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A Sermon by Dean Charles Tyrrell
Nelson Cathedral
Sunday, 8 June 2008
Back in the days when I sang as a choirboy in our Parish Church, I loved it when missionaries came to speak to us about their work overseas. I suppose in those days, having never been anywhere overseas myself, this added to the mystique and romantic nature of it all! They spoke about the joys and hardships of mission in exotic places. It was gripping stuff.
My grandmother was pivotal in my understanding and appreciation of the missions of the church. Each year, she used to take us on our annual trek to the Liverpool Philharmonic hall for the annual Church Missionary Society rally. People from all over the diocese came in their busloads to hear from our bishops all resplendent in their purple cassocks, from CMS personnel and from returned mission partners. The other major component of course, was worship. This large concert hall, where I used to go and hear the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic orchestra play, was transformed into a cathedral of praise and prayer for this great occasion. Accompanied by the cathedral organist, we used to sing lustily some of the great mission hymns of the church. It was magic.
I don’t remember many of the details of the rallies, but what I still retain is the real understanding of our responsibility for each other in this Anglican church of ours. We weren’t alone in our parish churches but part of a worldwide family of faith. They were heady days in the church and sometimes I find myself wishing they were still here.
The concept of mission has grown and developed over the years but the essentials are still the same.
This morning, my colleague Yvonne McLean gave
a superb sermon about mission
and I commend it to you. If you have a computer, you should be able to find it on the Cathedral website (see: nelsoncathedral.org).
My offering this evening is to be very short but I hope, still worthwhile.
I began my words in nostalgic mood but understanding the reality, I know I cannot languish there. I want us to take the best from the past and armed with a measure of understanding of where the world is today, consider what the Church’s response ought to be to Christ’s divine commission to the infant church to:
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. (St Matthew 28:19-20)
Now, I don’t know how many times I have heard those words quoted over the years, but it is a lot. I believe it was the set lesson at each of the missionary rallies I was telling you about earlier. Familiarity mustn’t bring contempt though, because these are very important words from the lips of the ascending Jesus. So from just a few minutes, allow me to unpack Jesus’ words a little and apply them to the church in the world today.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations – The scene on the mountain where the ascension took place must have been charged with emotion. The three years the disciples had been with Jesus must have flown over in an instant and now they were expected not only to keep his name alive but to enable more and more people to get to know it. Saying “Go, therefore...” must mean Jesus was referring back to something, so what was it? Well, his immediate words come to mind. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” Jesus had been on a divine mission and God himself had authorized his mission, his preaching and teaching and healing. His authority, his divine credentials, meant his influence was felt in heaven and earth and he was at the crossover point between both. So, understanding that, Jesus extends his authority to his successors on earth, the disciples, who would form the core of the church and add to its success the world over.
There are a couple of points I wish to add. First, about the word ‘disciples’. Principally, we use the word as a title of the 12 men called to follow Jesus but if we restricted its use to that then we are doing so many other people a disservice. Certainly, Jesus called the Twelve to follow him, but by the time he ascended into heaven, the number of disciples must have grown dramatically, including women.
Simply a disciple is a learner, a student, and its meaning is the same today. We are not called to go out and make theologically astute converts, who think they know everything and understand everything about God and God’s call to life but people who are open hearted and open minded, willing to learn from God and from each other. If Christians the world over only took this point to heart there would be less friction and fraction in the church today.
The central section of the Great Commission (so called) contains these words:
Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was teaching his followers the correct order of priority for mission. First make disciples, put people on the path to learning about God and then – baptize them. Baptism isn’t for the spiritually sophisticated but for those with open minds and hearts willing to learn about God. That is an important point we ought never to ignore. Baptism, not just by the external sprinkling of water but by invoking the wholeness of the God in Trinity, Father, Son and Spirit. This is vital teaching.
A proper understanding of this point must have an impact on how we do mission today. Remembering that being sent out is the proper definition of the word ‘Mission’, no longer do we send out women and men to other lands to laud it over people, but as students of faith inviting others to join them in the school of faith. Or to put it another way as someone else has said, it is like one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread!
It doesn’t end there, though. For Jesus added the rider, teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. The responsible missionary Church will take on board this part of the Commission as our part of the commitment to the spread of the Gospel. Before we can teach people to obey everything that Christ has commanded, we must know it for ourselves. We must be diligent in worship, faithful in studying the Scriptures and open to the teaching Spirit of God, the gift of the ascended Lord. In this way, we can never be accused of hypocrisy, of expecting one thing of people whilst doing something else.
I think that’s all I want to say today as our Missions Sunday draws to a close. We were sorry that Canon Robert Kereopa could not be with us this morning because of the snow down south, but as Yvonne said, that’s part of the dynamic nature of work in the mission of the Church. Please support this work wherever and however you can. We have a duty to do so to Christ who calls us and to the countless millions in the world who have never heard the essence of God’s good news, the Gospel, personified in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
This sermon was written and delivered by Dean Charles Tyrrell QSO at Nelson Cathedral on Sunday, 8 June 2008
