This is the day! This is the day!
Created to be glad in it, as the psalm writer sang. … Extremely glad!
Today, we are participating in the consecration of Sarah to be a bishop in the Anglican Church. This is the fulfilment of the dreams of many women and men especially in our home diocese. Not only has God called a woman to be one of our bishops, but God has called one who was born here, went to school and GFS in Nambour, attended our St Margaret’s School, and has devoted her life to serving in God’s name right here within the Diocese of Southern Queensland.
It is so right that Sarah’s consecration is happening now – this day – when there are representatives from the entire Diocese here for Synod. She is surrounded by the whole Church family, along with her family and friends, and those bishops who represent the wider family. This day – created to be glad in it!- such joy!
As esteemed poet Mary Oliver wrote: Joy is not made to be a crumb. We will not waste a bit of it!
Before we heard the Scripture readings, we prayed that Sarah, filled with truth and clothed with holiness, would preach and teach God’s people to the glory of God’s name ….. and the benefit of God’s Church.
‘To glory God’s name’ is a challenge, but is attainable – Sarah already does that.
But ‘to the benefit of God’s Church’ is a statement loaded with challenge, especially in our day and age. Our prayer is for Sarah as a pastor, preaching and teaching ….. for the benefit of God’s Church.
We have the ideal of God’s Church given by Jesus, as the being of God’s love, active in the world.
But the definition given by many for ‘God’s Church’ especially in the Western world today, is not so idealistic. I asked Google for a definition of ‘the church’, and was given first priority to “Church – a Rock Band”, with a related site down the list somewhere, labelled ‘The Church in the Bible’. The media doesn’t help much these days, with articles showing little awareness of what is church, let alone God’s church. Thank goodness for Stan Grant, Julia Baird, Michelle McDonald and a few others! God’s love, active in the world will never die.
Sarah’s pastoring, preaching and teaching, along with the efforts of the rest of us, has a much-needed path to follow in our world today. The future is frightening and depressing for many; especially our young people. The being of God’s love, active in the world is there, and we are the mob who have been given the job of sharing it with others. It is a challenge, but if we are facing the light, the shadows lie behind us.
The scripture readings chosen for the day provide some assistance in defining the Church that will benefit from Sarah’s calling. As the psalmist songwriter said, Happy are those … who delight in the law of the Lord … they are like trees planted by streams of water … yielding their fruits .. their leaves do not wither.
In this first Psalm , Sarah found the image of the tree by the river, with roots probing deeply into the living water, to be that of the Church reaching for the wisdom of the Creator. In her words “the roots draw living water from the Author of life, and the light of the sun provides nourishment.”
I hope the Church that will benefit from the work of our new bishop will be more like the Australian River Red Gums. Sometimes their life-giving water cannot even be seen – only a track of rough, gnarled shady sentinels indicating secret channels winding across our outback landscapes. Their roots delve to the depths for the huge created sea below. Their foliage has supplied shelter, material, food, and medicine for many thousands of years for our first inhabitants.
Those ‘red gum churches’ shared God’s love, long before the ‘God boxes’ arrived: the newcomers desired wood for buildings and railway sleepers!
The red gums, the ghost gums, the bunyas and the gidgee are not the same as the trees of King David’s country in the psalm: our trees are tough and sunburnt. One day our Prayer Book will reflect this. I know that the members of the Liturgical Commission are working to allow the gums, the desert silence, the voices of Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders and the urban, city dreamers to flavour our prayers with Ossie reality. No one said it was easy, but the time has come. Our Bishop Sarah will be an enthusiastic part of it.
Our next scripture from the Acts of the Apostles, has Peter considering that it was very important for those following Jesus Christ to know that the ‘lost one’ was replaced.
Maybe it was to specify that the 12 tribes of Israel hadn’t been forgotten.
Maybe to make sure they knew it was a man and not one of those women followers.
Maybe it was tradition- the one chosen had to be an original.
We have in these verses, the ‘amoeba Church’ – the witnesses of the resurrection – the expression of God’s love for all. The institution of the Christian Church with imperialistic tendencies evolved later, but it began with that first company of women and men who experienced the resurrection, and who gave their lives proclaiming the presence of the Risen Christ.
I have seen the Lord, cried Mary Magdalene!
Like them, many have been, and are, open to receive the Spirit.
