The Undiscovered Country

RCL Palm Sunday

17 April 2011

Saint Faith’s Anglican Church

Vancouver BC        

         Today begins a week of reflection and liturgical celebrations that will be filled with the reading of the Scriptures and rituals that will bring us face to face with the central experiences of our faith.  I have decided that this week of intensity is best served by brief reflections rather than lengthy sermons.  I hope and pray that this decision aids you in your journey through Holy Week.

         Just about this time last year I came to the realization that the time had come to leave Vancouver School of Theology in order to explore other ways of being a pastor, priest and teacher.  After more than twenty years as a member of the faculty it was not an easy decision to make, but I knew that it was the right decision for the right reasons and at the right time.

         But I cannot claim that this decision has been without moments of uncertainty.  This is not the easiest time to look for work if you happen to be a white man in his late fifties who has spent more than twenty years in a rather specialized professional position.  I have learned that making the right decision is not without its costs and has unforeseeable consequences.

         Yet, if we are honest, then we all know that any decision that is worth making has unforeseen consequences.  We can do our research, ponder all the options and even develop a Plan B, but there are always circumstances beyond our control.  Which one of us, for example, when we made our decision to follow a particular career, knew where it would lead us?  Which one of us, when we decided to marry, knew how our married life would shape our future?  Which one of us, when we made the decision to have children, knew how they would change our lives?

         Today we begin a week that is filled with unforeseen consequences.  When Jesus of Nazareth entered the city of Jerusalem, he only knew that his presence would likely bring about a confrontation between himself, his followers, the Jewish authorities and the Roman government.  What he did not know is how that confrontation would end.  All he knew was that God, the One whom Jesus called ‘Abba’, had sent him on a mission “to bring good news to the poor . . . to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour” (Luke 4.18-19).  What he could not know is how those who were not poor and those who were the oppressors would receive the good news.

         What Jesus did know is that the call of God is a persistent voice that cannot be silenced.  It calls to us and beckons us to go on journeys whose destinations we cannot always know or predict.  While we are on these journeys, we have a sense of rightness, a sense of being truly ourselves, but there are often moments of doubt, even fear, as we travel on.  We choose to heed the voice that calls us and we follow, sometimes confidently, sometimes hesitantly, the pilgrim path of faith.

         In the weeks and months ahead we shall walk our own pilgrim path of faith as a parish.  We may be called to make decisions using all the wisdom God may give to us but without knowing with certainty all the consequences of our decisions.  What is certain is that the quiet voice of God is speaking to us and calling us to the undiscovered country of the future.  Although we cannot predict all the outcomes, we can be sure that the God who is calling us promises life, fullness of life, to all who would undertake the pilgrimage of faith.

         When we leave our worship today with palm branches in hand and with song in our hearts, we join those who welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem without fully understanding the implications of their welcome nor knowing how the week would end.  We have the benefit of knowing how that week did end, not in death but in life.  This is the faith in which we walk, trusting in the voice of the One who calls us.  Amen.

A Liturgical Ordo for Palm Sunday

I have long thought that the fusion of Palm Sunday with Passion Sunday has been the least felicitous dimension of recent lectionary and liturgical reform.  For this Palm Sunday I have re-shaped the liturgy so that it is a Palm Sunday liturgy with the blessing of the palms and the procession forming the final liturgical action.  Bearing the palms we shall enter Holy Week and hear the Passion on Good Friday.  Any comments are welcome.

Gathering of the Community

Opening Hymn

“Into Jerusalem Jesus Rode”  Common Praise #183

Introductory Responses

Christ became obedient unto death for us,

Even death upon a cross.

He was pierced for our sins,

bruised for no fault but ours.

His punishment has won our peace,

and by his wounds we are healed.

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain

to receive power and riches and wisdom,

strength, honour, glory and praise.  Amen.

Hymn of Confession

“We Lay Our Broken World”  Common Praise #613, sung to Southwell #511

Absolution

May God who loved the world so much that he sent the Son to be our Saviour forgive you your sins and make you holy to serve as Christ served.  Amen.

(Common Worship revised)

Collect of the Day

God of our salvation,

we give you thanks for Jesus Christ, our Lord,

who came in your name

and turned the lonely way of rejection and death

into triumph.

Grant us the steadfast faith

to enter the gates of righteousness,

that we may receive grace to become worthy citizens

of your holy realm,

through the same Jesus Christ who lives and reigns

with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

(Revised Common Lectionary Prayers with trinitarian ending added)

The Proclamation of the Word

First Reading

Isaiah 50.4-9a

Psalm 

Psalm 31.1-2a, 9-16  Songs for the Holy One

Second Reading

Philippians 2.5-11

Gradual Hymn

“My Song Is Love Unknown”  Common Praise #184 vv. 1, 2, 3, 6

Gospel

Matthew 21.1-11

Homily

An Affirmation of Faith

Let us declare our faith in God.

