Preached at St Helen’s Church, Solihull at 10am Eucharist on Sunday 21st March 2010.
A shorter version of this sermon was also preached at the 8am Eucharist at St Alphege.
Fifth Sunday of Lent – Year C – Passion Sunday
Readings: Isaiah 43: 15-21 Philippians 3: 4b-14 John 12: 1-8
Today we enter Passiontide, and we start our slow build up towards the key days of our Lent and Easter observances. Next Sunday is Palm Sunday, the start of Holy Week. Then later that week we remember the all important days; Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Day.
Every year in the Church we repeat the great rituals of Holy Week to remind ourselves of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. This is the central story of the Christian faith, and this annual remembrance helps us enter into the story ourselves and make it our own. And it is this entering into the story ourselves which I think is the key point. Our Holy Week rituals and liturgies help us to draw close to Jesus in his passion, death and resurrection. We are seeking to participate with Jesus in his experience, so that it becomes part of our lives, part of our own story. And ultimately this changes everything, we are converted, everything is transformed within us.
No we can’t pretend that drawing close to Jesus in his passion and death is an easy or enjoyable thing to do. It might even seem un-natural. It is easy to think, “I don’t want to participate in this story. The passion and death of Jesus is all about violence, pain and death. It is horrible and I don’t want to get involved with it!” We all feel the desire to minimise suffering and avoid death, and there is something very natural and human about that. But this is not what Christianity is about. Christianity is absolutely about the death and resurrection of Christ. We are baptised into Christ’s death and resurrection (Romans 6). At every Eucharist we “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (1 Corinthians 11: 26). And we do this because of the resurrection. We do it because Christ’s life is stronger than death, Christ’s love overcomes hated, hope in Christ overcomes fear. So in Christianity we are not afraid to engage constructively with suffering, pain and death because we place our hope in the resurrection of Jesus.
Let’s think about what Paul had to say about this in the reading from his letter to the Philippians, which we heard today. Paul has come to value Christ so highly that all the good things he had before (all the things for which many people probably envied him!) no longer count for anything. He says, “I have suffered the loss of all things, and regard them as rubbish, in order that I might gain Christ.” Knowing Christ is like the precious pearl. You know the parable; a man finds a pearl of extraordinary value, and he sells everything he has in order to buy the pearl, because he recognises the unsurpassed value that it has.
Then Paul says, “I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death, if somehow I might attain the resurrection of the dead.” Paul wants to share in the sufferings of Christ because, somehow, it draws him into the resurrection of Christ.
And this is the invitation to us too, to share in the sufferings of Christ so as to share in his resurrection. And how do we do that? Well, I believe we have an opportunity to do that every time a suffering crosses our path. Perhaps someone is rude to us and we feel hurt? Perhaps we are hurt by something we’ve seen on the telly; the victims of an earthquake, or an unjust situation? Perhaps we are mindful of our own sin and inadequacies? Perhaps we have been put in a difficult situation at work? Perhaps we face a major suffering; a serious illness, a bereavement or death? Spiritual experts suggest that when we face a suffering, any kind of suffering, we can pray “Jesus, help me to see you, the crucified Christ, in this small suffering of mine. Help me to love you in your great suffering, through this small suffering of mine.” And by sharing sufferings with the crucified Christ in this way we find, somehow, that the risen Christ shares his resurrection life with us. And this has immense value. This is the precious pearl.
Once again, we can’t pretend that this is easy. It requires a very mature Christian attitude, and the support of other Christians who understand it. But I have to say that, in so far as I have managed to live it, I have found it to be profoundly true and immensely helpful. My moments of suffering and loss have, in the end, been precisely the moments which have led me deeper into Christ. And there has been renewal and new life and a realisation that my Christianity stands on a foundation much deeper and firmer and stronger than I ever imagined. And as I repeat this experience more often, I start to have more and more confidence in it. I start to really trust in it, and I realise that no human problem can really threaten Christianity, because Christ, through his cross has already conquered the world.
So how can we make a start on this experience? How can we get going? Well Passiontide and Holy Week is a real opportunity. Let’s use our church services to draw close to Christ as he passes through his passion and death and onto resurrection life. Also at St Helen’s this year we are setting up a Holy Week Meditation in the St Helen’s chapel, a little like the labyrinth of previous years. Let’s all come and spend time at that mediation, to draw close to Christ in passion, death and resurrection. And then, thirdly, let’s make use of the big and small sufferings of our everyday lives, and find in them as a precious link to the great suffering of Christ on the cross, who we need to love.
