Matthew 5 13-20
How to be a good parish priest? This is the question which lies at the heart of my ministry and no doubt the ministry of hundreds of faithful Christians who are called to this role.
It isn’t an easy life. I get a bit fed up at times with the jokes from lay people about only working on Sundays and having 6 days off. I am sure there are lazy priests, but I don’t think I know any personally. And then there is the reality of the frustration and guilt I feel about people. Wardens, altar servers, musicians, those who serve morning tea, the flower guild, the welcomers. There are so many people in a church community that there is always someone I am worried about, and someone I forget about. Someone I didn’t say hello to and someone who has said or done something I don’t agree with.
When I read St Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians I think he experienced all these things. He was so busily trying to bring people to Christ that his frustration and despair sometimes can be seen in his writings. Look at the passage we hear this morning. It is from his 1st letter to the Corinthians.
The church in Corinth was very important to St Paul. Tradition holds that he founded the church there and he had a major epiphany here. It was in Corinth that Paul decided to shift his teaching to be more focused to the gentiles. He was fed up of the constant refusal by the Jewish leaders to accept him in the synagogues.
And so he went on his missionary journeys. By the time he got to Ephesus word reached him that his church in Corinth was growing. But people were arguing and frustrated with each other. They were looking for solutions to theological issues which were complex and needed leadership. They was no doubt gossiping and in-fighting and Paul was fed up. In Ephesus, whilst building the church we hear of in Ephesians, Paul writes to the church in Corinth and says,
2 When I came to you, brothers and sisters,[a] I did not come proclaiming the mystery[b] of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. 2 For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. 3 And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. 4 My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom,[c] but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, 5 so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.
Just listen the frustration in this passage. Read it carefully and you can hear Paul saying something like this.
Listen folks, when I came to you, I worked really hard to try and make this about Jesus. Not about me, Paul, but about Jesus. I didn’t use big words or try to make out I am better than you. I looked for Jesus Christ in every one of you and I found him. I found him in your brokenness and your beauty.
And you know what, it isn’t easy doing this stuff. It scares me so much that I get the shakes and panic attacks. But before I speak, I always pray to God that he might use me as a vessel. I pray that his words might come through, not mine. And when that happens, and I believe it does, you are building your faith, your church on God’s will not mine.
Now compare this to our modern church. How often do we see and hear, at every level of the church, that people are disagreeing and arguing? Throughout the generations tensions between Christians have featured time and time again resulting in schism after schism.
This parish has seen its fair share of these kind of behaviours, and one has to ask the question, no matter how grave the situation is, is arguing, is defying, is fostering disagreement and disdain God’s will for us? Does God want us to be so single minded that we do so to the exclusion of the rest of the church?
St Paul decided to know nothing among us except Jesus Christ and him crucified. He came trembling in weakness and fear.
This week the news from England is not great. But it is not the strikes and poverty I am referring too. The Church of England has returned after 6 years of debate and discovery with a landmark ruling which will permit a legalised form of words to bless those who are in same-sex relationship. I was heavily involved in the process, and lead training in my own diocese which was attended by people from a wide range of backgrounds. The church was wrestling with complicated issues of gender identity and sexuality. At the heart of this was the idea that marriage can only be for a man and a woman for life.
We worked hard to explore the issues from every theological angle and do so in a respectful and honest way. For the first time, those who had the loudest voices were expected to listen to those who had the quietest, and all of us learnt to grow together.
I felt the process was productive and I was honoured to lead sessions. The eventual outcome was predicted by many: no change to ecclesiastical law, marriage between a man and a woman remains, but a change to the subtext of the church and its teaching. The Church of England will now formally bless those in a same sex relationship. Of course, as a priest I have always been able to bless whomsoever I choose, but the fact that the Church of England is now formally acknowledging that same sex relationships can be blessed and creating a liturgy for it is challenging for many.
Regardless of what you believe about this issue, the sad reality is that after 6 years of hard and committed work much of the rhetoric has degenerated into a bun fight, embarrassingly reported in the media and online.
So what would St Paul say to the Church of England this week? Something like this perhaps.
My Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ.
When we began this process six years ago I spoke about the need to love each other and find a way to respect our differences. I spoke carefully and used words that I had considered and prayed about. I chose them so as not to cause hurt or offence. I did not try to persuade you about anything other than my love for you in Christ Jesus.
So please stop hurting each other and understand that we are declaring God’s wisdom as it lives among his people. Love one another even when it is hard to do so and focus on that which God has revealed to us, the Body of Christ.
Here in Australia things are different. I choose to minister in a catholic parish in a liberal diocese. It is an uneasy truce that has developed over the years, but it seems to have held well recently.
We are about to undergo some change in our Diocesan Leadership. Archbishop Aspinall has gone, and the process to find a new Archbishop is beginning. It could mean choppy waters for us in the future. Or it could mean there are opportunities we have not had in a generation to build new bridges and tell a different story about All Saints’. I wonder what St Paul would say to us? I wonder what he we say to me? And to you?
