Rowan Williams Ronald Blythe Lecture

In the inaugural Ronald Blythe Lecture (available on The You Tube), Rowan Williams talks about the importance of reading, looking, seeing together, learning in conversation. We live in a place and we see what has already been looked at. Drawing on the work of Polish Nobel prize winner Olga Tokarczuk and others, he says that our society has lost a shared communal story and identity. We are surrounded by polyphonic first-person narratives, choirs of soloists. We prize the supposedly unique voice of individual experience over the shared and rooted, the communal, grounded, located fellowship of persons and world in time and space. We need to listen to the stranger and to the stranger within ourselves. The world asks to be loved and invites us in. Let us embrace the earth we stand on, look in the company of others, and share the particular which matters to us all and is universal. Only by doing so, might we rise above our own individual point of view.  

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UqSJcSzlEI

Ascension - a homily drawing on Ed Moll's book

 Look away now if you are coming to church this evening! 

Reading: Acts 1:1-11 (page 1092)

Gospel reading: Luke 24:44-end (page 1062)

 

What new thing to say about the ascension?

 

Well, I’m not sure I have anything new to say.

And I’m not sure that a novel take on the ascension is our greatest need.

 

But I have read a new book on the ascension.

It’s by Ed Moll, a Vicar from Somerset, and published by the Latimer Trust this February.

And I recommend it to you.

It’s only 100 pages long, so it need not take you forever to read.

 

The full title is: The Ascension of Christ – Pioneer, Priest and King

 

You may know that it is traditional to think of Jesus as our prophet, priest and king.

But Moll says pioneer, priest and king.

 

Jesus is our pioneer in the sense that he has gone before us and made a way for us.

Jesus the God-Man has pioneered the way to heaven for us.

We are in Christ by faith, and where he is, we also are and shall be.

Jesus is the head of his body the church, and Jesus the head is enthroned in heaven.

Where the head goes, the body follows!  

So in a sense we are in Christ and already seated with him in the heavenly places.

But also, of course, we are still here on earth in Dallington.

Jesus’ life, death, resurrection and ascension show us where we are going, our destiny, our destination, our future.

Where Jesus is, all Jesus’ members – all the parts of his body - , all his people, will one day be.

Jesus shares his victory with us and brings us along with him.

 

We’ll say more about Jesus and our priest and king in a moment, but Jesus offers himself as the ultimate sacrifice and ascends to heaven as our priest, our mediator and go between with God, representing us to God and God to us, pleading his sacrifice for us he ever lives to make intercession for us in the heavenly temple throne room.

 

And the ascension is the enthronement of the incarnate Christ as the world’s true and conquering King.

 

Moll summarises the teaching of the New Testament about the ascension in ten points.

And it’s fun for me to preach a ten-point sermon, however briefly.

I have to get my enjoyment where I can!

So let me tell you those ten points.

I’ve adapted them a little bit.

(see pp49-51)

 

We’ll do them quite quickly so nudge your neighbour if he or she is having a doze.

I’ve blogged them in case you want to read them again later.

 

(1) In addition to the narratives of the ascension in Acts 1 and Luke 24, which we had read, the New Testament has much to say about the ascension.

It is a major doctrine.

 

(2) The ascension marks Jesus’ departure from earth to heaven.

It isn’t his retirement, nor is it simply a return to the way things were before Jesus came to earth.

The ascension is a new phase of the life and ministry of the God-Man.

 

(3) Jesus ascends to heaven and is installed as king, victorious over his enemies.

He receives all authority and power and gives gifts to his people, not least his Holy Spirit, empowering us to proclaim his triumph and kingdom.

 

(4) Although Jesus is bodily absent from us, Jesus’ ascension should be a cause of joy to us.

 

(5) Jesus ascends to the Father to be our advocate in heaven.

And he sends the Holy Spirit from the Father to be our advocate on earth.

The ascension means we have Jesus our advocate in heaven and the Holy Spirit our advocate with us on earth.

All these things are connected: incarnation, death, resurrection, ascension, the gift of the Spirit, the mission of the church – and more.

 

(6) Jesus’ ascension and gift of the Spirit enable Jesus’ followers to do even greater things than Jesus did in his brief earthly ministry, particularly in taking the good news beyond Israel to all the nations and establishing an international church with millions of members.

 

(7) The book of Acts describes the ongoing work of the ascended Jesus on earth by his Spirit through his church.  

Acts is still the Acts of the ascended Jesus.

 

(8) The ascended Jesus ministers for us as our priest in the heavenly tabernacle, giving us confidence before God.

 

(9) Jesus ascended as man, completing the destiny of human beings and guaranteeing our New Creation.

 

(10) We are in Jesus, seated with him in heaven, and so we share his victory.

We should lift up our hearts to enjoy our heavenly participation with the ascended Christ.

 

There’s much more in this book which is well worth reading.

Moll tells us what the C of E has to say about the ascension.

