Blesséd Mother
parishLife
“Me Liturgy, You Drains”
Blesséd Foundation Stones
Not allowed to do Benediction. Sad Face.
New Bishop of Portsmouth Announced
At 7.30am this morning, the word came from the offices of the Prime Minister, that Her Majesty has confirmed the nomination of the Rt Revd Christopher Foster as the next Bishop of Portsmouth.
The Number 10 website announced:
The Queen has approved the nomination of the Right Reverend Christopher Richard James Foster, MA, Suffragan Bishop of Hertford, for election as Bishop of Portsmouth in succession to the Right Reverend Dr Kenneth William Stevenson, FRHistS, MA, PhD, DD on his resignation on the 30th September 2009.
Notes for Editors
Christopher Foster (aged 56) studied theology at Westcott House, Cambridge after lecturing in Economics at the University of Durham. He served his first curacy at Tettenhall Regis, Wolverhampton in Lichfield diocese. From 1982 to 1986 he was Chaplain at Wadham College, Oxford and curate of the University Church of Saint Mary with Saint Cross and Saint Peter, Oxford. He was Vicar of Southgate in North London for eight years and also Continuing Ministerial Education Officer for Edmonton Area. From 1994 to 2001 he was Canon Residentiary and Sub-Dean of St Albans and he has been Suffragan Bishop of Hertford since 2001.
He is married to Sally and he has two grown-up children.
Further information from our Diocese’s website:
The new Bishop of Portsmouth, the Rt Rev Christopher Foster
Bishop Christopher, 56, who is currently Bishop of Hertford in the St Albans diocese, will become the ninth Bishop of Portsmouth later this year. He succeeds the Rt Revd Dr Kenneth Stevenson, who was bishop for 14 years until he retired last autumn.
The new bishop was introduced on February 9 at the top of Portsmouth’s Spinnaker Tower, from which he could see much of his new diocese – 142 Church of England parishes in south-east Hampshire and the Isle of Wight. Which means that if he looks to his right, he can see my parish!
Bishop Christopher will spend the day touring the diocese to visit some of his future colleagues and parishioners.
He’ll visit one of the parishes and meet children at work in the classroom at St Matthew’s C of E Primary School, Blackmoor, near Petersfield – one of 49 church schools in the diocese. He’ll meet the vicar of St Matthew’s Church, the Revd Will Hughes, who is also chairman of governors, as well as staff, children and other governors.
He will then join future colleagues and members of the public for prayers in Portsmouth Cathedral with senior clergy and lay members of the diocese. The 1pm service, led by the dean of the cathedral, the Very Rev David Brindley, will include prayers for Bishop Christopher’s future ministry. All are welcome.
And he’ll complete his tour of the diocese by visiting Newport Minster in the Isle of Wight in the afternoon. He will meet representatives of the community including the Lord Lieutenant, High Sheriff and leader of the Isle of Wight Council, as well as senior clergy and lay members of the island’s Anglican churches.
Bishop Christopher is looking forward to joining the diocese, but will not actually take up the role until he is officially installed as Bishop of Portsmouth at a special service in Portsmouth Cathedral later this year, at a date to be announced.
Bishop Christopher said: ”I am honoured and excited to be invited to be Bishop of Portsmouth. Sally and I are looking forward to meeting the people of the diocese both in the churches and also in the wider community, and discerning how I and the church may serve them and the gospel. There will be much to discover as I get to know this part of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, the people, villages and towns.
“Christians are called to be visible and approachable, with the Bishop leading that witness and service. My role as Bishop of Portsmouth will be to lead a church that cares for people, encourages discipleship, shares in God’s mission, and stands for truth and justice. So I shall enjoy the great variety of the diocese and its church life as I join with lay and ordained colleagues in living the good news of Jesus Christ.”
The Ven Caroline Baston, Archdeacon of the Isle of Wight, served on the Crown Nominations Committee that recommended his appointment to the Queen and prime minister, alongside five others, lay and clergy, from Portsmouth diocese.
She said: “I am delighted that Bishop Christopher has accepted God’s call to be our next Bishop. I look forward very much to working with him on the island and across the diocese. Right from the beginning, those of us involved in the process felt that he had just the right mix of gifts and skills for the post.”