And by sharing with Christ in his sufferings, like St Paul, we somehow(!) receive a sharing in his resurrection life. And this is the pearl of great price, so precious that everything else starts to appear worthless.
21 March 2010
07 March 2010
Teaching Sermon - Easter Triduum - Good Friday
Sermon preached at 9.15am and 11am Eucharists in St Alphege Church, Solihull
Third Sunday of Lent – Year C
Teaching Eucharist – The Easter Triduum – Good Friday
This Lent we have a series of teaching Eucharists which aim to help us to grow in our appreciation of the really important liturgies (church services) of Holy Week. Fr Patrick talked about Palm Sunday, and then last week Fr Tim started to talk about the Triduum, the three big services of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Eve. He spoke about Maundy Thursday. This week I am talking about Good Friday. But it is important to remember that these three liturgies hang together, like one Triduum liturgy in three separate parts.
And through these liturgies we seek to draw close to Jesus as he walks through the extraordinary events of his passion death and resurrection. The key word here is participation. By talking part in these liturgies we try to share with Jesus in the experience of his passion, death and resurrection. We try to enter into that experience of Jesus so that it becomes part of our lives, part of our own story. And ultimately this changes everything, we are converted, everything is turned round, and we start trying to live our own lives as part of the life of Jesus, as part of the body of Christ, the Church.
Now someone might object; “But I don’t want to participate in this story, especially not on Good Friday. The crucifixion is about violence and pain and death. It is horrible and I don’t want anything to do with it!
Well I think this is a mainstream way of thinking in the society in which we live. Certainly we all feel the desire to minimise and avoid suffering, but this is not Christianity. Christianity is absolutely about the death and resurrection of Christ. We are baptised into Christ’s death and resurrection (Romans 6). At every Eucharist we “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (1 Corinthians 11: 26). And we do this because of the resurrection. The good news is that Christ life is stronger than death, Christ’s love overcomes hated, hope in Christ overcomes fear. So in the church we are not afraid to engage with suffering and death, because precisely these events of Holy Week that we re-enact in the Triduum. Precisely through this experience, Jesus has shown us how to make suffering and death the gateway to forgiveness, restoration and eternal life.
So through the Good Friday liturgy we are seeking to participate with Christ in his death. And it is devastating! Everything falls apart. Everything is torn away. The liturgy is stark and shocking. The church is stripped bare before it even starts. And then right at the start there is another powerful symbol of devastation. The service starts in complete silence. Let’s watch a clip of that, in silence and then discuss it.
[video clip – 40 seconds]
So what happened there? [Priests prostrate before the altar]
And what does this express? [abasement, dependence on God, shock, our fallenness, devastation]
So the Good Friday liturgy starts in this way and then we have the collect, or opening prayer. And that is the end of the Gathering rite.
And why is the gathering rite so brief and minimalist? [Continuation of yesterday]
After the Gathering Rite we have the ministry of the word. And this is dominated by the reading of the passion from John’s gospel. We always read John’s passion of Good Friday. On Palm Sunday we read one of the passion narratives of Matthew, Mark or Luke in a three year cycle.
And reading the passion narrative is a powerful reminder of the story. And to help us to enter into the story we start standing for the final part, and when we reach the moment of Jesus’ death we all bow or kneel.
In this church we have a homily and the special Good Friday intercessions. Then we come to the veneration of the cross. Now I have another video clip here of the cross arriving and the start of the veneration of the cross, so let’s watch this.
[video clip – 1 minute 20 seconds]
Now first of all I would like to talk about the music. We just heard the choir beginning the singing “The Reproaches”. Now these reproaches are a very ancient Good Friday text. They are words that Jesus could have said from the cross, “My people, my people, what have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer me?” And Jesus asks this question many times, and he intersperses it with all the good things that Jesus has done for his people, and the evil with which we have repaid him. And of course there is no answer that can be made. It is clear that we are sinners, and our sin has driven Christ to the cross, Christ who has done nothing but good for us. There is no answer that can be made, and the cumulative effect of listening to all these reproaches is, once again, devastating.
