INDEPENDENCE

SERMON PREACHED BY FR. TONY NOBLE ON JULY 2, 2006

Mark 5:36 "Do not fear - only believe."

I'm sure these words of our Lord have been echoed by the leaders of this nation in every century - and no doubt by ourselves in our own personal pilgrimage. "Do not fear, only believe."

Tuesday is the 230 anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Far be it for me to tell you about this! I'm sure you know all about it, and the events that led up to it, and your history.

But did you know that more than half of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were Episcopalians, including the main author Thomas Jefferson? Actually Jefferson had a complex theology best described as Unitarian. But he is claimed as an Episcopalian because he served on the Vestry of St. Anne's Parish in Virginia.

Similarly George Washington was recorded as an Episcopalian, and after his inauguration he went to straight to Trinity Church on Wall Street for a service of thanksgiving. However he never received communion in his adult life.

The Anglican faith of those days in the colonies of America did not look very Catholic or sacramental - quite different to what we are used to at All Saints'. If you have ever been to the Christ Church in Philadelphia, you will see what it looked like: fairly plain and simple. That is the church where Benjamin Franklin, Betsy Ross and other notables of those days worshipped.

American history ties Anglicanism with loyalty to England. In some colonies it was the established church. The nature of the settlement of this country, however, insured that after the Revolution, church and state would be separate. There would be no established church. America was founded by people looking for religious freedom or fleeing church hierarchies. So after 1776 the Church of England in America became the Episcopal Church and was destined to be a small church in a land of many churches.

The view that Anglicans were loyal to England was supported by the fact that many of the clergy of the time would not break their vows to use the English Book of Common Prayer, with its prayers for the king. And also they could not break their oath made solemnly to the king as supreme governor of the church. This echoed a similar event 100 years before in England when the non-jurors would not break their oath to King James. Seven bishops, including the famous Bishop Ken, and 400 priests were deprived of their livings and resigned from the Church of England.

However, closer study reveals that at the time of the American Revolution 45% of Anglican clergy supported the American side. And certainly a majority of the laity were patriots. And why wouldn't they be? They were just as keen to be free from English authority in the church, as well as in the government.

At that time no bishops had been consecrated for America, so Anglicans at the time of the revolution had no bishops. This led to a great sense of independence for vestries and their churches which continues today. The revolution sealed this sense of independence. There is a marvelous colonial print from New England showing a group of Puritans and Quakers on a wharf preventing the landing of an Anglican bishop who is up the mast complete with crosier and mitre. The caption says: 'No lords, spiritual or temporal, in New England.'

Yes, many Episcopalians at the time of the war of independence treasured their freedom from Episcopal control, and had a thoroughly Protestant attitude to the church and its liturgy. How things have changed! Two hundred and thirty years later Episcopal bishops exert enormous control over their clergy and parishes, much more than any other branch of the Anglican Communion. Our prayer book is not perfect, but neither is it protestant. In fact a great number of Episcopalians are converts because of our glorious liturgy and its Catholic teaching. Freedom has its responsibilities too. Our Lord's prayer in John 17 "that they all may be one" is being tested severely by the independence of the Episcopal Church.

I'm sure you are all dying to hear what I have to say about our recent General Convention! Today's Collect sums up my response: “Almighty God, who has built thy Church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone: Grant us so to be joined in unity of spirit by their doctrine…..”.

You know me well enough, by now, to know that church politics does not excite me, nor form the substance of my preaching or teaching. I believe in a positive faith and a positive attitude to the faith. As it always has - All Saints' will continue to witness to the Catholic faith and true Anglican tradition - often making us seem out of step with the wider Episcopal Church. And I will continue to faithfully offering the Mass and leading you in worship and prayer and to the best of my ability a faithful priest in the great tradition of the Anglo-Catholic way.

Finally - and not as a post script but as a result of all these thoughts - I turn to our readings today. The Old Testament reading and the Epistle urge us to be generous and compassionate. America and its people have always been like that, generous and compassionate, because of our Christian foundation.

The gospel reminds us that when we are generous and compassionate we are following the example of Jesus, who for our sake became poor that we might become rich from his poverty. As we follow his example we bring healing and new life to a broken and disordered world. The miracle of the healing of the girl reminds us, not only that this is what Jesus did, but is what we do by our lives and our work.

Bringing healing and new life to our world has always been Christ's Mission - and will continue to be our mission as Christians in our day and age, in this country of America.

Two thousand years ago what our Lord did was revolution – he overturned the religious authorities of his day and established a revolution of religion based on love.

It still is revolutionary.

During Lent many of us studied a book by Father Richard Giles about the gospel of St. Mark. I would like to conclude with a comment he made in that book. He said that the gospel is not a tea party, and then made this comment: "The only kind of tea party appropriate to Mark's gospel is a Boston Tea Party…. the reign of God is about to erupt in the world."

It was a revolution then, and it continues to be. But not like human revolutions. The revolution of Jesus came wrapped in the gentle healing of a child who seemed dead.