Bishop Christopher grew up in the industrial West Midlands and in Surrey before studying economics at Durham and Manchester Universities and briefly working as an economics lecturer.
He studied at Westcott House, Cambridge, before his ordination in 1980. He was a curate in Wolverhampton before he became chaplain of Wadham College, Oxford. He then became vicar of Christ Church, Southgate, in London (now describing itself as an Inclusive Liberal catholic parish) (serving additionally as director of clergy continuing education), and then Sub Dean and residentiary canon at St Albans Cathedral in 1994.
He was consecrated as Bishop of Hertford in 2001, one of two suffragan (assistant) bishops to the Bishop of St Albans. He is Warden of Readers in the diocese, leading the training and work of licensed lay ministers, chairs the Mission and Pastoral Committee, and is especially involved with outreach among young people and the encouragement of their ministry and leadership.
In the wider community and Church he has been a working trustee and is now patron of a local media trust, chairs the finance committee of the University of Hertfordshire, chaired Churches Together in Hertfordshire and represents the Church of England at Churches Together in England.
He has a particular interest in the mission and ministry of the church in the 21st century through the work of lay and ordained Christians, which echoes the diocese’s current commitment to creating a new strategy for lay and ordained ministry to meet new challenges.
He is a keen Wolves fan and is looking forward to what may be a crucial relegation battle with Portsmouth at Fratton Park in May.
He married Sally four years ago following the death of his first wife, Julia, in 2001. He has two grown-up children, Richard and Miriam.
The Bishop of St Albans, the Rt Rev Dr Alan Smith, said: “I have been privileged to know Bishop Chris as a valued colleague, as a fellow Christian, and as a good friend.
“As suffragan Bishop of Hertford in this diocese, and formerly as Sub Dean at St Albans Cathedral, Chris has demonstrated outstanding leadership, as a pastor and teacher. He has been assiduous in his commitment to parish visiting and in keeping close contact with the clergy and churches in his care.
“Chris is a man of deep prayer, in whom there is an infectious enthusiasm for the furthering of God’s work. St Albans diocese has benefited immeasurably from his ministry and mission.
“Chris and Sally will be greatly missed, but they will leave with the prayers and good wishes of the many thousands with whom they have worked, worshipped and prayed in this place.”
Bishop Chris was interviewed on Radio Solent this morning, and handled it very well: he came over as a nice bloke, with a grasp on current events. He handled a mix of trivial and deeper questions well: he proclaimed his support for the Consecration of Women Bishops (Hurrah!) and also the proper care of those with difficulties over that. He wasn’t wanting to point the finger at people (ie bankers) for current social ills which makes him sound sensible. I might come down to the Cathedral at lunchtime for prayers, just to meet him in the flesh; but more significantly, we in the parish will be praying for Bishop Chris as he takes over the helm of our ship-of-fools. May God bless him in his ministry here.
Eucharistic Prayer B – Joined by Angels
Look Mummy, I can do liturgy to authorised text. It’s just that I usually choose not to. As if to prove my point, here is a reworking of the Joined by Angels Eucharistic Prayer to Common Worship Prayer B – with (and get this!) the common worship preface. I often use prayer B, but frequently in Blesséd write our own prefaces.
The numbers in this text refers to the numbers on screen.
The Lord be with you
and also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give thanks and praise.
1 Father, we give you thanks and praise
through your beloved Son Jesus Christ, your living Word,
through whom you have created all things;
who was sent by you in your great goodness to be our Saviour.
2 By the power of the Holy Spirit he took flesh;
as your Son, born of the blessed Virgin,
he lived on earth and went about among us;
3 he opened wide his arms for us on the cross;
he put an end to death by dying for us;
4 and revealed the resurrection by rising to new life;
so he fulfilled your will and won for you a holy people.
5 Therefore with angels and archangels,
and with all the company of heaven,
we proclaim your great and glorious name,
for ever praising you and singing:
Sanctus
We are joined by angels,
Our purpose the same:
To worship the one and only God,
A little piece of heaven in this place
And we cry together: Holy, holy
For there is no other like You, Lord.
We declare together: You are awesome,
You are to be feared, honoured and revered,
For You are the Lord.
