Epiphany Sunday 2013 Evensong.
This is the Feast when we celebrate the glory of God revealed in Jesus Christ, and we are
summoned with the Wise Men to approach the glory.
If we are not too careful this can all seem remote and the glory of God may seem
unapproachable and beyond our reach. In some ways it is, yet in so many other ways it isn't.
The most absurd, yet the most profound statement of Christmas is to be found in the blessing
for this incarnation season,
'Christ, who by his incarnation gathered into one, things earthly and heavenly, fill you with
peace and goodwill and make you partakers of the divine nature..'
These are the most extraordinary theological words – 'make you partakers of the divine
nature'. Christmas is not about us coming on bended knee to approach the divine glory, but
rather that we perceive the divine glory in us. This seems bizarre – that you and I should
somehow embody in our frail human bodies, with our endless capacity for sin and doing
wrong, the very glory that we celebrate at this Epiphany.
It is summed up well by one of the early church Fathers – the Son of God became a son of
Man in order that the sons of men might become sons of God.
This is a truly extraordinary truth, and one which not only seems to evade our grasp, but
which so often does not even seem to be on our radar. What is the glory of God – how can
we, mere mortals apprehend the glory?
I don't know what you saw over the Christmas period in terms of TV programmes. It seemed
to me that it was terrible, but I'm always reluctant to make such statements in case it is just
that I am getting old, and joining the ranks of those who complain that Crunchie bars used to
be so much better, and bigger!
In my mind the best of all the programmes was Rowan William's programme Farewell to
Canterbury. Not only was this delightful, beautiful television, but it spoke to the very
question of how a human being can even begin to approach the throne of glory.
Archbishop Rowan's commentary both described the glories of Canterbury Cathedral in terms
of building and architecture, but also in terms of his predecessors, and people of faith. Here
was a man who has risen to the highest office in the Anglican Communion sitting on the
Chair of Augustine pointing out that the chair is so wide, no Archbishop is fully able to fill it.
Here was a man, speaking in such a relaxed way about faith, the church, God, and yet as he
stood in this glorious cathedral he seemed like a tiny insignificant speck. It was humbling to
watch it.
Farewell to Canterbury is a living testimony of the Christian truth that we are able in Christ
not only to approach the divine glory, but that we can inhabit the divine glory, and the divine
glory can and does inhabit us.
The message of the Incarnation is that god is Jesus, and he is local. So local that we need look
no further than ourselves to see it, be it, experience it. And lest we think this impossible
because we have so many human limitations that we render this utterly impossible, we have
to remember the profound truth that we are made in God's image, and that mankind glimpses
the glory of God when first we catch a glimpse of the glory of man. Divine mystery is not an
external object – it is approached most fully when we recognize the mystery of the human
person. Discover the mystery of who you are and you are on the way to discovering how the
divine glory is incarnated in you. As this glory was
local in Christ, so in Christ the divine glory lodges universally in us all.
The church's task, its mission, its challenge, is not first and foremost to get more people
reading the bible, more people to fill the pews, more relevant ways to communicate the
gospel, but rather to open people's eyes to the glory of God that is within you, between you,
and in the life of our Christian fellowship.
In the December/January Magazine I submitted an article that spoke of my own convictions
about what makes for a growing, healthy church, and I stand by them. I repeat a few of them
for you:
* a growing church speaks of God's transcendence (otherness) as well as his immanence
(presence) and creates an atmosphere in the church building (and in its fellowship) that draws
people into the mystery of God and the mystery of humanity
* worships in a way that speaks of the divine in the best human vocabulary, music, and
actions we can find, and with a dignity that honours God
* inspires humans to touch base with the 'image of God' that is within them, and is a
converting church
* is a place (community) where people can engage with a sense of the real presence of Christ
(incarnation) in word, sacrament, and fellowship, and encounter Christ alive in the lives of
that community (resurrection).
So as we consider the Incarnation of Christ, and the infinite and indescribable glory of God,
let us think of ourselves – poor as we are – of a tiny Archbishop who is but a speck in the
cathedral, or in the Anglican Communion, and remember with wonder that God was born in a
manger in Palestine, and comes to us in bread and wine.