Christ Church

“No-one can say JESUS IS LORD but by the Holy Spirit”

There is something quite wonderful and compelling about this morning’s readings as difficult and challenging as they may be. They remind us in no uncertain terms of the creedal form of reading the Scriptures, reading the Scriptures through the Creeds. Here we are in the midst of our summer sojournings in the land of the Trinity, as it were, and yet here is something which recalls us at once to the Advent of Christ and to the Passion of Christ; in short, to the creedal principles of our Christian lives. Paul is emphatic. “No one can say JESUS IS LORD, but by the Holy Spirit.” The capitalisation is a form of emphasis.

It is one of the earliest creedal statements from within the Scriptures themselves and which goes to the question of being able to say what is the Faith. It is a Trinitarian statement really, the nucleus of what we proclaim more fully in the great Catholic Creeds of the Church which come out of the Scriptures, out of such words as these, and which return us to the Scriptures within a pattern of understanding.

“Concerning spiritual gifts … I would not have you ignorant,” says St. Paul. “Now there are diversities of gifts…” and he goes on to list them. They are gifts which arise out of this fundamental proclamation, out of what we have been given to say about God by God himself. “No one can say JESUS IS LORD but by the Holy Spirit.”

The diversity of gifts belongs to our life with God in the communion of God, the Trinity. The different gifts are about his grace in our lives. To esteem them is to honour him. This is something communicated to us by the grace of God with us, Jesus Christ, God’s Word and Son. To confess Jesus as Lord acknowledges him as “I am who I am,” as God with us, God in the very flesh of our humanity, God made man. Only so can he be Lord. In Jesus the Old Testament mystery of God’s name, “I am who I am,” is opened to view, explored and explicated in terms of the spiritual relation of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost. God’s relation to us radically depends upon his self-relation, upon the communion of God with God in God, the communion of the Trinity. Such is the heart of the Christian religion and the burden of our proclamation in which we are privileged to participate. For if we cannot proclaim with clarity the God of our salvation, then we cannot participate with charity in the divine life opened to us through Christ’s sacrifice.

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The collect for today, the Tenth Sunday after Trinity, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

LET thy merciful ears, O Lord, be open to the prayers of thy humble servants; and that they may obtain their petitions make them to ask such things as shall please thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 12:1-11
The Gospel: St. Luke 19:41-47a

Artwork: Giotto di Bondone, Expulsion of the Moneychangers from the Temple, 1304-06. Fresco, Scrovegni Chapel, Padua.

The collect for today, the commemoration of William Wilberforce (1759-1833), English MP, Social Reformer, Abolitionist (source):

Let thy continual mercy, O Lord, enkindle in thy Church the never-failing gift of charity, that, following the example of thy servant William Wilberforce, we may have grace to defend the children of the poor, and maintain the cause of those who have no helper; for the sake of him who gave his life for us, thy Son our Savior Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: Galatians 3:23-29
The Gospel: St. Matthew 25:31-40

Artwork: Samuel Joseph, William Wilberforce, 1840. Westminster Abbey, London.

The collect for a Martyr, in commemoration of Saint Olaf (995-1030), King and Patron Saint of Norway, Martyr, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O GOD, who didst bestow upon thy Saints such marvellous virtue, that they were able to stand fast, and have the victory against the world, the flesh, and the devil: Grant that we, who now commemorate thy Martyr Olaf, may ever rejoice in their fellowship, and also be enabled by thy grace to fight the good fight of faith and lay hold upon eternal life; through our Lord Jesus Christ, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Epistle: 1 St Peter 4:12-19
The Gospel: St Matthew 16:24-27

Artwork: Saint Olaf, stained glass, St Olave’s Church, Hart Street, London. Photo taken by admin, 24 August 2004.

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Anne, Mother of the Blessed Virgin Mary (source):

O GOD, who didst vouchsafe to bestow grace upon blessed Anne, that she might become the mother of the parent of thy Only-begotten Son: Mercifully grant that we who celebrate her festival may be partakers with her of thy heavenly grace; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lesson: 1 Samuel 2:1-8
The Gospel: St. Luke 1:26-33

Artwork: St. Anne and the Blessed Virgin Mary read from Psalm 142, c. 1420. Stained glass, Great East Window, All Saints, North Street, York. Photograph taken by admin, 1 October 2014.

