Year: 2017

Sermons

Sermon for the Sunday Next Before Advent

“Gather up the fragments”

T.S. Eliot’s poem, The Wasteland, written in 1922, captures an important feature of our modern world. The poem explores through a series of evocative images a world which has been largely destroyed through the madness of war, particularly the First World War, the catastrophic effects of which we are still beginning to try to comprehend and which has largely defined the whole of the twentieth century and carries over into our present anxieties. Near the end of the poem, he captures that world past and present in an arresting image: “These fragments I have shored against my ruins.” The idea is that all that is left of the whole of a culture and a civilization are fragments, bits and pieces to which we cling in the memory of something which once was but is no longer. All is in fragments. All is in ruins.

We, too, are fragmented, unsure and uncertain about ourselves as selves having been willingly or unwillingly reduced to the bits and bytes of the digital economy, little more than clickbait for the benefit of our corporate masters. But over and against Eliot’s image of clinging to “fragments shored up against our ruins,” Jesus offers another image, the image of redemption, of the gathering up of “the fragments that remain that nothing be lost.” A gathering up that has to do with the sense of wholeness and completeness; in short, salvation.

This Sunday is about endings and beginnings in and through which we might begin to find our true end, not in the ruins but in God. How to begin and how to end and how to begin again? These are some of the questions which this Sunday presents to us, The Sunday Next Before Advent. Its very designation hints at the question. We come to the end of the church year and so to the beginning of the next. We stand on the brink of the Advent Season but at the same time at the end of the Trinity Season.

The point is that these times of transition speak profoundly to our lives in pilgrimage. In a way we are constantly turning back and turning towards what truly defines us, constantly circling around our spiritual identity in Christ in whose person God turns towards us.

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Events, Month at a Glance

Week at a Glance, 27 November – 3 December

Monday, November 27th
4:45-5:15 Religious Inquirers’ Class – Room 206 KES
6:30-7:30pm Sparks – Parish Hall

Tuesday, November 28th
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place
6:30-8:00pm Girl Guides – Parish Hall

Wednesday, November 29th
6:30-8:00pm Brownies – Parish Hall

Thursday, November 30th, St. Andrew
3:15pm Service – Windsor Elms
7:00pm Holy Communion

Friday, December 1st
6:00-7:30pm Pathfinders & Rangers – Parish Hall

Sunday, December 3rd, First Sunday in Advent
8:00am Holy Communion (followed by Men’s Club Breakfast)
10:30am Holy Communion
4:00pm Advent Service of Lessons & Carols with KES (Gr. 7-11) – Christ Church
7:00pm Advent Service of Lessons & Carols (Gr. 12) – KES Chapel

Upcoming Events:

Tuesday, December 5th & Wednesday, December 13th
7:00pm Advent Programme

Sunday, December 10th
The plaques installed in the Nave, Gospel side, honouring Eric Nott, Helen Gibson and Barbara Hughes will be dedicated. Join us after the service for a short reception in the Parish Hall to honour Eric and Barbara and to give thanks for Helen Gibson’s generosity.

Tuesday, December 19th
7:00pm Capella Regalis Concert, ‘To Bethlehem with Kings’

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Prayers and liturgy

The Sunday Next Before Advent

The collect for today, the Sunday Next before Advent, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

STIR up, we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people; that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may of thee be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Lesson: Jeremiah 23:5-8
The Gospel: St. John 1:35-45

Belyaev, Christ PantocratorArtwork: Vasili Belyaev, Christ Pantocrator, 1890s. Mosaic, Church of Our Savior on the Spilled Blood, St. Petersburg.

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Prayers and liturgy

Catherine, Virgin and Martyr

The collect for a virgin or matron, on the Feast of St. Catherine of Alexandria (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 Catherine; 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

Hans Holbein the Elder, Martyrdom of St. CatherineThe cult of Saint Catherine arose in the Eastern Church in the 8th or 9th century and spread to the West at the time of the Crusades. She is not mentioned in any early martyrologies. No reliable facts concerning her life or death have been established. She is now generally considered to be a mythical figure.

According to her legend, St. Catherine lived in Alexandria when Emperor Maxentius was persecuting the church. A noble and learned young Christian, Catherine prevailed in a public debate with philosophers who tried to convince her of the errors of Christianity. Maxentius had her scourged, imprisoned and condemned her to death. She was tied to a wheel embedded with razors, but this attempt to torture her to death failed when the machine (later a Catherine wheel) broke and onlookers were injured by flying fragments. Finally, she was beheaded.

St. Catherine is often portrayed holding a book, symbolic of her great learning. She is the patron saint of teachers and students.

Artwork: Hans Holbein the Elder, Martyrdom of St. Catherine, 1512. Schaezlerpalais, Augsburg.

