WE WALK BY FAITH

by Bishop David Chislett SSC

Every now and then a situation arises in which there is a real challenge from God to step out in faith. I want to tell you the true story of how an unimportant pastor of a small South African church falteringly rose to the occasion and ended up doing something really significant for God and the proclamation of the Gospel.

At Easter time last year the pastor heard of the impact that Mel Gibson’s film “The Passion of the Christ” had made in the USA. The film was shortly to screen in South Africa.

One day, during his devotions, the pastor felt moved by God to contact the distributor of the film to see how widely it would be screened. The woman in charge told him that nine prints of the film would be coming to South Africa. The pastor heard himself say, “That’s not good enough! If you only bring nine prints of that film into South Africa you will be making the biggest mistake of your entire career and miss your window of opportunity.” She said, “Well, I know what happened in America, but do you really think that can happen in South Africa?” The pastor replied, “Well, I’ll do whatever it takes. I’ll get every priest and every pastor on board, because God wants this to happen in our country.”

The pastor felt sick in his stomach even as he spoke, for he realized that she thought he must be a real big shot, and would actually depend on him to make a success of the film. The woman gave him just one week to rally South African clergy for some free screenings, and by organizing his family and a handful of laypeople from his small congregation to make phone call after phone call all over South Africa, they managed to get over one thousand clergy to attend. To cut a long story short, the clergy became aware of the power of this tool coming into their hands, and support for Mel Gibson’s film soared. The number of prints went from nine to sixty, and the entire nation watched the film. It was the second greatest blockbuster of all time in South Africa.

As a result, the pastor was invited to give a live interview on “20/20”, one of South Africa’s most popular television programs, watched by 25 million people.

He was frightened. “I’m in way over my head” he said to himself, and in his panic he prayed to the Lord.

He then remembered that passage in which Jesus told his disciples not to be anxious about how or what they were to answer or what they were to say when dragged before the authorities, because, said Jesus, “the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.” (Luke 12:12)

So, in obedience to what he believed was the prodding of God, but feeling that he lacked the communication skills and the necessary gifts to be interviewed on that program, he forced himself to turn up to the television studio, nervously praying all the way.

The interviewer, an unbeliever, began by saying “I’ve watched 36 movies about Jesus. Why is this one so special?”

The pastor tells of how once more he felt a stirring within, and opened his mouth and heard himself say that the reason why this film is the most powerful and most controversial is that it focuses on the last twelve hours of Jesus’ life . . . not the incarnation, his teaching, or even his resurrection . . . but the last twelve hours, and because it focuses on those last twelve hours, it is all about the Blood of Jesus - the most powerful thing this world will ever encounter.

The pastor was able to speak about the powerful and precious Blood that Jesus shed on the cross out of love for me and for you cleansing us from sin (1 John 1:7), purifying our consciences (Hebrews 9:14), giving us victory over the powers of evil (Revelation 12:11), enabling us to enter into the very sanctuary of heaven (Hebrews 10:19), and reconciling us to the Father (Colossians 1:20). This ordinary pastor of an ordinary church had been used by God to turn the gaze of millions to Calvary that day.

I tell you that true story, firstly because it inspires me to accept the circumstances we face here at All Saints’ Wickham Terrace, not as a problem created by our foes, but as a challenge of faith presented to us by God. On the scale of things we are just a small community of people, and very ordinary at that! – but in the same way that God used the pastor of a small South African church who was prepared to step out in faith, so he will use us if we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7), trusting only in his goodness and love. Like that pastor, we need to rise to the challenge God has given us, not to lose our nerve, even as we realize, in the words of Eddie Rickenbacker, that

“Courage is only seen in times of fear. Unless you are afraid, you cannot be courageous.”

God will give us courage and strength.

There is a danger in “shrine churches” like All Saints’, and that is the temptation to become so concerned about our own security that we never allow God to move us out of our comfort zone. Like that South African pastor and his small flock, we must realize that the stand we are taking for the Gospel and the Faith is not just (or even primarily) for ourselves; it is for the benefit of people all over this land who need the Gospel and the Catholic Faith as we understand and experience those realities.

The Forward in Faith vision is not about being safe and timid; it is about evangelization, mission and the provision of the authentic sacraments of Jesus to his people, whatever that takes!

The second reason I told you that story is because Pope John Paul II proclaimed this year to be the “Year of the Eucharist”, and the holy Apostle Paul tells us that

“the cup of blessing which we bless, is . . . a communion in the blood of Christ”
(1 Corinthians 10:16).

The Eucharist, the Mass, is all about the precious Blood of Jesus! Our Lord himself said,

“This cup is the new covenant in my blood” (1 Corinthians 11:25).