The collect for today, the Feast of St. James the Apostle, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

GRANT, O merciful God, that as thine holy Apostle Saint James, leaving his father and all that he had, without delay was obedient unto the calling of thy Son Jesus Christ, and followed him; so we, forsaking all worldly and carnal affections, may be evermore ready to follow thy holy commandments; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lesson: Acts 11:27-12:3a
The Gospel: St. Mark 10:32-40

Artwork: Francisco Ribalta, The Martyrdom of Saint James, 1603. Oil on canvas, Basilica of St. James the Apostle, Algemesí, Spain.

“Brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant”

The readings for the Ninth Sunday after Trinity are the least favourite for preachers, it seems, particularly the Gospel, and, perhaps, the least favourite of readings, too, for you. And yet, these readings from 1^st Corinthians and Luke 16 belong precisely to the pattern of themes of the Trinity Season with its emphasis upon the relation between the theoretical and the practical, between our thinking and our doing, wonderfully captured in the Collect. They provide us with a necessary challenge and as Paul suggests it has to do with our ignorance.

Ignorant of what? Ignorant of what belongs to the nature of our identity in Christ. But, we are, I am afraid, only too ignorant. And because of our ignorance, we are easily “overthrown in the wilderness” of our lives, both individually and corporately. The good news is that even the things of our ignorance can be used to bring us to understanding, to the understanding of the good and to the doing of all “such things as be rightful”, as the Collect puts it.

In the witness of the Scriptures, we have the stories of the ignorance of our humanity written out for us to read just so that we will not be ignorant. “These things”, Paul tells us in First Corinthians, a people remarkable for their willful ignorance, “were our examples”. What things? The things belonging to our identity in the body of Christ which we ignore and deny. But in making such things known to us, we may learn “not to lust after evil things, as they also lusted” and to avoid idolatry. He has in mind the stories of Israel’s wandering in the wilderness; in particular, the stories of disbelief and complaint on the part of Israel towards Moses and more significantly, towards God.

Paul is doing two things here. First, he is saying that these formative stories of the people of Israel are things from which we can learn. They are “our examples”. Secondly, he is saying something even more significant. He is saying that we are in these stories. The Old Testament stories, he is saying, actually belong to the story of our life in Christ. One of the forms of our ignorance is that we do not or cannot think this but it is a profoundly Christian point-of-view. Paul sees in the wilderness journeys of the ancient people of Israel something which anticipates and participates in the definitive journey of human redemption signaled and accomplished in the passion of Christ.

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The collect for today, the Ninth Sunday after Trinity, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

GRANT to us, Lord, we beseech thee, the spirit to think and do always such things as be rightful; that we, who cannot do any thing that is good without thee, may by thee be enabled to live according to thy will; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Epistle: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
The Gospel: St. Luke 16:1-9

Artwork: Marinus van Reymerswaele, Parable of the Unfaithful Steward, 1540. Oil on oak, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna.

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Mary Magdalene, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O ALMIGHTY God, whose blessed Son did sanctify Mary Magdalene, and call her to be a witness to his resurrection: Mercifully grant that by thy grace we may be healed of all our infirmities, and always serve thee in the power of his endless life; who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Lesson: Acts 13:27-31
The Gospel: St John 20:11-18

Artwork: Rembrandt, The Risen Christ Appearing to Mary Magdalene, 1638. Oil on panel, Royal Collection, Buckingham Palace, London.

The collect for a Virgin or Matron, on the Feast of Saint Margaret of Antioch (early 4th century), Virgin and Martyr, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O GOD Most High, the creator of all mankind, we bless thy holy Name for the virtue and grace which thou hast given unto holy women in all ages, especially thy servant Margaret of Antioch; and we pray that the example of her faith and purity, and courage unto death, may inspire many souls in this generation to look unto thee, and to follow thy blessed Son Jesus Christ our Saviour; who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Lesson: Acts 9:36-42
The Gospel: St. Luke 10:38-42

Artwork: Francisco de Zurbarán, Saint Margaret of Antioch, 1630-4. Oil on canvas, National Gallery, London.