We believe in God the Father,

the Source of all life and love,

from whom every family

in heaven and on earth is named.

We believe in God the Son,

the incarnate Word of redemption,

who lives in our hearts through faith,

and fills us with his love.

We believe in God the Holy Spirit,

the Breath of life eternal,

who strengthens us

with power from on high.

We believe in one God:

Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 (Common Worship revised)

The Prayers of the Community

The Prayers of the People

The Exchange of the Peace

The Holy Communion

Offertory Hymn

“People Draw Near to God in Their Distress”  Common Praise #201

The Prayer over the Gifts

Life-giver, Pain-bearer, Love-maker,

day by day you sustain the weary with your word

and gently encourage us to place our trust in you.

Awaken us to the suffering of those around us;

save us from hiding in denials or taunts that deepen the hurt;

give us the grace to share one another’s burdens in humble service.

We ask this in Christ’s name.  Amen.

(Revised Common Lectionary Prayers emended with closing phrase)

The Great Thanksgiving

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Eternal God, Source of all being, we give you thanks and praise for your faithful love.  You call us into friendship with you and one another to be your holy people, a sign of your presence in the world.

When those we trust betray us, unfailingly you remain with us.  When we injure others, you confront us in your love and call us to the paths of righteousness.  You stand with the weak, and those, broken and alone, whom you have always welcomed home, making the first last, and the last first.  Therefore we raise our voices with angels and archangels, forever praising you and saying (singing):

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.  Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed in the One who comes in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed are you, O Holy One:  when Hagar was driven into the wilderness you followed her and gave her hope.  When Joseph was sold into bondage, you turned malice to your people’s good.  When you called Israel out of slavery, you brought them through the wilderness into the promised land.  When your people were taken into exile you wept with them by the river of Babylon and carried them home.

Restore us, O God, let your face shine!

At the right time you sent your Anointed One to stand with the poor, the outcast, and the oppressed.  Jesus touched lepers, and the sick, and healed them.

He accepted water from a woman of Samaria and offered her the water of new life.  Christ knew the desolation of the cross and opened the way for all humanity into the redemption of your reconciling love.

On the night he was betrayed, Jesus, at supper with his friends, took bread, gave you thanks, broke the bread, gave it to them, and said, “Take and eat:  this is my body which is given for you.  Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After supper he took the cup of wine, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and said, “Drink this, all of you:  this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.  Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.”

Loving and Holy One, recalling Christ’s death and resurrection, we offer you these gifts, longing for the bread of tomorrow and the wine of the age to come.  Therefore we proclaim our hope.

Dying you destroyed our death, rising you restored our life.  Lord Jesus, come in glory.

Pour out your Spirit on these gifts that through them you may sustain us in our hunger for your peace.  We hold before you all whose lives are marked by suffering, our sisters and brothers.  When we are broken and cast aside, embrace us in your love.

Restore us, O God, let your face shine!

Through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honour and glory are yours, O Source of all life, now and for ever.  Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

The Breaking of the Bread

We break this bread,

Communion in Christ’s body once broken.

Let your Church be the wheat

which bears its fruit in dying.

If we have died with him,

we shall live with him;

if we hold firm,

we shall reign with him.

The gifts of God for the People of God.

Thanks be to God.

The Communion

Hymn after Communion

“O Sacred Head, Surrounded”  Common Praise #198

The Sending Forth of the Community

Liturgical Introduction

Dear friends in Christ,

during Lent we have been preparing

for the celebration of our Lord’s paschal mystery.

On this day our Lord Jesus Christ

entered the holy city of Jerusalem in triumph.

The people welcomed him with palms and shouts of praise,

but the path before him led to self-giving, suffering and death.

Today we greet him as our Sovereign,

although we know his crown is thorns and his throne a cross.

We follow him this week from the glory of the palms

to the glory of the resurrection

by way of the dark road of suffering and death.

United with him in his suffering on the cross,

may we share his resurrection and new life.

Collect

Let us pray.

Assist us mercifully with your help,

Lord God of our salvation,

that we may enter with joy

into the celebration of those mighty acts

whereby you give us life and immortality;

through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

Blessing of the Palms

The Lord be with you.

And also with you.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

It is right to give our thanks and praise.

It is right to praise you, almighty God,

for the acts of love by which you have redeemed us

through your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Hebrews acclaimed Jesus as Messiah and Sovereign,

with palm branches in their hands, crying,

Hosanna in the highest.

