

 

He stretches out his hand to His disciples and says, 

"Behold my mother and my brethren!

 

For whosoever shall do

the will of my Father which is in heaven,

the same is my brother, and sister, and mother."

 

So it seems that whoever is loving

is indeed a brother or sister

or even mother of Jesus.

 

 

 The Lord is clearly talking about 

a family relationship that

He has with each of His disciples.

 

We might be able to understand

what it is to have the Lord as a brother,

but can we really see ourselves as His mother?

 

The Blessed Virgin cannot be described

as anyone other than Jesus' mother,

 but she is mother in a deeper sense

 that just a human family relationship.

 

She is Mother of God

and that fact cannot be denied.

 

She is not the mother of the just human bit of Jesus,

 because the Lord's human bit and divine bit

simply cannot be separated like that.

 

In calling his disciples his mother, 

Our Lord is not cheapening

Our Lady's relationship with Him

but rather extending her relationship with Him

 to us.

 

If we are the Lord's brethren,

then Mary becomes our mother too.

 

Nonetheless,

if we love one another

-      which is the will of God, after all,

we are His brothers,

sisters and mother.

 

But not father.

 

Why not?

 

[PAUSE]

 

 

To His local community of Nazareth,

Jesus will always be the son of St Joseph,

and yet have you noticed how little we hear

 about St Joseph after the Nativity stories?

 

It seems reasonable to accept the tradition

that St Joseph died before Our Lord started His ministry

and so ceases to be counted among the disciples.

 

It's also true to say that

whenever the Lord mentions His Father,

He is referring to The Father

– God the Father Almighty,

 Maker of Heaven and Earth.

 

It seems, then,

that we can never be regarded as Jesus’ Father

even when we are the best disciples

and this would be right.

 

The relationship between

God the Father and God the Son

 is utterly unique in all of reality.

 

Even so, we know that

God the Father cannot be a father without God the Son,

and God the Son cannot be a son

without the Father.

 

If the disciples can never be regarded as Jesus’ Father,

why do priests get called “Father”?

 

[PAUSE]

 

We know that Jesus teaches to “call no man father”.

 

He thus denounces anyone who seeks to be called “father”

 simply for the respect and status that it appears to give.

As we have seen, we can’t even call God,

 “Father” without realizing that He has a Son.

 

So to a good priest,

 being called “father” can only call up thoughts

 of having people for whom he has a duty of care.

 

When a good priest hears “father”,

he hears “father of whom?”

and remembers that he is under the direst penalties

 if he fails to look after anyone

whom the Heavenly Father

has entrusted to Him.

 

Those direst penalties will come

from within the priest himself.

 

A good priest truly loves his congregation

as his own flesh and blood.

 

It goes the other way too.

 

If we want good priests to thrive in our Church,

 then we have to support them fully in their ministry

in the same way that a child would want

 their good father to be able to continue

 to support them.

 

The respect that comes with being a father

is fundamentally conditional on the love

that the father invests into his children.

 

 Often, this is not always done and the results are deeply painful.

 

Fathers and priests are not perfect

and neither are children and congregations.

 

That’s a fact and not an indictment.

There are character flaws

and mistakes

and even the most grievous unkindnesses

 that come from the fallenness of our nature.

 

If we want our community

– our family –

to grow then both fathers and children

need to be aware of their duties to each other.

 

 Tolerance of each other’s failings goes both ways;

patience goes both ways;

respect goes both ways,

and, of course,

love goes both ways.

 

The more love we invest in our family,

and this does mean our family in God,

then the more that family makes

 the love of God real in our society.

 

[PAUSE]

 

It may be a tiny Church in which we worship,

 but is its very existence not proof

of the love of the Heavenly Father

and the love of human beings

committed to the family?

 

 How can we help that love to grow?

 

The worst magic trick in the world.

Sermon preached at Our Lady of Walsingham and St Francis on 2nd June 2013 on the Sunday in the Octave of Corpus Christi and at the Parish of St Augustine, Canterbury on 9th June 2013

What’s the worst magic trick in the world?
Sawing a lady in half?
Rabbit out of  a hat?
Coin out of your ear.

Tubbo the clown shows you a pencil,
waves his hands over it and says,
“Pow! It's now an apple!"
You say quite reasonably "but it still looks like a pencil to me!"
Tubbo replies, "ah! it looks like a pencil
but really it's an apple!"