Now what about veneration of the cross? What are we doing? Well we all get the opportunity to come forward and stand before the cross. And once again the liturgy is stark and shocking. We place ourselves right in front of the image of the crucified Christ, and there is no escape. There is no proper response that can be made. Many of us choose to bow, or to kiss the cross, or even kiss the feet of the image of Christ on the cross. And why do we do this? Well, through our little carved image of Christ on the cross we seek to honour and adore Christ. And we honour and adore him precisely in the moment of his great sacrifice for us, the sacrifice that takes away our sins and restores us into fellowship with God. This is the moment when Jesus looks least lovable; his is broken and disfigured by our sins. Yet this is the moment when he wins our salvation, this is precisely the moment when we are called to love him most.
So now we come to the final part of the Good Friday liturgy when we receive Holy Communion. We don’t normally celebrate a Eucharist on Good Friday, because a Eucharist is an act of celebration, and Good Friday is the most solemn and sombre of days. However we do receive communion from the reserved sacrament which we laid to rest on the altar of repose on Maundy Thursday. And there is a very solemn ritual that we re-enact here. We take Christ, present in the consecrated bread and wine, up from the garden of repose, which represents the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus went after the last supper, and we carry Him with great reverence up to the high altar, which reminds us of altar in the temple of Jerusalem; the place of sacrifice. And as we make this journey we can think of Jesus being led around after his arrest; first to Annas, then to Caiaphas, then to Pilate then to be flogged, then led out carrying his cross to be crucified at Golgotha. So let’s just watch a short video clip now of that solemn procession.
[video clip – 35 seconds]
And once we have all received communion that is more or less the end of the Good Friday liturgy. There is a brief prayer after communion and a blessing but not proper dismissal. Rather we all slip out in silence and we return for the last part of the Triduum liturgy of Easter Eve.
So that is Good Friday Liturgy. And I want to end by summarising a few of the key points:
• The Good Friday liturgy is the middle part of the Triduum. It depends on Maundy Thursday which comes before it and on Easter Eve, which comes after.
• The Good Friday liturgy is a stark and shocking liturgy. It brings us face to face with the sacrifice of Christ; the consequences of our sin. The prostration of the priests is a symbol of this.
• We read the story of the passion from John’s Gospel
• We venerate the cross, honouring Christ in the moment of his great sacrifice for us
• We receive Holy Communion, once again drawing us close to Christ in his sacrifice.
And we do all this to walk with Christ through his passion and death, knowing that this leads us on to his resurrection and renewal. And we seek to make this pattern of death and resurrection the pattern for our lives, so that everything can speak of resurrection and renewal. Amen.
Third Sunday of Lent – Year C
Teaching Eucharist – The Easter Triduum – Good Friday
This Lent we have a series of teaching Eucharists which aim to help us to grow in our appreciation of the really important liturgies (church services) of Holy Week. Fr Patrick talked about Palm Sunday, and then last week Fr Tim started to talk about the Triduum, the three big services of Maundy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Eve. He spoke about Maundy Thursday. This week I am talking about Good Friday. But it is important to remember that these three liturgies hang together, like one Triduum liturgy in three separate parts.
And through these liturgies we seek to draw close to Jesus as he walks through the extraordinary events of his passion death and resurrection. The key word here is participation. By talking part in these liturgies we try to share with Jesus in the experience of his passion, death and resurrection. We try to enter into that experience of Jesus so that it becomes part of our lives, part of our own story. And ultimately this changes everything, we are converted, everything is turned round, and we start trying to live our own lives as part of the life of Jesus, as part of the body of Christ, the Church.
Now someone might object; “But I don’t want to participate in this story, especially not on Good Friday. The crucifixion is about violence and pain and death. It is horrible and I don’t want anything to do with it!
Well I think this is a mainstream way of thinking in the society in which we live. Certainly we all feel the desire to minimise and avoid suffering, but this is not Christianity. Christianity is absolutely about the death and resurrection of Christ. We are baptised into Christ’s death and resurrection (Romans 6). At every Eucharist we “proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.” (1 Corinthians 11: 26). And we do this because of the resurrection. The good news is that Christ life is stronger than death, Christ’s love overcomes hated, hope in Christ overcomes fear. So in the church we are not afraid to engage with suffering and death, because precisely these events of Holy Week that we re-enact in the Triduum. Precisely through this experience, Jesus has shown us how to make suffering and death the gateway to forgiveness, restoration and eternal life.
