Credo in unum Deum

Sermon for the Second Sunday of Lent

2007-03-04T17:56:00.000Z

Sermon for St Mary's Hendon on 4th March 2007

Genesis 15.1-12, 17-18
Philippians 3.17-4.1
Luke 13.31-end

In nomine…

“How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.” (Lk 13.34)

So, we’re eleven days into Lent, eleven whole days of abstinence. How does it feel so far? Pining for a pint? Sickening for a cigarette? Craving some coffee?

Our experience of Lent can be quite an angular thing. We treat it is as if the only way to closer communion with God is through awkward and jarring disciplines. We try almost to recreate our own mini-version of Crucifixion. Of course, there is a hallowed place in the tradition for this self-denial, and it is indeed often useful and fruitful in our Lenten journey to the Cross and Resurrection of Our Lord.

There is another perspective though, which often gets overlooked, but which our readings remind us of today.

For Jesus, lamenting that Jerusalem is the place where prophets are killed, tells us his desire is to gather us together. What contrast between the violence of the city that stones people and kills the prophets, and the analogy of a hen gathering her brood under her wings. For a hen gathers together her brood gently, here no jarring actions or awkward movements will help, indeed, they would only further disperse the birds.

Jesus instead presents us with an image of a way of gentleness, of meekness and humility. His desire is to coax us peacefully into the protection which, in the image the psalmist uses, is found under the shadow of the wings of the Lord (Ps 17.8). He contrasts the way of violence with his way of gentleness.

But this is no simple contrast of one way with another. Rather than demeaning it as “not his way of doing things”, Christ actually does something with violence. Jesus cuts through cycles of violence, of the killing and stoning of prophets, of myriad forms of destruction, abuse, aggression, he even cuts through the violence of Crucifixion. For in submitting himself to the shame and violence of the Cross, Jesus steps into violence and presents the alternative of anti-violence. God himself, in Christ, redeems the violence of suffering and death to inaugurate a kingdom built on peace. Christ enters into the violence of our human existence to save us from the violence we experience.

And here, in today’s Gospel, we hear that Christ has set his face toward Jerusalem, knowing the pain that awaits him there. He will not heed the Pharisees’ warning (that Herod wants to have him killed), because in order to fulfil his mission from the Father, he must complete his work as Redeemer. He must submit himself to that violence which will disclose his identity as Saviour.

And not just a Saviour who undoes the violence of death, but one who inaugurates a new way, one who gathers us as those redeemed from violence, under his protective wings, into a community together. That Christ talks of gathering us together indicates that there is something corporate going on here. The redemption from violence he offers isn’t available to each of us as a sort of cosy, hippy-like, individualised way of peace and love. Rather, he gathers us into a community where his way of peace is to be lived out together.

St Paul, in our epistle talks of our bodies being “conformed to the body of [Christ’s] glory” (Phil 3.21). Likewise, he tells us that “our citizenship is in heaven” (3.20). The glory of Christ’s body is that which is revealed to us in his Resurrection, when his experience and transcending of the violence of the Cross is realised. This glory that transfigures the dead body of Jesus into the radiant body of the risen Lord, is the same glory as is known in heaven, for it is the very glory of God. How then, are we, as St Paul says “conformed to this glory”, to the glory of the Risen Lord, which is the heavenly glory of God?

Well, simply put, this happens here. Christ calls us to this place, to this community, to this Church, and to each other, again he gathers us together here that we might be conformed to the glory of his body. The Spirit’s work within us is to reveal, bit-by-bit, the glory of God, the image of him in whose image we were first created. We do this by being a community of love, by being a people of prayer, by study and reflection on Scripture, by being people of kindness, generosity and charity, by our gathering here to share his body and blood in the Sacred Feast. These are the disciplines of Lent, these are the spaces within in which the Spirit works to conform us to his glory, to gather here and be an anticipation of that place where our true citizenship is –in heaven, where the fullness of Christ’s glory will be revealed, and the fullness of his glory in us will be realised.

To be conformed to the glory of Christ’s body isn’t to put-on the straight-jacket of refraining from coffee, alcohol, chocolate or whatever else we might have given up. Although such disciplines will inevitably focus our thoughts on our goal, they are the means rather than the end. Rather, to be conformed to his glory is to be more truly ourselves, to more fully be the person he has created us to be. For we were created in his image, so the truer we are to our real selves, the truer we are to his image in us – the more of him will be revealed in us.

And this is a gradual uncovering, which the Spirit of God effects in us. Think, for instance, of an old portrait painting, on which, over the years, has accreted layers of dust, of grime and smoke until the image of the man in the painting has become obscured, almost hidden by this mess that masks him. Now think of the work of the picture restorer, gradually and painstakingly revealing the image that has always lain beneath. The picture restorer, with brush and cotton bud and cloth gently rubbing away, bit by bit applying tiny amounts of water, of white spirit. And gradually, slowly, the true image, the image that was first intended by the artist is revealed. The old details and features are exposed and given new life.

So is the Spirit’s work in us. As Christ did, the Spirit eschews the way of violence. Imagine what would happen if one took a wire-brush and some bleach to that old portrait. So God, by his Spirit, reveals in us the image of him by whom we were created. We are conformed to the glory of Christ’s body not with the jarring, angular use of violence, of bleach and wire-brush, of aggression, but with the gradual, gentle removal of layers of sin and dirt, the purging of walls of defensiveness and pretence, of all those things that impede our receptivity to God’s work in us. We are conformed to Christ’s glory by the gentle uncovering of the image beneath, the true image, the truer self.

George Herbert, that great 17th Century Anglican poet captures this dynamic of God’s rejection of the means of violence, and his choosing of the way of gentleness and peace in his dealings with us in his poem “Discipline”.

THROW away Thy rod,
Throw away Thy wrath;
O my God,
Take the gentle path!
For my heart's desire
Unto Thine is bent:
I aspire
To a full consent.

Not a word or look
I affect to own,
But by book,
And Thy Book alone.

Though I fail, I weep;
Though I halt in pace,
Yet I creep
To the throne of grace.

Then let wrath remove;
Love will do the deed;
For with love
Stony hearts will bleed.

Love is swift of foot;
Love 's a man of war,
And can shoot,
And can hit from far.

Who can 'scape his bow?
That which wrought on Thee,
Brought Thee low,
Needs must work on me.

Throw away Thy rod;
Though man frailties hath,
Thou art God:
Throw away Thy wrath!

So the image of God is revealed in us by the way of anti-violence, the way of Divine action in the world of which Christ’s choosing of the Cross is the archetype: That way by which Christ gathers us under the protection of his wings, gathers us to this place, and begins the work of conforming us to the image of his glory: the image in which we were created, and the glory of heaven which is ours in him.

May we be gathered closer to him,
and closer to each other this Lent,
that we may be conformed to the body of his glory,
and his image revealed in us,
who lives and reigns now and forever.
Amen.

Quinquagesima sermon

2007-02-18T00:28:00.000Z

Sermon for the Sunday next before Lent

Exodus 34.29-35
Psalm 99
2 Corinthians 3.12-4.2
Luke 9.28-36

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The lectionary can be a difficult thing. The readings we hear on Sundays can sometimes be obscure, apparently irrelevant, and finding oneself having to make some sense of them in preaching can be a real challenge. At other times the lectionary can be a real gift and we are presented with three readings that cohere nicely and are appropriate to the season. I am happy to say that today’s readings fall in the latter category.

