Audio file of 8:00am Holy Communion service, Third Sunday in Lent
Click here to listen to an audio recording of the 8:00am service of Holy Communion at Christ Church on the Third Sunday in Lent.
Month: March 2022
Sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent
“If I cast out devils by the finger of God, no doubt the kingdom of God
hath come upon you”
We cannot free ourselves from what enslaves us to ourselves. Nor is it enough simply to be released from the obsessions that possess our minds and our thinking. Today’s remarkable and terrifying Gospel speaks to our divided world and our divided selves. We are divided against ourselves in the confusion and conflict of opinions and emotions, in a whirlwind of fears and anxieties that pit us one against another about what is good and what is evil. At stake is any real passion for the absolute, for God, not just a freedom from what possesses us but a freedom to God in his openness to us.
To say that the world, whatever that means, is united in the demonizing of Putin with respect to the invasion of Ukraine only points to another division especially when it extends to the demonizing of all Russians and all things Russian including the music of Tschaikovsky! We need the wisdom of such Russian writers as Dostoevsky and Solzhenitsyn to help us think more deeply about evil and particularly about the Devil. Rowan Williams’ rich examination of the novels of Dostoevsky includes a chapter called “Devils,” subtitled, “Being toward Death,” which aptly captures the problematic of evil in today’s Gospel. “The triumph of the diabolical,” Williams suggests, “is when we cannot bear to see what we cannot deny is truth, in ourselves and in the world – the systematic cruelty and the humiliating world of inner fantasy and revolt against ‘good’.” “If there is no God, all things are permitted”, it is famously said in The Brothers Karamazov, but as Williams observes “the devastating truth is there is no escape from the diabolical”. “If there is no God to pass judgment, there is no acquittal or release either”. The self is immobilized in self-hatred and in denial of the principle of its own freedom and being. Such is possession.
Freedom perverted is the essence of the diabolical for Dostoevsky as Williams sees it. “The Devil is the enemy of any real freedom … since he is the spirit of destruction” (p. 93), thus “being toward death” which is the deeper contradiction which the Gospel dialogue brings out. The contrast in the Gospel and the Epistle is between “being toward death” and “being toward life.” Paul exhorts us in Ephesians to be “followers of God” and to “walk in love,” “walk[ing] as children of light,” while recognizing that we “were sometimes darkness, but now are [we] light in the Lord.” Light and life triumph over darkness and death.
The pericope ends with what may be an early Christian hymn in an adaptation of Isaiah’s “Surge, Illuminare” (Is. 60.1). “Arise, shine, for thy light is come, / and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee” is transformed into “Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead,/ And Christ shall give thee light.” It sounds a positive note in contrast to the dark and negative picture of “the last state of that man.”
Week at a Glance, 21 – 27 March
Thursday, March 24th, Eve of the Annunciation
7:00pm Holy Communion & Lenten Programme II
Sunday, March 27th, Fourth Sunday in Lent
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion
Upcoming Events:
Tuesday, March 29th, Commemoration of John Keble
7:00pm Holy Communion & Lenten Programme III
Tuesday, April 5th
7:00pm Holy Communion & Lenten Programme IV
Services to be held in the Parish Hall, January through April 5th. Return to the Church for Holy Week & Easter.
The Third Sunday in Lent
The collect for today, the Third Sunday in Lent, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
WE beseech thee, Almighty God, look upon the hearty desires of thy humble servants and stretch forth the right hand of thy Majesty to be our defence against all our enemies; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The Epistle: Ephesians 5:1-14
The Gospel: St Luke 11:14-26
Artwork: Antonio Gionimo (attrib.), Christ and the Possessed Man, early 18th century. Oil on canvas, Quadreria di Palazzo Magnani, Bologna.
Saint Joseph
The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Joseph of Nazareth, Guardian of Our Lord, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Patron Saint of Canada, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):
O GOD Most High, who from the family of thy servant David didst raise up Joseph the carpenter to be protector of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Lord: Grant that we may so labour in our earthly vocations, that they may become labours of love and service offered unto thee, our Father; through the same our Lord Jesus Christ, who with thee and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
The Epistle: Galatians 4:1-7
The Gospel: St. Matthew 1:18-25
Artwork: Jusepe de Ribera, Saint Joseph, c. 1635. Oil on canvas, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
Thomas Ken, Bishop and Poet
The collect for today, the commemoration of Thomas Ken (1637-1711), Bishop of Bath and Wells, Non-Juror, Hymn Writer (source):
O God, from whom all blessings flow,
by whose providence we are kept
and by whose grace we are directed:
assist us, through the example of thy servant Thomas Ken,
faithfully to keep thy word,
humbly to accept adversity
and steadfastly to worship thee;
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.
