On the feast of the Holy Trinity

It is only on the basis of Jesus Christ's own behaviour and attitude that we can distinguish such a plurality in God.  Only in him is the Trinity opened up and made accessible.

Hans Urs von Balthasar

"Let it may happen to us according to his word": Bede in Mary's month

On this last Saturday of May - Mary's month - and the feast of the Venerable Bede, it seems appropriate to share words from his sermon on the Annunciation:

She says: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to your word". Indeed, she shows how constant is her humility when she calls herself her Maker's handmaid, even as she is chosen to be her Maker's Mother!

... Dearest brethren! Following her voice and intention as our guide, let us recall that we are the servants of Christ in all our actions and impluses.  Let us hand over all the members of our body to his obedience.  Let us direct our entire attention toward fulfilling his will.  And so let us give thanks for the gifts we have received from him by living rightly, that we might merit to live so worthily as to receive even greater gifts.

With the blessed Mother of God, let us pray diligently, that it may happen to us according to his word; that is, according to that word which he employs in telling the reason for his Incarnation: "God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son".

"Feast on th' Incarnate God": the Wesleys' eucharistic piety

In the Common Worship calendar, we today commemorate John and Charles Wesley, priests, evangelists, hymn writers.  Celebrating their witness testifies to the unity shared by the Anglican and Methodist traditions, a unity being re-received in contemporary Anglican-Methodist ecumenical conversations and deepening relationship.

In his English Society 1688-1832, historian J.C.D. Clark notes that Methodism "drew on the parent stem for aspects of [its] devotional practice and theology", with its different emphases being "elements in the common tradition".  The Wesleys' eucharistic piety particularly testifies to this common tradition being celebrated with a deep fervour and enthusiasm.  

As Christopher Howse has pointed out, when he published a collection of eucharistic hymns, John Wesley prefaced it with Daniel Brevint's The Christian Sacrament and Sacrifice (1673).  This included clear expressions of catholic eucharistic doctrine:

This Sacrament, by our remembrance, becomes a kind of Sacrifice, whereby we present before God the Father that precious Oblation of His Son once offered ...

The main intention of Christ herein, was not, the bare Remembrance of his Passion; but over and above, to invite us to his Sacrifice, not as done and gone many Years since, but, as to Grace and Mercy, still lasting, still new, still the same as when it was first offer’d for us.

Likewise the A Companion for the Altar - John Wesley's extracts from Thomas á Kempis - spoke of the gift given in the Sacrament of the Altar:

So great, new, and joyful it ought to seem unto Thee when thou comest to these holy Mysteries; as if the same day Christ first descending into the Womb of the Virgin was become man; or, handing on the Cross, did suffer and die for the salvation of mankind.

His sermon The Duty of Constant Communion both celebrated patristic eucharistic practice and the Anglican intention of restoring this:
 

Let every one, therefore, who has either any desire to please God, or any love of his own soul, obey God, and consult the good of his own soul, by communicating every time he can; like the first Christians, with whom the Christian sacrifice was a constant part of the Lord's day service. And for several centuries they received it almost every day: Four times a week always, and every saint's day beside. Accordingly, those that joined in the prayers of the faithful never failed to partake of the blessed sacrament. What opinion they had of any who turned his back upon it, we may learn from that ancient canon: "If any believer join in the prayers of the faithful, and go away without receiving the Lord's Supper, let him be excommunicated, as bringing confusion into the church of God" ...

 

[An] objection which some have made against constant communion is, that "the Church enjoins it only three times a year." The words of the Church are, "Note, that every parishioner shall communicate at the least three times in the year." To this I answer, First, What, if the Church had not enjoined it at all, Is it not enough that God enjoins it? We obey the Church only for God's sake. And shall we not obey God himself? If, then, you receive three times a year because the Church commands it, receive every time you can because God commands it. Else your doing the one will be so far from excusing you for not doing the other, that your own practice will prove your folly and sin, and leave you without excuse.

 

But, Secondly, we cannot conclude from these words, that the Church excuses him who receives only thrice a year. The plain sense of them is, that he who does not receive thrice at least, shall be cast out of the Church: But they by no means excuse him who communicates no oftener. This never was the judgment of our Church: On the contrary, she takes all possible care that the sacrament be duly administered, wherever the Common Prayer is read, every Sunday and holiday in the year.

The Church gives a particular direction with regard to those that are in Holy Orders: "In all cathedral and collegiate Churches and Colleges, where there are many Priests and Deacons, they shall all receive the communion with the Priest, every Sunday at the least."

