Refreshing lives, transforming faith, at the heart of the community Haere Mai, Piki Mai
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A Sermon by Dean Charles Tyrrell QSO
Nelson Cathedral
Sunday, 3 August 2008
Foundation Day
The annual celebration of the day we have come to call ‘Foundation Day’ is a good opportunity to think about the ministry and mission of the church since its founding by Christ. Now that’s a tall order because with the best will in the world, it is impossible to review two millennia of Christian history in the short time allocated to me today. And so, here is how I intend to tackle it.
First of all I will take a quick look at the scriptures chosen for our Communion services today and acknowledge the Lord who is our sure foundation.
Then, in light of the fact that the Lambeth Conference of bishops is just about to begin its third and final week of meeting in Canterbury, I want to share some of my thoughts about the global church, and the challenges which are coming our way as a result.
Finally, I want to acknowledge the ministry here at Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson, and to put forward a few ideas about our life together as a Christian congregation at the heart of this city.
First then, let’s turn to the scriptures.
(See 1 Kings 8:22-30)
King Solomon ruled after his father David from about 967BCE to the turn of the millennium. In other words Solomon’s reign was about 1000 years before the birth of Jesus. As we know, it was left to Solomon to complete the Temple in Jerusalem and to oversee its consecration. As the consecrated king, it was left to Solomon to say the prayer of dedication for the new building, part of which we heard this morning.
The words which struck me were:
Have regard to your servant’s prayer and his plea, O Lord my God, heeding the cry and the prayer that your servant prays to you today; that your eyes may be open night and day towards this house, the place of which you said, 'My name shall be there', that you may heed the prayer that your servant prays towards this place.
Where the name of the holy, almighty God dwells on the lips of the faithful, there is God. To utter the holy name in sincerity and with a heart pregnant with truth, is to know God. This cathedral is named after the Son of God, for is Christ’s Church. In this place, here on this consecrated ground, day by day, week by week, year after year, we invoke the presence of God in Christ as we utter the most beautiful name above all names. For what was true of the Jerusalem temple, is now true all over the face of the globe, that where worship is preeminent so, says God, “My name shall be there.” This is our ultimate consecration, being set apart for God and God’s worship and service. Solomon knew this, do we?
(See 1 Peter 2:1-5, 9-10)
A thousand years later, the incarnate Lord was born. Reflecting back on the person Jesus Christ, St Peter, who was one of the witnesses of the transfiguration, understood Jesus in temple terms as the cornerstone that holds the fabric of the house of faith together. “Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortals yet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like living stones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house ...” If St Peter wrote this letter it may have been sometime between 60 and 64AD, just a few years before the temple was destroyed by the forces of Rome. Here now was some very clear teaching that as holy and precious our places of worship become to us, we need to get all of this into perspective by understanding that in spiritual terms, the temple of God exists within us and that Christ himself is not only the cornerstone of faith but the very foundation on which our belief is built.
Understanding that carries with it great responsibilities, does it not? If we believe that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit, then we not only have to respect ourselves but we must respect and cherish all people in whom we can recognize the light of life. That means striving for health at all times and being careful how we relate to others, ridding ourselves of all “... malice, and all guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander.” This is a vital message for the church, for governments and indeed, for all of us.
(See St Luke 9:28-36)
For Christ to become the cornerstone of faith, he had to be prepared to suffer and die for all people, not only those in the Church. Christ’s transfiguration was an important staging post on his journey to the cross and the empty tomb. The reading from St Luke’s gospel is very clear. Ostensibly, Jesus and his three closest disciples, Peter and John and James, had climbed the mountain in order to find a place to pray. The mission was beginning to speed up and the four of them needed a breathing space, a space where they could encounter God and be re-charged for the next stage. What the three supporters of Jesus didn’t bargain for was that they found God in the person of Jesus.
Mountain tops had always been associated with the presence of God; they only had to read about Moses and Elijah to know that. This time, God in Jesus climbed with them all the way to the top and it was there they saw Jesus in his true light. What resulted was worship and affirmation. The worship of Jesus, the Church’s first act of worship of the living Lord, and God’s naming his son Jesus and affirming his saving mission. It must have been a mind-blowing, exciting and awesome for time for those who were there.
