In my first appointment, as a curate in busy Croydon, I had to preach every day and produce once a week an editorial for the pew sheet. I was metaphorically thrown into the deep end of the pool. Although a hard slog at the time I look back with gratitude for the experience. By the end of that year I felt as if I had not only kissed the Blarney Stone but digested a sizeable chunk. By contrast most colleagues in my college year were preaching only once a month - if lucky. Even the other curate in this particular parish found this quite a task and often relied on pre-printed sermons.
The danger is that in this fast-paced media age we are all becoming overwhelmed, if not swamped, with information. Per day the average Briton probably receives twenty to thirty emails, open half a dozen junk mail letters, spends time on social networking sites, sends half a dozen texts, and listens to thirty minutes of news. Likewise, at work there will reams of policies, regulations, and directives to read. On top of this Governments and corporations will spend billions each year trying to target us with information.
The value of all this data is another matter? If we look at the majority of stuff we hear or read, it has little impact on our lives. Even if a piece of information was so startling most of us can now mentally switch off and forget about it. It is rare that we read or hear of something which throws our world upside down. Further more, in our hectic world, newspaper and TV news editor increasingly rely on opinion rather than news. I now find myself increasingly infuriated by broadsheet newspapers which sell me opinion and “analysis” rather than hard facts.
In the middle of this the preacher can often wonder ‘Am I being heard?’ and ‘Why bother?’ Yet the Church in its worship offer not only a sermon. Year after year the extracts of the same text is offered. Liturgical calendars chop it up so that each day, or each Sunday, we can sit and listen. This is the antithesis of contemporary media. To many it must seem plainly boring. But to those who persevere this act of simply listening gradually becomes a delightful oasis in a noisy world. ‘The Word became flesh and dwelt amongst us.’ (John 1.14) Through this passivity comes power, grace and freedom.
Saturday, February 19, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
Are you enlightened (Sermon thoughts for Candlemas)?
'A light for the revelation to the Gentiles...' says the old man Simeon as he holds the infant Christ in his arms. These words form part of the prayer we call the Nunc Dimittis - which is said at Evensong, Compline and occasionally at funerals.
To receive light means to be 'enlightened.' Sometimes this used to mean that someone is civilised or very clever. It is even used to put down more ancient philosophies or beliefs, grouping them all as superstitious. One of those ancient philosophies was alchemy. On the surface this practice could be labelled as mumbo-jumbo. It was never chemically possible to turn base materials into gold and likewise there as yet has been no miracle potion for immortality. But somehow on the way the anicents learnt something about how we change or to use a more appropriate word 'convert.' Alchemy's strength is not in the mechanisms of how we change materials in gold but how we change hearts.
The theory about making gold was called the transmutation process. It had three steps; blackening, whitening, and redenning. The life application as been to describe this as purification, enlightenment and union. Many spiritual courses, books, and even films take us through those three steps. Indeed, the AA Twelve Steps Programme has been seen to have three sections of four which model this. For instance, members begin by admitting that one cannot control one's addiction or compulsion and then move on by recognizing a higher power that can give strength. It takes an enormous courage just to make those first two initial steps, many people have to be at the very lowest point.
In the same way our liturgies normally begin with the penitential rite, inviting us to remember that we measure goodness not by some national mean but by Christ himself. Fundamentally we stand before the foot of the cross with empty pockets. Like that base material the intial heat covers us in blackness. I think its fair to say that in Christian spirituality there can be little enlightenment of any use unless we first are ready to be purified. Its easy to think we can skip the initial difficult bit and download some enlightenment. Enlightenment for the Christian means receiving the Christ the Light of the World, the light to enlighten the nations. I believe that it also means that we come to understand that there is such a thing, to quote Paul, as the mind of Christ. That God has a purpose for each of us and that although there may be individual choice, there is a greater truth which overarches everything.
What is the point of any journey? Surely it is the destination. Likewise the goal of any religion is union. It is all too easy to be fobbed off with the idea that the Christian is simply about making people believe this or that. For us as Christians that union is with the Triunion God. Our faith is at its heart, a person, Jesus Christ. As we enjoy union, we realise that this union has come through, been mediated, via a communion, ie. the Church itself, his body.
