May 24, 2009

Christianity’s Family Tree: Anglicanism

Religion and Politics

Luke 5:12-16

Opening Words: There are six billion people in the world today. Two billion profess to be Christians. What links all these believers together is the very first creed of the church. We find it in Romans 10:9. It says, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” From the very beginning the early church knew the importance of the resurrection. It separates us from the rest of the world. Over two thousand years later, the only thing that still really matters is your belief in the resurrection, everything thing else is secondary.

We continue our look at Christianity’s family tree. To date, we have looked at the Orthodox Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church and the Presbyterian Church. Today, we look at the Episcopal Church. There are 77 million Anglicans in the world today. There are 2.3 million Episcopalians in the United States. In your most recent edition of the AT&T phone book you will find seven Episcopal congregations within the Mahoning Valley. It is a sad list because two of the church’s are now closed, St. Andrews and St. Rocco. How many people here today once proudly called themselves an Episcopalian? We are instructed today for the fifth chapter of Luke, verses twelve through sixteen. Let me call this message Religion and Politics.

Luke 5:12-16 12While Jesus was in one of the towns, a man came along who was covered with leprosy. When he saw Jesus, he fell with his face to the ground and begged him, "Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean."

13Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. "I am willing," he said. "Be clean!" And immediately the leprosy left him. 14Then Jesus ordered him, "Don't tell anyone, but go, show yourself to the priest and offer the sacrifices that Moses commanded for your cleansing, as a testimony to them." 15Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. 16But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.

I love the story of the elderly gentleman, who was sitting on a park bench, basking in the sun, when another elderly fellow sat down. They looked at each other for a moment but did not speak. Both men sat there, staring straight ahead. After a while, one of them heaved a big, heartfelt sigh. The other jumped up immediately and said, "If you're going to talk politics, I'm leaving." As a general rule there are two things we should never talk about in public, religion and politics. Today we are going to talk about both! Today we are going to talk about the Episcopal Church!

The Episcopal Church is different from any other branch on Christianity’s family tree because it is the only church that was started for political reasons. The historical character that founded the Episcopal Church was England’s King Henry VIII. He did not want to reform the church nor was he a great theologian. He was a politician! As King of England he longed for a son to succeed him on the throne. The problem was he didn’t have any sons. His wife of twenty-four years, Katharine of Aragon produced no heirs. Together they did produce two children. One was a son, who lived only two months. The other was a girl, Mary, who would succeed him on the throne.

The lack of a male heir troubled Henry and he began to ask the question, “why?” Not being a scientific man, he began to feel that his marriage was cursed. He was the king so he could not be the problem. The problem must be his wife, Katharine. He concluded that their union was cursed because she had been the widow of his deceased brother. In other words, he had married his sister-in-law. (I have just been to Florida, where I stayed with my sister-in-law and let me say this clearly. It is not going to happen!) Combine his superstitions and his romantic interest in Ann Boleyn and the dye was cast. King Henry VIII asked the Pope in Rome for an annulment from Katharine but he is denied. At that point in time many held strong feelings against the Roman Catholic Church so Henry simply expelled the Catholic Church from England, making himself, the King, the head of the new Church of England. He gave himself the annulment to Katharine of Aragon and married the sixteen year younger Ann Boleyn. However, their marriage was not made in heaven, either. Three years later, 1536, he had her beheaded on the crowds of adultery. She was replaced by Jane Seymour, who was replaced by three other wives. It is interesting to note that Henry was replaced on the throne by his sickly son, Edward IV. His mother was Jane Seymour. King Edward IV came to the throne when he was nine years old and died seven years later. The life of King Henry VIII illustrates for us the simple fact we all know. Religion and politics don’t mix.

In the next twenty-five years the English crown changed several times. Sometimes the crown supported Roman Catholicism. Sometimes the crown supported the Protestant Reformers. The religious state of England was in constant flux. However, that all changed in 1558 when Elizabeth I came to the throne. She introduced something called Via Media. In other words, she wanted to find a common ground between the Roman Catholic tradition and the Protestantism. It is this idea of Via Media that formed the Anglican or Episcopal Church that we know today. From the Catholic side she embraced a three fold ministry, bishop, priest and deacon. She also embraced the seven sacraments, stressing baptism and communion. From the Protestant side she accepted the idea that clergy could marry and women could be ordained. There is nothing within the Anglican tradition that discourages laity to take positions of leadership. You can now rest easy the history lesson is over. If you are glad the history lesson is over say, “Amen!”

One of the great buildings in the Youngstown area is St. John’s Episcopal Church on Wick Avenue. If you have never been inside of that structure then you must go. The Gothic architecture is truly impressive. It is much more European in style than American. I have sat in her sanctuary in the middle of the week alone and felt close to God. I can only imagine what that church was like when downtown Youngstown was the focal point of our community.