Here we are, on the last Sunday before Lent: our last chance to live it up before things take a more serious turn. So we find ourselves at the hinge of the Church’s year, at the moment when we ready ourselves to embark on the disciplines of Lent, to hear again (even to live out) the story of Christ’s passion, and to carefully prepare ourselves for the joy of Easter.

Likewise, in the gospels the Transfiguration itself is a hinge in the narratives. And today we are presented with Luke’s account of the Transfiguration. The Transfiguration is that moment when Jesus ascends a mountain with a few of his disciples and while he is there his appearance is changed, or transfigured and Moses and Elijah appear with him. The voice of God is then heard, proclaiming “This is my Son.”

It is at the Transfiguration in Matthew, Mark and Luke (that is, the synoptic gospels – those gospels that share a common structure) that the emphasis in the story of Jesus changes. We move from a focus on his itinerant ministry, moving around Judea preaching, healing and performing miracles, to a focus on his journey into Jerusalem where he would be rejected by those who are closest to him, falsely accused, tortured and crucified.

Yet, it is not just the parallels between the context of the Transfiguration, and our own moment in the Church’s year that are significant, we can also say something about the Transfiguration itself. In the Transfiguration, as with the Old Testament story of Moses, we hear that the presence of God changes a person. Both Jesus and Moses ascend a mountain and experience a theophany. A theophany is a moment when God reveals something of himself, it is a Greek word meaning literally “God-revealing”. In these theophanies, these experiences of God’s revelation of himself, a change occurs for both Moses and Jesus: both appear afterward to have become whiter, brighter, one might say “more luminous”. For, from them, after their meeting with God, the light of God radiates. So, we see that the presence of God changes a person, it makes the presence of him more visible, more tangible, it makes them more like himself.

And so, for us, in contemplation of the Divine, in our prayer where we encounter him, he is forming us more into his likeness that we might shine with his radiance. In our prayer and in our worship we might glimpse that glory of God in-breaking from heaven to earth; as Moses beheld it on the mountain, and as the disciples saw it reflected in Jesus at the Transfiguration. We might just for a moment reflect his light and become, bit by bit, more like him.

The climax of this, for us, is of course to encounter God in the Eucharist. Here, in these gifts of bread and wine we encounter the very presence of God himself and are transformed, transfigured by consuming them more into the likeness of him. Our bodies are united with his body and his blood flows into us, and so in consuming him we become like him. His presence here will transform us. The continuation of this Eucharistic encounter, between those actual moments when we come to the altar, must be lived in a Eucharistic life, in a life of prayer; in a life of intentional encounter with God, of purposeful remembering of his presence as we make remembrance of his saving work here. Our prayer is the place where this continuity of encounter is maintained.

The glory that the disciples see in Christ is the same glory of God that will transfigure Christ even more fully at the Resurrection. After his crucifixion and death the true identity of Jesus is disclosed: the Saviour of all, who dies for us and raises us with him to new life – this identity is his glory. So, the Transfiguration is a foretaste of this full disclosure of the identity of Jesus, it is Easter anticipated. And yet, we could not know this identity without the Cross coming first.

An understanding of the Cross is necessary for an understanding of the Resurrection. And this is Peter’s mistake: he wants to capture this glory now. “Master,” he says, “it is good to be here, let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” He wants to establish Christ’s glory prematurely, before he has accomplished that which he came to do. He wants to make permanent now something that is yet to come, something that can only be fully realised after going through a process.

The same must be true for us. As we, for a moment, before we embark on Lent, have Easter-anticipated in this Transfiguration account we must not want to cling to it, to prematurely establish the full glory of Christ on this event. Because, for us between now and then there is Lent. We are on the way to this glory, via Lent and the recalling of Christ’s Passion. As Christ, from the Transfiguration was on his way to glory, via the Cross.

In the meantime, to prepare ourselves to receive the theophany of Easter, the great revelation of God in the glorious transfiguring of the body of Christ, it will be our desire to become more like him. To gaze on him, to contemplate him, to be with him in prayer. For then, we too shall be transformed to reflect his glory, as Paul says in our Epistle:
“And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.” (2Cor3.18)
The Authorised version has this as “changed from glory to glory”. And so in gazing on him we shall become like him, until we are finally one with him. We shall be moved from the temporary glory of the Transfiguration to the permanent and fuller glory of the Resurrection, via our Lenten journey of prayer.

“This is my Son,” the voice of God says of Jesus at the Transfiguration. When we encounter it, the glory of God will make us more akin to him, more and more like him until, when at length, we come into the fullness of his presence and he will see us as his own and greet us saying, “This is my child.”

May we be ready to receive his glory when he greets us at Easter as our Risen Lord, and may we prepare ourselves so to do by a prayerful keeping of a Holy Lent. Amen.

Homily on Wisdom

2006-12-05T11:44:00.000Z

Matthew 11.16-19
Jesus said: ‘But to what will I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the market-places and calling to one another,
“We played the flute for you, and you did not dance;
we wailed, and you did not mourn.”
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, “He has a demon”; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, “Look, a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax-collectors and sinners!” Yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.’

These brief four verses come in the midst of a chapter of woes, condemnations and apocalyptic images, which concludes with thar famous, and favourite of many passage: "Come yo me all ye that are weary; I shall give you rest."

Here, in the midst of all that we have a few verses where Jesus condemns "this generation" for being, basically, too hard to please: John was too much the ascetic, Jesus too much the party-goer. "Yet" he says, "Wisdom is vindicated by her deeds."

What is wisdom?

Wisdom is the eschewing of easy, glib, trite answers. Wisdom is the searching for something deeper and the conviction that just such a depth will be found.

In Christ we are shown that through the perfectly lived life of the Human One the depths of the Godhead shine out. Depth is revealed in and through the very materiality of Jesus Christ.

And this was the pharisees mistake, as Jesus tells us in the passage: they looked only at the surface and saw Jesus as one who ate and drank with sinners, and John as one who hardly ate or drank at all. And, on the shallow basis of these superficial observations they judged and condemned them.

Wisdom, however, stand above such judgement. For, as Christ say, she is vindicated by her deeds.

Wisdom then is to know that the value of things lies beyond how they merely appear. This is what Christ shouw us in himself, as St Paul says "the wisdom of the Cross is folly to the world." The Cross seems to be about death and failure. Yet, we know its real meaning to be life and triumph.

So when Christ says wisdom is vindicated by her deeds (or children, in some translations children) we are not perhaps slipping into works-righteousness, (whereby we prove wisdom by doing stuff) but being told that the fruits of wisdom are always good, despite (at first reading at least) appearing as foolishness.

The pharisees, "this generation" as Christ here condemns them, never saw past this foolishness-level to the depths of wisdom in John the Baptist and, most supremely, in Jesus Christ.

So let it be our prayer that we may receive the grace to see beyond the foolishness, to see beyond superficiality, and to find in our own lives, and in others, the depths of meaning, the wisdom, and to recognise its fruits.
Amen.

Healing in the eschatological perspective

2006-11-16T12:38:00.000Z

Below is the text of the sermon I shall preach at a Healing Mass on Sunday morning. Enjoy!

Daniel 12.1-3
Hebrews 10.11-14
Mark 13.1-8

I have to admit, I’ve always been rather the sceptic when it comes to healing services, and I do believe there are some situations where they can do more harm than good. Before I proceed, I probably ought to say more about that.

It always seemed to me that praying for a person’s healing, especially from a physical ailment might rather raise false hopes. Indeed, in some circles there seems to be such confidence that healing will occur if only we bamboozle God enough that any apparent failure to heal must be read as, at best, the inadequacy of our prayers and, at worst, a serious challenge to our Christian faith.

