Tomorrow's Sermon
Jun. 29th, 2013 12:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chrishansenhomeAs St. John's Larcom Street keeps the Roman Catholic calendar, the texts tomorrow are those of the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul. While I find it difficult to preach on Peter even in an Anglo-Catholic context, Paul is much easier, in a way.
June 30, 2013 Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles
Sermon delivered at St. John the Evangelist, 10AM.
First Reading: Acts 12:1-11
Epistle II Timothy 4:6-8,17-18; Gospel: Matthew 16:13-19
“...I have run the race to the finish...”
In the name of God, the one, the Undivided Trinity. AMEN.
Racing, at least on foot, is something that I’m no longer qualified to do, except perhaps racing to the buffet after a meeting. I think that, nearly a year after they finished, referring to the London 2012 Olympics is a non-starter.
Running a race is a common metaphor referring to our daily lives. Being retired, my mantra is “You can’t make me; I don’t have to!” but those of you who are still working will be familiar with “running the rat race”. We sometimes hear the saying, “Good guys finish last.” to mean that in the race of life, people who are good (whatever “good” means) are incapable of getting the various good things that winners receive—such as public approval or affection, or perhaps money or other physical rewards.
There is some scholarly controversy (in the very courtly way that scholarly controversies occur) about the authorship of Second Timothy. Some say that it was written by someone who was familiar with Paul’s last days in prison in Rome. Others say that of the pastoral epistles to Timothy and Titus, Second Timothy is the authentic one. Still others state that none of these epistles was written by Paul. I say this only as comment: you may well have heard that Paul did not write the Pastoral Epistles and thus discount them. That would be a mistake.
Perhaps the one unanswered question in our lives is the path to the end of them. Religion almost invariably tries to answer that question in a way that gives comfort to us the living. I can’t think of one religion that flatly denies the possibility of an afterlife. If secular humanism is a religion, then I’m wrong about that.
Paul is talking about the achievements of life as being part of a race. Perhaps not a footrace, or a car race, but as a competition, at the end of which will be a prize.
And it’s interesting that Paul does not refer to this race as one against other people. He is not going to claim something away from other people. There are no first and second finishers in this race, and no one finishes last. The prize is available to everyone.
What exactly would a “crown of righteousness” be? I don’t believe that Paul thought of eternal life as continually casting his crown on the glassy sea, as the hymn says. That kind of life would be fairly boring, like the vision of souls in white robes carrying harps and lounging around on clouds.
Keeping the faith is what gains the crown of righteousness. Those of you over a certain age will remember the 60’s saying, “Keep the faith, baby!” But this has quite a chequered pedigree. The African-American Congressman from New York City, Adam Clayton Powell, urged crowds of his supporters to “keep the faith, baby!” while he was being investigated and ultimately convicted of, corruption. In that case, keeping the faith was perhaps not the best option.
Paul, like us, keeps faith in his heart as a belief in something that is utterly true and good: Jesus Christ the Saviour. This discounts his own faults, which even he admits are many. His faith is what brings him that crown, and it will bring us our own crowns also.
At this very moment a man who has been a beacon of faith in a secular sense lies on what may be his deathbed. Nelson Mandela is perhaps the one secular saint of our time. People the world over see him as an example of struggle against unrighteousness, patient forbearance with hardship, pain, and loss, and ultimate victory of a noble ideal over a rotten and ignoble way of life.
His struggle continues: he responds to touch, his family remains with him, his entire country and the world keep him in prayer—for the religious—and in thought—for the unreligous.
And yet, there is, I think, a sense that his race is nearly over. Paul realised that he was close to execution and that, for him, the race was over. Mr Mandela, at 94 years old, would admit that his race is near the finish line. We too will, someday, probably know that we are near the end of the race.
I’m going to ponder today what it must be like to finish this particular race. My question is: have we kept the faith and run the course? Have we been true to the ancient Apostolic Faith that has been transmitted from Jesus, through Peter and Paul, down to this day?
It’s easy for those who are close to the end of the race of life to ask these questions. However, it’s harder for those who are not on their deathbeds and who are in the prime of life to ask these questions: we prefer to put them off for the moment. My exhortation to you is: don't put off asking these questions simply because they are uncomfortable to answer. We don’t know either the day or the hour at which the answer will be required of us, so let’s be prepared.