In the late 1960’s the black American Gospel singer, André Crouch wrote a song about the Precious Blood. It is a very moving song, and one that we used as a Communion Hymn in Masses with contemporary music back in those days. It goes like this:

The blood that Jesus shed for me
way back on Calvary,
The blood that gives me strength from day to day,
It will never lose its power.

It reaches to the highest mountain;
It flows to the lowest valley;
the blood that gives me strength from day to day
It will never lose its power

It soothes my doubt and calms my fears,
and it dries all my tears;
The Blood that gives me strength from day to day
it will never lose its power.

Now that is a real turn-off for liberal Christians like Bishop Spong and his friends, including those who are just “high church” but not real Catholics! For them talking about the Blood of Jesus is barbaric, outmoded and offensive.

But Evangelicals know about those astonishing twelve hours when this world encountered the most powerful event in human history.

Catholics go further. We believe all that Evangelicals teach – we really do! - but we also know that in the daily offering of the Sacrifice of Love we actually gather on Calvary’s Hill where that Precious Blood flows for our forgiveness, healing and deliverance, for the blessing of those for whom we pray and for the redemption of the created order itself. “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” asks the old spiritual. The answer is “yes, yes, a thousand times yes!” We have all been to Mass so often. So many times we have stood with Mary and John at the foot of the cross asking that Jesus’ Blood in all its power and grace fall upon us, to cleanse us, to liberate us, and to deepen our covenant union with the Lord. And in the timelessness of that anamnetic moment we have been simultaneously swept up into the eschaton where, with the angels, the saints, and that great multitude which no man can number, we have entered the heavenly sanctuary through the same shed Blood and we worship Jesus the God-Man whose Sacrifice of Love is still our focal point, for, according to the Bible, there he is at the heart of the heavenly worship as “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). One of my favourite New Testament texts puts it this way:

You have already come “to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven, and to a judge who is God of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks more graciously than the blood of Abel." (Hebrews 12:22-24)

That is actually the whole point of this parish where the Gospel of Jesus is lived and proclaimed, and an altar is set up so that in the midst of the hustle and bustle and all the secular business of Brisbane the Lord’s great Sacrifice of Love is continually offered, lifting us out of time into eternity, blurring the boundary between this world and the next, and sanctifying our little corner of space and time. The Mass is both intimate and awesome.

And, yet, in so much modern worship it is trivialized and there is an absence of reverence, awe, wonder and real praise. I believe that where the power of the Precious Blood shed on Calvary’s hill is not understood, the Mass automatically degenerates into a kind of ritualized chummy fellowship meal. It becomes completely horizontalised. I thank God every day for our wonderful Anglican-Catholic tradition of homely but reverent and awesome worship. It makes me think of a passage attributed by eastern Christians to S. James the Apostle:

“When the moment of Consecration is arriving, every one should be silent, and trembling with reverential awe; he should forget everything earthly, remembering that the King of Kings and Lord of Lords is coming down upon the altar as a victim to be offered to God the Father, and as food to be given to the Faithful; He is preceded by the Angelic choirs, in full splendor, with their faces veiled, singing hymns of praise with great joy.”

Echoing this, the Council of Oxford said in 1408:

“. . . the whole heavenly court is present during the Mass and if we had faith, we could see these Angelic hosts gathered around the altar in prayer during the Mass.”

S. Francis of Assisi maintained that

“Man should tremble, the world should vibrate, all heaven should be deeply moved when the Son of God appears on the altar in the hands of the priest.”

And that loveliest of women saints, Bridget of Sweden even tells of a revelation she received in church:

“One day, when a priest was celebrating Mass, I saw, at the moment of Consecration, how all the powers of heaven were set in motion. I heard, at the same time, a heavenly music, most harmonious, most sweet. Numberless Angels came down, the chant of whom no human understanding could conceive, nor the tongue of man describe. They surrounded and looked upon the priest, bowing towards him in reverential awe. The devils commenced to tremble, and took to flight in greatest confusion and terror.”

May God give us the grace during this Year of the Eucharist to worship "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24), to humble ourselves before the self-giving of the King of Glory in the Blessed Sacrament, and share with others our testimony of the power of his Precious Blood so that they, too, might come to know him as their Saviour and Lord.

. . . In three months’ time, I will have been your priest for ten years. From my point of view it has been ten years of hard work, blood sweat and tears, but also unnumbered blessings (from both God and you!), spiritual friendships and real growth. The Parish Nominators will confirm to you the enormous difficulties they had ten years ago in securing someone they deemed to be a “real Catholic”.

It is absolutely true that because of the sacramental uncertainties permeating the ordinary life of Brisbane Diocese since the purported ordination of women to the priesthood, I bit the bullet and told Archbishop Hollingworth that I could not in conscience come unless he agreed that neither he nor his assistant bishops would seek to celebrate sacraments at All Saints’. That is in accordance with the Forward in Faith Communion Statement. To my surprise, Archbishop Hollingworth agreed, and I felt able to come and be your Rector.

