Seeing and not seeing

One of the great things about painting, even in a very amateur way, is that it makes you really look at things. Mind you, the end result might not be much like what you saw; but it is still worth trying. This week we were aiming to paint in red and green ... the idea being, I guess to produce something Christmassy - holly & ivy and all that. But we had some marvellous red chard growing in a pot this year, so I attempted a portrait of that. Thought I'd better tell you or you would not recognise it; but it was fun to do.

In case that depresses you too much, you might prefer to see the view towards the Needles a couple of days back, when the weather was brighter than today. It is all about looking, and really seeing: 'for he spoke to them in parables; that seeing they might not see'. I think many of us just now are loking for the signs of the times, discerning what the future holds for us. It is certainly not dull.

Walworth 2

Maybe you had better see the sermon, not just the illustrations, from Advent I in Walworth: for what it is worth, here it is:-

Pray for strength … to stand with confidence before the Son of Man [S Luke 21.36]

The world's biggest particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider, is in operation again after more than a year of repairs. The European Organisation for Nuclear Research, Cern, said in a statement on Friday that particle beams are once again circulating in the LHC, and that a clockwise circulating beam was established at 10 PM local time. There now, I knew you’d get excited by that…. NOT! If you have a long memory, it was in 2008 that it was first switched on, this billion pound experiment; and it came to a halt because of a bad connection. Then this year it was going to run, only a bird dropped a bit of biscuit into the works. Now it is going again, and we have to hope there are some useful bits of knowledge to come from it.

First time round, the papers were saying “the world could blow itself up”… now there have been too many damp squibs and no one seems worried any more. But we always have to have something to worry about. If you have long memories, and are very old, you might remember the H bomb; that was going to explode the world. Around the year 1999 people were full of predicitions of the end of the world; some, you may remember, set off up a mountain to wait for it to happen; then, they came back down again. And do you remember all the computers in the world were going to crash because their clocks could not manage with 2000?

Our children were very fond of Henny Penny; she rushed around like – well, you could say like a headless chicken – saying “the sky is falling, the sky is falling” and a lot of other animals believed her. So when Jesus talks about the end of the world, and he does, he issues a stern warning too:“Take heed that you are not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am the Christ; and the time draws near: don’t you go after them. And when you shall hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not yet”. We are not to be deceived, wars and famines and floods and tidal waves happen, and go on happening. The end of the world is altogether different, and it will be seen with the coming of the Son of Man in a cloud, with power and great glory.But what about the meanwhile? It is for this meanwhile, the time between now and the end of the world, that the Church is given to us. And year by year, as the old year ends and we prepare for a new one, we are faced with ourselves, and how we are to make ourselves ready.

For you here at St John’s this is a very particular time of renewal. You are marking the 150 years of this church’s life by rededicating yourselves in the service of the Saviour. How much people gave up back in the 1850’s; and all to be able to build this church for their descendants, among them you. In its time, such a modern church; reassuringly gothic, but with marvellous up-to-date touches like (as I guess) cast iron columns. What nerve; what far-sightedness!
So today’s gospel might have been written with you in mind. It tells you how you must start getting ready; pray, that is the key to it all. Pray for strength to stand with confidence before the Son of Man.

Those dear people of a century and a half ago might seem a bit strange to us; it was the time Dickens writes about, children being sent to work in factories, soot and filth and disease everywhere. Your church was started to minister to the poor and the sick and the dying in this part of Southeast London. It was for the sake of those who had never been inside a church building that St John’s was saved for and paid for and eventually built.

There are still so many outside these walls who still need the love of Jesus to be shown them. Words are not enough, we have to live in the way he wants. It begins with us, and with our life of prayer. Only when we are ready to face Jesus ourselves can we begin to show the love of Jesus to other people. Your patron saint, John, tells us “now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” We are to be like Jesus; but for that to happen, we must meet him; and to meet him, we must be ready. Meeting Jesus unprepared would be a terrible thing. We have to be ready … and today’s gospel says it, for that we need strength: “pray for strength that we may stand with confidence before the Son of Man”.

So the message of Advent, and the message of your 150th anniversary, are the same. They are about being ready to meet Jesus face to face. And how do we do that? Easy, really; just love the Lord your God with heart, soul, mind and strength; and love your neighbour as yourself. Well, no, of course it is not easy; it is a lifetime’s work.