May we also, carrying these emblems, go forth to meet Christ

and follow him in the way that leads to eternal life;

who lives and reigns in glory with you and the Holy Spirit,

now and for ever.  Amen.

Distribution of the Palms and Procession

Processional Hymn

‘All Glory, Laud and Honour’  Common Praise #181

Dismissal

Blessed is the One who comes in the name of the Lord.

Hosanna in the highest.

Let us go forth in peace.

In the name of Christ.  Amen.

Some Liturgical Elements for Lent V

 [Here are some belated liturgical suggestions for Lent V.  I shall post my liturgical re-arrangement for Palm Sunday today.]

Introductory Responses

Christ became obedient unto death for us,

     Even death upon a cross.

He was pierced for our sins,

     bruised for no fault but ours.

His punishment has won our peace,

     and by his wounds we are healed.

Worthy is the Lamb that was slain

to receive power and riches and wisdom,

     strength, honour, glory and praise.  Amen.

Hymn of Confession

“We Lay Our Broken World”  (Common Praise #613, sung to Southwell #511)

Absolution

May God who loved the world so much that he sent the Son to be our Saviour forgive you your sins and make you holy to serve as Christ served.  Amen.

(Common Worship revised)

Collect of the Day

God of all consolation and compassion, your Son comforted the grieving sisters, Martha and Mary; your breath alone brings life to dry bones and weary souls.  Pour out your Spirit upon us, that we may face despair and death with the hope of resurrection and faith in the One who called Lazarus forth from the grave, Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.
(Revised Common Lectionary Prayers with trinitarian ending added)

An Affirmation of Faith

Let us declare our faith in God.

We believe in God the Father,

the Source of all life and love,

from whom every family

in heaven and on earth is named.

We believe in God the Son,

the incarnate Word of redemption,

who lives in our hearts through faith,

and fills us with his love.

We believe in God the Holy Spirit,

the Breath of life eternal,

who strengthens us

with power from on high.

We believe in one God:

Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

 (Common Worship revised)

Prayer over the Gifts

God who gives life to dry bones, receive what we offer you this day and empower us to relieve those who suffer, to respond to those in need and to aid those who seek reconciliation.  We ask this in Christ’s name.  Amen.

(Revised Common Lectionary Prayers revised)

General Synod Eucharistic Prayer S-2

The Lord be with you.

     And also with you.

Lift up your hearts.

    We lift them to the Lord.

Let us give thanks to the Lord our God.

     It is right to give our thanks and praise.

Eternal God, Source of all being, we give you thanks and praise for your faithful love.  You call us into friendship with you and one another to be your holy people, a sign of your presence in the world.

When those we trust betray us, unfailingly you remain with us.  When we injure others, you confront us in your love and call us to the paths of righteousness.  You stand with the weak, and those, broken and alone, whom you have always welcomed home, making the first last, and the last first.  Therefore we raise our voices with angels and archangels, forever praising you and saying (singing):

Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory.  Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed in the One who comes in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the highest.

Blessed are you, O Holy One:  when Hagar was driven into the wilderness you followed her and gave her hope.  When Joseph was sold into bondage, you turned malice to your people’s good.  When you called Israel out of slavery, you brought them through the wilderness into the promised land.  When your people were taken into exile you wept with them by the river of Babylon and carried them home.

Restore us, O God, let your face shine!

At the right time you sent your Anointed One to stand with the poor, the outcast, and the oppressed.  Jesus touched lepers, and the sick, and healed them.

He accepted water from a woman of Samaria and offered her the water of new life.  Christ knew the desolation of the cross and opened the way for all humanity into the redemption of your reconciling love.

On the night he was betrayed, Jesus, at supper with his friends, took bread, gave you thanks, broke the bread, gave it to them, and said, “Take and eat:  this is my body which is given for you.  Do this for the remembrance of me.”

After supper he took the cup of wine, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, and said, “Drink this, all of you:  this is my blood of the new covenant which is shed for you and for many for the forgiveness of sins.  Whenever you drink it, do this for the remembrance of me.”

Loving and Holy One, recalling Christ’s death and resurrection, we offer you these gifts, longing for the bread of tomorrow and the wine of the age to come.  Therefore we proclaim our hope.

Dying you destroyed our death, rising you restored our life.  Lord Jesus, come in glory.

Pour out your Spirit on these gifts that through them you may sustain us in our hunger for your peace.  We hold before you all whose lives are marked by suffering, our sisters and brothers.  When we are broken and cast aside, embrace us in your love.

Restore us, O God, let your face shine!

Through Christ, with Christ, and in Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, all honour and glory are yours, O Source of all life, now and for ever.  Amen.

The Breaking of the Bread

We break this bread,

     Communion in Christ’s body once broken.

