Epiphany 5 - Fr. Peter Anthony

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Homily given by Fr Peter Anthony, the Junior Dean of the House on Epiphany 5, 6th February 2011. (Readings: Isa 58.1-9; 1 Cor 2.1-12; Mt 5.13-20)

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I thought the wikileaks scandal was over, but no this week there has been a further release of American diplomatic telegrams, which I have to confess I have found compulsive reading. There was, for example, one from the American ambassador in Bangkok about the habits of the Crown Prince of Thailand. Principal amongst them is an extraordinary fondness for his pet poodle called Foo Foo. So great is the Prince’s affection for Foo Foo that he has decreed the dog be officially accorded the rank of Air Chief Marshal. And indeed the ambassador reported seeing Foo Foo, dressed in a full poodle sized uniform of an Air Chief Marshal. This all took place at a party which the Prince threw for the dog’s birthday. Foo Foo was allowed to jump on to the dining table and to lap from the water glass of several of the guests, who were unable to do anything about it, as there was nobody present with sufficient military rank to be able to order the dog off the table.

What a crazy parallel universe some people live in. Completely disconnected from reality...entirely out of touch with ordinary people. And yet: isn’t that precisely the same accusation that many make against the Church? The Church is plugged into a way of seeing the world that nobody believes in any longer. The Church is out of touch with most people’s aspirations. And sometimes, when one sees its disputes and schisms reported on the TV, it does seem the Church is not all that far being like Foo Foo the poodle. In the Church, we give each other grandiose titles, do we not, that go with splendid outfits, just like Foo Foo. We, too, have curious ritualized meals together. We too are a hierarchy where bishops, just like Foo Foo the poodle, sometimes can’t be contradicted.

But if that ever were the case, the words Jesus addresses to us in today’s gospel go right to the heart of what we need to do about that. “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled underfoot.” What does Jesus mean by describing us as salt? Whatever analogy he is drawing – he is surely saying that the presence of his disciples in the world, like salt, is crucial. The world cannot survive without salt. Salt is what gives taste and savour. It’s what gives food its bite, its reality. We need salt in our bodies for a whole range of chemical processes. Life without salt is impossible.

And so should Jesus’ disciples be to the world. They will be a sign of a crucial essence without which the world would not be the world – the love of God. The Church will be the sacrament of salvation making Christ present, and drawing others to him.

But Jesus makes it plain that it will be possible for us to prevent his presence being seen in the Church. Through our failings, our neglect, or lack of zeal, we can make the Church seem as useless or as ridiculous as Foo Foo the poodle. And the heart of what Jesus tells us in today’s gospel is that when that happens, we can so compromise the Church’s mission in the sight of the world that we become as worthless as salt which has lost its saltiness: “No longer good for anything...thrown out...trampled under foot.”

What can we do about that? I think the Lord is calling us to remember one very simple thing this morning. It is this: for the Christian community genuinely to be the Church we must somehow make a difference. The Christian vocation is not a heroic Palagian struggle to be perfect or respectable; it’s about others seeing Christ alive in us. Wherever we are, whatever the Christian community is that we’re a part of, those around us must see that Christ present in us makes a difference to the world. Be that through running a soup kitchen and thrift shop for the homeless...or hearing the confessions of grand ladies in pearls and fur. It doesn’t matter what it is. To be authentically the Church, we have somehow to make God’s love present in the context where he has placed us. Christian communities that go wrong, shrink, or become dysfunctional, have nine times out of ten, lost sight of that calling: they become self-serving, introspective and ultimately die – but usually not before they have given Christian faith a bad name.

Why should the Church make a difference in the world? Simply because God wants to make a difference in the world. That’s why he sent his Son to die and rise for us. And until he comes again, we are the ones who are privileged enough, through his Spirit, to be his Body in the world; to be nothing less than the face of Jesus to those around us.

Remembrance Sunday - Fr. Peter Anthony

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Homily given by Fr Peter Anthony on Remembrance Sunday, 14th November 2010.

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What is Christian Remembrance?