So through the Good Friday liturgy we are seeking to participate with Christ in his death. And it is devastating! Everything falls apart. Everything is torn away. The liturgy is stark and shocking. The church is stripped bare before it even starts. And then right at the start there is another powerful symbol of devastation. The service starts in complete silence. Let’s watch a clip of that, in silence and then discuss it.
[video clip – 40 seconds]
So what happened there? [Priests prostrate before the altar]
And what does this express? [abasement, dependence on God, shock, our fallenness, devastation]
So the Good Friday liturgy starts in this way and then we have the collect, or opening prayer. And that is the end of the Gathering rite.
And why is the gathering rite so brief and minimalist? [Continuation of yesterday]
After the Gathering Rite we have the ministry of the word. And this is dominated by the reading of the passion from John’s gospel. We always read John’s passion of Good Friday. On Palm Sunday we read one of the passion narratives of Matthew, Mark or Luke in a three year cycle.
And reading the passion narrative is a powerful reminder of the story. And to help us to enter into the story we start standing for the final part, and when we reach the moment of Jesus’ death we all bow or kneel.
In this church we have a homily and the special Good Friday intercessions. Then we come to the veneration of the cross. Now I have another video clip here of the cross arriving and the start of the veneration of the cross, so let’s watch this.
[video clip – 1 minute 20 seconds]
Now first of all I would like to talk about the music. We just heard the choir beginning the singing “The Reproaches”. Now these reproaches are a very ancient Good Friday text. They are words that Jesus could have said from the cross, “My people, my people, what have I done to you? How have I offended you? Answer me?” And Jesus asks this question many times, and he intersperses it with all the good things that Jesus has done for his people, and the evil with which we have repaid him. And of course there is no answer that can be made. It is clear that we are sinners, and our sin has driven Christ to the cross, Christ who has done nothing but good for us. There is no answer that can be made, and the cumulative effect of listening to all these reproaches is, once again, devastating.
Now what about veneration of the cross? What are we doing? Well we all get the opportunity to come forward and stand before the cross. And once again the liturgy is stark and shocking. We place ourselves right in front of the image of the crucified Christ, and there is no escape. There is no proper response that can be made. Many of us choose to bow, or to kiss the cross, or even kiss the feet of the image of Christ on the cross. And why do we do this? Well, through our little carved image of Christ on the cross we seek to honour and adore Christ. And we honour and adore him precisely in the moment of his great sacrifice for us, the sacrifice that takes away our sins and restores us into fellowship with God. This is the moment when Jesus looks least lovable; his is broken and disfigured by our sins. Yet this is the moment when he wins our salvation, this is precisely the moment when we are called to love him most.
So now we come to the final part of the Good Friday liturgy when we receive Holy Communion. We don’t normally celebrate a Eucharist on Good Friday, because a Eucharist is an act of celebration, and Good Friday is the most solemn and sombre of days. However we do receive communion from the reserved sacrament which we laid to rest on the altar of repose on Maundy Thursday. And there is a very solemn ritual that we re-enact here. We take Christ, present in the consecrated bread and wine, up from the garden of repose, which represents the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus went after the last supper, and we carry Him with great reverence up to the high altar, which reminds us of altar in the temple of Jerusalem; the place of sacrifice. And as we make this journey we can think of Jesus being led around after his arrest; first to Annas, then to Caiaphas, then to Pilate then to be flogged, then led out carrying his cross to be crucified at Golgotha. So let’s just watch a short video clip now of that solemn procession.
[video clip – 35 seconds]
And once we have all received communion that is more or less the end of the Good Friday liturgy. There is a brief prayer after communion and a blessing but not proper dismissal. Rather we all slip out in silence and we return for the last part of the Triduum liturgy of Easter Eve.
So that is Good Friday Liturgy. And I want to end by summarising a few of the key points:
• The Good Friday liturgy is the middle part of the Triduum. It depends on Maundy Thursday which comes before it and on Easter Eve, which comes after.
• The Good Friday liturgy is a stark and shocking liturgy. It brings us face to face with the sacrifice of Christ; the consequences of our sin. The prostration of the priests is a symbol of this.
• We read the story of the passion from John’s Gospel
• We venerate the cross, honouring Christ in the moment of his great sacrifice for us
• We receive Holy Communion, once again drawing us close to Christ in his sacrifice.