But begin the other way round; if you love your neighbour as yourself, first you must love yourself. We all of us have things we don’t find loveable in us; our bad temper, or our greediness, or our tendency to lie or whatever. No good pretending that is not us; but face it. And face it with God’s help – the help he has given us in the sacrament of forgiveness. If we all started there, this church and parish would be transformed. Well, you can’t do it for other people; but you can do it for yourself. Make a promise to go to confession before Christmass; make an appointment with your priest TODAY. That will be the very best start to the renewal of St John’s in its 150th year.
Then, once you are able to forgive yourself and so to love yourself, start doing the same for other people. Forgive them as you are forgiven, and you will start loving them too. What a transformation that would be for St John's if it was known as the one place in Walworth where you could be accepted WHOEVER you were and WHATEVER you had done. That is what the church is meant to be; the place of forgiveness and welcome.

We are talking about having the confidence to face Jesus when we come face to face with him. It is not IF we meet him, it is WHEN. Pray at all times, he says, for strength to survive all that is going to happen, and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man. It means being forgiven, and then forgiving other people; it means loving other people because we have learned to love ourselves; and from that we shall be able really to love God. No one can hate the brother he has seen, and love God whom he hasn’t seen. Simple as that.

We shall all of us be renewing our promises of baptism soon; as you do that, realise what it will involve:
Confession, so that we can be forgiven and come to love ourselves
Generosity, in forgiving and loving other people.
Praying to be ready, so that we can look forward with confidence to seeing God, because we have learned really to love him.

May this be a marvellous year for St John’s; and so it will be, if first you are committed to it, and looking forward to a marvellous year for yourself.

Walworth the Visit

Former students of St Stephen's House are working in very diverse situations. Fr Simon Askey is no exception (on the left in the picture above). Formerly a member of SSM (as Br Gary) he undertook legal training while still a monk, and has held a number of teaching posts since then. Now he has a very high-powered job coordinating the teaching of a number of Universities in England and overseas. This week he is just back from the USA and Hong Kong, and goes off again to the Far East in a few days time. In the interim he assists at St John's Walworth; and so he persuaded his Vicar, Fr John Walker (on the right in the photo), to invite me to preach for the start of the church's year of celebration which marks its first 150 years. The congregation renewed their Baptismal promises at the start of the year.

Jane and I had a marvellous time there. The church barely gets a mention in Pevsner - just the barest note that it is by H Jarvis, with some fittings by Comper (on the left, the Lady Chapel). The reality is a lively and happy worshipping community, many of the people with their origins in Sierra Leone and the West Indies though many of them have been in Walworth for twenty years and more. I also met a couple from the Philippines - they are soon to be married, he is a widower and his bride-to-be admits to being over 80! There was also a splendid number of children - all very well behaved - a good serving team, and some fine congregational singing.

On a Sunday like this it's good to be retired and able to visit places which are quite new to me; though the driving becomes more of a bore each time. Thanks to an old friend, Eileen Slatter, Jane and I were able to drive up on Saturday and stay the night in her flat before driving home to Lymington on Sunday fortified by a great Vicarage lunch. I was baptised in South London, where my grandmother lived. Holy Innocents South Norwood was the church; like Walworth it is now in Southwark diocese, though all those generations ago it was part of 'Canterbury without' - a little enclave of the Archbishop's, surrounding his former palace in Croydon. It was swept up in a tidying effort in the mid twentieth century. Now we look as though we might be getting some new peculiars, in the Ordinariate. Hurrah!

Passtime Painting

There now, that came as a surprise - or a shock, maybe. But painting as a hobby is a little like the spritual life. You think you are making progress until you let someone else in on where you are - and after such a confession you realise what a long way you have to go if you are to get anywhere. The journey is worthwhile, though - so Friday mornings in Lymington are often spent in company with others who are also trying to get a foothold on the spiritual - no, sorry, the painterly- ladder.

On the left of this group is our instructor, Marita (you can find her work at http://www.maritafreeman.co.uk/). She is immensely patient with us - here with David and another Edwin (known in the class as John Edwin to avoid confusion).

We have been looking at Kandinsky's work which helps explain (though does not excuse) a version of St Thomas' Lymington done as a triptych... though really I just chopped it in three to try to improve it. As you see, the experiment failed.