We are joined by angels,
With one voice we sing,
As we lift our hands to honour You,
In worship, the angels extend their wings.
And we cry together: Holy, holy
For there is no other like You, Lord.
We declare together: You are awesome,
You are to be feared, honoured and revered,
For You are the Lord.
The priest continues
6 Lord, you are holy indeed, the source of all holiness;
7 grant that by the power of your Holy Spirit,
and according to your holy will,
these gifts of bread and wine
may be to us the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ;
8 who, in the same night that he was betrayed,
took bread and gave you thanks;
he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying:
Take, eat; this is my body which is given for you;
do this in remembrance of me.
9 In the same way, after supper
he took the cup and gave you thanks;
he gave it to them, saying:
Drink this, all of you;
this is my blood of the new covenant,
which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.
10 Do this, as often as you drink it,
in remembrance of me.
<no memorial acclamation>
11 And so, Father, calling to mind his death on the cross,
his perfect sacrifice made once
for the sins of the whole world;
rejoicing in his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension,
and looking for his coming in glory,
we celebrate this memorial of our redemption.
12 As we offer you this our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving,
we bring before you this bread and this cup
and we thank you for counting us worthy
to stand in your presence and serve you.
13 Send the Holy Spirit on your people
and gather into one in your kingdom
all who share this one bread and one cup,
so that we, in the company of Our Blessed Lady,
St Thomas the Apostle, St Peter, all the saints,
may praise and glorify you for ever,
through Jesus Christ our Lord;
14 by whom, and with whom, and in whom,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
all honour and glory be yours, almighty Father,
for ever and ever.
And we cry together: Holy, holy
For there is no other like You, Lord.
We declare together: You are awesome,
You are to be feared, honoured and revered,
For You are the Lord.
Amen
St Valentine’s Day Assembly – Love Poured Out
This is for a non-church school. Download Powerpoint here: Valentine Assembly 2
You will need to download and insert the videos where indicated. Use www.vixy.net or Save2PC (www.save2pc.com) to convert them from YouTube (Update: or you can download them from here at Agnus Dei)
Gathering Video:
In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
The Lord be with you and also with you
“It must be love..” “Love is all around” “All you need is love” “Love is in the air”
Love, it would seem is the major concern of our lives. Music and Adverts are full of it. It fills our iPods and clogs up our TVs. We can’t seem to get away from it… but What is this thing called love?
Next Sunday is St. Valentine’s Day.
Maybe you are expecting to send a card (or two)
Maybe you are expecting to get at least a card! I some some of the teachers are. I know one at least who’ll be disappointed!
St Valentines Day is the day when sales of cards and flowers and chocolates and teddy bears rocket.
A day to celebrate love. And it is the feast day of this Saint of Love,
…about whom I bet you currently know next to nothing
St. Valentine was a priest in Rome sometime (and to be honest, we don’t know exactly when) in the Third Century AD, so that’s about 1700 years ago…
The Roman Emperor disapproved of marriage, believing that it prevented young men from being excellent soldiers, but St. Valentine disagreed with him, and would secretly marry young men and women to came to him.
He was caught and thrown into gaol, which is where he met the jailer’s daughter, who was blind. They often say that love is blind, and their love flourished. He converted her to the faith, and it is said that his love healed her.
He used to write to her, and always signed his letters “From your Valentine…”
Love is a very complex thing. It isn’t as straightforward a thing as JLS or Cheryl Cole sings about…
Eskimos have hundreds of words for snow: they see there’s a difference between the light flakes of snow that dance in the morning sunshine and the heavy ice that clogs up our roads and needs parents and governors to dig the school out of.
In the same way, there are many different ways to think about love.
Of course the songs we mainly hear about are the soppy kind of love: the “I love you baby” type of love.
But there’s also the love between a parent and a child, so you’d say “I love my Mum or Dad”
Then there’s the love between friends, or between brothers and sisters
And there’s the selfless love that we try to show to our neighbour that Jesus tried to tell us about – the kind of love that doesn’t need chocolates or teddy bears or flowers to be proven – the kind of love that doesn’t have a price tag.
I believe God loves you as a parent loves a child – as one of his own
I believe God loves you with a passion, with intimacy, as a pair of grown-ups love each other
I believe God loves you and celebrates you as you are – as a friend and a brother or sister
I know, and I have experienced, that God loves you, and me, regardless of whether we love him back.
