The Rev'd Curate Stephen E. Stults
St. Thomas of Canterbury Reformed Episcopal Church
October 14, 2007
Oxford Martyrs’ Day - 19th Sunday After Trinity 2007
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Power and Faithfulness.
"Blessed are you when men hate you, And when they exclude you, And revile you, and cast out your name as evil, For the Son of Man's sake. Rejoice in that day and leap for joy! For indeed your reward is great in heaven, For in like manner their fathers did to the prophets." (NKJ-Luke 6:22)
Later, in the same chapter, we read: Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, "Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?" And I said to him, "Sir, you know." So he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Today, we celebrate the feast of Oxford Martyr’s Day, in which we commemorate the fiery deaths of Bishops Ridley, Latimer and Cranmer. These men helped Henry VIII and later, Edward VI, to bring about the birth of the English Church, under the principles of the Protestant Reformation begun by Luther, Zwingli and others on the European continent. By 1556, Henry was long since dead and even his young son Edward went into eternal rest at the tender age of sixteen years.
Edward’s early death was to change the religious scene in England. Upon his death, the way was open for the ascension of Mary, who was to inflict five years of repression and terror on Protestants. Mary was a firm believer in the Papacy. She felt that Rome had a valid claim to supremacy in churchly matters and sought to bring the nation back under its control.
These were the men who so believed in the principles upon which our church is based and what we hold to be true: the primacy of Holy Scripture, justification by faith, the privilege of approaching God the Father through the advocacy of Jesus Christ without the mediation of a priest, and the abolishment of Church traditions alien to Holy Scripture. These are important issues and ones for which many gave all. Lest anyone think, however, that I am “bashing” the Roman Church and the English authorities for burning the Bishops, let me state emphatically that I am not. We all know, to Christianity’s shame, that burnings and executions occurred on both sides of the Reformation, in England and on the Continent. This is both lamentable and regrettable. Yet, this is not to say that the Church did not need reformation, or that the Reformers did not have valid reasons for their arguments or their stances on the issues. They did, as the medieval Church sorely needed reforming from the abuses and corruption into which she had lapsed. This is indisputable and it is a topic for a complete sermon in itself, as one could describe the morass of worldliness, lust for power, and desire for material accumulation in which the medieval Church was enmeshed. In God’s mysterious Will, He raised up certain men to reform His Church; this they did, at great cost. We do not rail against various denominations or even the situations and circumstances in which they were engaged. To do this is sinful. What we lament is the blackness of the human heart and the fallen nature of mankind that leads to abuses, persecutions and perversions of God’s Holy Church. When men and women, of whatever persuasion they may be, attempt to use God’s Word and His Church to pursue earthly means or personal gain, great evil always occurs. For example, the issue of earthly power was one of the key areas of contention in the Reformation. Was the world subject to the practice of one form of Christianity, with one head, as the medieval Church claimed, or did men have the freedom to establish national churches, with differing local practices? Were all the kingdoms of the earth under the authority of one man, through the auspices of the Church, as was claimed, or did individual kingdoms have the right to rule themselves? Finally, was it possible for every man to approach God through Jesus Christ, or was it necessary to seek the rites of Holy Mother Church as the only possible means of salvation? These were the questions being asked by men of thought everywhere. No doubt, one can see the tensions erupting here, as the entrenched, often corrupt practices of the medieval Church met with the robust strivings of developing nation states. This, combined with questionable Scriptural and theological practices, in the light of the newly liberated Word of God, made the Reformation a necessity. Bibles were now plentiful, many people were devout and zealous for the Word, and they yearned for liberty from their ecclesiastical masters. This is not to say that architects of the English Reformation, such as Henry VIII, were completely pure in their intentions. That is, Henry’s motives were not purely theological, but also had their basis in desire for the regal aggrandizement. For example, Henry saw the vast holdings of