One of the things that a priest has to deal with when they first come to a parish, is the influence of their predecessor. That might be good influence on the people of the parish, but it’s very rarely quite so good as the people in the parish think it is. A new priest can usually see the good that their predecessor has done, but they can also see what their predecessor has done that isn’t so good, and perhaps what they simply haven’t done at all. And because the people in a parish have become so used to the ways of their old priest, especially if that priest has been in the parish for a long time, a new priest can usually see these things in a way that the people in a parish can’t. And so, among the most common things a new parish priest has to contend with when they first move into a new parish is people telling them what was or wasn’t done when their predecessor, Fr so and so, was here.
In a sense, it’s quite understandable that this should happen, but it does make the job of a new parish priest harder than it should be. They can usually see what a parish needs to do, and especially how it needs to change in order to move on and grow but, because people are so used to the ways of their old parish priest, they very often don’t see things in that way. They’re usually quite happy with the way things are and so they don’t want to change, and at times they simply won’t change and, if the new priest insists on doing things differently, they sometimes can, and do, stop going to church. If we think about it, I’m sure we all know people who’ve left this church because they don’t like what I’ve done or said, or not done and said as the case may be. Whether what I’ve done or said, or not done and said is right or not has been completely irrelevant to the people concerned, they’ve left this church simply because my ways are not the same as those of my predecessor as parish priest here. That this happens is, as I say, understandable in a way, but that doesn’t make it right, or even alright, because what this boils down to at the end of the day is simply the cult of personality and, as Jesus implies in this morning’s Gospel, there is no place for that in the Church, and there should be no place for it in the minds and hearts of Christians.
Jesus tells us that, whoever comes to us in God’s name, whether that be disciple, prophet or other holy person, they should be welcomed as such, as someone who’s come to us in God’s name to help us to follow God and God’s ways more closely. And that should apply whether that person is a new parish priest or simply a new member of the congregation.
I’ve mentioned about how the work of a new parish priest can be made more difficult by people’s inability, or even refusal, to welcome them as Christ says we should, but how often have we come across a situation where a new member of a congregation has been ignored or perhaps even told to shut up, simply because they are new members of a congregation, as though that, in some way, makes them lacking in, or incapable of understanding and therefore incapable of having anything worth saying about the faith or about Christian discipleship to older or longer standing members of the Church? This happens too and yet, in my experience, those who are new to the Church and to the faith are often those who are most worth listening to because their faith and their enthusiasm for the faith hasn’t been tempered by Church politics or the like. Their faith is very often a pure and simple faith, and they often see things that more established members of the Church have lost sight of because of their involvement in the human institution of the Church. And so they are worth listening to. I see and hear this time and time again when I go into St Gabriel’s school to lead worship there. In one sense, children don’t understand, but in another way their understanding is quite amazing at times. What I mean by that is, If we invited a child to a PCC meeting and asked them what was going on, they might very well say that they don’t know, but if we asked them about the Christian faith, they might very well surprise us about just how much they do know and how well they do understand. But who would listen to a child who tried to teach us something about the Christian faith? Wouldn’t people be much more likely to think, and perhaps say, “What do you know about it?” and either tell them to be quiet or just ignore them?
The Church is Christ’s creation so it’s a divine institution, but it’s also a human institution because it’s organised and run by human beings, and as a human institution it’s flawed because human beings are flawed. And one of the ways the Church is flawed is by the cult of personality. The Church can, and often does, see and treat people just like the world, or at least the society the Church exists in, sees and treats people. But this is not the way the Church should be and, as this morning’s Gospel implies, it’s not the way Christ intended the Church to be.
One of the great disputes in Church history was the Donatist Controversy which raged during the 3rd and 4th Centuries. One of the issues in this controversy was whether the personal qualities of a minister affected the validity of the sacraments. In other words, if the priest wasn’t a good person, if they weren’t perfectly holy, did that invalidate the sacraments they administered. The Donatists argued that it did whereas the Catholic wing of the Church argued that the personal qualities of the priest were irrelevant to the validity of the sacraments they administered. It boiled down to an argument about whether the sacraments were effective on account of the one who works, i.e. on the personal qualities of the minister, or were they effective on account of the work itself, which is the work of grace and of Christ. In the end, the Catholic view prevailed and quite rightly so. As Pope Innocent III said in the late 12th Century, in defending the Catholic view,
“…the sickness of a doctor does not destroy the power of his medicine.”