God’s love has, I believe, no strings attached, no conditions.
That’s the most challenging thing about this sort of love – the love that Christians believe Jesus poured out for us on the cross.
It’s not something we asked for, but still God still gives it. God wasn’t required to give us this love, he didn’t have to, but he gives his love anyway: his amazing grace.
It flows as freely as running water, and all we need to do is jump in and be prepared to swim in this amazing love.
This love will never run out, never fade like the flowers, get consumed like the chocolates, get threadbare like the teddies.
This love is for all time, and it is for you. St. Valentine is a symbol both of the love between two grown-ups and the love of God for us.
May you, know, deep down, that you are loved. Amen.
Recessional Video:
Video Applications to the Walsingham 2010 Youth Pilgrimage Ministry Team
This is how to submit the video part of the application for the Walsingham Youth Pilgrimage 2010 Ministry Team.
We want to see you at your best: tell us why you’d be a brilliant Ministry Team member – show us your skills, talents and abilities: dramatic, technological and your wondrous personality.
Once you have uploaded your video to Vimeo, remember to password protect it as this video shows you; send the URL of the video and the password to Fr.Stephen at s.gallagher@olw-shrine.org.uk
Any further questions about submitting your video, just ask Fr. Simon: simon@rundell.org.uk
Blesséd Daily Texts
I was forced to stop doing these daily meditations-in-140-characters when I changed to an iPhone from a Blackberry. I miss doing them terribly, and I am now debating how I can do them once more. Producing these short daily reflections was an important part of my daily devotional, and did me (and I suspect, a few others) some spiritual good.
One of the key issues about restarting is the economics, as I don’t have an unlimited text package anymore, and that would be an extra £8 a month. But that’s a lot for me, right now.
The other is technological, as I used to use the wonderful QuickerSMS which linked my BB to my laptop; and as far as I can see, there is NO such product for the iPhone. There are loads of posts from people asking if there was anything that did this, but would Apple deign to allow anyone to sell one of these on their AppStore? Nah! If anyone knows of a solution, could they let me know in the comments.
I could create a group text list and do it that way, but I suppose I need to know if others miss the texts, and would get benefit from them.
Another solution would be just to do it via Twitter, which would be good for some of us, cost-effective (ie free for me to do) but isn’t quite so immediate.
What would you like?
Blesséd Tour to S. Mildred’s & S. Peter’s, Canterbury City Centre
At the invitation of Fr. Mark, the Incumbent of the the Canterbury City Centre Parishes and Jamie, their Student Worker, Liam, Vickie, Dave and myself drove up on Saturday morning to run a workshop on Creative Liturgy, a Blesséd Mass for Candlemas and for me to preach on the Sunday Morning.
The text of the paper will be found later in the year in my book:
You might want to contact SCM-Canterbury and place a pre-order with them. This is the first explicit and what I hope will not be too tedious plugs for it. It is my first published book completely written by me – before this I have only had chapters (ie Ancient-Future…) or papers published in peer-reviewed journals in Nursing (The Nursing Contribution to the Do-Not-Resuscitate Debate, Nurse-Patient Interaction in High Dependency Critical Care Areas: A Grounded Theory Study) or a column in the Nursing Times: this is a first and naturally I am excited. Indulge me a bit…
Later on Saturday, we gathered for a Blesséd for Candlemas. The liturgy was as follows:
Blesséd – Light: Candlemas 2009
Gathering
Video: Busy Gathering
Introduction
Video: Liturgical Greeting v. Short
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
Brothers and Sisters, we are the Church!
Bold and underlined words are displayed on screen
We come to praise the God who loves us so much that he sends his Son, Jesus, to bring us life and breathe the fire of the Holy Spirit into our hearts.
It is now forty days since Christmas and tonight we remember a special moment in Jesus life, when his parents took him to the Temple to dedicate him to God. There they encountered two old and wise people, Simeon and Anna who recognised Jesus as God’s son and began to tell the world about him.
Here in God’s house we too come to encounter Jesus as he becomes present with us in bread and wine. And we ask God’s Spirit to give us courage and faith that we too can tell the world of the amazing love that Jesus brings.