Let your Church be the wheat

which bears its fruit in dying.

     If we have died with him,

     we shall live with him;

     if we hold firm,

     we shall reign with him.

The gifts of God for the People of God.

     Thanks be to God.

Prayer after Communion

God of compassion, you know our faults and yet you promise to forgive.  Keep us in your presence and give us your wisdom.  Open our hearts to gladness, call dry bones to dance, and restore to us the joy of your salvation.  Amen.

Glory to God, whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine.  Glory to God, from generation to generation, in the church and in Christ Jesus, forever and ever.  Amen.

Dismissal

Go forth in the name of the God who brings life out of death.

     Thanks be to God.

We're Not Dead Yet

[A sermon for Saint Faith's Anglican Church for RCL Lent 5A with a focus on Ezekiel 37.1-14 and John 11.1-45]

         + In the Name of God:  Source of life, Word of redemption and Spirit of wisdom.  Amen.

         Two thousand six hundred and eight years ago the people of Judah suffered the first of two political catastrophes.  The Babylonian empire had conquered those political states who had befriended and protected Judah from the larger and more powerful political states who surrounded it.  With this protection gone Judah could not resist the Babylonians and, in 597 bce, the Babylonians defeated the Judeans, killing the king and taking the king’s son and the ruling class into exile.

         Among the exiles was a member of the priestly family by the name of Ezekiel.  In his eyes the subjugation of Judah was the consequence of the people failing to live up to their obligations to God as these obligations were enshrined in the Torah, especially in those obligations found in Leviticus.  The old structures and systems were destroyed by the Babylonians, acting as God’s agents, in order that a renewed people could eventually be restored to the land and God could dwell among them honorably in a renewed temple.

         In 586 bce the second catastrophe occurred.  Those Judeans remaining in Judah rebelled against the Babylonians and, after their revolt failed, the city of Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed.  The remaining Judeans were either killed, taken into exile or so reduced that they ceased to be recognizable as a people.  This catastrophe marked a turning point for Ezekiel.  His earlier words had been ones filled with judgement and condemnation.  Now he became a prophet who spoke words of consolation that included the promise of a restoration of the people to the land and the building of a new temple to honour their covenant with God.

         It is in this context that we hear the well-known vision of the ‘valley of the dry bones’.  It may be that Ezekiel has this vision on a battlefield, as his eyes take in the bodies of the slain and the destruction that accompanied the battle.  It may also be that Ezekiel has this vision in Babylon, surrounded by his Judean sisters and brothers who are devastated by the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple.  It may their voices who speak the words of desolation:  “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.”  (Ezekiel 37.11b)

         In the centuries since Ezekiel’s vision both Jews and Christians have understood this vision to point to the resurrection of the dead on the day of judgement; it is a future event, a faith event, rather than a vision that will be fulfilled in the actual historical lives of those who hear the prophet’s words.  But it is more likely that Ezekiel’s words are directed to the exiles and are words of promise in the face of destruction.  Even though they have reached the very depths of national existence, God’s last word to them is not ‘death’ but ‘life’.  Ezekiel shares with them one of the foundations of Jewish and Christian belief:  God is at work in the kosmos to bring about the renewal of creation --- even when the evidence around us may argue for God’s absence or inactivity.  We cannot know the mind of God, but we might gain glimpses of God’s purposes in order to hold onto the hope that sustains us.

         Let us move forward some six hundred years.  In Roman-occupied Palestine a Jewish teacher travels the country proclaiming not that the kingdom of God is coming, but that the kingdom of God is already present in the world.  To both the Jewish and the Roman authorities this message, even when spoken of as a ‘spiritual’ kingdom, is a direct threat to their power.  They know full well that what begins as ‘spiritual’ can quickly become ‘material’.  But this teacher’s popularity and his ability to avoid the crossing the line into blasphemy and sedition prevents the authorities from taking action.

         Then he plays right into their hands.  His friend, Lazarus, is taken ill and, after a few days’ delay, Jesus travels to Bethany.  At first it seems that he will only do what is expected and console Mary and Martha at the loss of their brother, but then the unexpected happens.  Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, an act that crosses the line.  In the portion of John’s gospel that follow today’s reading but are not read, we hear these words from the Jewish authorities:  “What are we to do?  This man  is performing many signs.  If we let him go on like this, everyone will believe in him, and the Romans will come and destroy both our holy place and our nation.”  (John 11.47b-48)  Before we condemn them too quickly and too harshly, let us not forget that their fears are real.  Their people have experienced this before at the hands of the Babylonians and at the hands of the successors of Alexander the Great.