Yet today’s readings do, in part, give us an indication of the theological landscape within which we pray for healing, and within which healing may occur.

My own opinions began to change when last year I worked in a parish in North London. As part of that work I spent a day a week as a chaplain in an “Older People’s Services Hospital”, what we might more conventionally call a geriatric hospital. As part of this work Fr Bruce, the chaplain, and I would visit many people ill in their beds and pray with them for healing, sometimes laying on hands and anointing them with holy oil. Some of these people were desperately ill, with perhaps not long to live. Indeed, for some of them, suffering from painful sicknesses, a quiet death would be a relief and an end to their suffering. I needed to radically challenge my prejudices about “healing prayer”…

Within this context I began to see healing as something other than bamboozling God with words in the hope that he might “make us better”: prayer for healing isn’t some divine paracetamol taken for a cosmic headache. Rather, prayer for healing is an acknowledgement of our broken and fallen state: the acknowledgement that we are not now all that we will be. And, the alignment of our will with God’s, that one day we will be perfected in his presence.

Our readings today are set within what theologians would call an apocalyptic framework. Apocalypto translates as “to uncover” and it is a word used to allude to the time when things will be seen clearly (or uncovered), that is the time of the coming of the Kingdom of God, when Christ shall be revealed as Lord of all. When we shall be changed and renewed in him and by him. And this is the Good News: that the person I will be is more truly myself than the person I am. That the perfected, healed, restored person that God will make me, or rather renew me into, is the fullest expression of myself.

We see this in the life of Christ himself. He came to preach the Kingdom, to make the Kingdom of God a present reality, and he did so, not just with words but with actions: with miracles of healing, where people were transformed from a broken, outcast state to wholeness and integration in the community. The wholeness we await is the Resurrection of the body, and the community into which we will be integrated is the Communion of Saints. The pattern was the same for Christ, he is our prototype for the ultimate healing – the healing of death by the resurrection to eternal life. So we do this not alone, but with him as our captain and our guide. It is not only Christ’s companionship either, but we are assisted by the angels, as Daniel says St Michael, the chief angel, will arise to deliver us to everlasting life, that we may shine like the stars forever. And, we are surrounded by one another as those anticipating the greater reality which will transform us - we do this together.

Our reading from Hebrews helps us to understand, as much as that is possible, how this is done: it is done in Christ. The writer of the letter assures us that the sacrificial death of Jesus has lasting effect for us now, and yet there is something that is not quite given to us fully yet. “Until I make your enemies your footstool…” there is still a little more to be done. The process of healing has been begun, and completed in Christ, and yet we shall not enjoy its full effects until we too are part of that new creation, or renewed creation, of which he shall be Lord.

But what of us now? What of the sicknesses, the weaknesses, of our own and of others that we bring with us to this rail? With which we kneel and ask God to meet us in those dark, hurting places. If full healing is not fully realised yet, why do we bother? Well, we bother because we believe that God meets us when we come to him, indeed that he is already there and we just re-member ourselves into his presence. And, that in doing so our faith will be strengthened and that we will be encouraged by the promise of the fullness of healing that is to come. Indeed, perhaps even at a deep level we will be healed inasmuch as we shall be given the grace and faith to bear our sufferings until they are subsumed into Christ’s death and Resurrection and transformed into glory.

Until then we are reminded of Jesus’ words to us today in St Mark’s gospel: “these are but the beginnings of the birthpangs”, and from the pain of birthpangs and labour comes new life. A new life which we are promised and which faith assures us, we shall receive, because (as the letter to the Hebrews affirms) “he who has promised is faithful.”

So to him who fulfilled the Father’s will in order to heal us by the operation of Spirit, to the one true triune God, from angels and men, be all glory and power, blessing and honour, now and from age unto age. Amen.

Theological orthodoxy

2006-11-15T11:26:00.000Z

Hurrah! I am 100% orthodox and not a hell-bound heretic. It's good to know that first degree taught me something...

You scored as Chalcedon compliant. You are Chalcedon compliant. Congratulations, you're not a heretic. You believe that Jesus is truly God and truly man and like us in every respect, apart from sin. Officially approved in 451.

Chalcedon compliant

100%

Pelagianism

58%

Nestorianism

33%

Adoptionist

33%

Monophysitism

33%

Socinianism

33%

Apollanarian

17%

Modalism

17%

Monarchianism

17%

Docetism

Arianism

Donatism

Albigensianism

Gnosticism

Are you a heretic?
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Papist?!

2006-10-21T14:40:00.000+01:00

You scored as Roman Catholic. You are Roman Catholic. Church tradition and ecclesial authority are hugely important, and the most important part of worship for you is mass. As the Mother of God, Mary is important in your theology, and as the communion of saints includes the living and the dead, you can also ask the saints to intercede for you.

Roman Catholic

96%

Neo orthodox

79%

Emergent/Postmodern

43%

Evangelical Holiness/Wesleyan

43%

Modern Liberal

29%

Classical Liberal

25%

Charismatic/Pentecostal

21%

Reformed Evangelical

14%

Fundamentalist

What's your theological worldview?
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The turn of Radical Orthodoxy

2006-10-17T17:40:00.000+01:00

The limited pressures of the MA course I am currently studying do have the advantage of allowing me a lot of free time to pursue my own theological interests. The latest development in this has been my fixation with the "Radical Orthodoxy" movement. I am reading two books on the subject: "Radical Orthodoxy - a new theology" edited by Pickstock, Milbank & Ward; and, "Introducing Radical Orthodoxy - mapping a post-secular theology" by James KA Smith. For anyone interested in the matter, I would recommend reading these (starting with Smith as he gives a good overview).

One of the premises of Radical Orthodoxy (henceforth RO) is that as part of the Enlightenment religion became a private concern and was no longer an appropriate feature of the public sphere. Alongside this there flourished a range of secular philosophies and disciplines that sought to take religion's place, ie. to make sense of the world and our experience of it. Most (perhaps all) of these disciplines are therefore predicated on ideologies that are necessarily antogonistic to Christian theology. By constructing philosophies that deny God modernity also excludes revelation and so reason becomes the sole vehicle for understanding and sense-making; to use the RO phrase we have here "autonomous reason" - reason that functions without reference to anything else. This, RO claims, has been the development of modernity.

However, theorists now claim we are entering (or, more optimistically, have entered) postmodernity, that is the breakdown of modernity and its absolute claims, including the breakdown of the secular. If this is the case, then Christian theology ought to be able again to take a place in the public sphere (rather than the private) and confidently proclaim its "system" for making sense of the world and our experience, and revelation ought to be valued alongside reason (indeed, as intrinsically connected parts of the same process). But, that this is not yet the case reveals that postmodernity is an arriving phase, rather than one that has been fully realised, and that our current stage is something more akin to hyper-modernity; the final swansong of secular modernity.

Radical Orthodoxy (on my reading) encourages the challenging of this phase and the inauguration of true postmodernity. In postmodernity we will arrive also at the post-secular: Christian theology can confidently proclaim the riches of its tradition and the depth of its insight.

Part of this confident proclamation will be the eschewing of the correlationist project of much "modern" theology. Theology need no longer compete for a voice by conspiring with disciplines (especially modern philosophy some of the social sciences) which are fundametally antithetical to a Theo-logical interpretation of the world. Rather, Christian theology can explain itself in its own terms, rediscovering the riches of its past and reinterpreting in light of the present.