And he explores the connections of the ascension with some other doctrines, but I’ll let you follow those things up yourself if you want to.

Let me finish by mentioning three areas of application which Moll gives.

What difference might the ascension make to us?

 

Moll invites us to think about the implications of the ascension for worship, prayer and mission.

I’ll just say something about those three things and the ascension very briefly.

 

(Below, see pp78ff)

 

(1) Worship

 

We rejoice to worship the ascended Christ.

As our great high priest, he leads our worship, which is really not just here in the church building but in the throne room of heaven, not in an earthly temple.

We don’t have to go off to Jerusalem to worship God but we lift up our hearts to heaven in worship.

When we come to the Lord’s Supper, Jesus is not on the table but we are joined to him in heaven by the Spirit and we feed on him in our hearts by faith with thanksgiving.

 

(2) Prayer

 

Jesus our great high priest gives us assurance that we are loved, forgiven, accepted and heard.

The ascended Christ ushers us with our requests into the very throne room of heaven, and brings us with our needs to the Father.

So let us pray with confidence.

 

(3) Mission

 

And let us share Jesus with joy and confidence.

We have such good news of Jesus the risen king, our pioneer and priest.

He authorises and sends us and he continues to rule his mission.

So let us go, empowered by Jesus’ Spirit, speaking his words.

 

As the Church of England’s Thirty-Nine Articles say:

 

Christ did truly rise again from the dead, and took again his body, with flesh, bones, and all things pertaining to the perfection of man’s nature, and with it he ascended into heaven, and there sits, until his return to judge all people at the last day.

 

(IV – adapted)

 

And so in the words of the Litany, we are bold to pray:

 

By your cross and passion,

by your precious death and burial,

by your glorious resurrection and ascension,

and by the coming of your Holy Spirit,

Good Lord deliver us.

 

So may God give you joy and confidence in the ascended Christ that you might live under and advance his heavenly reign.

And to God the Father, God the Ascended Son, and God the Holy Spirit, be all honour and power and glory, now and for ever.

Amen.

Psalm 67 - a handout

 You may wish to look away now if you are coming to church this morning - or get prepared! 

Psalm 67 p581 (& John 14:23-29 p1082)

Seeking God’s Blessing

 

The structure of the Psalm:

 

Vv3 and 5 are identical bracketing v4, the only three-line verse

 

A           vv1-2    prayer

B             v3                       refrain

C            v4                                      centre

B’           v5                        refrain

A’           vv6-7    prayer

 

* * *

 

What do we really want? What do we seek? Pray for?

What does the Psalmist want?

(Is our vision too small? How does it need to change?)

 

(1) Not because we deserve it, but as a gracious gift (v1)

 

(1) Not just God’s stuff (his gifts), but God’s self (his face) (v1)

 

(2) Not just for us, but for the joy of all people of all nations

 

(3) Not my ease / glory / empire, but God’s ways and salvation and justice, that he might be praised and feared – the harvest of the Word!

 

The good news of King Jesus, our Great High Priest and worship leader, for all the nations brings these blessings of justice and grace and joy!

The blessed life involves loving Jesus and obeying his words

 

Ø  Praise Jesus!

Ø  Share Jesus’ praises!

 

On middle age

 

You’ll say I am far too young! But believe it or not, I have begun to think about middle age. It’s a moving target of course. The middle aged tend to be those five or ten years older than me! I recently went to some seminars on the subject at the Bible by the Beach Conference in Eastbourne, and I did wonder if some of the grey-hairs around me had wandered in geriatric confusion into the wrong venue. But then whenever I go to the barbers’ I am shocked to see all that silver falling from my own head. I still basically imagine myself to be the same age as the wedding couples I see, whereas some of them now have dates of birth implausibly into the late 1990s or early 2000s.

 

Anyway, I digress. Perhaps a failing of the middle aged!

 

No doubt each phase of life has its own characteristic temptations. Parents of teenagers might have much to report.

 

Sorry, I’m rambling on again like Shakespeare’s justice:

 In fair round belly with good capon lined,

With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,

Full of wise saws and modern instances;

And so he plays his part.

(Jaques in As You Like It Act II, Scene VII)

 

It has been suggested that one danger of this phase of life might be spiritual middle age spread – taking our ease to a selfish degree. Perhaps the kids have left home and we’ve done our bit. We may be modestly comfortable. There’s a lot to be said for sabbath and rest, for enjoying God’s good gifts with thankfulness. But maybe some of us need a challenge to fresh or renewed ambition. How could we serve and encourage future generations? We might be wise to look up to Christ, not back to past achievements, for our sense of identity and worth. Maybe there’s no retirement from Christian service. How can our time and financial independence benefit the Kingdom?