And we do all this to walk with Christ through his passion and death, knowing that this leads us on to his resurrection and renewal. And we seek to make this pattern of death and resurrection the pattern for our lives, so that everything can speak of resurrection and renewal. Amen.
01 March 2010
Funeral homily - Jesus calms the storm
Scripture Reading - Mark 4: 35-41
On that day, when evening had come, Jesus said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’
The story that we have just read might have appealed to ??????, with his love of the sea and of boats. And it tells us of a remarkable event, when Jesus and his companions in their boat were threatened by a storm in the Sea of Galilee. Jesus told the wind and the sea to be calm, the storm calmed, the boat was safe and all was well. But the disciples were amazed…”Who then is this, that even the wind and sea obey him?”
For the first century citizens of Palestine, storms at sea were symbolic of all the uncontrollable dark forces that can suddenly take hold of our life, disturb it, damage it or even destroy it. Some of these dark forces come from within us; an illness, an uncontrollable anger or desire. Some of these dark and disturbing forces come from outside us: accidents, aggressive neighbours, foreign armies (nowadays we would say terrorism). So Jesus calming the storm, significant as it was in itself, also had great symbolic importance. It symbolised Jesus’ command over all the dark forces that affect human life.
At funerals we are forced to contemplate the greatest dark force of them all: death. We know that death comes to us all. We might have success in avoiding it or postponing it, but ultimately we must succumb to its dark and mysterious power. And this was true, even of Jesus, who died a most terrible death, nailed to a cross. And for a few long hours it seemed that death had won, that there were dark powers that Jesus could not overcome. But then, on the third day, the resurrection was revealed. It became clear that Jesus had passed through death and was alive once more. What is more his body was renewed; still human and solid and real, and still bearing its wounds and capable of eating, but renewed and rejuvenated and no longer subject to death and decay.
But above all what was revealed was the opportunity for each of us to share with Jesus in this passage through death to eternal life. We, all of us, must pass through death, but we, all of us, are called to pass through it with Jesus, and to inherit eternal life.
And our baptism is important here. When we are baptised we are baptised into Christ’s death and into his resurrection. By staying close to Jesus, and follow in his ways, we can be confident through Jesus we too can overcome the dark power of death and rise to new life with him. Amen.
On that day, when evening had come, Jesus said to them, ‘Let us go across to the other side.’ And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great gale arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, ‘Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?’ He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, ‘Peace! Be still!’ Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, ‘Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?’ And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, ‘Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?’
The story that we have just read might have appealed to ??????, with his love of the sea and of boats. And it tells us of a remarkable event, when Jesus and his companions in their boat were threatened by a storm in the Sea of Galilee. Jesus told the wind and the sea to be calm, the storm calmed, the boat was safe and all was well. But the disciples were amazed…”Who then is this, that even the wind and sea obey him?”
For the first century citizens of Palestine, storms at sea were symbolic of all the uncontrollable dark forces that can suddenly take hold of our life, disturb it, damage it or even destroy it. Some of these dark forces come from within us; an illness, an uncontrollable anger or desire. Some of these dark and disturbing forces come from outside us: accidents, aggressive neighbours, foreign armies (nowadays we would say terrorism). So Jesus calming the storm, significant as it was in itself, also had great symbolic importance. It symbolised Jesus’ command over all the dark forces that affect human life.
At funerals we are forced to contemplate the greatest dark force of them all: death. We know that death comes to us all. We might have success in avoiding it or postponing it, but ultimately we must succumb to its dark and mysterious power. And this was true, even of Jesus, who died a most terrible death, nailed to a cross. And for a few long hours it seemed that death had won, that there were dark powers that Jesus could not overcome. But then, on the third day, the resurrection was revealed. It became clear that Jesus had passed through death and was alive once more. What is more his body was renewed; still human and solid and real, and still bearing its wounds and capable of eating, but renewed and rejuvenated and no longer subject to death and decay.
But above all what was revealed was the opportunity for each of us to share with Jesus in this passage through death to eternal life. We, all of us, must pass through death, but we, all of us, are called to pass through it with Jesus, and to inherit eternal life.
And our baptism is important here. When we are baptised we are baptised into Christ’s death and into his resurrection. By staying close to Jesus, and follow in his ways, we can be confident through Jesus we too can overcome the dark power of death and rise to new life with him. Amen.
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