For with God all things are possible, nothing is impossible, do not be afraid!
Penitential Rite
When three candles on the altar are lit the Priest says:
Jesus is the light of the world. That light is in each of us for Jesus is always with us.
When we do things that are wrong, when we hurt or damage our friends or families, our environment, or ourselves the light of Jesus becomes dim in us. Let us remember those times, sort our lives out and know that God forgives us.
During each petition at the words “we bring darkness” one of the three candles is extinguished and the lights in church grow dimmer.
When we do wrong to our family and loved ones, we bring darkness into our lives Father, forgive.
When we do wrong to our world, we bring darkness into our lives Father, forgive
When we do wrong to ourselves, we bring darkness into our lives Father, forgive
During the prayer for forgiveness, the Priest pauses as the candles are relit
May the risen Christ heal and restore us light candle
save us from all evil light candle
and give us his light always light candle
Amen.
Collect
Let us pray
Lord Jesus Christ,
light of the nations and glory of Israel;
make your home among us,
and present us pure and holy
to your heavenly Father,
your God and our God.
Amen.
Liturgy of the Word
The Reading is from Malachi
God says
The Messenger will come
The one you look for will appear in his temple
The Messenger will come
He will bring good news to delight in
The Messenger will come
But who can endure the day of his coming,
The Messenger will come
and who can stand when he appears?
The Messenger will come
For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap;
The Messenger will come
he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver,
The Messenger will come
and he will purify the descendants of Levi,
The Messenger will come
until they present offerings to the LORD in righteousness.
The Messenger will come
then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the LORD
The Messenger will come
God will do this.
Gospel: Presentation in the Temple Luke 2:22-32
As the meditation is played, the altar is circled and censed. At the end, the priest faces the congregation and repeats the Nunc Dimmitis:
Now, Lord, you let your servant go in peace:
your word has been fulfilled.
My own eyes have seen the salvation
which you have prepared in the sight of every people;
A light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit
As it was in the beginning, is now, and shall be forever, world without end. Amen
This is the Gospel of the Lord
Praise to you, O Christ
Strip Intercessions
Equipment: Strips of Paper, Pens, Glue Dots
The people write their intercessions on the strips of paper
If you want to write down your prayers, what would it look like?
A shopping list?
Would it be more like a doodle?
Would your prayers form a little sketch?
A spider diagram?
A single word?
Logical in structure? Random or chaotic?
Does it matter?
Before you write anything down, pause and reflect.
What is your main concern?
What do you need to bring before God?
For yourself.
For others.
For the Church.
For the world.
For the sick, the ailing, the addicted, the troublesome
For the dead and the mourning..
We do not pray alone.
We join these prayers with all the others written tonight.
Weaved together. Linked. Joined.
Joined with the angels, the saints, the prophets, the patriarchs.
Joined with the prayers of our Blesséd Lady…
Hail Mary,Full of Grace,
The Lord is with thee.
Blessed art thou among women,
and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary,Mother of God,
pray for us sinners now,
and at the hour of death.
How did they turn out?
No need to sign your prayers
God knows.
He knows your needs,
Your desires
Your concerns…
…and he listens.
He responds.
Whether you prayed a picture, a list, a diagram, a single word…
God responds.
Maybe Yes
Maybe No
Maybe Not Yet
Not always the answer to your prayers that you want.
…but he answers.
Always.
Amen
The Liturgy of the Sacrament
Peace
Christ is our peace.
He has reconciled us to God
in one body by the cross.
We meet in his name and share his peace.
The peace of the Lord be always with you.
And also with you.
Let us offer one another a sign of peace
The Peace is shared
The Offertory
As the offertory is played, bread and wine move haphazardly from the rear to the altar, passing through most members of the congregation
Video: Blesséd be your name (iWorship)
The priest, altar and people are covered in a large sheet of voile material. During the preface, the voile is gently raised until by the sanctus it is removed.
The Eucharistic Prayer
Video: Joined by Angels Eucharistic Prayer
The Lord be with you
and also with you.
Lift up your hearts.
We lift them to the Lord.
Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.
It is right to give thanks and praise.
1)Father we begin buried, hemmed in, subjucated and hidden.