With the Epistle and Gospel for a Bishop, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962)
The Epistle: 1 Timothy 6:11-16
The Gospel: St. Luke 12:37-44
Ordained an Anglican priest in 1662, Thomas Ken served as rector in several parishes before becoming chaplain to members of the royal family and, in 1685, Bishop of Bath and Wells. A man of principle and strong conviction, he was one of seven bishops imprisoned for refusing to sign King James II’s “Declaration of Indulgence”, the purpose of which was to allow Catholics to resume positions of political power in England. After strong expressions of popular support by the people of London, Bishop Ken was quickly tried and acquitted.
King James II was forced to flee the country when King William and Queen Mary were invited to become co-monarchs of England. William and Mary demanded oaths of allegiance from all persons holding public positions, including the bishops. Thomas Ken and others (known as the Non-Jurors; the older meaning of “juror” is “one who takes an oath”, hence “perjurer” as “one who swears falsely”) refused to take the oath on the grounds that they had sworn allegiance to James and could not during his lifetime swear allegiance to another monarch without making such oaths a mockery. Bishop Ken took this stand as a matter of principle despite his strong disagreement with much that James had done. In 1690, he and the other surviving non-jurors were deposed.
(Most of the bishops of Scotland also refused the oath; William and Mary retaliated by disestablishing the Episcopal Church in Scotland and making the Presbyterian Kirk the established state church there instead.)
Bishop Ken was also a poet and hymn-writer. He wrote the text for the well-loved doxology “Praise God, from whom all blessings flow“, which is actually the last verse of his longer hymn, “Awake My Soul, and with the sun“.
A prayer of Thomas Ken:
God, our heavenly father, make, we pray, the door of this Cathedral Church wide enough to welcome all who need human love and fellowship and a Father’s care; but narrow enough to shut out all envy, pride, and lack of love. Here may the temped find help, the sorrowing receive comfort, the careless be awakened to repentance, and the penitent be assured of your mercy; and here may all your children renew their strength and go on their way in hope and joy; through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.
Artwork: Thomas Ken window, Wells Cathedral, installed in 1885 to celebrate the bicentenary of his consecration as Bishop of Bath and Wells.
St. Patrick, Missionary and Bishop
The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Patrick (c. 390-c. 461), Bishop, Missionary, Patron of Ireland (source):
Almighty God,
who in thy providence chose thy servant Patrick
to be the apostle of the people of Ireland:
keep alive in us the fire of faith which he kindled,
and in this our earthly pilgrimage
strengthen us to gain the light of everlasting 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 Thessalonians 2:2b-12
The Gospel: St Matthew 28:16-20
Click here to read the prayer known as St Patrick’s Breastplate.
Artwork: Giambattista Tiepolo, Miracle of Saint Patrick (detail), 1746. Oil on canvas, Museo Civico, Padua.
Lenten Meditation #1 on Leviticus
“The Lord called Moses, and spoke to him from the tent of meeting, saying,
Speak to the people of Israel.”
Along with “self-examination and repentance, … prayer, fasting, and self-denial,” the Church bids us to the observance of a holy Lent “by reading and meditation upon God’s holy Word” (BCP, p. 612). Tonight we begin a little series of meditations on the Book of Leviticus. But why Leviticus? Not only is it one of the least read books of the Bible, I suspect, and certainly in the liturgical life of the Church but perhaps one of the most formidable books of the Bible. Nonetheless it belongs to Holy Scripture, which, as our Articles of Religion note, “containeth all things necessary to salvation,” apart from which nothing is required to “be believed as an article of the Faith” (Art. VI, p. 700). Leviticus belongs to the Torah, the Law, which has pride of place in the Jewish understanding even as the Gospels do for Christians.
It is certainly the least read book in the Church’s lectionaries. The Hebrew Scriptures are too extensive to be read through in their entirety in the course of the year in terms of the Daily Offices and the Sunday Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer and in the Eucharistic readings, unlike the New Testament which is more or less read through twice in the course of the year. The endeavour with the first lessons at Morning and Evening Prayer is to read substantial sections of all the canonical texts of the Old Testament, as well as passages at certain times from the Deuterocanonical books. But while there are great chunks of Genesis, Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy that are read both in the Sunday Offices and in the Daily Offices, Leviticus gets exceptionally short shift even though it is part of the Torah.