This is the path presented to Sarah – “to maintain the Church’s witness to the resurrection and promote the Church’s mission in the world”. The history of the amoeba’s growth is extremely interesting and sometimes sickening. It is debatable at times that the Church institution as it evolved, bore much of a resemblance to ‘God’s church’. Diarmaid McCullough’s 1000 odd paged “A History of Christianity” paints a full and vivid picture of the rocky evolution. Our St Alban, whom we celebrate today, didn’t get a mention.
But we remember the British martyr St Alban, who laid down his life for a friend, (John15 :13) and in doing so led others to the truth of the resurrection. To love God, and to love one’s neighbour is life’s meaning and purpose.
An institution – ideally set up aspiring to be God’s Church – cannot exist without women, men and children in a borderless circle of community. There are different functions within the circle for leaders, prophets, bishops and benefactors: all are one in community.
I was taught from a young age that the people are the church and the liturgy is the work of the people. That was an ideal that I accepted, but never saw demonstrated fully. I’ve had 80 odd years to think about it.
Now I see God’s church – that borderless circle of a loving community – as part of the whole creation.
All of life – not just human life – lives in God. God’s Church is a cosmic reality.
It is heartening to hear our diocesan objectives striving to be God’s Church, with the strong emphasis on inclusion and diversity, justice and peace, with connection and relationships, and the aim to follow the Sustainability Roadmap. All these objectives illustrate a striving to safeguard the integrity of creation as a whole.
Sarah will have the opportunity to work for the benefit of the Church, with our help, upholding those ideals. As Matthias had been with the company following Jesus from the very beginning, so Sarah has lived with her Christian family and the Church family since her birth.
Her feet know the earth’s caress, and the ecological pattern of the Creator lies close to her heart.
Our prayer will be for her, that she will be given the will to aim for our diocesan objectives, and the grace and power to achieve them – with us!
Finally, the words chosen for the gospel – the good news! Jesus is using the words of a Jewish prophet as the foundation stones of God’s Church that he is heralding – preaching in a little local synagogue spot – in an unimportant spot called Nazareth – in a spot in the Roman empire – on a spot on a rotating sphere that circled the life-giving sun, – that was a spot in the Milky Way galaxy, that was a spot in the universe …..
The Spirit of the Lord – ‘All That Is’ – is upon me!
Jesus says I have a purpose!
To bring good news to the poor
to proclaim release to the captives
recovery of sight to the blind
to let the oppressed go free
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour……..
And then he sat down!!!!
That was the accepted sign for a preacher – he sat there, on that spot – the greatest preacher!
Today, he said, this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing!
What a gift the evangelist Luke gave us with the way Jesus’ words and actions are presented. They concisely offer the truth of human life and love. Jesus proclaimed a jubilee – a restoration – with a joyful reversal of fortunes – the year of the Lord’s favour – the poor relieved, the captives freed, the blind given sight, the prisoners freed. That was Jesus’ purpose! That is still Jesus’ purpose!
Someone in every generation since, will have been touched by that message – drawn closer to God’s church through this Scripture.
Mind you! Jesus’ own people nearly tossed him over a cliff for it!
Surely, this is the message and the make-up of God’s church on earth in this spot we call home in 2024.
the poor relieved? – to provide food and shelter for the homeless:
the captives freed? – release from captivity for the domestically abused:
the blind given sight ? -compassionate enlightenment for the uneducated and those unaware of corporate lies:
the prisoners freed? – freedom for the constricted and discriminated against, and for those made prisoners by the rising tides of Climate Change.
We are a part of a society that is in need of restoration of life and love in community. Jesus’ purpose and means of restoration have been outlined in our gospel reading. We are all part of the Anglican Church in this large area, and within our Church: there are poor parishes needing relief, there are captives of distance and global change, there are those blind to ways of coping, and some prisoners of tradition or dissonance.
Into that maelstrom of restoration needs, we are dropping our new Bishop!
We may be joyfully welcoming Sarah as our bishop, filled with truth and clothed with holiness, to preach and teach God’s people to the glory of God’s name ….. and the benefit of God’s Church .
But our part is greater than being joyful for her. It is to be there when she needs us, to listen and to work with her, and to hold her in our prayers regularly. We are all a part of that borderless circle of love and loving.
Today is the day! Let us rejoice and be glad in it!
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