Our faith covered by our sin, hidden by our insecurity.
2)Yet you have revealed your love for us, uncovering yourself through
the enfleshment of your Son and continue to work through the power of your holy spirit.
3)Reveal yourself to us in bread and wine,
Make us complete by the obedience of your Son to death,
even death on a cross
4)Take us and fashion us
Form us in love into the likeness of Christ
And enable us to be freed to see that likeness in others.
5)So we enter into the mysteries of heaven echoing the song of the
angels, saints, prophets and patriarchs…
Sanctus
We are joined by angels,
Our purpose the same:
To worship the one and only God,
A little piece of heaven in this place
And we cry together: Holy, holy
For there is no other like You, Lord.
We declare together: You are awesome,
You are to be feared, honoured and revered,
For You are the Lord.
We are joined by angels,
With one voice we sing,
As we lift our hands to honour You,
In worship, the angels extend their wings.
And we cry together: Holy, holy
For there is no other like You, Lord.
We declare together: You are awesome,
You are to be feared, honoured and revered,
For You are the Lord.
The music continues softly as the Priest continues with the prayer
6) Father of all, we give you thanks
for every gift that comes from heaven
7)Send your Spirit now
upon +these gifts
that we may feed on Christ
with opened eyes and hearts on fire.
8)To the darkness Jesus came as your light.
With signs of faith and words of hope
he touched untouchables with love and washed the guilty clean.
9)The crowds came out to see your Son,
yet at the end they turned on him.
On the night he was betrayed
he came to table with his friends
to celebrate the freedom of your people.
10)Jesus blessed you, Father, for the food;
he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and said:
This is my body, given for you all.
Jesus then gave thanks for the wine;
he took the cup, gave it and said:
This is my blood, shed for you and for all
for the forgiveness of sins.
Do this in remembrance of me.
11)Therefore, Father, with this bread and this cup
we celebrate the cross
on which he died to set us free.
Defying death he rose again
and is alive with you to plead for us and all the world.
12)May we and all who share this food
offer ourselves to live for you
and be welcomed at your feast in heaven
where all creation worships you,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit:
The music resolves again and we sing
And we cry together: Holy, holy
For there is no other like You, Lord.
We declare together: You are awesome,
You are to be feared, honoured and revered,
For You are the Lord.
The Lord’s Prayer
Video: Lord’s Prayer Short Modern
We break this bread to share in the body of Christ
Though we are many we are one body,
because we all share in one bread.
Agnus Dei
Video: Rufus Wainwright: Agnus Dei
This is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world.
Blessed are those who are called to his supper.
Lord I am not worthy to receive you,
but only say the word and I shall be healed.
Communion
Post Communion Prayer
Let us pray
Lord,
you feed us with the gift of your Son,
Jesus Christ the light of all nations.
May we, like Simeon and Anna,
have faith and courage to share his light with others,
for he is Lord for ever and ever.
Amen
Blessing of Candles
Candles with the Blesséd logo are brought forward
Let us bless these candles
God our Father,
you give us Jesus as the light of the world,
a light to brighten all the nations
a light to shine into the darkest parts of our lives.
Bless + these candles,
that they may be a sign of our prayers for our broken world
and remind us that all things will be brought into your light
when your Son our Saviour comes again in glory.
Amen.
Candles are distributed
Blessing and Dismissal
Video: Dismissal
The Lord be with you.
And also with you.
May Christ our light fill you with joy,
send you into the world
so all people may be ablaze with his glory.
And the blessing of God Almighty
+the Father, +the Son, +and the Holy Spirit
be upon you and remain with you always.
Amen.
Go in the light and peace of Christ
Thanks be to God.
Video: EndMusic Polyphonic
END
Sermon: Epiphany 4 / Candlemas 2010
Preached at St Mildred’s, Canterbury
Text: Luke 2:22-40
In the name of the +Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
My dear friends in Christ, it gives me great pleasure to be with you this morning, and indeed to be with you this entire weekend. I would like to thank you all for your kindness and hospitality that you have extended to Liam, Dave, Vickie and myself as we joined you yesterday to share some of the work of Blessed, our alternative worship community, and share its vision for a deeply sacramental, radical call to mission. I would like to thank Fr. Mark and Jamie, your excellent youthworker, for their invitation.