To receive light means to be 'enlightened.' Sometimes this used to mean that someone is civilised or very clever. It is even used to put down more ancient philosophies or beliefs, grouping them all as superstitious. One of those ancient philosophies was alchemy. On the surface this practice could be labelled as mumbo-jumbo. It was never chemically possible to turn base materials into gold and likewise there as yet has been no miracle potion for immortality. But somehow on the way the anicents learnt something about how we change or to use a more appropriate word 'convert.' Alchemy's strength is not in the mechanisms of how we change materials in gold but how we change hearts.
The theory about making gold was called the transmutation process. It had three steps; blackening, whitening, and redenning. The life application as been to describe this as purification, enlightenment and union. Many spiritual courses, books, and even films take us through those three steps. Indeed, the AA Twelve Steps Programme has been seen to have three sections of four which model this. For instance, members begin by admitting that one cannot control one's addiction or compulsion and then move on by recognizing a higher power that can give strength. It takes an enormous courage just to make those first two initial steps, many people have to be at the very lowest point.
In the same way our liturgies normally begin with the penitential rite, inviting us to remember that we measure goodness not by some national mean but by Christ himself. Fundamentally we stand before the foot of the cross with empty pockets. Like that base material the intial heat covers us in blackness. I think its fair to say that in Christian spirituality there can be little enlightenment of any use unless we first are ready to be purified. Its easy to think we can skip the initial difficult bit and download some enlightenment. Enlightenment for the Christian means receiving the Christ the Light of the World, the light to enlighten the nations. I believe that it also means that we come to understand that there is such a thing, to quote Paul, as the mind of Christ. That God has a purpose for each of us and that although there may be individual choice, there is a greater truth which overarches everything.
What is the point of any journey? Surely it is the destination. Likewise the goal of any religion is union. It is all too easy to be fobbed off with the idea that the Christian is simply about making people believe this or that. For us as Christians that union is with the Triunion God. Our faith is at its heart, a person, Jesus Christ. As we enjoy union, we realise that this union has come through, been mediated, via a communion, ie. the Church itself, his body.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
You dont have to go to church to be Christian - (supposedly)
This is where my homily for Epiphany 2 Year A is going. I am trying to introduce a positive theme of 'Church' against a backdrop of constant media negativity. Are we beginning to believe what is being pumped out? Is it a fair an accurate picture. I think, (believe) there is another, greater, story.
Maybe you have had accosted by someone with the statement ‘Well, you don’t have to go to Church to be a Christian?’ I find it painfully difficult not to respond by landing them with a heap of theology. I usually take the cowards route and keep quiet. To be fair to myself there is more to be learnt in listening because behind that statement often lies painful stories where the Church has let them down. Its an opening gambit and it would be all too easy to fire off rhetoric.
I think of a minister in Scotland who upon visiting an unmarried couple’s house (with regards to a baptism) said ‘We don’t “do” bastards.” A generation later the family confessed to me how they still could not stomach to go into a church.
In Year A of the liturgical cycle we follow the gospel of Matthew and also a good chunk of Corinthians. Both the evangelist and St Paul are arguing for the Church. And this is what I would like to be our theme for this year, the Church. As my story illustrates the Church can fail to live up to the Gospel. But, I think the more we look at what the Church means, the more we discover that at the heart of transforming our world, God has put the Church. I believe, therefore in a Church shaped Mission.
And yet we so often, even as Christians, even more so as church leaders, we downplay the Church. Could it be that we begin to see only the criticism and the barrage of negative media stories?
When Simon confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Lord replies by adding, ‘On this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it.’ So every other institution and organisation may eventually fail, but Jesus is going to ensure that his Church never fails. Even the banks can’t have that kind of guarantee! Yet, too often we live out the life of the Church, as if it’s in the mind of God, some marginal institution.
Go to Rome, and walk around the ruins of the ancient Senate, miles of rubble. That’s what happened to the empire that was supposed to never fall. Look at the Berlin Wall now and hear the words of statesmen like Gorbachev who know acknowledge the central role of the Church in bringing freedom.
There is a reason why Christ has deigned his Church, indestructible, it is because it is to be the one and only means of saving the world.
St Paul writes specifically to the church of God in Corinth and his first letter is packed with all sorts of crucial insights into what it means to be a church. He begins by rejoicing in them as a church. Verse 4, Chapter 1, actually reads in the Greek; I “eucharist” God always concerning you – on the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus. I tried today to read these words like a mantra, but inserted in the name of our church, Holy Trinity Salcombe. God the Father has given this town his most precious gift, the Body of Christ, with not the vicar as its head, but Jesus himself.