The one thing that has changed was Jesus’ injunction to Peter, James and John to say nothing to anyone of what they had seen. Then, it wasn’t the right time to speak of such things for Jesus would tell then when. Today the opposite is true. We cannot afford to keep these things under the church’s collective belt, as it were! As the old Negro spiritual expresses it, we have a duty to “Go, tell it on the mountain that Jesus Christ is Lord.” For such is a condition of worship here on this (albeit much smaller) mountain top, this Piki Mai hill. When we leave here people should see reflected in our faces some of the glory of the Lord we have been worshipping. They will see such glory as we go about our daily tasks and routines, living according to the principles of God and demonstrating the attractiveness of our faith.
Now that leads me on to the central section of my words to you today. This Anglican Church to which we belong is but a part of the ‘one holy catholic and apostolic Church’ universal. These are known as the marks of the Church. Believing that helps to put into perspective the situation in which we find ourselves today because of the actions of some bishops.
Our hope is that we may be ONE as God in Trinity in ONE, yet celebrated in three persons as Father, Son and Spirit. Cannot the Church be celebrated as being ONE whilst recognizing the different theological and cultural streams of our being?
Our hope is that we may be holy, separated out for service, marked out by our baptism for sacrifice and a spirituality that is real and enriching.
Our hope is that we may all be catholic, universally recognized as members of the Church and recognizing the universality of opinion and understanding.
Our hope is that we may be truly apostolic, ready to spend and to be spent in the cause of the Gospel of our Lord, whose name we bear.
If our bishops would only live by such truth we would not find ourselves in such a stressful situation today. I was encouraged by some words from the official Lambeth press conference yesterday.
“I believe firmly that the Anglican Communion is going to continue by God’s grace and divine providence, but we do have problems,” observed Archbishop Drexel Gomez, Primate of the West Indies and chair of the Covenant Design Group. “What we sought to do was find a mechanism that would redefine the basic tenets of Anglicanism, and call the members of the Communion across the world to rally around who we are and what we stand for.”
He continued, “... our Covenant is founded on a principle of mutual cooperation. We see it as a pilgrimage, and all Anglicans are on this pilgrimage. We are seeking a mechanism to ease this pilgrimage.”
I hope this is not a case of talk is cheap! Already I am getting e mails about the Lambeth situation, some of it expressing harsh criticism of the Archbishop of Canterbury. I have resisted the urge to make an electronic contribution to the debate. Instead, it is my firm opinion to hold firmly onto the sound principles that founded our branch of the church universal, both catholic and reformed, and to maintain an open and inclusive fellowship of worshipping people, here at the cathedral at the centre of New Zealand. In fact, I do believe that all of our cathedrals have pivotal roles in each of our dioceses, which may contribute to the stability of the church whilst engaging in the cutting edge of mission and ministry.
And so you will find that as long as I am dean here, I will not be calling for major re-orderings of the liturgical life of the cathedral. Cherishing the worshipping heritage, we will maintain the use of the prayer books available to us, and employing the best liturgical traditions of the church we will honour the teaching and sacrifices of our church forebears and continue with worship that is Christ centred, challenging and uplifting.
The Eucharist or Holy Communion will continue to be the central act of worship for in so doing, we fulfil the command of Christ to his Church.
We will continue to use the best of music in worship both congregational and choral and we look forward to welcoming our new director of music to lead us in this ministry.
We will continue to place a strong emphasis on the pastoral care of our church family here.
We will cope with current controversy by working even harder in this part of the vineyard given to us by God in which to serve him and each other. If we focus on worship and service then the church cannot be divided. If we focus on controversial debates then division is inevitable and the mission of the church will be compromised. Let us lead by example in our diocese and in the church at large.
When God’s voice was heard by the three disciples on the mount of transfiguration, they heard God saying, “This is my Son, the chosen; listen to him!” Today we must learn to listen to Christ with open ears and hearts. Listen to Christ as you read the gospels for yourself. Listen to Christ as you gather with others for worship. Listen to Christ in the deepest recesses of your heart where by the loving action of the Holy Spirit Christ will make his home and from where he will guide you and protect you.
‘When the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone.’
No longer. Jesus is at one with his heavenly Father, bound by the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is no longer alone for he founded a Church to be his body on earth and we are privileged to be a part of that body today. So may it be that we here at Christ Church Cathedral, Nelson, will hold fast to the faith, hold steady in these rocky times for the Church and hold dear the truth as we have received it in Jesus Christ, the transfigured Lord.
Amen.
This sermon was written and delivered by Dean Charles Tyrrell QSO at Nelson Cathedral on Sunday, 3 August 2008