         In John’s gospel the raising of Lazarus is set in a dramatic framework.  In chapter 10, just before our reading, Jesus describes himself as the good shepherd who will lay down his life for the flock.  After the raising of Lazarus Jesus will travel to Jerusalem and make his triumphal entry, an event certain to generate anxiety on the part of the Jewish authorities and unwelcome curiosity on the part of the Romans.  What may appear to some to be a miracle, a sign of God’s work in the world right now, is seen by others as a direct threat to the status quo.

         Let us jump forward more than nineteen centuries to the year 2011.  In 2011 so-called ‘mainline’ Christians in Canada and the United States found themselves in a valley of dry bones.  The boom years of the 1950’s had been left far behind and many congregations found themselves in large buildings with small congregations.  As if there were not a serious enough problem, these same congregations, especially those on the Pacific coast of North America, were amidst a society in which organized religion was being undervalued by various groups:  

• a resurgent atheism saw religion as a threat to civil society and progress; 
• many people, young and old, saw religion as irrelevant to their lives and unconnected with daily life;
• being ‘spiritual’, a manner of life with multiple meanings, was good but being ‘religious’ bad and
• Canadian ‘mainline’ churches faced the damage they had done to aboriginal peoples and cultures.

More conservative Christians were gaining the stage with the appearance of growth, mainly fueled by immigration from other parts of the world, and Islam, once a ‘foreign’ religion, now claimed the allegiance of a growing number of people.

         In some places people began to say, “Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.”  Yet, in a few places, there were Christians who realized that they had something to offer the society and that the present crisis also was an opportunity.  Rather than moan or lament, they called upon their God to send the Spirit upon them to breathe life into the dry bones and to remove the grave clothes that some had begun to wind around themselves.

         These Christians realized that the Christian way of life is a movement more than it is an institution.  While buildings and traditions and constitutions and canons can be helpful, they cannot be confused with the movement itself.  The movement is characterized by a community of people who have chosen to follow Jesus of Nazareth as the way, the truth and the life and to share that way, that truth and that life with others with open hands, open hearts and open minds.  Those who follow this way, this truth and this life 

• gather around the Scriptures, the font and the table to witness to the God who breathes life into dry bones and raises friends from the dead; 
• are unafraid to confront evil, both without and within, and to acknowledge their own participation in a search for reconciliation; 
• openly share the good news of God in Jesus, not to condemn others but to offer them a new perspective on how to be fully alive; 
• celebrate the truth that giving freely to others does not diminish us but enhances us and 
• name injustice and anything that denies the full humanity of others courageously and works to remedy those injustices.

         Those who could follow this way joined the prophet Ezekiel in seeing dry bones clothed with flesh and raised to new life.  Those who dedicated themselves to this truth joined Mary, Martha and the other witnesses in seeing a beloved brother and friend restored to life in order to show the power of God.  Those who celebrated this life joined the people of Saint Faith’s and many other small congregations in seeing that what had been cast down was being raised up, that what had grown old was being made new and that all things were being brought to their perfection by the power of the Spirit.

         There is no doubt that the future has its challenges.  Ezekiel and the exiles will endure many years away from the land of Israel and the return will not be a smooth one.  Martha, Mary and Lazarus will face the death of their friend, Jesus, and the dangers of the movement that springs up after his resurrection.  Saint Faith’s and the congregations like it will have to make difficult choices, not for institutional survival, but for the continuation of the ministry entrusted to them in the many places they serve.

         But one thing is certain.  God’s last word to Ezekiel, to Martha, Mary and Lazarus and to the Christians who struggle to share the good news in this time and this place is not ‘death’ but ‘life’.  This life may take shape in new locations with new forms, but 

• it will still gather around Word, font and table: 
• it will still confront evil and call for reconciliation; 
• it will still proclaim the good news that in Jesus of Nazareth we meet the Holy One of Israel, the source of all life and love; 
• it will still serve those who are in any need or trouble and 
• it will still value the dignity of every human being, even if that dignity is denied by others.

And others will come to know that there is a way, a truth and a life that gives faith, hope and love.  For that let those gathered here say ‘Amen.’

Let Today be Tomorrow

[The Primate and the National Bishop honoured me by inviting me to preach at the opening eucharist of the first joint meeting of the Council of General Synod (Anglican) and the National Church Council (Lutheran) on 31 March 2011.  The eucharist commemorated the Anglican theologian, Frederick Denison Maurice, a champion of Christian socialism and church unity.]

         + May the Holy One of Israel who sent the Word into the world to testify to the truth lead us into all truth by the power of the Spirit.  Amen.