Therefore may we keep the faith handed down through Peter and Paul, and to Jesus Christ in whom we have our faith, be ascribed all might, majesty, dominion, and praise both now and evermore. AMEN.
June 30, 2013 Sts. Peter and Paul, Apostles
Sermon delivered at St. John the Evangelist, 10AM.
First Reading: Acts 12:1-11
Epistle II Timothy 4:6-8,17-18; Gospel: Matthew 16:13-19
“...I have run the race to the finish...”
In the name of God, the one, the Undivided Trinity. AMEN.
Racing, at least on foot, is something that I’m no longer qualified to do, except perhaps racing to the buffet after a meeting. I think that, nearly a year after they finished, referring to the London 2012 Olympics is a non-starter.
Running a race is a common metaphor referring to our daily lives. Being retired, my mantra is “You can’t make me; I don’t have to!” but those of you who are still working will be familiar with “running the rat race”. We sometimes hear the saying, “Good guys finish last.” to mean that in the race of life, people who are good (whatever “good” means) are incapable of getting the various good things that winners receive—such as public approval or affection, or perhaps money or other physical rewards.
There is some scholarly controversy (in the very courtly way that scholarly controversies occur) about the authorship of Second Timothy. Some say that it was written by someone who was familiar with Paul’s last days in prison in Rome. Others say that of the pastoral epistles to Timothy and Titus, Second Timothy is the authentic one. Still others state that none of these epistles was written by Paul. I say this only as comment: you may well have heard that Paul did not write the Pastoral Epistles and thus discount them. That would be a mistake.
Perhaps the one unanswered question in our lives is the path to the end of them. Religion almost invariably tries to answer that question in a way that gives comfort to us the living. I can’t think of one religion that flatly denies the possibility of an afterlife. If secular humanism is a religion, then I’m wrong about that.
Paul is talking about the achievements of life as being part of a race. Perhaps not a footrace, or a car race, but as a competition, at the end of which will be a prize.
And it’s interesting that Paul does not refer to this race as one against other people. He is not going to claim something away from other people. There are no first and second finishers in this race, and no one finishes last. The prize is available to everyone.
What exactly would a “crown of righteousness” be? I don’t believe that Paul thought of eternal life as continually casting his crown on the glassy sea, as the hymn says. That kind of life would be fairly boring, like the vision of souls in white robes carrying harps and lounging around on clouds.
Keeping the faith is what gains the crown of righteousness. Those of you over a certain age will remember the 60’s saying, “Keep the faith, baby!” But this has quite a chequered pedigree. The African-American Congressman from New York City, Adam Clayton Powell, urged crowds of his supporters to “keep the faith, baby!” while he was being investigated and ultimately convicted of, corruption. In that case, keeping the faith was perhaps not the best option.
Paul, like us, keeps faith in his heart as a belief in something that is utterly true and good: Jesus Christ the Saviour. This discounts his own faults, which even he admits are many. His faith is what brings him that crown, and it will bring us our own crowns also.
At this very moment a man who has been a beacon of faith in a secular sense lies on what may be his deathbed. Nelson Mandela is perhaps the one secular saint of our time. People the world over see him as an example of struggle against unrighteousness, patient forbearance with hardship, pain, and loss, and ultimate victory of a noble ideal over a rotten and ignoble way of life.
His struggle continues: he responds to touch, his family remains with him, his entire country and the world keep him in prayer—for the religious—and in thought—for the unreligous.
And yet, there is, I think, a sense that his race is nearly over. Paul realised that he was close to execution and that, for him, the race was over. Mr Mandela, at 94 years old, would admit that his race is near the finish line. We too will, someday, probably know that we are near the end of the race.
I’m going to ponder today what it must be like to finish this particular race. My question is: have we kept the faith and run the course? Have we been true to the ancient Apostolic Faith that has been transmitted from Jesus, through Peter and Paul, down to this day?
It’s easy for those who are close to the end of the race of life to ask these questions. However, it’s harder for those who are not on their deathbeds and who are in the prime of life to ask these questions: we prefer to put them off for the moment. My exhortation to you is: don't put off asking these questions simply because they are uncomfortable to answer. We don’t know either the day or the hour at which the answer will be required of us, so let’s be prepared.
Therefore may we keep the faith handed down through Peter and Paul, and to Jesus Christ in whom we have our faith, be ascribed all might, majesty, dominion, and praise both now and evermore. AMEN.