It sometimes seems as though the main thing that characterises academic life, is the endless attempt to remember things. Collections to be revised for; Final exams with all that cramming. So much information to be remembered. In the midst of all that it’s hardly surprising there are quite a few self-help books around designed to help you improve your memory when it comes to exams. I was reading one the other day full of cunning strategies: spider diagrams; flash cards; even the suggestion that your choice of cologne can make a difference. If you wear the same fragrance on the day of the exam as you did to revise that subject, your mind will apparently be much more able to recall the information you need.

Over the past few weeks we have in a broader sense been in a season of remembering. We have just kept All Souls’ Day, when we remembered before the Lord all the faithful departed. A few days after that was Bonfire Night: “Remember, remember, 5^th November; gunpowder, treason and plot.” And now we keep Remembrance Sunday when we pray for those who have fallen in war.

All those sorts of remembering may seem quite different, but they actually have one thing in common. They all involve fear of forgetting. The fear of forgetting the horrors of war so that similar conflicts should never happen again. The fear of forgetting the cherished memories of our closest loved ones. The fear of getting into the exam room and not knowing the answer. It seems that we remember so that memories are kept alive. We remember to keep the spectre of forgetting at bay.

Is that all that there is to say about Remembrance? Is it just about keeping memories alive, the recalling of past events? I think one of the things we are called to re-discover each year around this time is that for the Christian, Remembrance is much more than that.

The point is this. All too often we think of remembering as something dependent on our efforts. Our ability to recall. Our determination not to forget.

One of the things that today’s commemoration shows us afresh, however, is that when Christians remember the departed, we do so knowing that they live in Christ. When Christians remember, we participate in a living reality. In our baptism, we were incorporated into Christ, made one with him. We were a given a new identity as sons and daughters of God. Not just were we given a new identity but we were given the gift of new life, eternal life with him who triumphed over death. That bond is something which the grave cannot overcome. Even though many years may distance us from those who have died, we share a kinship with them, which is indestructible. We are all brothers and sisters in Christ. We are not just recalling past events, no, through our remembrance, we share in a deep, living, communion with the departed. This is never more evident and more effectual than when we celebrate the Eucharist together just as we did on All Souls’ Day praying particularly for those who have gone before us marked with the sign of faith.

If that is the case, then we discover something else. We discover that we no longer need to be haunted by that terror of forgetting. Christian remembrance is not just about the desperate attempt to keep the memory of our loved ones alive, for we know that in God they will never die. They will never be forgotten.

In fact, in a funny way we discover that Christian remembrance is not about us doing the remembering. Rather it is rejoicing in the fact that it is God who remembers us. He knows us and cherishes us, and remembers us in his Son. We need not fear being forgotten. It is the solemn recognition each year that it is God who remembers us, that we are part of a bigger picture, the bigger picture of life with him that we share with those who have died. When we remember, we are participating in the eternal act of endless remembering and loving which is the life of heaven, that perfect society, where war, violence, and death are no more, and men and women enjoy that eternal peace which is God’s will for us.

New Junior Dean appointed

St Stephen's House will welcome Fr Peter Anthony, currently Assistant Curate of St Mary with Christ Church, Hendon, as Junior Dean in September 2009. Fr Peter will be undertaking postgraduate research in the field of New Testament apocalyptic literature with Professor Christopher Rowland, and Ian Boxall. Having read French and German at Magdalen College, Oxford, and Theology at St Stephen's House (2002-05), he was part of the exchange programme with the Venerable English College in Rome before ordination to the diaconate in 2006. Between leaving Hendon and returning to Oxford, he will be assisting at the Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham.

Former Student praised in Theological Essay Competition

Fr Peter Anthony (SSH 2003-05) has been awarded second prize in the Conference of European Churches 2009 Youth Theological Essay Competition. His essay "Hope: mystery and communion" was praised for its "effective combination of current experience and biblical exegesis, and for its strong ecumenical perspective."

Entrants were invited to submit a short essay on the relevance of hope in contemporary European culture with particular reference to the 2009 Conference Assembly's theme, "Called to one hope in Christ".

Entries from across Europe were submitted but Fr Peter's work, along with two other entrances, will be rewarded by the presentation of awards at the 13th Assembly of the Conference of European Churches at Lyon in July this year.

Fr Peter, who is currently serving as Assistant Curate in Hendon, will be returning to St Stephen's House in September 2009 to undertake postgraduate research on apocalyptic literature in the New Testament.

The CEC Press Release can be viewed here.