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A WINDOW ON THE EASTER HEART
This article incorporates the Vicar's homily on Easter Day. —————————————————————- HOMILY PART I A VERY HAPPY EASTER to you all on this thrilling day! Thrilling because this is the day that sums up not only the meaning for Christians (and did it but know it - the world,) of all the days of the year as well of all those days, years and millennia this side of eternity. The meaning of every single festival of the year; of each and every Sunday, of every saint's day and the meaning of the days of our own births, lives, deaths and resurrections is celebrated on this day. This is the day of every Christian's incorporation into Christ. "All of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into his death. We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that just as Christ Jesus was raised from the dead through the glory of God the Father, we too may live a new life." says S. Paul (Romans 6:3-4.) Just like all the Sundays in the year, our own individual baptismal dates were 'mini-Easters'. But as on Easter Day itself, into the day of our baptism was incorporated the necessary experience of a 'Good Friday'. We too had to make the decision (for many baptised as infants a decision activated later,) to believe in spite of human evil, selfishness, division, broken-ness, and hatred, that we were in fact created by a loving and beautiful God who made us fundamentally in His own loving and beautiful image. We too, like that God through His Son, would have to share in the pain and tears. Like Him take on board the same passion for truth and justice. Like Him be determined at whatever and all costs to seek out the Love implanted in all humankind and to live, die and be resurrected by that Love's Creator. To be 'incorporated' means to be within the 'corpus' (Body) of something bigger than just oneself. "You are the body of Christ" Paul told the Church in Corinth. (I Cor. 12:27) Well what anything bigger could there actually be to be a part of? We are included in nothing less than the love of God and that love flows through our bodies, minds and spirits through the Body of Christ. And don't we know it when we receive the sacraments of love, above all the Blessed Sacrament itself, literally the 'Body and Blood' of Christ! And don't we know it when we receive the word of love as we hear Our Lord speaking to us collectively and individually through the Holy Scriptures, the Bible! And don't we know it when we see it in action in the lives of our brother and sister Christians past, the Saints with a capital 'S', and present, those little 's' saints who make up the congregation and who like us were incorporated and are therefore equally included in the body of Christ. (The concluding part of the homily follows at the end of this month's 'window'.) ———————————————————- The terms 'inclusively', 'inclusiveness', 'inclusive' are much misunderstood, even misused in the Church of today and not only in the Anglican department of it. One of the problems is that, left to ourselves each and every one of us would draw up what he or she means by an 'inclusive church' and already the problem exists because semantically a positive implies a negative. Particularly so, if the term is used to delineate a group, i.e. "we are 'inclusive', they (some other group of Christians) are 'exclusive'.” Thus any particular group may say 'because you have a view about the sacraments, the creeds, the bible, different from mine, you are not really 'IN' because you don't include all the things that I think are necessary for belonging'. It's relatively easy to see how this worked in the past - we have so many different Christian denominations, each one thinking that it has in some way the only 'real' 'full' incarnation of the church and that those who differ 'don't really fit' into the Body of the Church of Christ! Well it is clear that something must delineate the difference between on the one hand belonging within the body of Christ and on the other belonging 'to the world'. Our Lord said as much to his disciples in his farewell discourse to them. (S John 17:14) All we can say is that it is a mighty difficult exercise for fallible and sinful human beings to determine exactly and in ecclesiastical terms where the line is exactly to be drawn. It ought not however be so difficult for the individual baptised, 'Easter heart'. An 'Easter heart', full of resurrection love will ever be attempting to build bridges between 'difference' and 'demarcation' and will never ever be absolutely sure of its own individual infallibility. Our Lord said of the members of the Body he wanted "By their fruits you shall know them" (Matt. 7:16) and S. Paul gives a list of the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22 'love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.' Surely what this means is that it is by attitude rather than stance that we either do or do not hear the authentic Christian voice. Of course this is impossible to measure accurately, especially