Goodbye Southampton

Tonight we met in the Parish Church of Romsey (Ss Mary & Ethelflaeda, aka Romsey Abbey) to say farewell to Paul Butler who is to become Bishop of Southwell & Nottingham in 2010. The great and the good were there, together with a few clergy and rather more bishops. One of the bishops was Crispin, RC bishop of Portsmouth who once told me he hoped not to receive many former Anglican priests since he would not know what to do with them. He seemed a little sad that at the same time Couve de Murville of Birmingham was bringing them over by the cartload. Two of the other bishops were from Africa; Paul is Chair(man?) of CMS.




















There was some good music from the choir & organ, and some other music from a Music Group from Highfield Church - seen [above] dismantling some of their gear. I needed to be sure they were going - rather like bagpipes, such offerings are better heard at a distance. Unfortunately Jane and I had been sitting with the official guests, in direct line of fire from this group. The central section of the service (evensong, we were told) was to be three worship songs - or so the programme promised. By the time there had been reprises and choruses it seemed about as long as the Ring Cycle ... well, perhaps it earns time off purgatory.

The Bishop of Basingstoke was in attendance. He soon departs for Dover where he is to be the Archbishop's right hand person in the diocese of Canterbury. Alas I am not able to be at his farewell, but I am sure there will be many there to see him off.

Now that he is losing both his Suffragans at once, Bishop Michael of Winchester will be looking to appoint their successors before he himself retires. If you have suggestions you might like to try giving him some names. It won't do much good, though. As he told me, there are so many women priests in the diocese, and so few Resolution C parishes, that it would be very difficult to appoint a traditionalist. The reason, of course, that there are so few C parishes is that we once had Bishop Geoffrey Rowell here and so were told 'no need to take any resolutions; you can always have Bishop Geoffrey'. Now it is too late. Blackburn, London and Chichester dioceses, take note.

I have agreed to undertake a few confirmations during the interregnum to ease the diocesan's burden - though if the Ordinariate get up and running quickly I shall perhaps not be able to fulfil all those engagements.

Old Holborn

They work you hard at St SAlban's, Holborn. First they had me confirming during the 9.30 mass (at which I also celebrated and preached) and we had barely turned round before I was at the High Mass at 11 preaching in the wonderful strains of Stravinsky's 1948 Mass.

So perhaps it is worth letting my three readers in on what I said in that context. Another time you might like to know why Danish churches, to say nothing of Crown Jewels, are so besotted with Elephants... but that really is another story.

SERMON of OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, UNIVERSAL KING

Are you the king? …… Yes I am a king. [S JOHN xviii 33 & 37]

There are downsides to every job; and perhaps the biggest downside to being Monarch of Great Britain is having to open Parliament. The Queen was at it again on Wednesday; tedious enough riding in an unsprung ancient coach and wearing a crown which, she has said, quite ruins one’s hairdo. Far worse than any of this is delivering a speech written by a politician with the aim of boosting his party’s poll rating. How it must irk, to sit on a throne saying “My Government…”

But then, that is one of the things about constitutional monarchs; they have to let other people tell them what to say. Until the mid nineteenth century, Kings of Denmark were absolute monarchs. Their word was law. Here that had died out when Charles I lost his head in Whitehall. It came very late to Denmark, but when it did the result was even more thorough-going than here. The Queen might complain about wearing a heavy crown; all his life the Danish King is not allowed to wear his. It is on display among the crown jewels in Copenhagen, but the only time it comes near the king is at his funeral; then it is put on the coffin. The Danes say it is the only time when it is safe to let him wear it.

So there are monarchies, and monarchies.
Which is where today’s gospel matters so much. The question put to Jesus by his judges was “Are you the king of the Jews?” He would not answer that directly, for he would have been misunderstood. Instead he tries to get them to see what his kingship is about; and it is not a this-world kingship at all.

The proposals by the Papacy concerning a special deal for Anglicans has some marvellous things about it. The one place where it really falls down, though, concerns the trappings of bishops. In the explanatory document, the so called ‘norms’ of the ordinariate, there is this sentence:
‘A former Anglican Bishop who belongs to the Ordinariate and who has not been ordained as a bishop in the Catholic Church, may request permission from the Holy See to use the insignia of the episcopal office’.

Now it may be that that is a concession for the sake of the people who have been used to treating Ebbsfleet and Richborough and Fulham as bishops. It certainly should not be a concession for those men themselves. Once they have become married priests in the Ordinariate, even if they have a special office, they will not be bishops. If the Holy See wants them to dress up like bishops, in the way that some others do, mitred abbots for instance, then it should instruct them what to wear; not give them the responsibility of seeking it for themselves.