 Naturally,
you would hope that Tubbo's act
would get better comedy value later on.

Those outside the Church claim that this is exactly
what happens in the Mass.
Some folk seem to think that the Mass
 is nothing more than a superstitious magic trick.

During the consecration,
the host and the wine become
the real Blessed Body and Precious Blood of Christ.
To us, it's "hoc est corpus"
(this is [my] body),
to them it's hocus pocus,
a sham, mere pretend.

 Does it worry you that
 people think you kneel before
a little bit of unleavened bread and claim it to be God?

[PAUSE]

This has been the dividing point
between Christians for centuries,
and some very Protestant Christians
would accuse us of idolatry,
worshipping wafer and wine,
rather than God Himself.

We know full well
that we are not worshipping material objects,
but rather we are worshipping
the very God whom we profess.
What can we do?

[PAUSE]

There is only one answer: obey God.
If we are truly obedient to God,
then we need fear nothing at all.
So what does God really say?

Our Lord Jesus is God
and so we listen to his words:
"Take, eat: this is my Body,
which is broken for you:
 this do in remembrance of me."

Also, taking the cup, Our Lord says,
 "this do ye, as oft as ye drink it,
in remembrance of me.
For as often as ye eat this bread,
and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death,
till he come."

We are told to do the very thing
which we are here to do.
The Mass is a commandment to us.
Does this explain
why we treat a consecrated host
 the way that we do?

[PAUSE]

Christ always commands us
in order for something definite,
something truly beneficial
to happen.

This is the nature of what a Sacrament is.
God and human beings enter into a sort of contract.
If we do our part, God does His part.
 If we celebrate the Mass faithfully,
God gives us nothing less than His very self.

The Lord says "This is my body", "this is my blood"
Further still, in St John's Gospel,
Our Lord Jesus says,
"Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man,
 and drink his blood,
 ye have no life in you.

Whoso eateth my flesh,
and drinketh my blood,
hath eternal life;
and I will raise him up at the last day.

 For my flesh is meat indeed,
and my blood is drink indeed.
He that eateth my flesh,
and drinketh my blood,
dwelleth in me, and I in him."

That's the promise that we are given
and it certainly is a great comfort
to know that we eat of the Bread of Life
- the Bread of True Life!

This is not the dead flesh of animals or plants
 which only sustain our earthly bodies
that will only die anyway.
It is the living Eternal flesh of God
 which we take into ourselves.

 Christ gives us food
so that we can become like Him
and thus like His Father.
 This is the bread that gives us
 an existence in Eternity itself
in the tender love of a God
Who wants us to know Him.

Why, then, is it not more dramatic?
Why not make the change more obvious
so that everyone can see the effects?

[PAUSE]

Being members of the Church,
we are people of faith.
We trust in God because we love Him
and also because we have
neither grounds nor means to hold Him to account.

 He is not a tame God but he is faithful to us!

The Letter to the Hebrews tells us
 "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for,
the evidence of things not seen.”

 God cannot be seen
because He is completely different
from all that we even begin to imagine Him to be
with our fleshly eyes and our fleshly minds.

God cannot make the change more obvious
because to do so would change who He is!
It is not possible for us to understand everything,
though God permits us to try.

Many people have tried to find theories
all based on speculation and philosophy
with some fascinating and uplifting results.

However, these theories are just theories.
They are not necessary for us to believe
otherwise only those who have
 the right knowledge would go to Heaven
 and God wants us all to be saved.

He desires not the death of a sinner.

All we need to know is that,
before the prayer of consecration,
we have really the wafer and wine,
 and, after the prayer,
 the Real Body and Blood of Christ
 that He Himself promised us.
But we have to trust Him.

[PAUSE]

To those who do not believe,
 what we do is ridiculous!
St Paul recognized this.

“If in this life only we have hope in Christ,
we are of all men most miserable.”

 We kneel before a wafer of bread
in a performance of the world’s worst magic trick
 because this is Sacrament and not magic!

But we do believe God and He will reward our patience.

For now we see through a glass, darkly;
but then face to face.
The wafer and the wine are just the dark glass
 through which we glimpse God
and indeed truly receive Him.

How are you going to approach the altar rail today?