Such an argument (which I have simplified and explained as I understand it) is attractive and convincing. There is more to RO than this so expect more posts on that front...

On a related note, I will be hearing Pickstock and Milbank (two of the founders) at a seminar on Aquinas (who is part of the inspiration of RO) next week. I hope to give you a report of that also.

All change

2006-10-06T15:46:00.000+01:00

Most of my small group of readers have probably stopped checking my blog as it is an absolute age since I updated it. I did have about four posts in draft but they never quite came to fruition.

That besides, things have changed a lot with me. I have moved and am differently employed now.

Having finished my job in London in July and moved back home (briefly) in August I had a very pleasant holiday in Istanbul, Turkey. A few weeks after that I moved to Cambridge to commence training for ordination at the august institution of Westcott House.

It is my hope to do an MPhil next year in the area of Spirituality and Doctrine, however for the moment I am enrolled on an MA in Pastoral Theology (see below). In terms of commitment the MA demands very little time of me and manages to fulfill most of the remaining requirements for ordination (happily, many of the academic requirements are met by the undergraduate degree I hold). This will give me the opportunity to audit some of the doctrine courses offered by the university and to begin reading/thinking/work for my MPhil.

Otherwise, I find myself in Cambridge very happily. Westcott is very full this year, about 70 students, I think, with c.40 in the first year. The house has a good atmosphere, people are congenial (sometimes even fun) and I am enjoying exploring Cambridge.

More updates will follow soon...

This is how theology is done

2006-10-06T15:44:00.000+01:00

For an assignment this week for my MA in Pastoral Theology (more of that later...) we were asked to write a short piece to end with the sentence "This is how theology is done". This is my offering.

How do we do theology?

There are four main sources from which we derive our theologies, and any good theology will need to be informed and consonant with all four of these sources. These four starting points incorporate the traditional Anglican triad, plus one.

First, our theology must accord with Scripture: the word of God through which God has revealed himself to us and to his people. Because we have a Canon of Scripture it is not sufficient to pick out individual verses to support our theology, rather our theology must be consonant with a hermeneutic view of Scripture, that is, allowing the whole of Scripture to enable our interpretation of each part. We must also understand Scripture as part of God’s revelation of himself within the Christological context, that is to say that God’s fullest and ultimate revelation of himself has been made in the person of Jesus Christ. We need also to read Scripture within its given context so that our understanding is enriched by our knowledge of the writer(s), the intended audience and the cultural context in which it was written. Finally, we need to have a doctrine of the inspiration of Scripture as it is only from such a point of view that Scripture is of any use to us.

Second, our theology needs to correspond with Tradition. Within the heading of Tradition I would want to encompass doctrine, liturgy and sacraments, the Church and the Saints. By this we engage with the heritage which was commissioned by Christ to his Apostles and has been delivered, by tradition, through time, to us. Our theologies must engage with and be endorsed by the orthodox and “approved” theologies of the past (doctrine), the worship and practices of the Church, including those which were commanded by Christ (liturgy and sacraments), the historical and universal testimony of the people of God (Church and Saints). Our understanding of the Spirit of God operating through Tradition is what commits us to this view.

Third, we need to ensure that our theology accords with our Experience. The theologies we engage in and endorse must be consonant with our experience and process of making sense of the world. They must be theologies of personal integrity whereby we can “own” them fully; we cannot make liars of ourselves or bastards of our theology. Our theology will resonate deeply with our experience of God’s revelation to us and therefore with our spiritual life and our prayer: our participation in the life of God.

Fourth, and finally, we must engage our theology with Reason. Our theologies will need to be things of logic so that we can think them through, and they need to accord with theo-logic so that we can understand more of God by means of them (ie. to be theological). They must have an internal coherence that enables us to make sense of them and to make sense of the world by means of them.

Over and above these four starting points there are two criteria which I would maintain are the ultimate principles, the roots and the framework for all our theology because it is by these that we understand what God himself is like: the Trinity, and the person of Jesus Christ.

So, within the context of the Trinity and the person of Christ, we engage deeply with Scripture, Tradition, Experience and Reason. This is how theology is done.

Back

2006-06-17T18:05:00.000+01:00

I'm back in the blogosphere...

Apologies for the lengthy hiatus since my last post. I had a post in edit from Easter week but never got much further than a few lines, since then things have been rather busy. However, here I am back on the blog.

Finally, we are back in Ordinary time. No more stressful liturgies, processions or ecclesiastical extravaganzas between now and my leaving the parish. Deo Gratias! It seems to have been relentless since Holy Week (our patronal fell within Eastertide this year). However, Thursday saw Corpus Christi and the end of the silly season. Don't get me wrong, I love a good feast but it is rather stressful when everyone expects you to plan, prepare and direct the liturgy everytime.

I've just five weeks left in the parish and I can feel myself beginning to wind down. In part, this is just because I can't initiate anything now as I won't be here to see it through and that many of the things the other staff are talking about won't effect/involve me. It does make everything seem rather routine and pedestrian. However, my valedictory "do" should be rather good on the final Sunday and then I have two whole months off before the next stage.

Which is...

Well, in May I visited Westcott House, Cambridge and St Stephen's House, Oxford. I was already 90% sure I wanted to go to Westcott (having acquired a familiarity with the place over the last year) and the trip to Staggers rather confirmed that. It was good to visit both places and I was well looked after, but Cambridge won by a long way.

NowI just can't wait to get on and start college. When one is secure in the next stage I think it is rather natural to want to get on with it (and to escape from the long-lingering previous stage).

Events of the last few months on which I may provide retrospective(s) include:
Corpus Christi
preaching for Trinity Sunday
Pet Service
Deanery Synod debate on Women Bishops
Homily on the Visitation of the BVM
the National Pilgrimage, Walsingham
Patronal Festival
Speaking to Exeter University Methodist & Anglican Society on "Towards a theology of sexuality"
preaching on Easter Day

Watch this space...

Busy, busy

2006-04-04T22:32:00.000+01:00

Apologies (again) for the lack of posting here. What with Lent, and Holy Week fast approaching, I'm being kept rather busy.

Since my last post we have had the glorious feast of the Annunciation. On the eve of the feast I went to Mass at Westminster Cathedral which had some lovely music, and a fantastic sermon. If I was an evangelical I would have been "mmm"ing, nodding and "Amen!"ing in approval! The repsonse of Mary to Gabriel's message formed part of the focus on my retreat prior to selection conference: "Lord, behold your servant. Let it be with me as you will it".

At the Cathedral, the preacher reflected that this was a brave and potentially dangerous thing to pray to God, and it occured to me that in Lent we can consider also how Mary prefigured the obedience to the Divine Will in Jesus, in his prayer "yet not my will, but yours be done". For me, part of exploring my vocation has been asking that I be repsonsive to God's will for my life, over and above what I might consider to be my will. And it is in doing so that I have discovered that real joy comes when we learn God's will for us and it begins to be as one with our will.

There's probably more to unpack there, and lots more reflection but I'm not sure I can articulate it.

Last week I had a trip down to Exeter to see my Spiritual Director and catch up with a friend (or two), then I made a shopping trip to Kensington and had a picnic with a friend in Kensington Gardens. Just two simple days and I felt like I'd had a real holiday. There's something about Camden that makes me yearn for a trip to somewhere where the streets don't smell of dope every once in a while...

On the horizon...
My 23rd birthday tomorrow. Woohoo!
Holy Week: so liturgies coming out of my ears (I have to do the Good Friday liturgies twice so that will be harrowing)
The Easter Vigil: I'm singing the Exsultet (for those not au fait with such things, that amounts to a seven minute, unaccompanied solo -yikes!)
Easter Sunday: I'm preaching!

