SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE
ON JULY 13th, 2008
Matthew 13:23 “As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit.” The parable of the sower is one of the better known parables of Jesus, and we can think of it in various ways. In its setting it refers to the immediate present, and the future that was facing Jesus and the Apostles. The mission of Jesus is now encountering hurdles; the authorities are on the attack; some who eagerly flocked after Jesus have fallen away; and even the unique nature of Jesus as the Son of God is being rejected. At this crucial point in his ministry Jesus tells this parable so that the disciples would understand what was happening. He also told it with an eye on what was to come. Jesus would soon be rejected -and only a few would remain faithful. Hopefully when it came to Holy Week the Apostles would remember this parable. And, of course, it was a parable about the future of the Church. The preaching of the Gospel would encounter more than just hurdles and indifference. Sometimes people who seemed to be faithful Christians would fall away. And the Gospel would be rejected – and so it has been through every century since. The parable is also about us personally. The seed of the Gospel was planted in us at some stage in our lives – perhaps unknowingly at our baptism as children, perhaps through an experience of going to Sunday school and then Church, or perhaps some significant or lifer-changing moment when we were adults. Most of us are here in this church because it grew and flourished. And in the words of the parable “It was fruitful”, and brought us to the stage where we are regular worshippers and eager believers. Particularly for many people here at All Saints’, the seed of the Gospel was planted when we came to Mass and caught a vision of beauty and worship. And hand in hand with the beauty of worship, a vision of the love of God expressed in a worshiping and praying community. For indeed the worship and the community are the two twin foundations of this parish. Sometimes the seed has a particular application in a particular situation, and a particular result. Such a seed was planted 175 years ago. On July 14th, 1833, a sermon was preached in Oxford, England which was to have repercussions within the Church of England, and throughout the whole Anglican Communion – so that that what happened then has affected every parish of the Anglican Communion throughout the world. That sermon was preached by John Keble, a priest and Oxford don, in the university church of St Mary the Virgin, Oxford – still the most visited parish church in England. The occasion was what was called the annual Assize Sermon, when the whole university would gather to hear a sermon preached by an eminent preacher. To understand its significance, I need to give some background. In the early days of the 19th century, the Church of England was in a parlous state – so much so that Matthew Arnold reported that some 12 people attended Christmas Day Mass in St Paul’s Cathedral, London. He said that the Church of England as it was could not survive. Hardly anyone went to Church, and the Churches were not kept clean or beautiful. The Holy Sacrament of the Altar was not highly esteemed and people rarely made their communion. In fact the Eucharist was usually only celebrated four times a year. In the previous century Charles Wesley’s Methodists had been responsible for a revival in church life – but they had long since been marginalized and cast out. Thus the Church of England was in a terrible state, and was really regarded as a department of the state – the national church of the British nation. Bishops and priests were regarded as employees of the state – and were conspicuous not for their presence in their parishes and dioceses, but by their absence. Nor were they conspicuous by their diligent pastoral work and holiness of life. Apart, that is, from a remnant, a faithful remnant who kept alive in their hearts and in their families the Catholic tradition – being faithful to the Book of Common Prayer, and the worship of the Church. And so it was that in the year 1833 the government in Westminster decided to suspend a number of Irish bishoprics of the Church of Ireland. If you have been to Ireland you will know that most Irish are proud Roman Catholics, and the established Church of Ireland – the Anglican Church in that country – was really a protestant rump, occupying all the old medieval buildings, which were usually empty! Even today the Irish Prayer Book forbids the use of incense in church services. So to suspend a number of the bishoprics of the Church of Ireland seemed perfectly reasonable at the time, and quite justifiable. But John Keble saw it differently. For him this move was state interference in the established Church. In his sermon on that day he contended the state had no right to do this – for the Church was not a department of the state, and nor were its bishops and its clergy public servants of the government. This was new thinking, and to some they were strange ideas and it was scandalous. For if the Church of England was not a department of the state, what was it? The answer of course was implicit in what was said in the sermon – and soon became explicit. The Church of England was the Catholic and Apostolic Church of the nation. She had been ordained by Christ himself and was under his authority, not the state’s. This authority was traced back to the twelve apostles through the laying-on of hands at the consecration of bishops. And she had within her hands the sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist. Yes – the Church of England was shackled by her subordination to the civil power at the time. Yes – the purity of her doctrine had been sullied by the reformation and accumulated error; and also by the weakness of her ministers. Nevertheless, she was still the Catholic and Apostolic Church, the Bride of Christ, and his body o
n earth. This teaching took Oxford by storm, and was emphasized by other Oxford dons – particularly Edward Pusey and the famous John Henry Newman. And these three – Keble, Pusey, and Newman – became the leaders of the movement in the colleges of Oxford University, where they soon gathered around them young seminarians and students. This movement was taken up enthusiastically by clergy – and is known to this day as the Oxford Movement. In 1833 it encountered opposition, criticism, and even outrage. Evangelicals could not accept that the Church of England was a continuation of the undivided Church before the Reformation. Liberals found distasteful a renewed emphasis on the sacraments and holy living. And Roman Catholics thought it was impertinent and a fraud. But as loyal Churchmen contemplated the meaning of those familiar words: “I believe one Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church” the movement spread. First it went to parishes – carried there enthusiastically by young priests straight from Oxford and Cambridge who taught the Catholic Faith in their Churches and elevated worship to a higher level. They introduced daily services, and beautified their churches. They often went to slum parishes where a revival in the worship and the beauty of churches had a great appeal to people. This movement was accompanied by controversy and protests, for some of those young enthusiastic anglo-catholics, made their churches mirror images of Roman Catholic Churches they saw in Italy, Belgium, and France. Sometimes riots happened when worship services were conducted – usually over things that we take for granted, like crosses on the Altar, candles lit, vestments, and choirs. I’m sure our choir would be fascinated to know that in those days a surpliced choir was pelted with rocks as they left the church! The movement eventually spread to the USA, where the Episcopal Church was still finding its way with a new Prayer Book. Here, as in Britain, the movement encountered opposition, and charges of being either too Catholic or disloyal. But from the Oxford seed it grew and flourished in this country. Our Episcopal Church has a wonderful history of parishes being established, missionary work, and the revival of religious communities. No parish has been unaffected – even our bishops dress up like Catholics! Parishes like All Saints’ grew and developed, and are spread throughout the USA – usually having in their history some wonderful priest who established the tradition – and are noted for their beautiful churches and liturgies. But to some Episcopalians we speak a different language, or in our worship seem to come from another planet. But let us be clear – the anglo-catholic movement was never about a style of worship, or what we wear in church, or what language we speak, or just taste. What we do and what we say expresses what we believe. Thus has our mission always been. In a Church in which bishops will say that Jesus is one of many ways to God, we know we still have work to do as anglo-catholic Episcopalians! 175 years later, traditional Anglicans are still a minority, and still regarded as out of step – yesterday’s men they call us. Indeed, only last Monday the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, described anglo-catholics as a “necessary abrasion”. I like that! I like being a necessary abrasion. My brothers and sisters of All Saints’ – we are not yesterday’s men and women. We are not a dying minority (and certainly not in this diocese). We are the ones in step. The seed planted 175 years ago still has a harvest to produce. Thank God we can be part of that planting and harvesting. As I reflected on today’s Collect, it seemed to me it was a word for our forefathers 175 years ago – and a word for us today: “O God, grant that we may both perceive and know what things we ought to do, and also may have the grace and power faithfully to fulfill the same”.