PREACHING REPENTANCE
SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON SUNDAY JULY 12th 2009
Mark 6: 12-13 “So they went out and preached that men should repent. And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them”.
One of my favourite hymns is the well-known hymn, “Just as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that thou bidd’st me come to thee, O Lamb of God, I come” – sung, of course, to the beautiful English tune, Saffron Walden, and not the better known American Baptist tune.
When sung in the context of Episcopal worship, It is a particularly beautiful hymn at Communion time. Several years ago in my previous parish it was being sung as the hymn after Communion. As I was at the Altar doing the ablutions and consuming the remains of the Precious Blood and cleansing the vessels, the MC whispered to me in a low voice: “Brothers and sisters, come forward”!!
He, of course, was referring to the use of that hymn in those great Billy Graham evangelical rallies, when people would come forward to make their decision for Christ as the choir sang that hymn. It was always moving, and many people came to Christ through that.
Billy Graham was a great American gift to the world. He was larger than life as he moved all over the world with this passion for evangelism. Thousands attended his rallies, and many people are thankful for that turning point in their lives as they either returned to Church, or became Christians.
These days that sort of rally, and that decision for Christ, have faded somewhat. They were very much a part of the fifties and sixties – we certainly no longer hear of rallies drawing a hundred thousand.
Indeed, it was never really a part of Episcopalian Church life. Episcopalians aren’t usually involved in that sort of evangelical rally – our priests are not usually involved in those sort of expressions of commitment and conversion.
In our tradition, both priests and laity tend to be, shall we say, very timid about proclaiming our faith in Christ, about converting others, and about that style of evangelism. We rather concentrate on the Liturgy and the Sacraments as a means of converting people to Christ. If we have been members of the Episcopal Church for a while we know that over the years the sacraments have helped us in our conversion to become more Christ-like. So it’s a gradual process rather than an instantaneous decision that changes us forever.
We Episcopalians are more reticent when it comes to public declarations of faith, and calls to repentance. When we look at today’s Gospel from Mark 6, we see that the apostles were called by Jesus to a ministry of evangelism that was very much like Billy Graham’s – preaching for repentance.
On various occasions Jesus called the apostles and charged them to go out to preach and teach, heal, and baptize – and that is exactly what they did. In the Mark 6:7-13 we see how that worked out: “So they went out and preached that men should repent. Then hand in hand with that it says they “anointed with oil many that were sick and healed them”.
There is a union here. It’s not just the proclamation of the Gospel, it’s a healing – and it’s a healing with holy oil. It’s not just a ministry of healing that goes hand in hand with a proclamation about Christ – it’s a sacramental ministry, right there at the beginning. The Sacrament of Holy Unction continues to this day. We have recourse to it when we go into hospital or are facing some healing crisis – one of the Seven Sacraments. From the beginning of the Church it was part of converting people to Christ.
Billy Graham was right to preach about repentance – and the Church is right to offer the Sacraments. But in the words of the old song: “You can’t have one without the other”. In bringing people to a decision about Christ we must surely hand them over to the Church, to become members of the Church and receive all the grace they need through the Sacraments.
Perhaps our failing as Episcopalians is that we have concentrated on pastoral ministry and the sacraments, and neglected preaching the forgiveness of sins. In fact, these days in the Episcopal Church you hardly hear a word about sin – as if through our wonderful good deeds and through development goals, etc we have some how eradicated sin as a personal thing in our lives. Nothing can be further from the truth! We need to get back to preaching it again – repentance of sins.
Both preaching repentance and sacramental ministry are integral to evangelism. For those who are converted to Christ also will need healing. And if not healing, certainly pastoral care – and all of this is evangelism. One of our great boasts about being Episcopalian/Anglican is that we believe very much in pastoral care. So much so that if the Rector was a lousy preacher we would forgive him if he loved his people and cared for them – though we would like to have both if it was humanly possible!
This word “Evangelism” comes up all the time whenever I attend meetings of clergy, or receive diocesan communications. It’s a buzz word – though as a Church we generally don’t preach repentance as we find it in the Gospel today. We are better at actions rather than words. Is that perhaps our downfall? Perhaps our problem is we see that it’s the clergy’s job to preach repentance and to evangelize? Certainly you could conclude that from Mark 6.
In this Gospel reading it is the apostle’s who are charged to do this – to be the ones to go and preach and evangelize. So maybe we can be excused for thinking it’s the clergy’s job? And we certainly expect the clergy to preach, heal, teach, baptise, and administer the sacraments.
On the other hand, when you look at the Epistle reading from Ephesians 1, we see an implication that all of us, clergy and laity, are called to a ministry of evangelism. All of us are called to proclaim the mighty works of God through Christ Jesus.
All through Saint Paul’s Epistles he makes this plain. He says we are all called to be members of the Body of Christ with our own gifts and talents – and all of us are called to proclaim the Gospel and to evangelize.
Now before those of you in the front pews start moving down to the back because you wonder where this sermon is going – let me tell you that evangelism which really results in the growth of a church doesn’t come from rallies, doesn’t come from telling people that they are sinners and need to convert. It comes mainly through people in a church like this inviting others – acquaintances, friends, neighbors – to join them on a Sunday morning. That is the biggest means of evangelism – just a simple invitation to come to Church, to come and see All Saints’.
Now we have something marvelous to show here, don’t we! That’s why we come here. And we come here not just because we love the Liturgy, the tradition, and the music – but because we believe that all this is wonderful and surely a true gate to heaven. That here people might encounter Christ and the things of eternity. What could be more converting than for a person to discover that here on a Sunday?
Even if that wasn’t a converting experience for the stranger, we know that if someone is looking for healing of some sort, perhaps of sin, or some sickness, or were looking for the power that only comes from the sacraments of Jesus – they would find it here. Indeed, they would find it proclaimed from the house-tops here at All Saints’ Church.
But even if they weren’t looking for that – perhaps, like many people, they were just looking for simple fellowship, looking for place to be welcomed and embraced and to belong to, they would find that here too. For the warmth and friendliness of our congregation embraces the visitor and the stranger.
It is true that such visitors won’t find here a Billy Graham style of preaching (though I do get wound up occasionally!). But at every Mass they would find an invitation to confess their sins personally – and in their confessing to receive God’s absolution. That is what we get every Sunday, and it is the ultimate healing that we need.
In his Epistle, Saint James exhorts us: “Confess your sins to one another”. Quite frankly I couldn’t think of anything more unpleasant or unattractive! But the Church does take Saint James at his word – and so we have that neglected sacrament, the Sacrament of Confession. We offer that as part of our ministry of conversion here. For when one makes their confession they are literally converted more and more like Christ.
So all that a seeker of Christ needs is to be found here at All Saint’s Episcopal Church, San Diego. And in that evangelism we all have a part to play, the clergy and the people. Even if you think we are the ones called to be the preachers – all of us are called to be evangelists.
When the apostles went out they preached and then healed. The first thing – the preaching of repentance – led to the second thing – the healing. Because repentance is always followed by healing and grace. And in the economy of salvation we encounter that healing grace most effectively in the Holy Sacrament of the Altar.
Here, as we come to offer our prayer and praise, to humble ourselves before the Thorne of Grace, we receive that grace in the simple Sacrament of Holy Communion.
So brothers and sisters do come forward!! Come forward and receive the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist. Receive it with repentance, faith, and love – just as if you were hearing those apostles all those years ago calling you.
And in doing so you will be filled with all the grace and healing you need for this week, for this life, and for eternity.