 

Or perhaps we’re inclined to be a bit world-weary. Do we need to seek the renewal of our delight in Christ and our hope in him? We’ve seen it all. We tried that. The young are so naïve and foolish whereas we are experienced, mature, wise. And so we can easily be jaded and cynical. But perhaps God hasn’t finished with us yet! The Lord’s Prayer might still inspire us: “Hallowed be your name, Your will be done, Your kingdom come!” Even if we don’t have the energy of a twenty or thirty year old, perhaps we can have different forms of passion for Jesus?

 

Suggested reading: The Bible, obviously, perhaps especially Colossians and Romans 8 for some of the points above.

 

An explicitly Christian book: Paul David Tripp, Lost in the Middle: Mid-Life Crisis and the Grace of God (Shepherd Press, 2009)

 

Arthur C. Brooks, From Strength to Strength: Finding Success, Happiness and Deep Purpose in the Second Half of Life (Green Tree, 2023) – Brooks grew up in an evangelical home and became a Roman Catholic

 

Marcus Berkmann,  A Shed Of One's Own: Midlife Without the Crisis (Little, Brown Book Group, 2012) – as far as I know, Berkmann is not a religious believer. I don’t remember being wowed by this book when I first read it but I would have been too young! It’s worth going back to, I think.

 

(Some of the above draws on Lewis and Sarah Allen’s seminar at Bible by the Beach 2025)

                                                                                                                

The Revd Marc Lloyd

Psalm 30 - a handout

 

Psalm 30 (page 558)
Praise God for bringing his anointed King back from death!

 

·       Title: of David – the great Old Testament king – cf. The Son of David

·       for the dedication of “the House”

 

·       A praise sandwich: The Psalmist praises God (v1, 12) – gloating = joy v1, 11

·       The Psalmist calls on all God’s people to praise God (v4) because of the way God has saved him and what God is like and does

·       Probably the same experience described twice (vv1-5, 6-12)

 

(1) The Psalmist’s experience of distress and dismay - Mk 15:34

 

·       Self-confidence? – vv6-7 – 2 Sam 24?; 1 Cor 10:12; Dt 8

 

(2) The LORD’s deliverance from the depths

 

·       A story of healing / salvation / rescue / resurrection! / triumph over enemies and of contrasts and transformation from wailing to dancing, sackcloth to joy, silence to song, evening to morning etc. – Jn 16v20  

·       A moment of God’s anger (the twinkling of an eye) / of dismay / (apparent?) abandonment by God

·       A life time / an eternity of favour / grace / mercy / help / rescue / rejoicing (only fully and finally beyond death in the New Creation) - Rm 8:18; 2 Cor 4:17 – Look to the Final Resurrection Morning!

·       A resurrection: God lifts up from the depths and saves from death – Good Friday and Holy Saturday lead to Easter Sunday Morning!

 

(3) Our response of dependence, dedication and delight

 

·       The necessity of trusting in God and calling on his mercy (not complacent, proud, self-sufficient etc.) – Heb 5:7

·       An implication of living for God’s praise and glory as long as he gives us this life (v9): If I die I can’t…; If I live I will live to proclaim your fame

·       Jesus – the rebuilt temple - Jn 2:19-22 Where Jesus the Head goes, his body the church will be sure to follow! 

 

English law and Christianity

 Oxford educated barrister, Bijan Omrani begins chapter two of God is an Englishman with the case of the snail in the ginger beer bottle, Donoghue v Stevenson. In 1928 Mrs Donoghue ended up in Glasgow Royal Infirmary after a friend bought her the drink in a café, and though the law at the time held she had no legal relationship with the manufacturer, the law Lords established a general duty of care. Lord Atkin of Aberdovey said in 1932 that “the rule that you are to love your neighbour becomes in law, you must not injure your neighbour… [To] the lawyer’s question, Who is my neighbour? [Luke 10]  … The answer seems to be – persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to he acts or omissions which are called into question.” (p43)

Atkin said in a lecture: “I doubt whether the whole law of tort could not be comprised in the Golden Maxim [given by Jesus] to do unto your neighbour as you would that he should do unto you.” (p44)

Sadly in 2011, Lord Justice Munby and Mr Justice Beatson found that “the laws and usages of the realm do not include Christianity, in whatever form.” (p45)

Though in the 18^th Century, Lord Blackstone had written that “the Christian religion… is part of the law of the land.” And his contemporary, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Hardwicke agreed. In 1729 Chief Justice Raymond said that “Christianity in general is parcel of the common law of England”, repeating a dictum of Chief Justice Lord Hale from 1676.

Similarly in 1651, Lord Keble had said, “Whatsoever is not consonant to the law of God in Scripture, or to right reason, which is maintained in Scripture, whatsoever is in England, be it acts of Parliament, customs, or any judicial acts of the Court, it is not the law of England, but the error of the party which did pronounce it; and you or any man else at the bar, may so plead it.” (p45)

Lord Denning was surely right to say in 1989 that “the common law of England has been moulded for centuries by Judges who have been brought up in the Christian faith. The precepts of religion, consciously or unconsciously have been their guide in the administration of justice.” (p45)