the pre-reformation English church and desired them for his own means. Personally, I think that the suppression of the monasteries during the so-called “Pilgrimage of Grace” was a great evil and a great tragedy, crushing priceless medieval culture under the heel of secular power. Yet, at the same time, Henry was theologian enough to realize the abuses of the medieval Church. Thus, he had a willing ear for Archbishop Cranmer’s reformations. In the mixed bag of human history and in the glory of God’s mysterious Will, the medieval Roman church in England was abolished and the new Church of England began. The various abuses and errors of the old were swept away and the new, if not tumultuous era of the National Church had begun. That being said, let us briefly review the major theological issues that sparked the Reformation. We’ve already mentioned the phenomenon of the newly emerging nation state, which had a lot to do with the desire for national churches and freedom from Rome. We, as modern-day Anglicans, need to celebrate several dearly-won and long-cherished traditions and beliefs of the Reformation, for they hold great value and meaning to us today. First, is the primacy of Holy Scripture. We Anglicans believe that Holy Scripture contains all that is necessary for salvation and that it is the divinely inspired, inerrant Word of God. We believe that Scripture dictates to the Church, not the Church to Scripture. We cannot change, deny or disregard it, for it is the basis of our faith. That is the reason that Scripture is the first and foremost of three bases of Anglicanism, the others being tradition and sanctified reason. Next, we affirm the principle of justification by faith. Our faith in Jesus Christ leads us to holy worship and immersion in the Word, which in turns changes our lives and leads into right beliefs, right thinking and right behaviors. Yet, we do no procure our salvation by works, but only the mediating power of Jesus Christ. This is a hallmark thought of the Reformation. Then, comes the idea of the “priesthood of all believers”, taken from 1 Pet. 2:5, where the apostle speaks of a “holy priesthood” of all believers. What this means is that all believers in Jesus Christ can approach the Holy Throne of God boldly, in the power of the Holy Spirit, through the mediation of the blessed Son. This is incredible! Without the means of a priest, one can repent, be absolved and build one’s life in God. For the 16th century Christians, this was ground-shaking. Yet, sometimes one needs the comfort and counsel of the clergy. As the Prayer Book says, “therefore, if there be any of you, who by this means cannot quiet his own conscience herein, but requireth further comfort or counsel, let him come to me, or to some other Minister of God’s Word, and open his grief; that he may receive such godly counsel and advice, as may tend to the quieting of his conscience and the removing of all scruple and doubtfulness.” We in the clergy are your servants. As such, we hope and pray that we can shepherd you into the everlasting pastures of Heaven. The Church is also your servant and your ark, bearing you through the perilous waters of this world into everlasting life. Let this thought never become strange to you. Thus, being an Anglican is both old and new. We are old in that we affirm the historic Church’s sacraments and liturgy, thus keeping the best of the old. We affirm that there are two sacraments affirmed by Christ, Baptism and the Supper of the Lord. And, we affirm other historic practices such as confirmation, matrimony, extreme unction, penance, and holy orders as “rites of the Church.” Yet we reject the “new” in that we do not deny or reject or ignore Holy Scripture, or bend our doctrine in terms of what the World deems “appropriate.” We do not find our dictates in terms of modern culture. Rather, we find our direction in Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. He is our end and determinant. He is our ”X factor” and our “cause celebre”. We also do not base our religious practices in terms of superstition, folk lore and non-Biblical practice, or that all practices everywhere necessarily be alike. As Article XXXIV says, “It is not necessary that Traditions and Ceremonies be in all places one, or utterly alike; for at all times they have been divers and may be changed according to the diversity of countries, times and men’s manners so that nothing be ordained against God’s Word.” Thus, differing practices and liturgies are acceptable. I am privileged to be a priest of this communion. I am privileged to serve you. I only hope that, as historic Anglicans, you appreciate God’s Grace in allowing all of us to worship in this beautiful, dignified and orthodox way. Glory be to the Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, now and for ever. AMEN.
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