         In 1853 a middle-aged Anglican theologian teaching at King’s College London published a series of essays which attracted significant attention from the religious establishment.  King’s College was already the subject of considerable scrutiny as an Anglican balance to the so-called ‘secular’ University College London.  University College had been established to provide university-level education for non-Anglicans in contrast to the Anglican universities of Cambridge and Oxford.  Together King’s College and University College were united in the 1830’s to create the University of London.  But the merger did not lessen the scrutiny directed at this early ecumenical venture. 

         This middle-aged theologian, Frederick Denison Maurice, challenged a number of the commonly-held positions of some leaders of the Church of England, but he was especially critical of several views held by the so-called ‘evangelical’ party.  In the final essay he addressed the question of ‘everlasting punishment’, a principle that the evangelical party saw as crucial to maintaining society’s stability.  Without this teaching, it was thought that the lower classes would cease to behave in a manner that preserved the social order of early Victorian Britain.

         He criticized the idea of ‘everlasting punishment’ on two grounds.  The first was a word study on the difference between ‘everlasting’ and ‘eternal’.  He pointed out that the New Testament tends to use ‘eternal’, a term which means ‘outside of time’, rather than ‘everlasting’, a term which means ‘continuous time without an end’.  This was an important distinction because it provided the rich soil for his second critique.

         ‘Everlasting punishment’ left no room, Maurice argued, for God’s love, a quality essential to God’s very nature.  It was God’s intent that we become who we truly are, God’s beloved, made in the image and likeness of God.  While we could resist God’s love, perhaps even into whatever awaits us after our death, God’s last word to each of us is not ‘everlasting death’ but ‘eternal life’, a ‘yes’ that shatters any ‘no’ human fears and desires for control can utter.  Towards the end of his essay Maurice wrote these words, ones that continue to remain with me every time I begin to doubt what the future holds for me, for my Christian community and for our world:

         I ask no one to pronounce, for I dare not pronounce myself, what are the possibilities of resistance in a human will to the loving will of God.  There are times when they seem to me --- thinking of myself more than of others --- almost infinite.  But I know that there is something which must be infinite.  I am obliged to believe in an abyss of love which is deeper than the abyss of death:  I dare not lose faith in that love.  I sink into death, eternal death, if I do.  I must feel that this love is compassing the universe.  More about it I cannot know.  But God knows.  I leave myself and all to Him.  (From 'Eternal Life and Eternal Death' in Theological Essays, 2nd ed. published in 1853)

         Maurice’s words led to his dismissal from the faculty of King’s College.  While the remaining nineteen years of his life would bring some rehabilitation, Maurice remained a voice that the establishment tried to mute in many and various ways.  For Maurice, the words of the prophet ring true:  “He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity, and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.”  (Isaiah 53.3)  But seventy-five years after Maurice’s death, the American theologian H. Richard Niebuhr, in his classic work, Christ and Culture, would describe Maurice as a living exemplar of a theologian committed to ‘Christ as the transformer of culture’.  And Michael Ramsey, the one hundredth Archbishop of Canterbury and champion of church union, would write of the influence of Maurice on his own theology.

         Maurice’s confidence in the ‘abyss of love’ was grounded in the ‘foolishness of God’ that Paul speaks of in our reading from 1 Corinthians.  In the death of Jesus of Nazareth we see the abyss of God’s love, an abyss which is far deeper than the human sin which led to his death.  While there are many ways theologians have attempted to explain why Jesus’ death bridges the gap between God’s love and human sin, one thing remains clear:  God’s ‘yes’ to humanity, a ‘yes’ embodied in the life and witness of Jesus of Nazareth, remains stronger and more faithful than any of the ‘no’s’ human beings can express, whether that ‘no’ is found in the worship of power, in the poverty of human greed or in the denial that there is any more to life than the sometimes flat surface many of our sisters and brothers call ‘reality’.  Just as surely as plants will seek the sun, even human perversity will eventually seek the warmth of God’s love and follow the path that this love tracks in the universe.

         When Archbishop Morgan contacted me about tonight’s eucharist, he asked me whether I wanted to used the readings and prayers for John Donne, the seventeenth-century Anglican theologian, whose commemoration, for Anglicans and Lutherans, falls on the 31^st of March.  Now I have a deep and abiding respect for John Donne, but I realized that the church’s oldest custom is to begin a liturgical day at sunset the day before, a practice we inherited from our Jewish ancestors in the faith.  That meant we could let today be tomorrow and I could honour Maurice, one of my theological heroes, who died on the 1^st of April in 1872.

         But there is something more here, my sisters and brothers, something more than a liturgist’s detail-mongering.

