Dear Friends,
It is midwinter at last, and so we can now begin to look forward to a turn towards lighter mornings and evenings, and the first signs of new growth. We can see how in old Europe those light-festivals of Christmas, Epiphany and Candlemas not only told the Christian story of hope in a dark world, but also strengthened people to be patient in the severe cold and darkness for the seasons of growth and warmth to come.
Next Sunday evening, we shall be honoured to be providing the liturgical welcome in the South Island to the Most Revd Katherine Jefferts-Schori, Presiding Bishop and Primate of our generous and brave sister church, the Episcopal Church of the USA. As Bishop Victoria is away, Bishop John Gray will be her host and will join with us. We shall offer Festal Evensong, at which she will preach. There is likely to be a large congregation of visitors to S. Michael’s and we intend to provide a simple and warm reception in the hall afterwards, so that people can meet Bishop Katherine. This is a wonderful opportunity for us to show the S. Michael’s Church community in its element to many who may not previously have come here.
Today’s Gospel provides a classic story of Jesus confronting the violent powers that are inclined to underlie most human societies. Communities often manage to keep a semblance of order and well-being by forcing out certain elements. There is nothing that those anxious for peace at any cost like better than the slam of prison gates. That is why politicians with a feel for re-election (and the power of the mob) start calling for tougher sentences and penalties. In earlier times, mental hospitals and orphanages played the same role. Get rid of those who remind us of what makes us uneasy about ourselves. And so communities shut their scapegoat victims away and the peace is kept.
The demoniac in Luke 8: 26-39, raving around naked among the tombs, is exactly this, his community’s scapegoat, the bearer of all their unhealth. His encounter with Jesus unmasks this. The ‘demons’ are his community’s manic drive to shut him out and treat him as dead. Their name is truly ‘Legion’ because they are simply the desperate fears of the mob’s victimising mentality. Faced with Jesus, the ‘demons’ go where the sick and destructive impulses of the mob need to go; to the bottom of the sea in a crazed herd of pigs. The man is left ‘clothed and in his right mind.’
In healing this ‘possessed’ man, Jesus effectively overrules the community’s diagnosis of him and returns the man to live among them, for his healing and theirs. They will all be healthier if they can find their peace with him included rather than excluded. Rather than letting him continue to be the dehumanised victim, Jesus tells him to go home and tell his story and show his face. “Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.”
It is good to see that some whom the church rejects (ever so nicely) are refusing to accept the cruel diagnoses of old, and are returning to tell how much God has done for them. Jesus Christ is calling us to repent of this injustice, this scapegoating, so that we can feel cleansed of what we fear in ourselves. We need to join him in destroying the harmful myths and in welcoming the demonised back into our communities. That is the task of our time.
May God bless you all.
Fr Peter Williams
All Saintstide: Affirming Catholics Event
On the weekend of 29-31 October, we shall be putting on a national event to gather affirming Anglican Catholics together here, and to celebrate the centenary of the arrival of Fr Harry Darwin Burton to be Vicar of S. Michael’s.
Burton arrived in 1910 with an outstanding record as a mission preacher who had set up a new parish in St Albans, England. He had the confidence of one from a professional family with considerable middle-class wealth. In a short five years at S. Michael’s, much of it spent on leave in England or as a chaplain in the forces, Burton transformed the style of ministry so that it has lasted even to the present day. He rebuilt the School, and took a vigorous part in Christchurch society, particularly in the local arts scene.
Three speakers will explore the Catholic movement in the Anglican Church and seek to point us to the future. They will be Fr Michael Blain of Wellington, Jonathan Mane-Wheoki of Auckland, and Fr Stephen Williams from Newcastle, NSW.
After the Saturday of seminars, worship and fellowship, we shall celebrate All Saints with festal services on the Sunday.
Please put this in your diaries and pass the word around. It will be part of our contribution to Christchurch Beca Heritage Week.
