Pentecost

The day of Pentecost fulfils and completes the day of Easter. He who rose from the dead and ascended to the right hand side of the Father gathers in him the community of believers and unites them with the gift of the Holy Spirit. It is this unity that makes the Church. Before all else the Church is the mystical body of Christ, it is in keeping loyalty with the sovereignty of Christ and the will of the Father that the Church is.

Here at St John’s we have celebrated with fervour the great day of Pentecost and in the coming days we will have ample opportunity to reflect on this unity with the Triune God. The day of Corpus Christi will allow us to ponder in awe on the inestimable gift of the Eucharist and will give us the opportunity to reflect on the activity of the Holy Spirit as we celebrate the confirmation of eight members of our community.

Shortly after we shall keep Fan the Flame week which will enable us to think intensively about the work of the Holy Spirit within us. Please pray for us as we prepare for these significant events.

As we celebrate the unity that the Holy Spirit brings, the unity which makes the Church, I cannot but give thanks to God who unites us with Himself and shares with us, unworthy as we are, his Divine life. This brings harmony; harmony between us and each person of the Holy Trinity and harmony between those who are baptised. This depth of life and harmony then spills out to reach and sanctify and purify those who are outside the Church. However, this harmony is fragile. It is opposed by sin from both within and outside the Church. The Holy Spirit calls us to remain faithful to Christ our Lord to whom we submit, especially so in our communion which seems to be taken over by the folly and arrogance to tell God how it should be done. Sacred Scriptures and the life of the Church in these last two thousand years are there to guide us and keep us faithful and no one has the authority to re-write them. As never before Anglo-Catholics are to stand firm with the venerable Churches of East and West in proclaiming the sovereign will of Christ. For us it is bleak as bleak can be but so was Good Friday, we stand on hallowed ground as we identify with him who went through the passion to witness to the sovereign will of the Father and was bereft of the love of those who should have loved him, more so in his hour of need. However, Mary was there and stood by him. The Help of Christians will also stand by us and lead us through this terrible ordeal. Hopefully when these misled disciples return to their senses we shall be there to greet them with love.

God is Love and united in him means living this perfect love. Mirroring this love here on earth teaches us that a Church without love is not a Church at all, and authority within the Church without love is a complete nonsense. My prayer is that General Synod will realise this before they place many of us outside the Church of England. However we never lose heart and will never allow our hearts to be troubled, we rejoice in Christ and implore the outpouring of his Spirit as we go where the Spirit indicates.