         What both Paul and Maurice realized is that today is tomorrow.  For Paul the story of humanity’s creation and fall is recapitulated in Jesus of Nazareth with a stunning reversal of human sin, “(so) if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation:  everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!”  (2 Corinthians 5.17)  Later in the same letter, Paul writes, “See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation!”  (2 Corinthians 6.2b)  For Maurice the gospel of John with its proclamation that, in Jesus of Nazareth, the Word has been made flesh and dwells among us is a clarion call to recognize that the kingdom of Christ is as well as shall be.  Just as the Samaritan woman heard Jesus say, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you,” surely Maurice would affirm that the same voice, the same eternal presence, speaks to you and to me today.

         While it is difficult for some people to believe in God’s final renewal of the kosmos and our own resurrection, it is even more difficult for many believers to live in ‘eternal’ life, a recognition that the reign of God is a present reality as much as it is a future hope.  It seems so very foolish, in the face of natural disasters in many parts of the world, in the face of civil unrest and violence in other places and in the face of thinly-veiled apocalyptic rhetoric of a federal election campaign, to believe, as the old hymn puts it:

My life flows on in endless song

above earth’s lamentation.

I hear the real though far-off hymn

that hails a new creation.

No storm can shake my inmost calm,

while to that Rock I’m clinging.

Since Love is lord of heaven and earth,

how can I keep from singing?

What though the tempest ‘round me roar,

I hear the truth it liveth.

What though the darkness ‘round me close,

songs in the night it giveth.

No storm can shake my inmost calm,

while to that Rock I’m clinging.

Since Love is lord of heaven and earth,

how can I keep from singing?

(Common Praise #401 vv. 1, 3)

         My sisters and brothers, we are gathered at what may be seen, in some not so distant future, as a historic meeting of the leadership of our two churches.  Although our formal agreement of full communion is but a decade old, our work in Canada reaches back more than three decades and our relationship as two reform movements in the Catholic Church more than four hundred and fifty years.  My own involvement in Anglican-Lutheran relations began in 1978 in seminary and over the intervening thirty-three years I have seen us dutifully crossing the ‘t’s’ and dotting the ‘i’s’ and even the ‘j’s’ in order to achieve some semblance of visible unity.  But I feel the time has come for some serious foolishness on our part if we are to proclaim Christ crucified and risen to our country and, perhaps, to our world.

         I have no doubt that there are many challenges to our moving forward into an unknowable future.  We share so many beliefs and practices in common, but the ethos of our polities, the structures of our national offices and the natural theological diversity that colour both our churches can hinder us from taking bold steps.  When a common office in Ottawa was first mooted at a meeting of the Joint Commission in the autumn of 2007, my colleagues on the Joint Commission will tell you that I looked at the obstacles rather than the promise.  But I have come to believe that our full communion agreement, already embodied in the bricks and mortar of congregations across this country, needs to have a more visible national symbol of our earnest commitment to the full, visible unity of God’s people. 

         What I am hoping for, what I believe others in our two churches are hoping for, is some dramatic steps forward, even at the risk of looking foolish during a time of fiscal uncertainty and a natural but perhaps unwise temptation to withdraw inward in the interests of institutional survival.  The irony is that retrenchment can lead to stagnation and stagnation leads eventually to death.  Paul’s missionary journeys to the cities of the Mediterranean world were not about institutional survival but about sharing the good news of God in Jesus of Nazareth --- even when that message was ‘a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles’ (1 Corinthians 1.23b)  Maurice’s essays were not about institutional survival but about sharing the good news of God in Jesus of Nazareth to an industrial working class that had been marginalized by those with power and influence and who needed a message of hope rather than the reading of a theological ‘riot act’.

         In the late months of 1862 Abraham Lincoln decided upon a course of action that many considered not only foolishness but political suicide.  The federal forces had been repeatedly defeated by smaller confederate armies.  His cabinet and the Congress were divided as to the reason the states were at war with one another.  In this moment Lincoln decided to issue a proclamation emancipating all the slaves held in any area under the control of federal forces effective in March 1863.  His cabinet thought him mad; his family feared for his life.  In December of 1862 Lincoln sent his annual message to the Congress and included these words.   

The dogmas of the quiet past, are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion.

As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.  Fellow-citizens, we cannot escape history. We of this Congress and this administration, will be remembered in spite of ourselves. No personal significance, or insignificance, can spare one or another of us. The fiery trial through which we pass, will light us down, in honor or dishonor, to the latest generation.

These are dramatic words; some might even think them melodramatic to use at a joint business meeting of our two church councils.  But I am convinced that you, members of the executive councils of our two churches, are gathered to let today be tomorrow.  You are here to do more than hear reports and engage in friendly conversation, whether around the business table, the dining table or the social table.  You are here to do more than tick off one more commitment of the Waterloo Declaration and declare ourselves satisfied so that we can back to business as usual. 