when people feel passionately about issues or things that affect some vulnerable area of their lives and there is no doubt about the fact that vulnerable voices need to and must be heard in pursuit of universal love, truth and justice. Nevertheless the authentic voice of God in Christ is discernible wherever the fruit of the Holy Spirit takes root and we should be looking for both fruit and voice within ourselves and within others, among whom some may not even carry the label, 'Christian'. Mistaken notions of the meanings of 'inclusiveness' and 'exclusiveness' discernible in the old denominational divides have in recent times come to the fore in quite other ways. Ways that cross the boundaries of the old purely denominational divisions. Unlike the time 100 and more years ago when battles were fought over them, the sacraments are these days largely left to their own devices - though presently the Roman part of Our Lord's Body appears to be attempting to steer things back towards a more 'exclusive' direction on this front. Today however, it is the Bible that is under real attack and usually from those who have never even begun to try to understand this unique library of books collected across centuries of human history. A library of books outlining beautifully and profoundly the struggle humankind has had and has to understand something of the works of God. A very deep well of wisdom, of wonderful poetry, of historical truth and of mythological and metaphysical scope containing the very highest ideals to which humankind by the Will and Saving work and Grace of God can aspire. It is also under attack from fundamentalists who want to make it into something it has never claimed to be, a manual for world rule in the name of God, a sort of Christian 'Qu'ran'! And it is equally under attack from those who want to 'remould' it to fit the agendas of 21st Century secular culture. What the Word of God revealed through the Scriptures (The word made flesh) needs from all sides, is to be approached with reverence and with awe. The Bible is the Church's book and it about a Kingdom 'not of this world'. It comes to us through the Church and is handed to the Church's ordained ministers with very solemn words about their need to be faithful to what it proclaims as the record of God's mighty and saving acts. And if that were not enough they are entrusted with the custody of what it enshrines, namely the spoken words whether before or after His resurrection and ascension, of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Interpretation must never overtake or super-cede what is there and given to be interpreted for The Bible too in its own way is part of the 'Corpus Christi'. In an authentically 'inclusive' Body of Christ high and deep doctrines of both Sacraments and Bible are absolutely necessary, no less required is a high and deep doctrine of inclusion in terms of the membership of that Body. "If you remember that your brother has something against you - leave your gift at the altar". (Matt. 5:23) Our Lord's words that necessarily include of course our having anything against our brother, throw down the gauntlet - to be a member of His body means we either take up that gauntlet or exclude ourselves from His Body. This can be the most difficult challenge facing a member of the church, particularly if he or she finds him or herself worshipping in the same church with someone they simply 'cannot stand'. What a magnificent test that is though! For here is the 'bigness' of Christ and of Christ's love in practice. 'Little 's' saints' may be all that most of us can hope to aspire to be in this life but lots of little 's's' could add up to one big one! That in turn would then add to the Wholeness, Holiness and 'Bigness' of the larger body of Christ on earth. ———————————————————— HOMILY PART II 'Big oaks from little acorns grow'. It all starts with 'little' things. The life of the Easter Christian is shown in little acts of self-sacrifice, little acts of forgiveness and certainly in little acts of understanding of those who may be different from us in every other way but who are equally with us incorporated into the Body of Christ on earth. The three things then that when held together inclusively in the life of the Christian and of the Church give birth to the Easter heart all happen to begin with an 'S'. They are the Sacraments, the Scriptures and Sanctified love for all who make up the Body of Christ on earth. That body His church, is the body he left to continue His work on this planet. It is His Easter Gift to the world - and all of us at S. Alban's along with all who have died, been buried and resurrected with and in Him are part of that gift. No wonder we can say with S. Augustine of Hippo - We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song! ——————————————————————- May Easter's Blessings be yours in abundance, Your vicar and friend Fr. Howard Levett.
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Copyright © 2007
S. Alban the Martyr, Holborn
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