Feast Day of Hugh
Latimer and Nicholas Ridley, Bishops and Martyrs, 1555
St. Philips In The
Hills Parish, Tucson, AZ
The Rev. Vicki Hesse,
October 16, 2012
May the words of my
mouth and the meditation of all hearts be acceptable to you, o Lord, our
strength and our redeemer. Amen
I have
to admit. History is not one of my best
subjects.
the one
subject of the General Ordination Exams
for
which I received (ahem)
remedial
help to complete the canonical requirements.
So when
I saw that today’s feast day included
not one
but two figures in the history of the reformation,
I
cringed. I reached for the
200-pg “Brief
history of the Episcopal Church” book
as well
as the nearly 1200-pg “Christianity, the first 3000 years” for perspective of
these important ancestors
in our
Anglican Tradition. I wanted to find
out:
· What is really important about
these two figures?
· How is their life reflected in
the Gospel text?
· What is relevant to us, today?
Both
Hugh Latimer and Nicholas Ridley
refused
to recant their protestant theology
before
Queen Mary and were persecuted for it.
While
their executions contributed
to Queen
Mary’s moniker as “Bloody Mary,”
their
lives, their faith, and their zeal
inspired
the continual reformation
and
renewal of the Anglican church.
Hugh
Latimer (once
Bishop of Worcester)
was
zealous in his anti-ecclesiastical position
(in
other words, he sought reformed roles and
expectations
of clergy and how the church
was
organized in obedience to God, not the pope)
even
while he held an orthodox theology.
He did
not argue doctrine, but rather the
“moral
life of Christian clergy and people.”[1]
Nicholas
Ridley
(once
Bishop of London and teacher of Lady Jane Grey)
was
inspired by the reformation happening on the continent
(a la
Luther, Zwingli and Calvin).
Both
participated in the development of the
Book of
Common Prayer and opposed Queen Mary.
In 1555,
during their execution in Oxford,
Latimer
cried out to Ridley:
“Be of
good comfort, Master Ridley, …
We shall
this day light such a candle
by God’s
grace in England
as I trust shall never be put out.” [2]
With
these prophetic words, we now know
that
the
English reformation spread.
The
candle they lit did find a way for reforming peace.
These
two former bishops, persecuted and
burned
at the stake for pursuing a reformed church,
held
fast to their faith and witness to
God’s
living presence in the world.
Today’s
gospel text addresses persecution,
just at
the end of Jesus’
farewell
discourse in the Gospel of John.
For most
of that farewell discourse,
Jesus
taught that the relationships
in the
community are to be governed by love.
In
today’s text, Jesus tackled
the
believing community’s relationship
to those
outside the community.
He
prepared the disciples for their relationship
to the
world and how that relationship would be
governed
by hate, persecution and death.
Jesus
said, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you.”
This is
not exactly the happy marketing message
we might
expect to find
from
someone trying to gather followers.
In this
text, the disciples learned that
the call
to “love as Jesus loves”
would
most crucially be tested
when the
community meets the world’s hatred.
Jesus contrasted
their faith community and
the
“world” more sharply here
than
elsewhere in this gospel.
Listen
to the “us vs. them” rhetoric,
unusual
for one who professes Love.
"If they
persecuted me, they will persecute you;
if they
kept my word, they will keep yours also.
But they will do all these things
to you
on
account of my name,
because
they do not know him who sent me.
If I had not come and spoken to
them,
they
would not have sin;
but now
they have no excuse for their sin.
Whoever hates me hates my Father
also.”
The way
that Jesus contrasted the believing community to the world shows how that
believing community
saw
themselves as strong internally and unflinchingly
“over
and against the ways of the world.”[3]
For this
community, belonging to Jesus
precluded
any membership in the world.
This
community saw itself in opposition to the world.
We must
listen to Jesus’ words with care.
This
world-denying rhetoric can morph into
life-denying
language easily.
In fact,
this rhetoric might demonize the adversary,
which
makes Love Thy Neighbor a shame.
Following
the examples of Latimer and Ridley,
we follow
the more subtle call of Jesus -
to
reject “business as usual” – not to withdraw from the world but to be fully
present in the world and bring love into it.
In other
words, while we might be persecuted for our beliefs,
Jesus
calls us, to be radically obedient to his words,
“Just as
I have loved you, you also should love one another.
By this
everyone will know that you are my disciples,
if you
have love for one another.”
Love, the
love we have for one another –
canNOT
be separated from its source in God and in Jesus.
Then
Jesus told his disciples:
“When
the Advocate comes,
whom I
will send to you from the Father,
the
spirit of truth that comes from the Father,
he will
testify on my behalf.”
When
Jesus told his disciples about this Advocate,
the
community knew that
Love was
this spirit of truth.
Love,
whose source is God and Jesus,
Love
would prevail through the Advocate,
despite
persecution.
And we
know that community love,
sourced
from God and made real through the Holy Spirit,
that strengthened
the disciples
also
strengthens us for what persecutions lie ahead.
Bottom
line?
The love
of God made known in the incarnation
continues
into the life of a believing community (such as this)
through
the gift of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus
and God send the Holy Spirit to
the
community, not to individuals.
The Holy
Spirit, the Paraclete, is not a private possession.
It is a
gift given to and known in community.
It is
the presence of Jesus after Jesus’ departure,
not
simply a subjective experience of God.
It is
the Paraclete that is the unifying
mark
of
Christian community,
because
it gives all believers access to Jesus.
And, it
is through this community, St. Philips,
that we
are strengthened in our discipleship
and
ability to do God’s work in the world.
This
Tuesday Healing service in our worship
and
prayer together,
fueled
by the Holy Spirit,
brings
healing love to the wounds
that I have
and that you have.
The Holy
Spirit is at work in our community,
because
we are grounded in the Love of Jesus.
Thank
you all for your presence here.
Thank
you, as well, for your continued support of the church
and all
these ministries, grounded in love.
I don’t
know about you, but I have found strength and healing
in the prayerful
cards sent by the Condolence Writers,
in the
prayers offered through the Daughters of the King,
in the
communion shared by the LEMs,
in the
prayers of knitted into the shawls,
in the
abundant love of the church mice receptions,
and in
the silence of the centering prayer group,
just to
name a few.
Through
these ministries, through our community of love,
we are all
strengthened by the Holy Spirit to heal.
Because
of your support of these ministries,
I have
grown in faith here at St. Philips.
In this
stewardship season,
I invite
you to join me tithing to the church.
Consider
how your financial support of St. Philips
meets
the healing needs of so many.
Perhaps
you will consider an extra prayer
for the
person sitting next to you who is involved in
at least
one or more of these very important ministries.
It is
through this community of Love, here at St. Philips,
that we
are strengthened through the Holy Spirit to be disciples in the world, to do
God’s work through God’s love.
Especially
this Tuesday Healing service, and our time together,
fueled
by the Holy Spirit, brings healing love to the wounds that I bring and that you
bring.
That is
good news, that as partners with God
in
healing the world, through the Holy Spirit,
you are
strengthened for work in the world.
May we
all become witnesses,
like
Latimer and Ridley, to God’s abundant love
that
knows no bounds.
Amen.
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