Mutual intransigence and a failure to heed the apostolic injunction to "keep the unity of the Spirit" resulted in a parting of the ways between Anglicanism and Methodism.  This wounded both traditions.  Anglicanism lost the richness and vitality of Methodism's commitment to renewal.  Methodism lost Anglicanism's expression of catholic unity and communion.  Contemporary ecumenical agreement between Anglicans and Methodists offers the hope of these wounds being healed, and a mutual enrichment of traditions.

For catholic Anglicans, the Wesleys' eucharistic piety speaks deeply of the grace and love at the heart of the Church's life.  Celebrating the witness of John and Charles Wesley, and seeking deeper communion and unity between Anglicans and Methodists, coheres with the vision and vocation of catholic Anglicanism.

The mystic flesh of Jesus eat,

Drink with the wine His healing blood,

And feast on th’ Incarnate God.

 

(The picture is of the memorial stone to the Wesleys in Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford, where both were ordained priest.)

"To break the devil's chains": deliverance and the Church's proclamation

The 'he did-he didn't' accounts of the exorcism-or-not performed by Pope Francis on Pentecost Sunday has attracted considerable attention to a ministry often regarded with considerable suspicion both inside and outside the Church.  Two example of this suspicion within the Church have been highlighted by Anglican Down Under.  The exorcist in the Anglican Diocese of Christchurch in NZ has been quoted as saying "I don't believe in all that sort of thing - it's a load of rubbish".  The news report goes on to comment, "for him, it was not about battling Satan".  As for the Roman diocese, despite the requirements of the Code of Canon Law, "Wellington, however, does not have an appointed exorcist, and Catholic Archbishop of Wellington John Dew said that, as far as he knew, it had never needed one".

Peter Stanford in the Daily Telegraph, however, reminds us that this suspicion and embarrassment sits very uneasily beside practices essential to the Church's life:

The basic gesture of rejecting the Devil – the point of exorcism – is there in an array of everyday practices common to many branches of Christianity, from the words used in baptism (“do you renounce Satan and all his ways and all his empty promises?”), through to the simplest gesture of making the sign of the cross, traditionally the best protection against the Devil. Remove them all and there wouldn’t be much left.

Add to this the reading of the Gospels (and the exorcisms performed by Jesus) and the Lord's Prayer (noting that the petition 'deliver us from evil' is often translated in the Gospel texts as 'deliver us from the Evil One'), and we see that this grammar is embedded in the Church's narratives and basic practices.  To deny it is to remove grammar which contributes to the Church's understanding of evil, brokeness, failure, temptation and suffering.  As the CofE's Guidelines for Good Practice in the Deliverance Ministry state:

Jesus, in his life, suffering and death, and in his resurrection and ascension defeated evil and brought the hope of salvation to everyone. So we can be confident that when we pray the Lord’s Prayer for deliverance from evil, God hears us, and that praying with people for their needs and protection is often an appropriate way of ministering to them.

Some people, however, seek specific help when going through times of suffering and anxiety, or when distressed by what seem to be continuing experiences of evil within them or around them. For these people, it may be right to ask for God’s saving help through the Church’s deliverance ministry.

Here we see the ministry of deliverance - rare as its exercise might be required, and always in the context of oversight by those appointed to this ministry by the diocesan - flows from the heart of the Church's proclamation.  The Church neither proclaims a Manichean eternal struggle between good and evil, light and darkness nor denies the reality of an Evil One.  Rather, in the words of the eucharistic prayer of Hippolytus:

When he was about to surrender himself to voluntary suffering
in order to destroy death,
to break the devil's chains,
to tread hell underfoot,
to pour out his light upon the just,
to establish the covenant, and manifest resurrection,
he took bread, gave you thanks ...

Generosity, humility, liminality: charisms and models of priesthood

Preaching at a Celebration of the 50th anniversary of the first ordinations of those in self-supporting ministry in the CofE, +Sheffield reflected on how self-supporting priests model a vision of priesthood that renews both the wider ministerial priesthood and the Church:

These different forms of self-supporting ministry are characterized first of all, it seems to me, by generosity. They are by definition a gift. A gift of time given to vocational exploration and to training which is costly to the candidate and to their family. A gift of time and of self given to ministry without financial reward or gain. A gift of service sustained in similar ways over many years. Self supporting ministry and stability seem to go together. A gift of love for the Lord and for his church. As John Chrysostom says, Jesus calls Peter to demonstrate his love for the Lord by care for his flock. This new pattern of priesthood is characterized first by generosity.