         You are here to disenthrall our two churches from any idea of institutional survival and to think anew as surely as our case as churches in full communion is new.  You are here to rise to the occasion of showing the world how truly foolish Christians can be when they are confident that the abyss of God’s love is infinitely deeper than the abyss of human fear.      

         What shape our communion will take is beyond the scope of one sermon.  What direction you should take in achieving a more visible expression of full communion is beyond my authority to describe.  But I can tell you that the kingdom of Christ is among us tonight, that the Spirit of God moves among us tonight, so that we can look beyond budgets and bylaws, canons and constitutions to discover how today can be tomorrow. 

         If you believe, as I believe, that the Waterloo Communion is more than a convenient way to deal with economic challenges, that the Waterloo Communion is more than a guidebook to ecclesiastical etiquette, that the Waterloo Communion is actually an expression of what the kingdom of Christ can look like in the here and now of twenty-first century Canada, then I am confident that any foolishness that may occur over the next few days and months and years will turn out to be the wisdom of God.

Let us pray.

O God of unchangeable power and eternal light, look favourably on your whole Church, that wonderful and sacred mystery.  By the effectual working of your providence, carry out in tranquillity the plan of salvation.  Let the whole world see and know that things which were cast down are being raise up, and things which had grown old are being made new, and that all things are being brought to their perfection by him through whom all things were made, your Son Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

Some Liturgical Suggestions for Lent III & IV

Here are some liturgical suggestions for Lent III and Lent IV with thanks to the Rev'd James Olson for pointing out that red rubrics are not always helpful!

The Gathering of the Community

Opening Responses

We cast our burdens upon you, O Lord.

And you will sustain us.

Create in us clean hearts, O God.

And renew a right spirit within us.

Cast us not away from your presence

and take not your Holy Spirit from us.

Give us the joy of your saving help again

and sustain us with your bountiful Spirit.

Blessed are you, O Lord, day by day,

the God of our salvation who bears our burdens.

Hymn of Penitence      

‘Before I Take the Body of My Lord’ (Common Praise #610)

Absolution

May the God of compassion, who in Jesus Christ has made us a royal priesthood, forgive you your sins, open your eyes to God’s truth, strengthen you to do God’s will and give you the joy of eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

[adapted from Common Worship of the Church of England]

Collect of the Day

Lent III

Enduring Presence, goal and guide, you go before and await our coming.  Only our thirst compels us beyond complaint to conversation, beyond rejection to relationship.  Pour your love into our hearts, that, refreshed and renewed, we may invite others to the living water given to us in Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

[Revised Common Lectionary Prayers]

Lent IV

Discerner of hearts, you look beneath our outward appearance and see your image in each of us.  Banish in us the blindness that prevents us from recognizing truth, so we may see the world through your eyes and with the compassion of Jesus Christ who redeems us.  Amen.

[Revised Common Lectionary Prayers]

The Proclamation of the Word

The usual order of service up to the Creed.  Instead of the Creed the following ‘Affirmation of Faith’ will be said.

An Affirmation of Faith

Do you believe and trust in God the Father, source of all being and life, the one for whom we exist?  We believe and trust in God, the Source of all being and life.

Do you believe and trust in God the Son, who took our human nature, died for us and rose again?  We believe and trust in God, the Word of life incarnate.

Do you believe and trust in God the Holy Spirit, who gives life to the people of God and makes Christ known in the world?  We believe and trust in God, the Spirit of wisdom and truth.

This is the faith of the Church.  This is our faith.  We believe and trust in one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

[adapted from Common Worship of the Church of England]

The Holy Communion

The Prayer over the Gifts

Lent III

Faithful God of love whose Son showed us how to serve your people with justice and mercy, we offer you these gifts in faith and love, seeking your strength to meet the needs of ourselves and others.  We ask this in Christ’s name.  Amen.

[Adapted from Revised Common Lectionary Prayers]

Lent IV

Merciful God, we are reconciled to you through the mercy of Christ.  We offer you these gifts confident that you will empower us to be your ministers of reconciliation in the church and in the world.  We ask this in Christ’s name.  Amen.

[Adapted from Revised Common Lectionary Prayers]

The Sending Forth of the Community

The Prayer after Communion

Lent III

Holy One, shape and transfigure us by your grace, that we may grow in wisdom and confidence, never faltering until we have done all that you desire to bring your realm of shalom to fulfillment.  We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

[Adapted from Revised Common Lectionary Prayers]

Lent IV

God of compassion, you embrace all people at the festive banquet of your table.  May we rejoice in your love and celebrate the inheritance you have given to us.  We ask this through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

[Adapted from Revised Common Lectionary Prayers]