All-in-all, I will be busy again. Oh! for the Easter Bank Holiday...

Homily at Aldenham School

2006-03-17T11:52:00.000Z

I offer, for your edification, the text of the homily I preached this morning at Aldenham School. It is a bit of a strange combination: they anticipate the Sunday lectionary readings on Friday mornings (so we have the cleansing of the Temple from John 2), but today is St Patrick's Day so I wanted to get him in too...

It is written “zeal for your house will consume me”.

In our gospel passage we hear of one of the few recorded examples of Jesus getting angry. Here, he has come to the temple to keep the festival of Passover and he finds, not people praying, but traders selling goods and money changers. The house of God seems to have become a marketplace. Living in Camden, famous for its market, I can well understand why this was not what he might have expected.

There is something about unmet expectations that often makes us angry...
I am sure if your teacher arrived late to class and found you all having an absolute wail of a time, chatting, playing around and having fun, but not really doing much work, he may well be annoyed with his class. He expects work, his expectation is unmet and so he is angry. Of course, I am sure this is never the case.

Jesus came to the Temple, he expected prayer and sacrifice. Instead he found tradesmen and worldly business taking place. His expectation was unmet and so he became angry.

His disciples, looking on, remembered the line from the scriptures “zeal for your house will consume me”. This means that they expected Jesus to have a passion for the temple, the house of God.

So far, so good. But what does that mean for us?

In another source Jesus says “the kingdom of God is within you”. The place where God dwells is not a building of stone, like the temple in Jerusalem, but something within us.

Today is St Patrick’s Day. Now, 17th March means drinking Guinness to most people, and that is no bad way to mark it. But there is a little more to St Patrick than shamrock and Guinness.

I want to read a quote from St Patrick’s (kinda) autobiography, his Confessio:

"[God’s] fear increased in me more and more, and the faith grew in me, and the spirit was roused, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers, and in the night nearly the same, so that whilst in the woods and on the mountain, even before the dawn, I was roused to prayer and felt no hurt from it, whether there was snow or ice or rain; nor was there any slothfulness in me, such as I see now, because the spirit was then fervent within me."

Patrick seems to have a grip on the idea that the presence of God is within him. He shows this chiefly by finding himself able to talk to God wherever he is, whatever he’s doing. He doesn’t need a building of stone to find his God.

And so, the zeal Jesus had for the temple, for the dwelling place of God is the zeal he has for our hearts and souls. There is a hymn that begins “Jesus, lover of my soul”. Jesus is the lover of our souls: the passion he had for his Father’s house, he has for us. He expects that in our hearts God will be found. And indeed, his expectation can be met if we are willing.

It is written “zeal for your house will consume me.”

Amen.

Oh, and happy St Patrick's Day to all my readers. I'll be quaffing much Guinness later.

Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent

2006-03-13T19:23:00.000Z

Below is the text of the sermon I preached yesterday, for your edification...

Our gospel passage is the latter part of the confession of St Peter at Caesarea Philippi. When Jesus asks his followers who it is that people say he is and Peter replies “Thou art the Christ”.

We are two weeks in to Lent, and so far both our Sunday gospels have made mention of Satan. We do not often think of Satan, or hear of him in our reading, yet here he is twice!

Last week we heard how after his baptism Jesus was driven into the desert to be tempted by Satan.
This week, Peter takes issue with Jesus’ foretelling his death and resurrection, and Jesus rebukes him, saying “Get thee behind me, Satan!” – which to our ears may seem a little strong! Poor old Peter, so often hot-headed, so often getting it wrong.

On Tuesday evening a group of us watched some scenes from ‘Jesus of Nazareth’ as part of our Lent Oasis. In one of those scenes we saw Peter meet Jesus for the first time. I thought it was interesting, and insightful, how Peter was portrayed...

Peter has just been out fishing and has had a bad day’s catch (if any catch at all). He is coming back to shore shouting and cursing and in a foul mood (My Father is a fisherman so I understand something of his plight!). When Andrew, his brother, introduces him to Jesus Peter is more than a little doubtful:
“What? Another holy man! Tell me, what good will he do us?” is very much his approach.

Yet, Jesus gives Peter principle place among his apostles: “Thou art Peter (the rock), and on this rock will I build my church”
and (from the end of John)
Jesus tells Peter “Feed my lambs and tend my sheep”. He gives Peter pastoral care of his flock.

So why does Jesus seem to be so harsh with Peter? Why does he call him Satan? When it seems that Peter only wants to protect Jesus from the death he foretells for himself, one of rejection and great suffering.

Perhaps, when Peter seems willing to relieve Jesus of his sufferings Jesus is reminded of his own temptation in the desert. There, Satan tried to seduce Jesus into rejecting the mission he is given by his Father and taking the world’s glory. We hear from Jesus himself in a few weeks time, on Maundy Thursday during the Agony in the Garden, that he struggled to come to terms with the mission he was given. “Father, would that this cup of suffering could pass from me, yet not my will but yours be done.” Jesus knows what it is that he has been sent to do: to reconcile us to God by his passion, death and resurrection. And, he also knows how much suffering and pain this will mean he has to go through, before he rises in glory.

Perhaps the voice of Peter in his ear, saying something like “Lord, do not say this, you will not have to suffer, I won’t let you” is rather tempting, is rather like what Satan said to him in the wilderness.

If something is to be tempting it has to be something we feel a little attracted to. You could not tempt me with baked beans on toast for lunch, for instance, because I do not liked baked beans. However, if you offered me a slice of cake after mass that would be a different matter...

For Jesus to have been tempted by Satan in the wilderness, he must have realised the attraction in the things that Satan offered, there must have been a small part of him that might have wanted them. We know that Jesus struggled with the knowledge of his passion, perhaps the temptation to “fall in line” with what Peter was offering was indeed attractive. He hears the echo of Satan in Peter’s words and he reacts: “Get thee behind me, Satan!” Jesus refuses to be seduced by the temptation to deny his purpose. Knowledge of what the future holds can be a frightening thing, especially if that future will bring pain and sacrifice. Jesus knows that pain will come and, though he might like to do otherwise, he refuses to be distracted.

In Lent, we might well consider what it is that tempts us, what things we know the future may hold that we would rather avoid. We might hear the voice of Peter (a voice that recalls Satan’s temptation) offering us another, easier way, yet with Jesus as our example and our companion, we set our face towards the future with boldness and faith.

Jesus says that to be his followers means “to take up our cross and follow him, to lose our life for his sake, and yet in losing it, to save it”. For many of us the future holds painful things, in some cases this will be that we have to continue to bear the burden and pain of the past, or else it may be that we will have to make sacrifices of time and money, or personal emotional sacrifices. Yet Jesus says “take up these things, bring them with you to me and I will offer you rest and refreshment”. He will bring us salvation, that salvation will not just be the amplification of the good things in our life, but the deification (the bringing into God’s presence and perfection) of the things that give us pain and grief.

Christ’s cross was his burden, it was his implement of torture, it was his agony, it was his forsakenness by his Father, it was his death. Yet the cross on which he hung and died became his glory. Pain is turned to beauty, death to life, as the words of the hymn demonstrate:
“Faithful Cross! above all other
One and only noble tree!
None in foliage, none in blossom,
None in fruit thy peer may be;
Sweetest wood and sweetest iron!
Sweetest weight is hung on thee.”