Second, this new pattern of priesthood is characterized, it seems to me, by humility. Humility is present as we have seen in Peter’s answer. It is enough to say: “Yes Lord you know I love you”. There is no need to compete with the love offered by others. It is enough to offer what we can. Self supporting ministries offer servant leadership in a particular way. Those who serve in this way have to offer what they can, constrained by time and circumstances, and offer what is needed. They are not caught up in temptations to ambition or influence which afflict those called to stipendiary ministry. This is a liberating gift to the priests themselves and to the wider church though it has its cost. It is a pattern of priesthood shaped by humility.

 

Third, I suggest, this new form of priesthood is shaped by liminality: by living permanently on the edge and between two or more worlds. This can be a blessing. It can also be complex and demanding as many here will know. But it is a precious gift to the wider church and has many lessons for a church in mission.

 

This is a fascinating reflection on the particular charism of self-supporting priesthood, when the temptation is usually to deny the particular charism in order to affirm that such priests fully share in the ministerial priesthood.  It also connects with TLC's recent report on the success of the Iona School for Ministry in the Diocese of Texas, which provides formation for bi-vocational deacons and priests.  As TLC notes, there is a sense in which this approach addresses the particular missional context faced by bi-vocational priests and deacons in Texas: "training is focused on small churches’ needs and prepares students specifically for situations they are apt to encounter in those settings".

 

Needless to say, changing models of formation and priesthood are required for the post-Christendom churches across North Atlantic societies.  +Sheffield's emphasis on the particular charism of self-supporting priests, the gift that this model of priesthood brings to the Church, should lead us to reimagine the charisms brought by various expressions of ministry throughout the Church and how these diverse gifts must be fostered and nurtured in order to enrich the witness and mission of the churches in the secular age.

Witnesses to the word of pardon: the Atlas martyrs

From the ecumenical martyrology of Bose:

 

The seven Trappist monks of Atlas

(d. 1996)

martyrs

On May 21, 1996 the Armed Islamic Group, an Algerian extremist organization, released a statement announcing the execution of the seven Trappist monks who had been kidnapped two months earlier from the monastery of Notre-Dame de l'Atlas. Their death was the conclusion of an itinerary of witness to the Gospel so radical that it had revealed the presence of the Emmanuel, God with us, in the midst of growing hatred and hostility. The story of the monks of Atlas had begun in 1938, when several of them had settled in the region of Tibhirine to give witness to the universal fellowship sought by Christians, in silence, prayer and discreet friendship with their Muslim neighbors.
In the 1960s the community found itself on the verge of closure, but the direct intervention of several French monasteries, together with the guidance of a new prior, Brother Christian de Chergé, led to a dramatic spiritual renewal. Brother Christian left the monks who would follow him with writings steeped in the Gospel, in which readers glimpse the makrothymia, or universal compassion, of a man whose resemblance to his Master was such that he had come to see others, and even the enemy, through God's eyes.
At his side, brothers Bruno, Célestin, Christophe, Luc, Michel and Paul shared every joy and grief, every distress and hope until the day of their death. Together they gave their life without reserve to God and to their Algerian brothers and sisters.
Despite the threats they received, they decided together to remain in Algeria, where they had long been engaging in dialogue and spiritual exchange with the Muslims of their region.
These monks' violent death, which reminded Western Christians of the possibility of martyrdom that exists in every truly Christian life, has communicated to every person capable of listening the conviction that only those who have a reason for which they are willing to die also have a reason to live.

And from a fellow Trappist, a meditation on the relationship between martyrdom of the monks of Tibhirine and the hope of forgiveness:

The martyr who offers his life while forgiving, accuses no one. A group of extremists does not represent a people: nothing would be more absurd than to accuse the Algerian people or the Muslim world for what happened. Neither must we accuse the physical authors of the drama. We must be confident that a word of pardon will dissipate all evil and ignorance, letting light shine within ourselves and finding spaces of liberty for the transformation of our existence. All human beings are worthy of being loved.

(The picture above is of the Tibhirine memorial in the Cistercian monastery of Aiguebelle in northern Provence because Brother Christian, prior of Tibhirine and martyr, began his monastic life there.)

"Become what you receive": thoughts from Holy Innocents Episcopal, Atlanta

As Ordinary Time begins, an excellent video from Holy Innocents Episcopal, Atlanta on the paschal nature of the Holy Eucharist.