Sunday, 28 September 2014

SERMON 45 - SUNDAY 28 SEPTEMBER 2014

Sermon at Roman Catholic Chapel, Whaddon, Wiltshire – Sunday 28th September 2014

Ezekiel 37: 15-28; 1 John 2: 22-29

May I speak in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and may these words be a blessing to all who hear them.  Amen

First of all, it is good to be back with you preaching here at Whaddon. Although I have taken a couple of services in Whaddon recently I have not had the opportunity to preach.  Some may say that isn’t a bad thing!

 Looking at today’s readings, I found it hard to decide upon the theme for this sermon - however today is a very significant one for me – in that it was on the 28 September that my first born son was baptised in the Morning Chapel of Salisbury Cathedral way back in 1997 and exactly sixteen years later, on 28 September 2013, last year,  I took my oath of canonical obedience in that self-same chapel as part of my licensing that day as a Lay Minister in the Church of England.  Yesterday was my birthday and tomorrow is the Feast of St. Michael and All Angels.  So it is very much “Michael’s weekend”!

I thought therefore that it would be interesting to have a look at St. Michael and the role he has in the church.  He is the dedicated saint for the church in Bemerton Heath here in Salisbury and again the patron saint for Coventry Cathedral.  In fact I can think of dozens of instances where the name of St. Michael has been used – cathedrals, churches, schools, islands, mounts, and even underwear!  As I started my research it became evident that St. Michael was not a man, like most saints we hear of, but the name given in the bible to that Archangel who is regarded as the leader of the heavenly military forces protecting heaven from the assaults of Satan.

There are three clear references to Archangel Michael in the Bible – two in the Old Testament - the Book of Daniel (10:13 and 12) and one in the New Testament (Revelation12:7).  In the Book of Daniel Michael is described as the great prince, the angel who will rise up and help the Jews be restored to Jerusalem and later he is described as the one who will lead the heavenly host against Satan in the dispute over Moses body.  In the New Testament, Michael is seen as the leader who will slay the dragon in Chapter 12.7.  There are also passing references to the great prince and angel elsewhere in the bible – such references being attributed to the Michael.

In the dictionary of Saints complied by Philip Noble, St. Michael is first described as being the patron saint of grocers, mariners, policemen, paratroopers and sickness!  The name in Hebrew means “One who is like God” which was the attributed war cry of the good angels in battles fought in heaven against Satan and his followers.  Since the earliest times of the Apostles the Christian church has called upon Michael for aid at times of despair – when the church leaders have been beset by problems thought of as emanating from the evil influences of Satan – and it is interesting to find that Michael transcends all three Judeo religions – Jewish, Christian and Islam – and that he is observed as a leader of those forces from heaven designed to protect the true believer.

 I think it good and appropriate, at this particular service where we unite those of the Roman Catholic faith with those of the Anglican Catholic faith – and I use the term catholic purposefully for the Anglicans – that we are indeed all part of one large Christian family whose roots are to be found in the Old Testament as well as the New – roots which we share with the Jewish and Islamic faiths.

It seems at this time that there is increased bigotry and hatred amongst completing faiths – bigotry and hatred even between different branches of the same faith – Orthodox and Reformed Jews, Sunnis and Shias and in our own Christian faith – Orthodox and Catholics, Catholics and Protestants, Evangelical and Traditional, Conformists and non-Conformists and so on.  Why should this be?  We all have one clear and unfailing faith based on the two great commandments left to us by Jesus – To love God with all our might and to love each other as we would have those others love us.

In my time I have passed through many phases in my faith.  I started off as a traditional Book of Common Prayer Anglican – familiar with Mattins, Holy Communion and Evening Prayer – all from the little black book.  Then I went to university and was introduced to “born again” Evangelical Christianity which I have to confess I found a little uncomfortable – I didn’t fall over, didn’t speak in tongues and didn’t have a born again birthday. In fact I felt that I was a bit of a fraud calling myself a Christian and did query whether I actually had a faith at all.  Everybody else seemed to have it all so sorted. In fact it did lead to me entering the wilderness years as far as faith was concerned.  Later, I picked it up again when I discovered the new easy to understand and more informal Common Worship which we are using tonight.  I felt able to return to the fold with comfortable liturgy – which ultimately led me to train for ministry.  But one thing which did keep me on the straight and narrow was the thought that Christ’s teaching were, above all practical and simple and perhaps we often make too much of the ritual and rubric and forget the fundamental principles taught to us by Christ himself.  Today I simply describe myself as a Christian when asked about my faith – encompassing and embracing all types.

In the course of this last month I have attended a Roman Catholic baptism, a Roman Catholic Eucharist, a free church Evangelical service with communion, an informal Anglican family service, an Anglican Eucharist and yesterday an all singing all dancing licensing service in the Cathedral with all the pomp and ceremony that entailed.  I have loved each and every one of them because in each I have had an opportunity to praise and worship the one true living God.

In my time I have also attended a Mosque and a couple of synagogues.  I have enjoyed and respected the devotions of the members of those congregations.

I am not a pluralist but I do believe that we all worship the same God.  We may disagree about the divinity of Jesus, we may disagree about transubstantiation and we may certainly argue about the Trinity but, at the end of the day, each of the religions has a common grounding and we should tolerate the views of others even when we fervently disagree.

I started by saying that tomorrow is Michael’s day.  In our two readings Ezekiel, in the first, talks about the joining together of the northern and southern parts of Israel and in the second reading John reminds us about what is important for our faith.  I echo both of these thought by saying that as united Christians we can better fight off, like Michael, those attacks which plague us by the forces of evil which have none of our faith. Those who worship gods quite different to the true and living God, Yahweh or Allah.  It is good that we as Catholics and Anglicans can worship here together tonight.  Whaddon and Alderbury have much to be proud in having these services which I know go further - into house groups and other community activities.

Let the spirit of St. Michael and All the Angels persevere to fight off those influences which would seek to destroy our ecumenical Christian faith.

Amen

 MFB/45