We can come to the Lord with all the things we would rather leave behind, all the things we are tempted to ignore, and as we follow him we will find that out burden becomes our glory, our weaknesses become our strengths. Jesus set his face towards the Cross knowing that glory would come. We can set our face towards Holy Week, this Lent, in anticipation of Easter. And, we can set our face to our pains and burdens knowing that Christ has us in his care.
Amen.

Mission and mental health

2006-03-09T16:19:00.000Z

Below is the the text of a short paper I wrote for my Selection Conference. The Ministry Division ask you to produce a written reflection on your experience of "Mission and Evangelism". Although I know I "got through", I don't yet know what the selectors thought of it (I get the report soon), but I post it here for your edification (or amusement!).

The issue of “availability” has much to offer to our notions of mission. In exploring this relationship I want to reflect on two areas of my current experience of mission: mental health chaplaincy and church buildings.

As part of my work as a pastoral assistant I am connected with the chaplaincy at a local psychiatric in-patients hospital. The bulk of this ministry is in informal, ad-hoc conversations with people on the ward. In order for such conversations to be possible one has to be content to, as others may see it, waste one’s time: to make oneself available just by being there. This will often involve walking on to one of the wards casually and merely saying hello to those around; sitting down in the lounge and chatting to the patients there. Inevitably they wonder who you are: a doctor, a visitor, perhaps a new patient? I usually explain that I am a lay-chaplain working at the local church and that I come into the unit once a week.

Over the course of several weeks and months one begins to build up a relationship with the patients and to feel that one knows them quite well. Some of the things they say can be alarming or disturbing, but an attitude of openness and acceptance is important. In many cases patients who have had little or no contact with the Church before (or even worse, a past negative experience) will begin to come to our fortnightly service in the hospital and some have begun to come to our church for Sunday and midweek worship.

I believe this work to be an important part of our role in God’s mission to the world. Christ himself said “those who are not sick have no need of a physician”, and it is my experience that those who are being challenged emotionally and psychologically are far more open to the notions of spirituality and faith. This, of course, carries with it the extra responsibility of being sensitive and careful in the work of our chaplaincy, but also means that it is a rare privilege to work there.

Often when we are engaged in forms of sector ministry it is easy for chaplains to think that they are taking God in to a Godless place, when in fact the Spirit goes there ahead of us (sometimes despite of us) and is already making God known. This has been the case for me in the hospital. We are not so much engaged in bringing in God, but in revealing those places where God is already at work: in the healing of people (which is not always equated with medical recovery); in the care of nurses and staff; in the love of family and friends; in the new relationships of support formed with other patients. It is these things that are the good news of the kingdom of God.

In ourselves we are called to embody the Church in this way: to be a place, to provide space wherein the kingdom of God may be worked out. There is something extravagant about a church building because, in a sense, it is an empty space. Unlike a home, an office or a factory, for most of the day a church will be empty and not put to any particular use. A church punctuates the busyness of time and space by being there, being open and being silent. In order for this to have any effect a church needs to be available. Visitors will come in as they pass on their way to or from work, local workers visit on their lunch break, passers-by call in out of curiosity. Crucially the church is there, it is available and it speaks of the presence of the kingdom of God in our midst, of the welcoming and inclusive love of God given to us through his Son.

So it is with us if our pastoral ministry is to spill over into mission. We need to be people who create space in ourselves for the other and The Other, by prayer, self-awareness and study of the scriptures and the faith: in short, by encounter. This space needs to be available to others by our presence in the community and in the institutions of our community, by our time given (wasted?) in such places.

Good news

2006-03-08T17:40:00.000Z

You'll notice I haven't provided any details of the Selection Conference itself. These may follow later...

Sufffice it now for me to say that on Monday I heard from the Bishop's Office and he has accepted MinDiv's recommendation that I train for ordained ministry. I am now an ordinand!

I'm elated (and exhausted from all the celebrating).

Many thanks for your prayers and support. Now I need to decide which college to go to (but I already have a few ideas on that one...)

More to follow soon...

Pre-Conference

2006-03-03T17:20:00.000Z

The days between my retreat and Selection Conference passed peacefully, with just enough distractions to keep nerves at bay, but not so many that I got stressed out and tired. We had Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament at church on Saturday (now to become a regular thing) and Father had asked me to lead the devotions. I read aloud the text of a hymn that I know well because I used often to sing it as an anthem in a choir I was in when younger. It has been one of the private devotions I use after receiving communion for a few years now.

Be still, my soul, for God is near;
the great High Priest is with thee now;
the Lord of Life himself is here,
before whose face the angels bow.

To make thy heart his lowly thron
thy Saviour God in love draws nigh;
he gives himself unto his own,
for whom he once came down to die.

I come, O Lord! -for thou dost call-
to blend my pleading prayer with thine;
to thee I give myself - my all,
and feed on thee and make thee mine.

(O Sacred Food! O Cleansing Stream!
Fill all my soul with love Divine;
O Thou, who didst my life redeem,
come to my heart and make me thine!)

Tears sprang up in my eyes and my voice cracked in the penultimate verse. I managed to remain composed but it was profoundly moving to speaking aloud a prayer I have used privately for years, especially with the anticipation of the days ahead. "I come, O Lord! To thee I give myself, my all!"

Masses and prayers went up for me and the cards and well-wishes came flooding in. I felt very loved and held in prayer and went to Selection Conference knowing that I would not be alone or forgotten.

Retreat

2006-03-03T17:03:00.000Z

Well, I went on retreat, which was wonderful. I took myself off to Elmore Abbey (near Newbury, Berkshire) for two days. I took "The Christian Priest Today" by Michael Ramsey which was one of the first vocational books I read and had not found very useful the first time through, but this time round it was wonderful and really helped me to prepare for the Selection Conference.

Elmore Abbey itself is in a large country house (owing to its proximity to the village church, I guess it was once the Vicarage/Rectory), much altered and extended to suit the needs of a monastic house, situated in beautiful (but acessible) countryside. One of the extensions is the fabulous Oratory (as they call it, but I would have thought "Abbey Church"?). This is built entirely of wood to a Saxon design, with splendid stained glass and many other lovely, but simple, features. For two days I absorbed myself in the Church's offering of prayer there (except for the 5.30am Office of Readings!) which really provided the backbone of my retreat.

The community are friendly and welcoming but woefully small. They are currently without an Abbot but are being ruled by their new (and relatively young) Prior. Fortunately, they are able to enjoy and draw on a large oblate community for support.

I returned from retreat feeling calm and peaceful, prepared for and focussed on the forthcoming Selection Conference. It was the best preparation I could have hoped for.

What to tell?

2006-02-11T16:28:00.000Z

I haven't posted for a while. Not because nothing has happened. In fact, I've been rather busy, but as I review it all, little seems blog-worthy. A few dinners out, a few meetings at work, a restful day off... nothing remarkable.

I did, however, accompany my boss on his theatre chaplaincy round on Thursday night. He is chaplain to two of the major West end theatres, and chaplaincy, so far as I could gather, consists of hanging out backstage and drinking wine with famous (and semi-famous [and unknown]) actors and actresses. Not a bad deal at all!

We took a group round the National Gallery this morning, exploring the relationship between art and faith. This was particularly helpful for me because I tried out my Selection Conference presentation on art and prayer on them. They seemed to like it. Indeed, one of them said that if she were a selector she would recommend me on my presentation alone. What a sweetheart! If only it was so easy.