There is a great danger at this present moment that we, and specifically Anglican Christians, downplay the whole concept of Church. The temptation is to believe that the church, local and national, is an incidental network or an institution. In other words it’s a bit of an accident of history. So after some brainstorming the First Century Christians pulled out of the filing cabinet the idea of having an organisation called ‘Church’. So forget the Holy Spirit, because obviously in this scenario he has retired and has not really been that hands-on for the past two thousand years.
There is a lot to say and I hope much opportunity to share thoughts and reflections. Aside from St Matthew and St Paul, I will probably pick up in sermons and talks themes from St Benedict, St Francis, the Desert Father, and the Reformers, and much modern discourse. But at the heart of it I hope you will share with me a belief that the Church, the Body of Christ, is the one community which God gives gifts like no other. As Paul says, ‘Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.’ (1 Cor 1. 7)
I like Brother Roger’s call of Taize, that it should be parable of community. Surely, that is the calling, the vocation, of every local church?
Maybe you have had accosted by someone with the statement ‘Well, you don’t have to go to Church to be a Christian?’ I find it painfully difficult not to respond by landing them with a heap of theology. I usually take the cowards route and keep quiet. To be fair to myself there is more to be learnt in listening because behind that statement often lies painful stories where the Church has let them down. Its an opening gambit and it would be all too easy to fire off rhetoric.
I think of a minister in Scotland who upon visiting an unmarried couple’s house (with regards to a baptism) said ‘We don’t “do” bastards.” A generation later the family confessed to me how they still could not stomach to go into a church.
In Year A of the liturgical cycle we follow the gospel of Matthew and also a good chunk of Corinthians. Both the evangelist and St Paul are arguing for the Church. And this is what I would like to be our theme for this year, the Church. As my story illustrates the Church can fail to live up to the Gospel. But, I think the more we look at what the Church means, the more we discover that at the heart of transforming our world, God has put the Church. I believe, therefore in a Church shaped Mission.
And yet we so often, even as Christians, even more so as church leaders, we downplay the Church. Could it be that we begin to see only the criticism and the barrage of negative media stories?
When Simon confesses that Jesus is the Christ, the Messiah, the Lord replies by adding, ‘On this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it.’ So every other institution and organisation may eventually fail, but Jesus is going to ensure that his Church never fails. Even the banks can’t have that kind of guarantee! Yet, too often we live out the life of the Church, as if it’s in the mind of God, some marginal institution.
Go to Rome, and walk around the ruins of the ancient Senate, miles of rubble. That’s what happened to the empire that was supposed to never fall. Look at the Berlin Wall now and hear the words of statesmen like Gorbachev who know acknowledge the central role of the Church in bringing freedom.
There is a reason why Christ has deigned his Church, indestructible, it is because it is to be the one and only means of saving the world.
St Paul writes specifically to the church of God in Corinth and his first letter is packed with all sorts of crucial insights into what it means to be a church. He begins by rejoicing in them as a church. Verse 4, Chapter 1, actually reads in the Greek; I “eucharist” God always concerning you – on the grace of God given to you in Christ Jesus. I tried today to read these words like a mantra, but inserted in the name of our church, Holy Trinity Salcombe. God the Father has given this town his most precious gift, the Body of Christ, with not the vicar as its head, but Jesus himself.
There is a great danger at this present moment that we, and specifically Anglican Christians, downplay the whole concept of Church. The temptation is to believe that the church, local and national, is an incidental network or an institution. In other words it’s a bit of an accident of history. So after some brainstorming the First Century Christians pulled out of the filing cabinet the idea of having an organisation called ‘Church’. So forget the Holy Spirit, because obviously in this scenario he has retired and has not really been that hands-on for the past two thousand years.
There is a lot to say and I hope much opportunity to share thoughts and reflections. Aside from St Matthew and St Paul, I will probably pick up in sermons and talks themes from St Benedict, St Francis, the Desert Father, and the Reformers, and much modern discourse. But at the heart of it I hope you will share with me a belief that the Church, the Body of Christ, is the one community which God gives gifts like no other. As Paul says, ‘Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.’ (1 Cor 1. 7)
I like Brother Roger’s call of Taize, that it should be parable of community. Surely, that is the calling, the vocation, of every local church?
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