An Anglican Catholic approach to Confession

 

Why is general confession permitted in the Anglican Catholic Church?

Labouring under an apprehension

Sermon for the third Sunday after Easter 

There are many great 

mysteries in life.

Some mysteries 

emerge from facts

lost to History

and exist as ghosts

of speculation.

Some mysteries 

lie in the fathomless 

depths of space

barely penetrated 

by the telescopes

and proves

sent out by astronomers.

And some mysteries 

exist within our own species.

One such mystery 

can be found troubling 

the minds of men

when they are confronted 

with something that they

can never truly know 

- the pain of childbirth.

[PAUSE]

The husband

who joins his wife

In the delivery room

is confronted

with a wall of 

impenetrable ignorance.

He works hard to support 

and understand the needs

of his wife as she struggles 

to bring the baby into the world

but he is at a loss because 

for all his care and attention 

he cannot supply anything

that she needs

based on his experience.

All words he says to comfort

and encourage his wife

cannot be based

on anything other than 

his own imagination 

of what she is going through 

and it usually falls short

of the pain that she is enduring.

All he can do

is faithfully and actively 

extend his love, respect 

and gratitude 

to his wife

and prepare himself 

for fatherhood.

A man cannot know

his wife's pain.

Can she know his?

Can anyone know

another's pain?

[PAUSE]

This is a mystery indeed!

We can only know

our own pain and suffering.

We can only know 

what it is like for us

to sprain an ankle,

cut a finger,

or even give birth.

No two labours

are the same 

because no two women

are the same 

and no two babies are the same.

This is the deep mystery 

of being human.

We cannot truly 

know the pain of others.

This means

all our Christian attempts

to love each other

fall at the first hurdle

because we do not know

what our neighbour 

wants or needs to be perfect.

This is why human love

fails to unite humanity.

This is why the rule

"do unto others 

as you would have them

do unto you"

cannot work.

Indeed, 

this is why the Church appears divided

because 

we are ignorant 

of how to love each other

properly.

But because we try so hard 

to love 

we end up doing damage

to the Church

to the world 

and to each other.

Our sin,

even our unintended sin,

causes pain

from the very moment 

Eve grasps that fruit.

From that moment 

we are blind to God

and we are blind 

to what true love is.

[PAUSE]

And so Love comes among us

to show us Who He is.

We are born, so He is born.

We struggle, so He struggles.

We weep, so He weeps.

We due, so He dies.

And in so doing 

He supplies what is lacking

and corrects what is done amiss,

so that the pain of living

has a purpose

even as bringing a baby into the world 

makes the pain tolerable.

A woman may remember 

the ordeal of labour

but the baby she holds 

means she needs not choose 

to remember the pain.

But then, 

not all labour goes to plan.

[PAUSE]

There are labours 

that go badly 

that have the worst possible outcomes.

There are countless women 

who after the pain of labour

hold in their arms

one whose life has ended

before it even saw the light of day.

And that pain 

frightens us

causes our hearts to break

and to call up to God,

"Why?"

"Why is my baby dead?"

And we might be tempted 

look at Our Lord's words

about sorrow being turned to joy

and to brand them glib

- even an insult -

ignorant of the mother crying out

over her dead baby,

ignorant of the husband,

dazed and confused as

to why he's not a father 

or even no longer a husband,

ignorant of every human being

who has cried our in despair

at the injustice of life.

Words cannot be enough.

But the explanation 

cannot take the pain away.

Answering the "Why?" 

will not return breath to the little body.

There has to be action.

So God dies

horribly,

terribly,

in agony,

surrounded by those who hate Him

who laugh and mock and jeer.

And then He comes back,

not to show off 

but to show that He is faithful,

that He sees our pain 

and the utter devastation

of the human heart 

and to remind us of His promise 

that the pain we feel now

is nothing,

nothing to the joy we feel

with Him in Heaven.

The Cross is not something 

with which we should 

compare our pain:

it is the vehicle 

of the promise we have

received.

It is not a question of

"well, God suffered

so your pain means nothing."

It is more,

"you're in pain

but God is with you

and will bring you through

even though 

you can only know your pain."

[PAUSE]

We look out

onto a world 

filled with so much pain

and suffering 

and we cannot truly know

what that pain and suffering are.

But we Christians hold fast

to the Cross

while bearing our own crosses,

venerating them 

as much as we venerate 

the Cross of Christ,

knowing that God

is never ignorant of our pain

but will bring to birth in us

Faith, Hope and Love 

and that these will last

much longer than any pain can.