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Prayers and liturgy

Clement, Bishop of Rome

The collect for today, the Feast of St. Clement (c. 30-c. 100), Bishop of Rome, Martyr (source):

Eternal Father, creator of all,
whose martyr Clement bore witness with his blood
to the love that he proclaimed and the gospel that he preached:
give us thankful hearts as we celebrate thy faithfulness,
revealed to us in the lives of thy saints,
and strengthen us in our pilgrimage as we follow thy Son,
Jesus Christ our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: 2 Timothy 2:1-7
The Gospel: St. Luke 6:37-45

Grecolini, Martyrdom of St. ClementSaint Clement was one of the first leaders of the church in the period immediately after the apostles. Some commentators believe that he is the Clement mentioned in Philippians 4:3. If so, he was a companion and fellow-worker of Paul. The Roman Catholic Church regards him as the fourth pope.

St Clement is best known for his Epistle to the Corinthians, dated to about 95. Clement addressed some of the same issues that Paul had addressed in his first letter to the Corinthians. The church at Corinth apparently still had problems with internal dissension and challenges to those in authority. Clement reminds them of the importance of Christian unity and love, and that church leaders serve for the good of the whole body.

Although the letter was written in the name of the Church at Rome to the Church at Corinth, St. Clement’s authorship is attested by early church writers. This epistle was held in very high regard in the early church; some even placed it on a par with the canonical writings of the New Testament.

Artwork: Giovanni Antonio Grecolini, Martyrdom of St. Clement, c. 1710-16. Oil on canvas, National Gallery of Ancient Art, Palazzo Barberini, Rome.

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KES Chapel Weekly Reflections

KES Chapel Reflection, Week of 19 November

“As you did it to one of the least … you did it to me”

They are known as the works of corporal mercy, mercy directed towards one another in relation to the physical and material conditions of human life. Corporal refers to the things of the body. There are seven works of corporal mercy in the Christian understanding as derived from Scripture but which have their parallel or equivalent expressions in other religions and philosophies.

The locus classicus is the Matthaean Apocalypse, the term sometimes used to describe the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth chapters of Matthew’s Gospel. Read in Chapel this week, it follows wonderfully upon our consideration of the Ten Commandments and earlier, the Beatitudes; in a way, those ethical teaching converge in the works of corporal mercy. Intentions shape actions. There is the constant challenge for our deeds, our actions, to be the proper expression of our creeds, our intentions. Matthew presents powerfully six of the works of corporal mercy. What are they? Feeding the hungry; giving drink to the thirsty; clothing the naked; s giving shelter to the homeless; visiting the sick; visiting the imprisoned. And the seventh? Burying the dead.

The critical point is that these are all motions of the Good in us as directed to others and for their good. It requires us to see ourselves in the other especially the other who is in need. But it is also a profound recognition of the good in the other and the good for the other. It means acting out of the Good by doing good to others. The works of mercy are the motions of God’s goodness in us towards others. That is why Jesus says in Matthew’s Gospel that “as you did this to the least of these my brethren, you did it to me.” In the Christian understanding, it is about seeing Christ in one another.

These are powerful ethical ideas that counter the ideologies of power and domination of whatever form. Plato famously argues that justice cannot be what is in the interest of the stronger because justice has to be a universal principle, something for all and not merely for the few. He argues, again famously, that our souls and our communities will not be well-ordered until “philosophers become kings or kings become philosophers,” meaning that reason must have priority over the spirited and the appetitive aspects of our humanity in order for those features of our personality to achieve their proper expression. Since it is all about the Good, Plato argues that the Philosopher/King cannot simply ascend to the Good and remain there in rapt contemplation but must descend back down into the Cave for the good of the others. It means dealing respectfully with the confusions and the difficulties that belong to the whole spectrum of human experience. The Good can never be a private possession. In a way, that journey back down into the cave of images parallels the teaching about the works of corporal mercy.

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Prayers and liturgy

Cecilia, Virgin and Martyr

Holy Trinity Sloane Square, St. CeciliaThe collect for today, the Feast of Saint Cecilia (3rd century), Virgin, Martyr (source):

Gracious God, whose servant Cecilia didst serve thee in song: Grant us to join her hymn of praise to thee in the face of all adversity, and to suffer gladly for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The Lesson: Revelation 15:1-4
The Gospel: St. Luke 10:38-42

Artwork: St. Cecilia, stained glass, Holy Trinity, Sloane Square, London. Photograph taken by admin 20 October 2014.

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Prayers and liturgy

Edmund, King and Martyr

The collect for today, the Feast of St. Edmund (841-869), King of the East Angles, Martyr (source):

Walpole St. Peter, St. EdmundO eternal God,
whose servant Edmund kept faith to the end,
both with thee and with his people,
and glorified thee by his death:
grant us the same steadfast faith,
that, together with the noble army of martyrs,
we may come to the perfect joy of the resurrection life;
through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: 1 St. Peter 3:14-18
The Gospel: St. Matthew 10:16-22

Edmund was raised a Christian and became king of the East Angles as a young boy, probably when 14 years old. In 869 the Danes invaded his territory and defeated his forces in battle.

