Author: CCW

Sermons

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Advent

“Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world”

We have come full circle from The Sunday Next Before Advent to The Fourth Sunday in Advent and indeed, largely by way of John’s Gospel. With the repeated acclamation by John the Baptist about Jesus as “the Lamb of God,” the Advent themes of expectation and longing for the redemption of our humanity reach a crescendo of intensity and excitement.

Today’s Gospel is known as “the record or the witness of John” and it presents a parade of questions and counter-claims about John the Baptist and the Christ. The repeated question about “Who art thou?” being asked of John is turned to the one who comes even on “the next day.” This year the very next day is Christmas Day.

It is a rich collection of images and ideas that this Sunday presents for us to ponder. “There was evening and there was morning, one day” we read in the Genesis story of creation. So now, too, it seems. Sunday for Christians is the Sabbath day because of the Resurrection of Christ, a day to ponder the mysteries of God in creation and redemption. Today is the last Sunday of Advent heralding the wonder of Christ’s nativity and yet today is also Christmas Eve. The next day is Christmas itself. All of the themes of the Advent are concentrated in the intensity of the questions belonging to the witness of John and are concluded in his statement, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” The intensity of the questions in the Gospel are complemented by the note of expectation and joy in the Epistle reading with its strong exhortation to rejoice, for “the Lord is at hand.”

“The Lord is at hand” means that God is with us, our Emmanuel, in the one who comes after John, the one who is worthy, it seems, of our attention and acknowledgement. We contemplate the mystery of God in Christ Jesus in whom alone we find peace. “The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” Christmas is not a game, a human invention, a figment of our imagination. No. It is about the wonder of God’s engagement with our humanity opening us out to peace and joy and love and hope. It passes human knowing because it is fundamentally about the motions of God coming to us in the humanity of Jesus. It does not negate the activity of our reasoning but gathers it into something more than all of the machinations and manipulations of an instrumental reason which seeks only to dominate and destroy.

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Prayers and liturgy

Christmas Eve

The collect for today, Christmas Eve (source):

Almighty God,
who makest us glad with the yearly remembrance
of the birth of thy only Son Jesus Christ:
grant that, as we joyfully receive him as our redeemer,
so we may with sure confidence behold him
when he shall come to be our judge;
who liveth and reigneth with thee
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: Titus 2:11-15
The Gospel: St. Luke 2:1-14

Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Nativity (1732)

Christmas Eve
(a poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti)

Christmas hath darkness
Brighter than the blazing noon,
Christmas hath a chillness
Warmer than the heat of June,
Christmas hath a beauty
Lovelier than the world can show:
For Christmas bringeth Jesus,
Brought for us so low.

Earth, strike up your music,
Birds that sing and bells that ring;
Heaven hath answering music
For all Angels soon to sing:
Earth, put on your whitest
Bridal robe of spotless snow:
For Christmas bringeth Jesus,
Brought for us so low.

Artwork: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, Nativity, 1732. Oil on canvas, Sacristy of Canonici, Basilica di San Marco, Venice.

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Prayers and liturgy

The Fourth Sunday in Advent

Giovanni di Paolo, Ecco Agnus DeiThe collect for today, the Fourth Sunday in Advent, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

RAISE up, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy power, and come among us, and with great might succour us; that whereas, through our sins and wickedness, we are sore let and hindered in running the race that is set before us, thy bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us; who with the Father and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Epistle: Philippians 4:4-7
The Gospel: St John 1:19-29

Artwork: Giovanni di Paolo, Ecce Agnus Dei, 1455-60. Tempera on panel, Art Institute of Chicago.

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Sermons

Sermon for the Feast of St. Thomas

“My Lord and my God”

The cycle of the Saints’ Day celebrations illumine the seasons of the Church year. Andrew heralds the Advent and inaugurates the tradition of Christian discipleship of bringing others to Christ, in his case, initially Simon Peter. Other figures, too, such as John the Baptist and Mary, belong to the theological landscape of Advent, the one preparing the way by repentance, the other as the chosen vessel of Christ’s Incarnation. What, then, about Thomas, the Saint of the Advent, too, it seems? His feast day falls so close to the winter solstice, the darkest day and longest night, and so close to Christ’s nativity. Two things, perhaps. His feast marks the intensity of the inwardness of the Advent of Christ and grounds Advent and Christmas in the mysteries of the crucifixion and the resurrection without which they have no meaning.