Making saints the Anglican Catholic way

 

How does a person become a saint in the Anglican Catholic Church?

Sorry, my video got cut off.

I meant to add:

God bless you in your progress to sainthood. May you always bear witness to Almighty God.

And God bless you that you may join all your favourite saints in the glory of God.

And please pray for me

Ovine Comparisons

Sermon for the second Sunday after Easter

Analogies and metaphors 

can only go so far.

Our Lord describes us

as His sheep.

To our ears,

that makes us sound

like dumb animals.

Perhaps we object to that

as it hurts our dignity

as human beings.

But if we compare ourselves 

with God

we are not even sheep.

What is a pot 

compared with the potter?

Or the stick man

idly doodled onto the page

of an exercise book

compared with the bored

schoolboy trying to cope

with learning 

the politics of World War I?

To be compared as a sheep

with the Divine Master 

is a compliment.

But if we are concerned 

about being compared with sheep

in the first place 

then we're missing the point.

[PAUSE]

To compare two things

puts them in opposition.

We look at two things

to see which is bigger,

which is worth more money,

which is prettier,

which smells worse.

The moment we try that with God 

then the comparisons 

stop making any sense.

Which is redder:

the post box,

or the colour red?

Which is brighter:

the sun,

or light itself?

Which is more holy 

the saints,

or God Himself?

[PAUSE]

We are always so ready

to compare ourselves with others

that frequently we miss the point.

Jesus is the Good Shepherd 

we are His sheep,

not of the fold

of the inheritance of Israel

but of the gentile fold 

that Jesus has taken to Himself.

Yes,  the metaphor 

compares us with sheep

but the point is clear:

God is with us.

He isn't against us.

He is not comparing Himself with us.

He is not setting Himself up

in opposition to us.

If Jesus is using 

the metaphor of the sheep 

to make the point

that He is greater than us

then He would have to deny 

the fact that He has a human nature

like us.

To reinforce His difference from us

would be to despise His Incarnation 

and that would defeat the whole object

of why He became flesh for us.

If humans are sheep

then He would be a sheep as well.

In saying that He is the shepherd 

Jesus is not exalting Himself over us.

Quite the reverse.

He is saying that He is with us.

He is on our side.

He has our backs,

won't let us go,

will fight for us

will die for us 

will lead us into the ecstasy

of Heaven itself

all because He loves us

and enjoys 

to be around us.

[PAUSE]

However we appear

in Our Lord's parables

we can trust 

that He means us

in the best possible way

in order to bring us to our perfection 

and happiness 

which can only happen 

when He is in our midst.

Announcing Time's Tapestry

 

Why transferring the Feast of the Annunciation reminds us of the promise of Eternity.

Proceedings from Easter

Sermon for Low Sunday

The Lord breathes

on the Apostles

and then says,

"Receive the Holy Ghost."

But don't they receive

the Holy Ghost

on the day of Pentecost?

What's going on?

[PAUSE]

The first thing to note

is that the Holy Ghost

is proceeding from the Son.

But the Son is not the source

of the Holy Ghost.

Jesus is the means 

by which the Holy Ghost

proceeds to us.

The scripture here 

is very clear.

The Spirit proceeds

from the Father as the source

of all being and yet

through the Son

and upon the apostles.

Why should this be important

to us?

Does it matter how 

the Persons of the Trinity

relate to one another?

Does it matter how

the Holy Ghost shows Himself to us?

[PAUSE]

What do we see?

The Lord Jesus breathes

the Holy Ghost

into the Apostles

and He gives them authority

to bind and loose sins.

This authority

is not just some certificate,

not some rubber stamp,

or ID card that says

"Licence to forgive sins."

This authority

is the Holy Ghost Himself.

It shows us

that when the Apostles forgive sins

in the name of

the Father, Son and Holy Ghost,

they really are forgiven

that the relationship

between God and those who repent

is healing and strengthening.

This authority has its source 

in God the Father

because God the Father

is the source of all things good.

This authority proceeds through

God the Son,

because the Incarnation

of Jesus Christ was expressly

for the purpose of redeeming souls

and the forgiveness of sins.

So we see that the Holy Ghost

proceeds from the Father

through the Son

to us 

for the purpose

of freeing us from our sins.

[PAUSE]

The Apostles clearly receive

the Holy Ghost here

and here He begins His work

of transforming

Disciple to Apostle.

When that transformation is complete

then the Holy Ghost

makes His presence visible

fifty days after Easter.

But that is another story.

The meaning of Resurrection

 Why Resurrection is not reanimation.