According to Edmund’s first biographer, Abbo of Fleury, the Danes tortured the saint to death after he refused to renounce his faith and rule as a Danish vassal. He was beaten, tied to a tree and pierced with arrows, and then beheaded.

His body was originally buried near the place of his death and subsequently transferred to Baedericesworth, modern Bury St. Edmunds. His shrine became one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in England, but it was destroyed and his remains lost during the English Reformation.

The cult of St. Edmund became very popular among English nobility because he exemplified the ideals of heroism, political independence, and Christian holiness. The Benedictine Abbey founded at Bury St. Edmunds in 1020 became one of the greatest in England.

Click here to read Fr. David Curry’s sermon for the Feast of St. Edmund.

Artwork: Saint Edmund, stained glass. St. Peter’s Church, Walpole St. Peter, Norfolk, England. Photograph taken by admin, 3 October 2014.

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Sermons

Sermon for the Twenty-Third Sunday after Trinity

“Our citizenship is in heaven”

The leaves lie scattered on the wind, the trees barren, and the fields desolate and empty. Grey November has descended upon us, dark and drear, it seems. And yet, in that time of year “when yellow leaves or none or few do hang/upon those boughs which shake against the cold”, we are recalled to something more than ourselves, our culture, and even our churches, which may seem to be but “bare ruin’d choirs where late the sweet birds sang.” We are recalled in the November greyness of nature’s death to our life in the spirit, at once in the great and defining spiritual festivals of All Saints’ and All Souls’ and in their secular after-effects in things like the Remembrance Day weekend, but equally and most importantly in the Scripture readings which grace this time of year and which speak profoundly and reflectively to our spiritual identity.

“How oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?” Peter asks Jesus as we heard last Sunday and, then, in response, Jesus says “until seventy times seven” before proceeding with a parable which illustrates the immeasurable and incalculable nature of God’s merciful forgiveness and the willful folly of our humanity which negates his infinite forgiveness by refusing to forgive others. And, now, as if in a kind of complement, this Sunday we are reminded of “our citizenship in heaven” in contrast to our worldly and economic concerns. In each case, the whole matter turns on our sense of spiritual identity. Who are we in the sight of God?

Our buildings, too, stand as eloquent testaments to our spiritual identity. The year 2017 marks the 135th anniversary of the building of Christ Church within the longer history of the Parish going back to the 18th century. The year 2017 also marks the 140th anniversary of the building of Hensley Memorial Chapel at King’s-Edgehill School, now in its 229th year. These are strong markers of our heavenly citizenship and ones which stand as stern and stark reminders to what is so easily forgotten and overlooked if not altogether denied and scorned.

Perhaps no Gospel story speaks more directly to our contemporary confusions and uncertainties about identity than this one about the tribute-money. The key question is the one which Jesus raises in the context of animosity about identity. The Pharisees seek to “entangle him in his talk”, to trap him in his speech with a question about paying taxes to Caesar. The context is about Israel under Roman domination but it extends to each and every form of domination. To what extent are we defined not only by the powers that be but by the ideologies of our world and day which compromise, confine, and constrain us to the agendas of profit and tyranny however much we are their willing or unwilling slaves? At issue is really nothing less than what it means to be human. There is already the increasing recognition that “we are slaves to the algorithm,” the invisible ghosts in the machines that dominate the social media world. As Tim Berners-Lee, the father of the world-wide web, warns, “the system is failing. The way ad revenue works with clickbait is not fulfilling the goal of helping humanity promote truth and democracy”. Others have called it “the weaponisation of social media,” again highlighting the idea of domination.

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Events, Month at a Glance

Week at a Glance, 20 – 26 November

Monday, November 20th
4:45-5:15pm Religions Inquirers’ Class – Room 206, KES
6:30-7:30pm Sparks – Parish Hall

Tuesday, November 21st
6:00pm Prayers & Praises – Haliburton Place
6:30-8:00pm Girl Guides – Parish Hall
7::00pm Christ Church Book Club: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah & Viet Thanh Nguyen’s The Sympathizer

Wednesday, November 22nd
6:30-8:00pm Brownies – Parish Hall

Friday, November 24th
11:00am Holy Communion – Dykeland Lodge
6:00-7:30pm Pathfinders & Rangers – Parish Hall

Sunday, November 26th, Sunday Next Before Advent
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion

Upcoming Events:

Sunday, December 3rd
4:00pm Advent Lessons & Carols, with KES

Tuesday, December 19th
7:00pm Capella Regalis Concert

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