The experiment of flying bishops made for difficulties about ecclesiology – how could the bishop of a province be in only partial communion with other bishops? But then, that problem was not created by the flying bishops; it was there from the moment our church decided it had the authority to ordain women as priests, while at the same time saying that anyone had the right to refuse their ministry. Alongside those difficulties, though, there were great benefits which came from the experiment. None of these bishops had great establishments to maintain. They were given the means to live simply, in modest houses, with no staff of chauffeurs and gardeners and pa’s, no cathedral, no chapter. Many of those in their care came to value this; it seemed a new sort of episcopacy. It meant, for instance, that during an interregnum the bishop would drive a hundred miles or two, and would be happy to stay overnight with one of the parishioners, just in order to consult with the parish about their future and what sort of priest they wanted.
For the bishops themselves it enabled them to get to know the people in their care, not just churchwardens and PCC representatives but their families and children. It was easier in this way to learn the job of being a shepherd – and even a shepherd king. Putting on the crown, the mitre, seemed no longer to distance him from people; the mitre and crook and ring were symbols of office, and made him the king’s representative. And one PEV's demountable crook in its leather bag was referred to by a perspicacious Verger as "the tool kit".

The Imperial State Crown, the Crown of St Edward, the Orb, the Sceptre, none of these belongs to the Queen. They are about delegated authority, and the anointing at the coronation shows us all whose delegate she is. It is an anointing she shares with priests and bishops; and with all the holy common people of God in their Baptism and Confirmation.

So when he is asked are you THE King of the Jews, Jesus does not answer; but when they rephrase it, when after he describes his kingdom Pilate asks “You are a king then”
Jesus answers Yes, I am a king. A king in a different sort of kingdom from any we know on earth.

The kingdom of heaven is not like the kingdom of Elizabeth I or Elizabeth II, nor the kingdoms of Denmark or the Netherlands. All these will pass away. One of the most endearing stories about Queen Victoria is that her favourite hymn was “The day thou gavest Lord, is ended” … she must have imagined the sun constantly rising on some new outpost of Empire. As the flag was lowered at sunset in Canada it was being unfurled in India. She also knew, to her great credit, that Our Lord’s throne “shall never, like earth’s proud empires, pass away”, though it is unlikely she thought the demise of the British Empire would follow on her heels quite as swiftly or completely as it did.

But the Lord’s kingdom is not of this world, and is not subject to the fall of empires. Among the crown jewels of heaven none is greater than that of woven thorns, bejewelled with the Saviour’s blood. His rule is service, his robe of state humility. Whoever would be first in His Kingdom must be last, whoever would rule must be the servant of all. Perhaps, after all, the Holy Father will let former Anglican bishops set aside their jewellery, and put all their efforts into building up the kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

Archiepiscopal Infallibility

One of the stumbling blocks to unity with Rome, so it is asserted, is Papal Infallibility. Yet if reports of ++Rowan's address in Rome are correct (and who could doubt Ruth Gledhill) the Archbishop of Canterbury is claiming something even stronger for himself. According to Ruth 'yesterday the Archbishop made clear that there would be no turning back the clock on women priests in order to appease critics.' Now, his predecessor in Office said that women's ordination was reversible. In this he was staying true to the Eames Report and the decisions of the Lambeth Conference. It was because of this that some of us, with great difficulty, remained Anglicans, hoping that there might yet come a time when the experiment of women as priests would be shown to have failed. In this Rome meeting the Archbishop of Canterbury has made it clear that the matter is settled; and since there has been no Synodical debate on this, it must be that he has resolved the matter by personal fiat. How envious the Holy Father must be, hedged about as he is by definitions which declare him infallible only in very special and limited circumstances. Unlike him, Rowan is always right.

This means the Archbishop of Canterbury is selling his Suffragans of Ebbsfleet and Richborough down the river. He is telling all who believed that we were in a period of reception, until there was agreement by the whole Church, Eastern and Western, that we had better give in or go. That was just a smokescreen to get the legislation through. Now the time for compromise is over.

Well, thank you, dear Rowan. It is good to know where we stand - though really that has been becoming daily more apparent since the volte face of the Manchester Commission. When you come home, please encourage the General Synod to go for a single clause measure, and start preparing the financial package which will enable priests to move on as quickly as possible. It was lovely knowing you - except that in reality, none of us did.