Or, as one of the Church of England’s 39 Articles of Religion puts it,
Although in the visible Church the evil be ever mingled with the good, and sometimes the evil have chief authority in the Ministration of the Word and Sacraments, yet forasmuch as they do not the same in their own name, but in Christ’s, and do minister by his commission and authority, we may use their Ministry, both in hearing the Word of God, and in receiving of the Sacraments. Neither is the effect of Christ’s ordinance taken away by their wickedness, nor the grace of God’s gifts diminished from such as by faith and rightly do receive the Sacraments ministered unto them; which be effectual, because of Christ’s institution and promise, although they be ministered by evil men.
Obviously, this is concerned with the worthiness or otherwise of priests and so it does have a direct bearing on what I said earlier about the cult of personality that can make a new parish priest’s work so much more difficult than it should be when they first move into a parish. But it also applies to anyone who comes to us in God’s name, however they come to us and whatever they come to us to do. Who they are and what they are matters less than what they do, and if what they do is from God, who they are and what they are shouldn’t matter to us at all. The fact is though, that all too often, who and what someone is does matter to us and it does affect the value we place on what they say and do.
For example, since I’ve been here as your vicar, I’ve spoken about a number of things that we could, and probably should, do in order to move the parish forward and to stimulate some growth. But very often, the response I’ve had has been something along the lines of,
“We’ve never done this kind of thing here before.”
But what is that response other than another way of saying,
“The last vicar didn’t ask us to do this so why should we do it now?”
Well, perhaps the last vicar didn’t ask you to do these things, but what has what you did under the last vicar that got to do with it? Perhaps the last vicar should have asked you to do them. In any case, times change and what was done and worked 30, 20 and even 10 years ago probably isn’t going to work, or at least not work so well, now.
Or let me put it another way. Twice in the last few weeks I’ve been in the company of people who’ve disagreed about something to do with the Church or the Christian faith. One has said something, the other has disagreed, and they’ve argued. In the end they’ve asked for my opinion and, I’ve had to say that the person who made the first statement was right. And that’s settled the issue, the other person has then accepted what was said. As a priest I am ordained and am here as your vicar to settle this kind of dispute by giving advice and teaching, but if something said about the Church or the faith is true, does it really matter who says it? It shouldn’t, but clearly, it does.
The Donatist Controversy, which I spoke about a little earlier, took place in North Africa. Now, that’s a predominantly Muslim part of the world, but then it was strongly Christian. For many people it was the ravages of the Donatist Controversy, the damage it did to the Church, that enabled Islam to displace Christianity and become the dominant religion of that part of the world. But have we learned anything from that? In spite of the fact that the Catholic view of sacramental efficacy won out all those years ago, are we really any better than the Donatists at looking beyond personalities, at looking beyond who and what people are so that we can see what they might be offering to us in God’s name, to the gifts that God might be offering to us in and through them?
Jesus said that those who welcome a prophet, a holy man or a disciple will receive their reward. I think the implication is that the opposite is also true, if we don’t welcome those who come to us in God’s name we’ll lose our reward. I’m sure we all want our heavenly reward, so let’s rid ourselves of the cult of personality and start to look beyond who and what people are so that we can see what God might be trying to give is in and through each and every person whoever and whatever they are.
Amen.
Propers for the 13th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Trinity 4) 2nd July 2023
Entrance Antiphon
All nations clap your hands.
Shout with a voice of joy to God.
The Collect
O God, the protector of all who trust in you,
without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy:
increase and multiply upon us your mercy;
that with you as our ruler and guide,
we may so pass through things temporal,
that we lose not our hold on things eternal;
grant this, heavenly Father,
for our Lord Jesus Christ’s sake,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
The Readings
Missal (St Mark’s)
1 Kings 4:8-11, 14-16
Psalm 89:2-3, 16-19
Romans 6:3-4, 8-11
Matthew 10:37-42
RCL (St Gabriel’s)
Jeremiah 28:5-9
Psalm 89:1-4, 15-18
Romans 6:12-23
Matthew 10:40-42
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 