The Epistle reading from Ephesians not only recalls the apostolic foundation of the Church but also our Christian vocation through that foundation to be “an habitation of God through the Spirit,” even as Christ is the Divine Word who dwelt among us, Mary being the “habitaculum dei,” the little habitation of God for us, as the Fathers put it. But it is the Gospel that especially arrests our attention. It is the story of so-called “doubting Thomas,” the Thomas who was not with the other disciples on the evening of the Resurrection when Christ appeared to them “behind closed doors,” the Thomas who hearing about Christ’s appearing said he would not believe “except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side.” Not just seeing as believing, it seems, but touching is required as well.

The story already anticipates and belongs to the refutation of what will be the earliest heresy known as docetism. The distinction between spirit and matter, between God and the world, between God and man is held absolutely and in a dualist manner. Spirit is good, and matter is evil and in its various gnostic forms, salvation is about the liberation of spirit from matter in which it is trapped. There is, in other words, no redemption of the natural world, no redemption of our humanity, only a “beam me up, Scotty” kind of Star Trek view of salvation which denies the integrity of the material world empirically speaking. From such a view, the Incarnation of God is impossible and an affront to the Divine nature. Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection can only be a kind of play, a mere seeming; in short, a sham. And, by extension, the virgin birth must be false. Contrary to the wonderful words of the Te Deum, God would have abhorred the Virgin’s womb!

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Prayers and liturgy

Saint Thomas the Apostle

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

ALMIGHTY and everliving God, who for the more confirmation of the faith didst suffer thy holy Apostle Thomas to be doubtful in thy Son’s resurrection: Grant us so perfectly, and without all doubt, to believe in thy Son Jesus Christ, that our faith in thy sight may never be reproved. Hear us, O Lord, through the same Jesus Christ, to whom, with thee and the Holy Spirit, be all honour and glory, now and for evermore. Amen.

The Epistle: Ephesians 2:19-22
The Gospel: St. John 20:24-29

Benjamin West, Incredulity of St. ThomasSt. Thomas’s name is believed to come from an Aramaic word meaning twin, but it is not known whose twin he was. He is included in all the lists of the twelve apostles, but he is mentioned most often in St. John’s Gospel, where he is called “Didymus” (“twin” in Greek) three times (11:16; 20:24; 21:2).

St. Thomas appears to have been an impulsive man. He says he is prepared to go with Jesus to the tomb of Lazarus even if it means death (John 11:16). At the Last Supper, however, he confesses his ignorance about where Jesus is going and the way there (John 14:5). In response, Christ said, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

After the resurrection, Thomas was unwilling to believe his fellow disciples that Jesus had risen from the dead (John 20:24). He would not believe, he declared, unless he actually touched the wounds. Eight days later, Jesus gave “Doubting Thomas” the evidence he had asked for, whereupon Thomas confessed him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus then pronounces a blessing on all who have not seen and yet believe.

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Sermons

Sermon for the Third Sunday in Advent

“What went ye out into the wilderness to see?

Jesus’ question to the multitude in the wilderness concerning John the Baptist is equally his question to us in the wilderness of our contemporary world. It is complemented, I think, by Mary’s questions at the Annunciation about “what manner of salutation this should be” and “how shall this be seeing as I know not a man?” Advent is the season of questions which open us out to the truth of God coming to us as Word, as Judge, and as Light. On this Sunday, there is a change of emphasis, a kind of lightening of the darkness even as we enter into the darkest week and day of nature’s year with the near approach of the winter solstice.

This Sunday is sometimes called Gaudete Sunday, the term derives from an introit anthem taken from Paul’s Letter to the Philippians which we also hear in the Epistle reading for next Sunday. The emphasis is altogether on rejoicing. Gaudete means Rejoice!

The third candle on our Advent wreath is rose or pink coloured suggesting a lightening of the purple or violet colour which symbolizes the penitential aspect of Advent. In some places, too, the vestments are rose-coloured for this Sunday. Gaudete Sunday in Advent has its parallel with Laetare Sunday in Lent which is another word for rejoice. But the rose or pink colour also signals the special role of Mary in the divine work of human redemption, something which is captured in many of the carols and hymns of the season such as the lovely 15th century German Marian carol, Es ist ein Ros entstprungen, ‘Lo, how a Rose e’er blooming,’ especially as set to Michael Praetorius’s 1609 harmonization of a sixteenth century melody.

It is hauntingly beautiful, at once reflective and joyful. The image of a rose in bloom “mitten im kalten Winter, wohl zu der halben Nacht’, ‘amid the cold of winter when half spent was the night,’ is especially lovely and moving. The second verse underlies the theological theme which complements our readings today; at once the fulfillment of prophecy and the role and place of Mary in the redemption of our humanity. “Isaiah ‘twas foretold it, / the Rose I have in mind; / With Mary we behold it, the virgin mother kind. / To show God’s love aright, / She bore to men a Saviour, / When half spent was the night.”