Passages from Leviticus are read only at Evening Prayer on Friday of the Week of Lent 4, and at Morning Prayer and at Evening Prayer on the Saturday of that week, and then on the Wednesday of Holy Week at Evening Prayer; a total of four readings. As minimal as this may seem, the choice of readings and the time of their appointment are significant. The Friday evening and Saturday first lessons usher us into Passiontide, to deep Lent; in short to a more intense reflection on the sacrifice of Christ. It is not by accident that the New Testament counterpart to Leviticus, perhaps, is the Letter to the Hebrews from which the Epistle for Passion Sunday is taken (Heb. 9.11ff), a passage which builds upon the imagery and meaning of ritual and sacrifice found in the Torah and especially in Leviticus. In this sense, reading and meditating upon Leviticus belongs to our contemplation of Christ’s sacrifice in the Christian understanding. “By his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us,” marking at once a connection and a difference between the two covenants. “For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling those who are unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh” (distinct references to Leviticus); “how much more shall the blood of Christ, who, through the eternal Spirit, offered himself without spot to God, purify your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Christ is, as Hebrews insists, “the mediator of the new covenant.”
Audio file of 8:00am Holy Communion service, Second Sunday in Lent
Click here to listen to an audio recording of the 8:00am service of Holy Communion at Christ Church on the Second Sunday in Lent.
Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent
“For this is the will of God, even your sanctification”
We are called to holiness, St. Paul reminds us. Sanctification means being made holy. The doctrinal concepts of justification and sanctification are necessarily intertwined. Justification is how we are known in the sight of God. God sees us in Christ who is our justification, the one who makes us right with God. In other words, it is about our being known in the knowing love of God. Yet as Paul reminded us on Quinquagesima Sunday “now we see in a glass darkly”; we do not yet see ourselves fully and truly in God. Thus, while the justifying righteousness of Christ is perfect and inherent in him it is not yet fully realised in us. Sanctification is about living more fully truly and fully in Christ and in the work of redemption which he has accomplished for us. Lent is about our journey with Christ in that work of redemption. As such it recalls us to both the principles of justification and sanctification.
Today’s Collect helps us to understand the dynamic between the Epistle and Gospel. God sees “that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves.” This puts starkly the human condition, our sinfulness and insufficiency. But to know this is to be looking to God, to his healing grace and truth for us and in us. What Paul is talking about in the Epistle reading from Thessalonians is about nothing less than seeking to be who we are in the sight of God. That turns on what we see in the Gospel, namely, the amazing story of the persistence and strength of an unnamed “woman of Canaan” who illustrates for us what it means to be looking to God for grace and mercy, for healing and salvation; in short, to being made whole, our sanctification.
The story is about the struggle that belongs to faith. Jacob wrestling with God becomes Israel, meaning one who struggles with God. That struggle is about breaking into the heart of God, into the meaning of God’s will and purpose for our life. Here in this story of a non-Israelite we have, in my view, one of the most powerful images of what it truly means to be an Israelite, as it were, to be who we are in the sight of God and to be living in that understanding. It is found in the amazing but disturbing dialogue and exchange between Jesus, his disciples, and this woman. She has a hold of the one thing necessary: an insight into the truth of God in Jesus Christ who alone is the principle of life, on the one hand, and the healing or restoration of our wounded and broken humanity, on the other hand. She knows the human need for divine mercy. This is her litany and ours. The Prayer Book Litany, the first part of the Liturgy to be translated and reworked from Latin into English by Thomas Cranmer, simply explicates in a comprehensive and exhaustive way all the things for which we seek God’s help and mercy.
She illustrates the meaning of the idea “that the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Ps. 51, 17). She is deeply troubled about her “daughter grievously vexed with a devil.” It is a phrase worth pondering. It speaks directly to our contemporary culture of addiction and psychotic disorders, of neuroses and mental distresses that are destructive and paralysing and which affect not only the individual but their families and friends. They are part and parcel of a broken and troubled world. Such things are really about a loss of self, what we might call, a negative negating of the self. Though some may think that there are cures to be found in the therapeutic culture whether through prescribed drugs, the pill cure, or through the talking cure, such as cognitive behaviour therapy, the older view of Freud, for instance, was that there is no cure to the discontents that beset modernity; at best, there are only ways to cope.