I'm preaching tomorrow. The gospel is the healing of the leper. I'm going to try preaching from bullet points rather than a full text for the first time. I'm fairly confident in what I'm going to say so it should turn out okay. Unfortunately, that means there won't be a text to post here. You're gutted, I'm sure.

I'm on retreat for some of next week. As you've become accustomed to doing, dear reader, don't expect much to go on here.

Fulham and other time zones

2006-02-04T18:45:00.000Z

A friend of mine was in London last night, staying in Fulham.
"Yes, I'll come and have dinner with you." I said.

Never go to Fulham (well, at least not if you live in Camden and haven't a LOT of patience). It may pretend to be in London but, believe me, SW6 is a different time zone. It took me over an hour to get there by tube. However, we had a nice relaxed evening with a curry, some beers and the TV all of which was much needed. Then I had to make the return journey...

Highgate, on the other hand, I visited for the first time today. It is just a 20 minute bus ride away and is delightful. You could honestly believe you weren't in London. It has a quaint rural-esque feeling to it. I am going to go up that way again, having borrowed a parishioner's dog, and walk on Parliament Hill. (Going for a walk seems more valid if one has a mutt on a lead)

Apology & prayers

2006-02-03T13:30:00.000Z

First, an apology: I do hope you can forgive my recent blog-posting sluggishness.

Below is part of an email I sent out to friends earlier in the week...

On 20th February I will be going on what is now called a Bishops' Advisory Panel. This may be more familiar to some of you as a Selection Conference, ABM or ACCM. The point is the same. This is a three-day residential conference when the Church of England examines candidates for training for the ordained ministry. Basically, it's kind of a big job interview for potential priests.

For me this will be the culmination of a few years' prayer, thought, conversations, interviews and a large chunk of my life as we decide whether God is calling me to be a priest in his Church. Obviously, this is quite a big deal (to me, at least).

I would therefore ask your prayers over the coming few weeks, and most especially during the conference itself (20-22 Feb). Pray especially that the Church and I can discern God's calling on my life and that I would have the faith to accept the outcome.

Pray also for the other candidates (there will probably be 16 of us); the "Advisors" (interviewers); my DDO (the person who prepares me) Jules; and Richard, my Bishop.

With my thanks and prayers.

Tagged

2006-01-27T13:16:00.000Z

Thanks to rocketleafsalad, it seems I have been "tagged" (some strange phenomenon that seems to be taking over the blogging world).

Four Jobs You've Had In Your Life
1. Pastoral Assistant
2. Chaplaincy Assistant at a University College
3. Accounts and Admin Assistant
4. Waiter
(I've done a lot of assistanting!)

Four Movies You Could Watch Over And Over
1. Any of the Harry Potter films
2. The English Patient
3. Seven
4. Sister Act

Four Places You've Lived
1. Camden
2. Southwark
3. Exeter
4. Kidderminster

Four TV Shows You Love To Watch
1. Neighbours
2. Will&Grace
3. Little Britain
4. Desperate Housewives

Four Places You've Been On Holiday/Vacation
1. Dublin
2. Bray (also in Ireland)
3. Torquay (my mother's favourite)
4. Madrid

Four Blogs You Visit Daily
Well, can't say I visit them daily, but I regularly check:
1. my own (for comments)
2. rocketleafsalad
3. thurible
4. sarisburium

Four Of Your Favorite Foods
1. salmon
2. salad (it's tasty and good for you!)
3. a cooked breakfast after a long and lazy lie-in (sadly becoming less frequent)
4. anything I don't have to cook for myself

Four Places You'd Rather Be
I'm quite happy where I am. However, I wouldn't object if someone wanted to take me to:
1. Exeter (but lots of other people who aren't there anymore would have to come with me)
2. Kidderminster (well, not really the place, but the people)
3. Ireland (I like it there and they have good Guinness)
4. A European city, on holiday, looking round a gallery with a friend.

Four Albums You Can't Live Without
1. Black Eyed Peas
2. Monteverdi Vespers
3. at least one of the Sugababes' albums
4. Basement Jaxx

Four Vehicles You've Owned
I don't drive. But I got an Oyster card, that takes me anywhere I want to go.

Four People To Be Tagged (do it! do it now!)
Bearing in mind that most people have done this already...
1. cathedral-life
2. sarisburium
3. stone fox
4. err, can't think of a fourth

Now, don't you all feel you know me better?
I'll endeavour to post something slightly more "meaningful" over the next few days...

The week ahead...

2006-01-22T21:26:00.000Z

The week ahead is likely to be a busy one, not least because of the feast of the Conversion of St Paul on Wednesday which is the Patronal for one of the churches I work at. We will be having a Concelebrated Festival Mass in the evening at which I shall be multi-tasking: having already done the liturgy and organised the music, I shall be both singing and serving on the night itself. However, I'm rather looking forward to it! As part of our patronal celebrations we will also be having a barn dance on Saturday. Not quite so sure how I feel about that...

Nuns

2006-01-21T22:02:00.000Z

Today I visited the Benedictine Community of St Mary at the Cross in Edgware. It was a wonderful experience and I came back feel rested and peaceful.

It was not so much a Quiet Day as a "educational" visit. We were looked after by Sister (Dame, properly) Barbara who this year celebrates her fiftieth anniversary of profession, which must make her at least 70. However, she was wonderfully bright and humorous and had a really outgoing spirit. She told us of the history of the community, of its current work and the life of a nun. We joined the sisters for Midday prayer and then celebrated the Eucharist. The convent has such an atmosphere of prayer that one couldn't help but feel the peace of the place. I felt like I had been on retreat for several days when I got back.

Sadly, only three of the nuns are now active enough to play a full part in the Community and to attend the Offices but the work of the sisters is ongoing and the convent is otherwise in good health. I was sincerely impressed and inspired by the place and hope and pray that more women will be inspired by the Holy Spirit to consider a vocation to the Religious life.

Lord our God,
in your great love you draw all people to your Son:
and in wisdom you call us to your service.
At this time kindle in the hearts of men and women
the desire to follow you in the Religious Life.
Give to those whom you call,
grace to accept their vocation readily and thankfully,
to make the whole-hearted surrender which you ask of them,
and for love of you, to persevere to the end,
grant this through Christ our Lord.
Amen .

Wulfstan, bishop

2006-01-19T13:48:00.000Z

I led Morning Prayer today (being the only day this week that I've arrived at church before it started -oops!). I was pleasantly surprised on picking up my copy of CCP and the Ordo to discover that today is the commemoration of Wulfstan, bishop of Worcester.

Wulfstan was born in about 1009 and was a monk in the priory of Worcester Cathedral. He was elected to the episcopacy against his own wishes but proved a good and caring bishop. He was one of the few (the only?) saxon bishops to maintain his see after the Norman Conquest when Wiliam of Normandy began to fill episcopal thrones with his own courtiers. This was the more remarkable given that he had been confessor to Harold, the last Saxon king. He guided his diocese and, in his role as a trusted official, the country through a time of major political and social upheaval as William stamped his mark on England.

He was responsible for the rebuilding of Worcester Cathedral in 1084, and the two western most bays of the Nave, and the crypt survive from this time.

However, more than this, he was both humble and holy. Even after his elevation to the episcopacy he followed the Rule of St Benedict and was well known throughout his diocese as a caring pastor, a fair judge and an inspiring preacher. There are several accounts of him having healed those who were sick and offered refuge to those persecuted as English-Saxon officials were displaced by Norman successors.

Wulfstan died on this day in 1095, aged 86 (a remarkable age for his time) and was canonised on 21 April 1203.