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Events, Month at a Glance

Christmas at Christ Church 2017

Sunday, December 24th, Fourth Sunday in Advent/Christmas Eve
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion
7:00pm Children’s Crêche Service
9:30pm Christmas Eve Communion Service

Monday, December 25th, Christmas Day
10:00am Christmas Morning Communion Service

Tuesday, December 26th , St, Stephen
10:00am Holy Communion

Wednesday, December 27th , St. John the Evangelist
10:00am Holy Communion

Thursday December 28th, Holy Innocents’ Day
10:00am Holy Communion

Sunday, December 31st, Sunday after Christmas
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Christmas Lessons & Carols

Monday, January 1st, 2018, Octave Day of Christmas/Feast of the Circumcision/New Year’s Day
10:00am Holy Communion

O God, who makest us glad with the yearly remembrance of the birth of thy only Son Jesus Christ: Grant that as we joyfully receive him as our Redeemer, we may with sure confidence behold him when he shall come again to be our Judge; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, now and ever. Amen.

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Events, Month at a Glance

Week at a Glance, 18 – 24 December

Tuesday, December 19th
5:30-6:30pm Pulled Pork Supper – Parish Hall
7:00pm Capella Regalis concert: ‘To Bethlehem with Kings’

Thursday, December 21st, St. Thomas
7:00pm Holy Communion

Friday, December 22nd
11:00am Holy Communion – Dykeland Lodge

Sunday, December 24th, Fourth Sunday in Advent/Christmas Eve
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion
7:00pm Children’s Creche Service
9:30pm Christmas Communion Service

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Prayers and liturgy

The Third Sunday in Advent

Antonio Mancini, Saint John the BaptistThe collect for today, the Third Sunday in Advent, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

O LORD Jesu Christ, who at thy first coming didst send thy messenger to prepare thy way before thee: Grant that the ministers and stewards of thy mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready thy way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at thy second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in thy sight; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

The Epistle; 1 Corinthians 4:1-5
The Gospel: St. Matthew 11:2-10

Artwork: Antonio Mancini, Saint John the Baptist, c. 1890. Oil on canvas, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

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Sermons

Advent Meditation 2: Book of Common Prayer Prefaces

This is the second of two Advent Meditations on the Book of Common Prayer Prefaces. The first meditation is posted here.

“Heaven and earth shall pass away; but my words shall not pass away”

The prefaces to the Book(s) of Common Prayer are intriguing and instructive. They have a certain quality of restraint about them that is remarkable given the turmoil and controversies about theology and polity in the 16th and 17th centuries. They advance modestly and firmly a spiritual ideal and purpose. The Original Preface of 1549 Concerning the Service of the Church, altered slightly in 1552 and again in 1662, identifies what was a common concern for both Roman Catholics and Reformers; namely, a sense of the primacy of Scripture and the desire to provide a clear and easy method of reading through the whole Bible “or the greatest part thereof” in the course of a year. Cranmer quotes the Spanish Cardinal Francis Quignonez almost verbatim in describing the problem and in advocating the solution.

The only difference between them was about whether that method would be in principle for all people or just the clergy and about translation from Latin to the vernacular. Even on that point there was some common ground. While the Roman Catholic liturgy would remain in Latin, there would be translations of the Scriptures authorized by the Roman Catholic Church and preaching would be largely in the vernacular tongues of the emerging national states.

What the Prayer Book Original Preface by Cranmer discloses, however, is a central and essential principle that underlies the idea of Common Prayer. It has to do with an attitude and outlook towards the reading of the Scriptures as ‘a doctrinal instrument of salvation’ wonderfully expressed in Cranmer’s homily on A Fruitful Exhortation Unto the Reading and Knowledge of Holy Scripture as well as in the beautiful Collect for The Second Sunday in Advent. “He that keepeth the word of Christ is promised the love and favour of God and that he shall be the dwelling-place, or temple, of the blessed Trinity.” That means attending to the Scriptures. “The Scripture of God,” he says, “is the heavenly meat of our souls; the hearing and keeping of it maketh us blessed, sanctifieth us, and maketh us holy. It turneth our souls; it is a light lantern unto our feet. It is a sure, steadfast, and everlasting instrument of salvation.” Scripture is a doctrinal instrument of salvation because it is written for our learning. It turns our souls to God “that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life.”

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