Sixth Week of Easter Sermon

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Many of us have, I am sure, been impressed with the appointment of the new Pope, Leo 14th in Rome and the manner in which he has embarked upon his new ministry. As Anglicans, we can only marvel at the speed with which the Roman Catholic church has been able to make a decision on its new leader, unlike the Church of England, in which the appointment of the next Archbishop of Canterbury feels comparatively glacial.

Remember, though, that the electorates are rather different. The RC church just needed 133 cardinals to make a decision amongst themselves without the need to consult anyone. The Church of England, by contrast, is Episcopally led (that means by Bishops) and Synodically governed (which is about elected synods and representation). The Archbishop also has an automatic seat in the House of Lords so all Diocesan Bishops and Archbishops are appointed by the Crown Nominations Commission, CNC. Because this role involves leadership of the worldwide Anglican Communion, it will for the first time also involve 5 members appointed from that wider Communion. These all have to be found and appointed by their separate jurisdictions, in addition to the Diocesan reps and the national reps from General Synod. Justin Welby’s resignation was unexpected, so none of this could be done in advance and it has taken quite a time, but it is now sorted, and they will meet fully later this month for an initial discussion which can only mean next week, to agree the role profile, person specification, and a long list of names. They will meet again in July to determine a shortlist and then in September they will interview the potential candidates and make a decision. It will usually be 2-3 months after that before an announcement can be made, probably November or December.

It used to be much simpler in Michael Ramsey’s day. He was the highly regarded 100th Archbishop of Canterbury from 1961-1974. Stories about him are legendary. His predecessor as Archbishop was Geoffrey Fisher and he was actually Ramsey’s headmaster at Repton. When Fisher retired, he went to see the then Prime Minster, Harold MacMillian about the appointment process and apparently said to him:

“I have come to give you some advice about my successor. Whoever you choose, under no account must it be Michael Ramsey, the Archbishop of York. Dr Ramsey is a theologian, a scholar and a man of prayer. Therefore, he is entirely unsuitable as Archbishop of Canterbury. I have known him all my life. I was his Headmaster at Repton.”

Macmillan is said to have replied,

“Thank you, your Grace, for your kind advice. You may have been Doctor Ramsey's headmaster, but you were not mine”,

and promptly appointed him. It was rather quicker when Prime ministers made the final decision!

Once he had become Archbishop, Ramsey was invited back to his old school, Repton, to preach. The whole thing was evidently quite intimidating for the new headmaster, because not only had Ramsey and Fisher been at the school, the previous Archbishop to them, William Temple had also been there, no Eton boys to be seen! Ramsey, knowing the place well, was particularly irritated, to be asked several times by the nervous headmaster to keep it short, due to the attention span of the pupils. We can only wonder to what he might have been referring then or what indeed he might make about attention spans today. Somewhat annoyed, Ramsey is said to have ascended to the pulpit, and said:

“Those who love God will keep his commandments, those who don’t won’t”,

and promptly sat down much to the chagrin of the headmaster.

Now those words are hard to argue with because they are a fairly accurate version of what Jesus said in today’s gospel reading when he said first, ‘Those who love me will keep my word’, and then, ‘Whoever does not love me, does not keep my words’. He went on to promise thedisciples the Holy Spirit, the advocate, to come and be with them, teaching them everything and reminding them of all that he had said. In having this reading set for today, we begin to look forward to the coming of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost which we will keep in two weeks’ time. Next Thursday is Ascension Day so next Sunday is Easter 7 or the Sunday after Ascension –and then it is Pentecost Sunday on the 8th June.

The reading from Acts 16 moves us on way beyond this event, though, to Paul’s Second Missionary journey around AD50 where he set out from the inland town of Antioch in Pisidia. (Just to add to any confusion you may have, there are actually two different Antiochs mentioned in the book of Acts, this one and another near the coast of Syria). Anyway, Paul had a vision to go to Macedonia. This was a big deal because it meant crossing from Asia into Europe that would eventually lead to the spreading of the gospel throughout Europe and even to us. First Paul went from this inland Antioch to the seaport of Troas where he took a ship to the Roman port of Neapolis. He would have gone inland by road to the city of Philippi, a leading city of Macedonia. It had increased significantly in importance when in the second century BC, the Romans built one of their famous main roads through it, the Via Egnatia.

If you look at this Acts reading in the order of service, there is a fascinating and important moment when Luke, the author of the book of Acts as well as his gospel, was merrily relaying what had happened to Paul, saying ‘When he had seen the vision, we immediately tried to cross over to Macedonia’. It occurs without any warning or introduction, Luke suddenly switches to the first person plural and he continues saying, “We set sail from Troas’. These are the famous ‘we’ passages. Luke was there himself. He was with Paul on this missionary journey and what we have here is a first-hand account of what was going on, not one that has passed through several re-tellings by other people. This was a firsthand eyewitness account from the person there with Paul.

The place of prayer mentioned that they went to on the sabbath was a Jewish outdoor place of prayer. Outside areas were set aside to be used like this when there was no building like a synagogue to go to. These women were God fearers – in other words Gentile converts to Judaism. These two men, Paul and Luke, simply sat down and chatted to the women who were there. That in itself was remarkable and unusual. There was mutual acknowledgement and respect. They met a woman called Lydia, who was clearly a woman of status and meanswho ran her own business, not one that belonged to a man. She had her own household all of whom were later baptised as a result ofmeeting Paul and Luke. She offered them generous hospitality.

This is one of the earliest examples of whole households being baptised but not the only one in the book of Acts. It is one the arguments used in favour of infant baptism. If whole households were baptised from the earliest times in these eyewitness accounts, then how can we refuse to baptise babies or small children today, as long as there is another ceremony where they take on baptismal promises from themselves – we call it confirmation, - because in it, you confirm the promises made on your behalf by your household, your family and your godparents.

There are many elements to this story but there are two more that I want to highlight. Firstly, there was Paul’s immediate obedience. Having discerned that God was calling them to go to Macedonia, he didn’t hesitate but immediately responded to that calling. Secondly there was Lydia’s response to meeting Paul and Luke, who were only there for ‘some days’ we were told, and to her baptism which was to express her gratitude in generosity and kindness. While we may be rightly exercised over many things in the world right now, we can all do with adopting a more gracious and thankful attitude, and being as thankful as Lydia was, for all that we have been given, because ultimately all things come from God. Today is also rogation day when we think about creation and the sewing of crops so we can be thankful for the beauty of creation as well. When we think about all we have and think we earnt it all, we can also make the mistake of denying God’s agency in our lives. So, I would like to end with a prayer, a famous one, from our nearest local Saint, Saint Richard of Chichester, and if you have ever considered learning a prayer, this is one I would commend to you to learn, because it expresses exactly that attitude of thankfulness:

Let us pray:

Thanks be to you, our Lord Jesus Christ,

for all the benefits you have given us,

for all the pains and insults which you have borne for us.

Most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother,

may we know you more clearly,

love you more dearly,

and follow you more nearly, day by day.

Amen.

Thanks be to thee, our Lord Jesus Christ,

for all the benefits thou hast given us,

for all the pains and insults thou hast borne for us.