Address given at the presentation of Certificates in Pastoral Liturgy at Wesley College, Bristol
07 December 2006
1. Thank you for inviting me to present these certificates. I would like to thank Wesley College for this partnership with the Diocese of Clifton. I hope for all involved it has been an enriching and stimulating experience and long may it continue. It is a good expression of ecumenical co-operation between various Christian traditions, each bringing its own gifts to enrich the whole.
2. At the beginning of this new millennium I read a book entitled “The Year 1000” and found it a fascinating description of life in Anglo Saxon England during the different months of the year. There was a sense of wholeness and a rhythm to life which found expression in the way people lived their lives. It also gave a sense of how the liturgical year fitted into the calendar year. Faith and life went together. The Holy Days were the Holidays. Fasting and feasting often reflected the supply of food at particular times of the year. People fasted in order to feast.
3. I think we have lost a sense of the rhythm of life and therefore something of the mystery of life. There is often a sense of “sameness” throughout the year and indeed the week. We dress very similarly in winter and summer and the fruits of the earth are always there if not the fruits of our earth, then the somebody else’s miles away. We expect to find what we want and when we want it. That takes away a sense of appreciation and I think celebration.
4. Liturgy is about celebration. The certificates we have given today acknowledge not just the completion of an academic course, but the presence of a people who want to celebrate life, who know something of the rhythm of life – a people filled with wonder and awe and who acknowledge that the journey of life is going somewhere not only for them but the whole of creation.
5. Liturgy is the celebration of what the Church believes but more importantly – the One in whom the Church believes and whose presence is celebrated in liturgy. Through the liturgy the Church community becomes what it is called to be – the Sacrament, the living sign of the presence of Christ today in our world. In a real sense liturgy is the activity of Christ and the Church – the Head and the Body united, transforming human life and the whole of Creation, drawing all into the communion of God for that, we believe, is our destiny. As St Augustine taught life is implicitly a search for God because God has placed the desire for union with Him in every heart. It is this that makes us human. Liturgy both makes us human and divine. In liturgy, we are invited by the Lord to celebrate the saving power of God through the death and resurrection of his Son. By the power of the Spirit we are able to participate in this.
6. One of the characteristics of our society is individualism which is different from the dignity of the individual. In individualism, the person becomes the sole arbiter of life. There is a danger that this can be reflected in our liturgy.
7. I was in conversation the other day with a group of church leaders when one said some liturgies drove him up the wall. On some Sundays the liturgy was a non stop singing of hymns and these were chosen by one individual. There is a danger that liturgy becomes not liturgy, but a sing-a-long with a few prayers interspersed. There is a danger that liturgy ignores the rhythm of the year and the rhythm of life. In a society in which we value what is young and have creams to take away our wrinkles, our liturgy may not celebrate the different ages of the human person and the accompanying gifts or acknowledge the different seasons of life or remind us of our final destiny which is not death but eternal life.
8. In our liturgies we celebrate life, the birth of life, the healing of life, the strengthening of life, the love of life and the service of life, eternal life. We celebrate our encounter with God in Christ Jesus. We acknowledge the connection between faith and life. Especially in this Advent time as we prepare to celebrate incarnation, we acknowledge that history is not something we pass through but the story in which we encounter God and celebrate that meeting in our liturgies.
9. Once again my congratulations to those of you who have completed this course at Wesley College. Go now and celebrate God in Life, for God is Emmanuel, a name which means – God is with Us.
1. Thank you for inviting me to present these certificates. I would like to thank Wesley College for this partnership with the Diocese of Clifton. I hope for all involved it has been an enriching and stimulating experience and long may it continue. It is a good expression of ecumenical co-operation between various Christian traditions, each bringing its own gifts to enrich the whole.
2. At the beginning of this new millennium I read a book entitled “The Year 1000” and found it a fascinating description of life in Anglo Saxon England during the different months of the year. There was a sense of wholeness and a rhythm to life which found expression in the way people lived their lives. It also gave a sense of how the liturgical year fitted into the calendar year. Faith and life went together. The Holy Days were the Holidays. Fasting and feasting often reflected the supply of food at particular times of the year. People fasted in order to feast.
3. I think we have lost a sense of the rhythm of life and therefore something of the mystery of life. There is often a sense of “sameness” throughout the year and indeed the week. We dress very similarly in winter and summer and the fruits of the earth are always there if not the fruits of our earth, then the somebody else’s miles away. We expect to find what we want and when we want it. That takes away a sense of appreciation and I think celebration.
4. Liturgy is about celebration. The certificates we have given today acknowledge not just the completion of an academic course, but the presence of a people who want to celebrate life, who know something of the rhythm of life – a people filled with wonder and awe and who acknowledge that the journey of life is going somewhere not only for them but the whole of creation.
5. Liturgy is the celebration of what the Church believes but more importantly – the One in whom the Church believes and whose presence is celebrated in liturgy. Through the liturgy the Church community becomes what it is called to be – the Sacrament, the living sign of the presence of Christ today in our world. In a real sense liturgy is the activity of Christ and the Church – the Head and the Body united, transforming human life and the whole of Creation, drawing all into the communion of God for that, we believe, is our destiny. As St Augustine taught life is implicitly a search for God because God has placed the desire for union with Him in every heart. It is this that makes us human. Liturgy both makes us human and divine. In liturgy, we are invited by the Lord to celebrate the saving power of God through the death and resurrection of his Son. By the power of the Spirit we are able to participate in this.
6. One of the characteristics of our society is individualism which is different from the dignity of the individual. In individualism, the person becomes the sole arbiter of life. There is a danger that this can be reflected in our liturgy.
7. I was in conversation the other day with a group of church leaders when one said some liturgies drove him up the wall. On some Sundays the liturgy was a non stop singing of hymns and these were chosen by one individual. There is a danger that liturgy becomes not liturgy, but a sing-a-long with a few prayers interspersed. There is a danger that liturgy ignores the rhythm of the year and the rhythm of life. In a society in which we value what is young and have creams to take away our wrinkles, our liturgy may not celebrate the different ages of the human person and the accompanying gifts or acknowledge the different seasons of life or remind us of our final destiny which is not death but eternal life.
8. In our liturgies we celebrate life, the birth of life, the healing of life, the strengthening of life, the love of life and the service of life, eternal life. We celebrate our encounter with God in Christ Jesus. We acknowledge the connection between faith and life. Especially in this Advent time as we prepare to celebrate incarnation, we acknowledge that history is not something we pass through but the story in which we encounter God and celebrate that meeting in our liturgies.
9. Once again my congratulations to those of you who have completed this course at Wesley College. Go now and celebrate God in Life, for God is Emmanuel, a name which means – God is with Us.
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