Years ago I was in a Lenten service at St. John’s. The little crowd huddled in the choir loft of that massive sanctuary. We prayed, song songs, read scripture, heard a message and shared what the various churches that we represented were doing in the community to serve Christ. We heard about food pantries, free clothing, transportation for the old, after school programs for the young and free home maintenance. Each program was impressive but the Episcopal priest’s response from St. John’s stood out. He said, “We worship every week and we believe we are making a difference in this community.” This sounds very arrogant but those words seemed sort of shallow. I love worship but standing next to those other ministries that word, worship, seemed kind of frail. This is my confession for this week. It wasn’t until I wrote this message that I understood what the priest was saying. In the Anglican tradition nothing is more valued than worship and prayer. It is in worship and prayer that we re balance our lives. How many people do you know that live their lives out of balance? The Anglican tradition says, “We are going to change our world, one heart at a time.”

So what I want to do today is look at the two things that the Anglican tradition values above everything else, worship and prayer. The goal of both worship and prayer is having a relation with God. There are many ways to have a relationship with God but worship and prayer are central in that quest. Without worship and prayer we can not have a relationship with God. Worship and prayer focus us. Worship and prayer help us to develop an eternal prospective. How many people do you know only worry about the here and now? The Anglican tradition tells us worship and prayer are required if you really want a relationship with God. So if are ready to learn from the Anglican’s traditional understanding of worship and prayer so you can apply it to your own spiritual development say, “Amen!”

Worship

The Episcopal Church says that if you want to live a balanced life then you must participate in public worship. Barclay quotes William Temple, the renowned archbishop of Canterbury, as defining worship as quickening the conscience by the holiness of God, feeding the mind with the truth of God, purging the imagination by the beauty of God, opening the heart to the love of God, and devoting the will to the purpose of God.

During the tenure of the great orator Henry Ward Beecher, a visiting minister (Beecher's brother) once substituted for the popular pastor. A large audience had already assembled to hear Beecher, and when the substitute pastor stepped into the pulpit, several disappointed listeners began to move toward the exits. That's when the minister stood and said loudly, "All who have come here today to worship Henry Ward Beecher may now withdraw from the church. All who have come to worship God keep your seats!"

When you came to church today did you come to worship God or did you come to church today for other reasons? Did anyone come to church today because it is just part of the Sunday morning routine? Did anyone come to church today to see friends? Did anyone come to church today simply out of duty? Did anyone come to church today because I wasn’t on vacation? (There are some people who only come when I am on vacation.) Did anyone come to church today to simply worship God? We believe in an omnipresent God, a God that is everywhere. You can experience God anywhere, the golf coarse, your bedroom, walking in the woods or climbing a mountain. But let us be honest. Your best chance at experience God is not at those places. Worship is not a form of relaxation. Worship is experiencing God and your best chance of experiencing God is at church. A great part of my job is designing worship in a way so you can experience God so you can refocus your life. When you came to church today did you come to experience God? If you came to experience the God of the universe say, “Amen!”

Prayer

The Episcopal Church says that if you want to live a balanced life then you must have an active prayer life. Robert E. Lee once said, “Knowing that intercessory prayer is our mightiest weapon and the supreme call for all Christians today, I pleadingly urge our people everywhere to pray. Believing that prayer is the greatest contribution that our people can make in this critical hour, I humbly urge that we take time to pray--to really pray. Let there be prayer at sunup, at noonday, at sundown, at midnight--all through the day. Let us all pray for our children, our youth, our aged, our pastors, our homes. Let us pray for our churches. Let us pray for ourselves, that we may not lose the word 'concern' out of our Christian vocabulary. Let us pray for our nation. Let us pray for those who have never known Jesus Christ and redeeming love, for moral forces everywhere, for our national leaders. Let prayer be our passion. Let prayer be our practice.” It is interesting to note that Robert E. Lee valued prayer and was an Episcopalian.

The Anglican tradition holds fast to the Latin phase Lex Orandi, Lex Credendi. It literally means “the law of prayer and the law of belief. Prayer should shape everything that we do. Without prayer, it is impossible to live as God desires. The Book of Common Prayer directs their prayer life in many ways. They are directed to pray at several specific times everyday. They pray in the morning. They are directed to pray at noon and they are directed to pray at sunset. They are directed to pray because prayer refocus’ their lives.

They point to scriptures like this morning’s scripture lesson. Jesus has been ministering to the crowd. He has just healed a man of leprosy. The crowd is excited and can’t stop talking. The crowd is talking but what is Jesus doing? Verse 16 tells us Jesus went off alone to pray, to refocus. That story does not stand alone. There are many stories were Jesus retreated to pray, to refocus. Before he selected the disciples, after he fed the five thousand, as he prepared to died, Jesus took time to pray so he refocus his life.

How much time in your life do you spend in prayer? Some research tells us the average pastor only prays three minutes a day. The Anglican tradition tells us that is not good enough. What do they say? Without prayer, there is no way to live as God desires. If you think you could spend a little more time in prayer say, “Amen!”

Maybe Plato was right? He said, “The penalty that good men pay for not being interested in politics is to be governed by men worse than themselves.” Maybe that is a lesson for our time? Maybe it is a lesson for all times? I know! Never talk about religion or politics. However, today I had to talk about religion and politics. That is the history of the Anglican tradition or the Episcopal Church. They teach there is only one way to keep your life in balance. That is in the spiritual disciplines, namely worship and prayer. If you think you can use worship and prayer in spiritual development say, “Amen!”