Indeed, it was one of the major “signs” that persuaded me it was God’s will that I accept the Parish. In one of those “coincidences” of the Holy Spirit, the Archbishop of Papua New Guinea decided to retire to Brisbane at the same time, and so during this last ten years we have had a wonderful relationship with Bishop Bevan as “our” bishop in terms of sacramental acts.

Now, Archbishop Aspinall has said (in writing) that while he won’t come barging in at this stage, he does not intend to continue the undertaking given by Archbishop Hollingworth. That is a huge problem for us. And it is perfectly consistent with the way that the liberals have withdrawn conscience clauses in Canada and the USA as soon as they thought they could get away with it. I say this not to be argumentative, but simply to point out that although in all our dealings with the Archbishop we must be courteous and Christian, we must also stand firm and stand together over these matters of principle. Otherwise, All Saints’ will become just another liberal parish with a “high church” flavour.

I have made available today (especially for those who are relatively new to the parish) my first Annual Meeting address to you, entitled, “Can Catholics Still be Anglicans?” It was really my policy speech, and everything that we have done over the last ten years has been according to the principles contained in it. I say this, because it is still clear to me that to depart from the example of Jesus, the consistent teaching of the Bible, and the unbroken practice of the Catholic Church in a matter as central as ordination to the priesthood, robs God’s people of the sacramental reality of which I spoke in the introductory section of this address. It’s as simple as that!

Besides that, we are not PRIMARILY Anglicans! I made that point ten years ago. Parishes like All Saints’ are not for Anglicans who just have high church aesthetic preferences! We are, first of all, CHRISTIANS; then secondly, we are CATHOLICS; thirdly, we are EVANGELICALS; and fourthly we are ANGLICANS. Now don’t get me wrong. There are many things in the Anglican way of being a catholic Christian that I love with all my heart and which I hope we will be able to give the whole Church one day. But that doesn’t change the order of our allegiance.

The vast majority of parishes in England and in the USA whose members think like that belong to Forward in Faith, whose Mission Statement I put before you ten years ago. You remember, it says:

“We seek an ecclesial structure in which our children and grandchildren can grow in faith; which will continue the orders of bishop, and priest as the Church has received them; and which can guarantee a true sacramental life”.

At that Annual Meeting you voted overwhelmingly – with only one abstention – that All Saints’ should join Forward in Faith - a network of parishes mostly in England and the USA, which helps people like us to feel that we’re not an eccentric sideshow across the road from the real thing; but rather that we are the ones who are utterly sound and mainstream in what we believe.

I beg your prayers for the immediate future as we seek to establish alternative episcopal oversight in this country to inspire the halfhearted, the depressed, the downtrodden - those priests and people who have thrown in the towel - to recapture the vision of faith I laid before you at the start of this address, and to re-establish orthodoxy in places where it has all but vanished.

If I may be personal, can I say I really need your prayers more than ever just at this moment with ministry as a bishop up ahead, a ministry that can and ought to be carried out in the wider church from this base here at All Saints’. I have been so deeply moved by many expressions of love and support as my name emerged for this wider ministry, and they have come from truly surprising sources, including some of the liberal bishops elsewhere in Australia. But I have also been exposed to a level of personal attack and vitriol that has shaken me to the core of my being. This has been a very lonely year for me. Keep the prayers going! I can honestly say that I’m looking forward to my next ten years as your Rector, and I hope that is what God wants! Pray, too, for the Forward in Faith National Conference in Melbourne in November the theme of which is “Shaping Our Future”, and sign up for it if you can as soon as application forms are available.

One of the really significant things that happened over the last twelve months was the ordination of our own Nigel Zimmermann to the sacred Priesthood. Bishop Ross Davies asked me to preach the sermon that day, and as I looked at Nigel and spoke of the spiritual journey that had brought him to that point, I thought of quite a number of you who had been so important to him from his early days in the parish to when he left as a Deacon for Murray Bridge. He will soon begin his Doctorate. It was wonderful to be at the party to celebrate Father Nigel’s engagement to Christine Mulford, an All Saints’ girl who is working away on her Doctorate in Edinburgh. I believe that the hand of the Lord rests mightily on this young couple, and that they will be greatly used in the new evangelization in which they so passionately believe.

There are other vocations to the priesthood being nurtured among us, as well as vocations to a range of other ministries. That is another reason for pressing on with the Forward in Faith vision.

We are moving FORWARD IN FAITH together; we are growing and making an impact, by the grace of God, on the lives of new people; and if we work and pray together, supporting one another with the different gifts God has given us, we will continue to do great things with and for him.

May God bless us, and may Our Lady and all the Saints pray for us in this next year of our life together.

From the Rector's Address to the Annual General Meeting
of All Saints' Wickham Terrace, 6th February, 2005