In many ways, what was explored last night in the Blessed Mass for Candlemas is also played out in today’s theme: revelation, mystery and above all the word made flesh, made real, made among us in the incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ. What was once hidden, is now plain, for all the world to see. What our world once believed or took for granted has been transformed, challenged, subverted: for this is the very essence of what Blessed seeks to do…
I know that the great playwright George Bernard Shaw took great delight in revealing the error of so many of our assumptions and certainties. One story – so good that it strikes me as apocryphal – is that while giving a lecture Shaw mentioned in an aside that the English language had only two words which begin with the sound ‘sh,’ but are spelled with only a single ‘s’ and not the ‘h.’ Can you think of them?
Someone in his audience (clearly delighting in the opportunity to correct a man of such esteem) sent him a letter declaring that there were not two such words, but only one such word – ‘sugar.’ Shaw dashed out a response to his critic on the back of a postcard with the single question, “Madame, are you sure?”
Human beings have a great attraction to certainty. We long for order, simplicity, clarity. Certainty helps us to organize the world neatly, to make our experience more easily understood, and to give us a sense of control. Certainty makes us feel secure.
So we like sharp lines between good and evil, right and wrong, holy and profane, true and false. And there are some things about which we can be certain, starting with: God loves us. And if we start with that, live trusting in that, basing our lives upon it, our hunger for other certainties becomes far less intense. The most important principle for life is to trust in God’s love for us.
But we’re not always so good about it. Instead of trusting in God’s love for us, we trust in things that are less certain. We shape our identity not on the fact that we are most beloved children of God, but on how we are different than other people – things like wealth, race, religion, education, ancestry, abilities, social status, and so on. We often identify with things that make us feel superior to other people. This divides people. As S. Paul told us in his letter to the supremem dysfunctional people of Corinth: “Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up.” (1 Cor 8:1)
Love unites people, but we are prone to divide life into us versus them. Our certainties often deepen this divide of us and them. It’s not just divisions like City vs United, Labour and Tory, but divisions with even fiercer emotions and certainties: Hindus and Muslims in Pakistan and India; Christians and government authorities in China and North Korea; Christians and Muslims; Shia and Sunni Muslims.
Christians, of course, divide up themselves too: Orthodox, Protestant, Catholic. We have those who tend to find certainty in Biblical inerrancy and others in Papal infallibility. And we have countless further distinctions: Anglicans, Romans, Baptists, evangelicals, charismatics, inclusives, traditionalists. And so on, and so on… what has happened to the body of Christ? For goodness sake!
Our distinctions are often very important to us, but are they important to God? I am sure our distinctions are far more important to us than they are to God, and that should make us question how much we value them.
S. Paul tells us that God desires all of humanity to be saved. (1 Tim 2:4) God does not limit or restrict his grace and favour to any group of Christians or to any group of people. He’s there for all. The cross was not just for you, as an individual, but for all humanity. The question is not so much whether God will reject us, but more whether we reject God.
We reject things all of the time based upon unfounded assumptions and certainties. We say, “This is too catholic.” “This is too evangelical.” “This is too silly.” “This is beneath my dignity and attention.” “This is too different.” “This makes me uncomfortable.”
Sometimes in these snap judgments, prejudicial impulses, we cut ourselves off from God. Lots of certainty about everything usually makes us very small people. We have to be open to the possibility that we can be wrong about things. We have to be open to risk and to surprise. I’m amazed, and saddened, when I look back at my life and see all the things I’ve rejected initially – including Christianity, but also countless more minor things. God is gracious, and we can grow, and later we get another chance, or twelve other chances, or a hundred, and we open up, and learn.
Blessed is about taking the mysteries of God, in their wonderful, awesome, complex, troubling, challenging and upsetting glory and exploring them in new and creative ways: a creative response to a creative God. Sometimes it fails, sometimes it upsets, sometimes it irritates (often all three, especially if you are a Bishop) and yet on occasion, a glimpse of God may be spotted, an encounter made, a new insight gained, and when that happens, as I pray may have happened last night; Blessed will have completed its task, for one person at least. So, Blessed may have made you feel uncomfortable, but do not reject it simply because it challenges…
We assume that God has rejected Judaism and the Temple. That is not so. The Temple, its priests, rejected God in Jesus, but God did not reject the Temple. To the contrary, as today’s gospel makes clear, God used the Temple to nurture and to raise up his Son.
