In England," wrote the author and journalist Auberon Waugh, "we have a curious institution called the Church of England. Its strength has always lain in the fact that on any moral or political issue it can produce such a wide divergence of opinion that nobody … can say with any confidence that he is not an Anglican. Its weaknesses are that nobody pays much attention to it, and very few people attend its functions."
Whether or not you and I agree with these sentiments, one thing is clear. At present the Church of England - and the Anglican Communion - finds itself sailing through some very stormy seas. Storms of disagreement and division are threatening to tear apart or sink this broad church, and those of us who have found our spiritual home within it are left feeling deeply concerned and distressed by what we see and hear in the media.
Attention is being paid to the Anglican Church, and to its gatherings at this time. Last week, the CAFCON meeting in Jerusalem led to the launch of the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans. This weekend in York, the General Synod has to discern the best way to proceed with the ordination of women to the episcopate. Next weekend, our Diocesan Assembly meets at Swanwick to reflect on what it is to be a healthy church Living the Life. And then, of course, there is the Lambeth Conference beginning the following week. What condition will the Anglican ship be in after these gatherings? And what effect will they have on local churches, such as the Priory?
We don't know. But the Lord does. And it is the Lord who calls us to be faithful to Him, and to look to Him, rather than at the storms around us. He is Lord, both of creation and the Church, and though we are but frail earthenware vessels, the treasure of the Gospel will accomplish the Lord's saving purposes.
Perhaps, then, one of the main challenges for all of us at the present time is that contained in today's Gospel: "All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls" (Matthew 11 : 27 - 29). In other words, are we clear about who Jesus really is? Are we coming to Him, and learning from the One who alone can give us rest?
"All things have been handed over to me by my Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." Today's Gospel emphasizes what is sometimes known as the scandal of particularity. It underlines the uniqueness of Jesus Christ, the Son who alone knows the Father, and who reveals Him to us. So is Jesus, then, the only Way to God? The answer of the New Testament is a clear and emphatic 'Yes.' For example, in John's Gospel Jesus also says of Himself, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you know me, you will know my Father also" (John 14 : 6, 7). Surely you don't get much clearer than that!
Yet it would seem that not all Christians - including Anglicans - are comfortable with these words of Jesus. And so they try to avoid, or even deny, the plain truth of what the Gospel says - in order to appear more tolerant, and tick the politically correct box in our multi-cultural, multi-faith, multi-values, and multi-muddled society. All roads lead to God, so they say, and each religion or faith is of equal worth. Jesus is not The Way to God. Rather He is a way, for those who come to follow Him.
Some bishops across the Atlantic apparently believe that, and they even find it hard to say that Jesus is Lord. Yet how can this be so, given what Jesus says in the Gospels, and what the New Testament so clearly states about Him? The former Times columnist Bernard Levin makes this point : "I take it that a religion which claims to be following the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth must … think that the other religions are, for all their holiness and worship, mistaken. … In these ecumenical days it is surely reasonable to ask Christianity what its founder meant when he said, 'None shall come to the Father but by me.`"
As you may be aware, one of the General Synod items that has made the news is the following Private Members Motion: 'That this Synod request the House of Bishops to report to the Synod on their understanding of the uniqueness of Christ in Britain's multi-faith society, and offer examples and commendations of good practice in sharing the gospel of salvation through Christ alone with people of other faiths and of none.' To take Jesus at His word, and so to confess that He alone is the unique and only Way to God, may sound arrogant or narrow minded. But is it loving, faithful, and obedient to do otherwise?
Indeed, as CS Lewis points out in Mere Christianity, true
Christian orthodoxy is a generous orthodoxy, one which affirms what might be of God in other faiths or world-views. Writing as someone who himself was a former atheist Lewis points out : "If you are a Christian you do not have to believe that all the other religions are simply wrong all through. If you are an atheist you do have to believe that the main point in all the religions of the whole world is simply one huge mistake. If you are a Christian, you are free to think that all those religions, even the queerest ones, contain at least some hint of the truth. When I was an atheist I had to try to persuade myself that most of the human race have always been wrong about the question that mattered to them most; when I became a Christian I was able to take a more liberal view. But, of course, being a Christian does mean thinking that where Christianity differs from other religions, Christianity is right and they are wrong. As in arithmetic - there is only one right answer to a sum, and all the other answers are wrong; but some of the wrong answers are much nearer being right than others."
"No one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." The way to know the Father is through Jesus. If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. If you want to get through to God, come to Jesus. That is the claim. That is what makes Christianity so widely hated. There is no middle ground, even for the 'curious institution called the Church of England.'
Perhaps the challenges we face at the present time will have a renewing, refining effect. Perhaps the internal storms of division and disagreement will drive us back to the Lord, who calls us to Himself, and who empowers us to share in His world-wide mission. Tom Wright, the Bishop of Durham, has recently described the challenges and opportunity as follows : "Our new century presents new problems (secularism, pluralism, the decline of modernity with nothing to put in its place, and much else) and .. this means a great, fresh opportunity for the gospel. …
In this context, we shouldn't be surprised that serious challenges arise from within the church itself, offering the world a pseudo-gospel, a caricature of the world-changing love of God in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, an attempt to hold the outward form of godliness while denying its real power. … We will have to work through these challenges if, instead of merely being distracted and having our gospel energies soaked up, we are to come through with the fresh message our culture … so badly needs. If mission is our priority … then we should expect to face serious theological and moral challenges, and to have to overcome them in prayer and deeper study of scripture."
In today's scripture, you and I are given this wonderful invitation by Jesus: "Come to me." The One who - as the prophet Zechariah foresaw - is the humble and victorious Servant-King, invites us to come to Him, and to find our true rest in Him. The Lord who has come from the Father to seek us out, and to save us, now graciously calls us come to Him, and to share His yoke of love. To those of us who are weary, and who find ourselves carrying heavy burdens, Jesus says "Come to me … and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." May we take the Lord at His Word, and may we be open to receive from Him the riches of His grace.
John Barr
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