My home diocese is Worcester and I have visited and worshipped in the Cathedral many times, where Wulfstan was monk, priest and bishop. And where, later, he was buried. Sadly, his shrine was despoiled by the reformers.

Saint Wulfstan,
pray for us.
All you holy bishops and confessors,
pray for us.

Towards Ordained Ministry

2006-01-16T22:14:00.000Z

Tonight I was at the first in a series of talks for London Diocesan ordinands (and potential ordinands). It was rather good. Bishop Richard spoke on "Authority". He spoke to this passage from the Preface of the Declaration of Assent:

"The Church of England is part of the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church, worshipping the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. It professes the faith uniquely revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the catholic creeds, which faith the Church is called upon to proclaim afresh in each generation. Led by the Holy Spirit, it has borne witness to Christian truth in its historic formularies, the Thirty-nine Articles of Religion, The Book of Common Prayer and the Ordering of Bishops, Priests and Deacons. In the declaration you are about to make, will you affirm your loyalty to this inheritance of faith as your inspiration and guidance under God in bringing the grace and truth of Christ to this generation and making Him known to those in your care?"

He expounded it rather well and illuminated it with references to the Rule of St Benedict. Some of his comments were rather pointed, and a few criticisms of our more conservative evangelical brethren were thinly veiled. However, I was impressed by how accessible his talk was to people of any churchmanship or tradition - I guess that's why he's bishop of a diocese as broad as London!

All of the above was helped along by the wine and canapes provided by Sion College at the reception before the talk of course!

A couple of quotable quotes:
"... at the Council of Trent, which, I am sure is never far from your minds at St Helen's Bishopsgate...." [famous conservative evangelical church in central London, of the most extreme kind]
"1963 was a year in which the world changed. It was the year, as Philip Larkin tells us, that sexual intercourse was invented."
"We have this phrase now in the Church of England: Fresh Expressions. "Fresh Expressions" conjures up to my mind the look on the face of an imp! THAT is what I think is a fresh expression."

Well, they amused me anyway.

Helping the homeless

2006-01-14T22:13:00.000Z

I've just come back from our parish's Homeless Night Shelter. A truly blessed, God-filled time. We ate a meal prepared by parishioners with about fifteen homeless people who will sleep over (in proper beds!) in the church tonight.

I was quite nervous about it because you tend to notice homeless people when they are at their worst: drunk or high and making trouble in the street. But tonight was a good opportunity to meet them and share food together.

I was especially pleased that the parishioners so gladly took charge of the food preparation and serving. I was coordinating the food tonight, but once I'd decided who needed to do what it all just happened effortlessly (or so it seemed). When I thanked the volunteers for their help, they thanked me and said how much they had enjoyed it. I think it was very good experience for people who, like me, would normally be apprehensive of the homeless.

"I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me... Truly I tell you, just as you did it for one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it for me." (Matthew 25:35,40)

Mary Mother of God

2006-01-13T18:46:00.000Z

The following is the text of the sermon I preached on New Year's Day. Our parish keeps the Roman Calendar and so we were observing the Solemnity of the Mother of God. Enjoy!

The role and place of Mary in theology and in the Church is something that a lot of people have very passionately held opinions on, and something about which there is a great diversity of opinion.

As children my younger sister and I were looked after by our Grandmother. My Nan (as we called her) is an Irish Roman Catholic and she has had a big role in the early part of my faith. She taught me the basic prayers, told me about the Church and life in Ireland with nuns teaching in schools, working in hospitals and caring for the poor. One of the things she taught me was the prayer “Hail Mary” which I used to faithfully say every night before bed. Devotion to Mary formed an important part of my faith from its very beginning, and except for a more protestant phase (mea culpa) in my late teens, I’ve always had an understanding of the role and place of Mary.

However, in preparing to write this sermon I was made to think more deeply about what it means for Mary to be the Mother of God, and what that might mean for us. I turned to my books on patristic theology which is the development of Christian faith and doctrine in the generations immediately following the apostles (so from about 100 to 450 AD).

In the year 430AD Nestorius, who was Patriarch of Constantinople, preached against the already popular use of the term “mother of God” as a title for the Blessed Virgin. He believed that Mary had borne the man Jesus who was the habitation of the divine Christ. This is an inadequate understanding of the incarnation but he was worried that to say Mary was the Mother of God implied that God the Son was a created , or that the manhood of Jesus Christ was incomplete, he being more God than man.

Cyril, Patriarch of Alexandria, was charged by the Pope (and, in part, his own initiative) with correcting Nestorius. An Ecumenical Council was called and met at Ephesus to discuss the matter. St Cyril said
“I am amazed that there are some who are extremely doubtful whether the Holy Virgin should be called Mother of God or no. For if our Lord Jesus Christ is God, then surely the Holy Virgin who gave him birth must be God’s mother... You may say ‘Was the Virgin the mother of the Godhead?’ My reply is... the Word of God is begotten of... the Father, has his existence outside time, always coexisting with his Father... When he became flesh... he is said to have also been begotten through a woman according to the flesh. What a mother produces is one living being.”
So then, Cyril gives us the rationale behind the title Mother of God, but there is more here that it is worth discovering, about the connotations of “Mother of God” for the person of Christ. Cyril went on to say
“Scripture does not say that the Word united to himself the person of man, but that he became flesh... He made our body his own and came forth a man of a woman, not casting aside his being God, and his having been begotten of God the Father, but even in the assumption of his flesh remaining what he was...
[He was born in time] that he might bless the very first element of our being, and that, a woman having borne him united to the flesh, there might be made to cease theneforward the curse lying upon our whole race, and that the sentence... might be annulled by him: he will swallow up death for ever.”

The doctrine of Nestorius was condemned as a heresy at Ephesus in 431 for seeming to propose that Christ was two different sons: one being the divine Word, the other the human Jesus, when in fact the confession of the Church is one Lord, one Son, one person: Jesus Christ.

The mid fifth-century was a time of major debates about the person of Christ, and these culminated at Ephesus, and shortly after at Chalcedon (from which we get our creed). The Councils also marked the climax of Marian doctrine in the patristic period. It was not the concern of the Fathers though to do honour to Mary, but rather to make clearer definitions of the union of God and man in the incarnation. It became apparent that this could only really be done by recognising Mary as Theotokos, Greek for God-bearer or Mother of God. Thus Mariology (the study of the person of Mary) became firmly integrated with Christology (the study of the person of Christ).

And so we see that immediately as we talk of Mary, we begin to consider the person of Christ, his incarnation and his redeeming work. For me, this began to make sense of why we are celebrating her today. 1st January is always the Solemnity of the Mother of God, and so it always falls exactly a week after Christmas itself. This is not somehow to shift the focus suddenly from the infant Christ to his mother, but is for the deepening of our appreciation of the incarnation and so the reason for its proximity to Christmas becomes apparent.

At Christmas we recall the gracious “yes” of God to humanity which he makes in the incarnation. In thinking of Mary we remember her faithful “yes” to God: her “let it be to me according to your word”, by which it came about. St Paul tells us that all of God’s promises find their “yes” in Jesus Christ. And so, with Mary as our supreme example we offer our “yes” to God, our commitment to his will and purpose for our lives, that we might (as our epistle tells us) become adopted sons and daughters of God and find ourselves filled with his Spirit so that we, like Mary, worship God not just with our lips, but commit ourselves to him entirely that his Son might be made known through us as he came to us from her.

Amen.

Behold I do a new thing

2006-01-13T17:58:00.000Z

Welcome to my blog. More to follow when inspiration strikes...