More than any of the evangelists, S. Luke shows the deep connection between Jesus and the Temple. Luke’s gospel begins and ends with scenes of praying and worshiping in the Temple, and repeatedly Jesus is in the Temple teaching, healing, cleansing, worshiping.
Today we focus on the Holy Family observing two required cultic practices. Firstly, Our Blessed Lady Mary is ‘purified’ on the fortieth day after the birth of her son. As required by the purification rite, she offered two pigeons. If the Holy Family had not been a hardship case, they would have offered a pigeon and a lamb. But they are poor. Again and again, Luke emphasizes that Jesus identifies with the poor and lowly – the overlooked, with those regarded as inferior.
Secondly, the firstborn son is presented to God, dedicated to God. Normally this rite included redeeming, buying back the son from God for five shekels. Notably, Luke does not mention any exchange whereby Jesus is bought back. The implication is that Jesus wholly belongs to God.
While the Holy Family is celebrating these rites, Simeon and Anna come and bear witness to the identity of Jesus. Simeon and Anna represent what’s best about Israel. They are devout, prayerful, obedient. They are led by the Holy Spirit: They live in faithfulness, gratitude, patience, and hope. They are plain, ordinary people, not the great and the good, important clergymen or political leaders, but they are open to God acting in new ways, and they recognize in Jesus God’s Messiah.
Simeon and Anna were regulars at the Temple, routinely joining in the prayer and worship. If prayer and worship are authentic, then we grow; we see and experience God in new ways. He becomes a bigger part of our lives. Authentic worship is a life-changing experience. It is an encounter with God, not merely confirming who we are, but expanding our sympathies, broadening our vision, strengthening our character, deepening our trust of God, giving us hope.
Simeon encounters God in worship, and he is changed. He can now die in peace. He’s liberated. He feels the completion, the wholeness of God. That’s what worship can be for everyone. Whether that is Choral Evensong or Blessed does not matter, as long as God is worshipped with our whole hearts, engaged with, and encountered.
But that’s not the perception beyond these walls is it? I am constantly trying to overcome the feeling of many on the edge of faith that worship, church, the whole Jesus thing is for people who already have their lives sorted: who already have faith and certainty: I think the glossy images of American Evangelical Churches and the Alpha Course leaflets are partly to blame for that.
I recall a homeless, sick, penniless prostitute came to get food for her toddler. In trying to help her, I asked if she’d ever thought about the support a Church could offer. “Church!” she cried. “Why would I ever go there? I am already feeling terrible about myself. They’d just make me feel worse.”
What irony! It was exactly women like this whom Jesus sought. It was exactly people like this poor woman who came to Jesus. “The worse a person felt about herself, the more likely she saw Jesus as a refuge.” We fail as the living body of Christ, my dear friends, when the Church makes people feel excluded, unworthy even to be in Church, when the Church makes moral outcasts feel like one of ‘them’ and not one of ‘us.’
Imagine again Simeon meeting the baby Jesus in the grand, magnificent Temple. Simeon took Jesus in his hands and held up his Lord. God creates all things and powers the universe, and God the all-powerful, the all-knowing, God the unimaginable, untouchable, unseen had become a helpless, vulnerable baby.
Simeon and Anna saw that God had forever changed his relationship with us. It’s no longer God and us. Now, he’s become one of us. That changes the way not only we see and experience God, but the way we see and experience ourselves and other people.
We see God in ourselves. We see God in other people. We see that we’re all brothers and sisters, children of God.
We are loved. That love is part of the revelation that this mystery of Candlemas offers us. Share that love, and ensure that your love unites rather than separates.
Amen
Acknowledgements to Fr. Davenport for the core of this homily.
http://www.ascensionandsaintagnes.org/html/sermons/LY2006/06-02-05-candlemas.htm
Theological Reflection from a Do-er rather than a thinker...
Politically radical, Unashamedly Anglocatholic, Deeply Sacramental and wildly, rabidly Inclusive: that about sums me up.
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