WORD OF GOD

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 16, 19 July 1939, Page 17

WORD OF GOD

THE ONLY ONE

POWER OF THE CHURCH

SYNOD SERMON

There was only one Word with a meaning—the Word of God, declared the Rev. C. F. Webster, vicar of Mangaweka, who preached the sermon at the service held in the. Cathedral Church of St. Paul last night to mark the opening of the Synod of the diocese.

The members of Synod in the next few days were going to be busy, occupied in the affairs of Synod, said Mr. Webster. They would be overwhelmed with motions, amendments, endless discussions, and lawyers' arguments, until their minds were tired with the constant battery of words and they staggered under the weight of the necessary affairs of the Church: necessary since order was a property of God.

But in all this, he declared, there was a danger lest they forget the true business of the Church. That business was not transacted in Synod hall. It would bo done this morning when the Church assembled in this House of God to celebrate the Liturgy of the Communion of Jesus Christ. By that action of the Church in word and sacrament the true nature of the Church was declared: the true purpose of the the Church was set forth, controlling their lives and the affairs upon which they were called to deliberate in the Synod session.

The Church turned in upon herself, entered into the depths of her own being, that she might feed in secret upon the life which was the source of that being, and then go out into the world to fulfil the tasks which God had appointed. "Without that," said the preacher, "our words would be meaningless, our actions vain, our lives empty." CHURCH IS HUMAN. The Church was of God. It was -that which marked it off from all other associations of men—social, political, ideal. The Church was human, but with a divine humanity. It dared not claim perfection in this, world, but it did claim distinction. It declared that ideals were not enough; that dreams were marred in practice; that all Utopias were infected with sin; that man and his works stood under the sentence of death.

In their heart of heai'ts they knew sin arid death, and in a time of the dissolution of society such as that of which they were witness today, they became, acutely conscious of them. Those were the two which gnawed at the heart.of man, and those were the two which the Church was called of God to face.

The Gospel was not morals, or ideals.. ; orla matter oil opinion, or good advice? TT.was a fact —the saving fact of Go"d" in. Jesus Christ, a fact which man. could 'only either assert or deny. The Liturgy."proclaimed it in the broken Body and the outpoured Blood. The Church must placard it. The Christian must live.it out.

THE PLACE OF THE CHURCH,

When, men made God in their own image, reducing the tremendous figure of the Christ to their own puny stature; whittling down His Gospel to a string of pious platitudes; explaining away the. miracle which did not fit their modern mind; making religion convenient and comfortable; exchanging sanctity for decency, then they assigned a like place to the Church in the world and in their lives —a little place, not too much in the way, a competitive place for their allegiance. But the Church did not compete for her place. That place was given from above. "She claims the place," continued the preacher, "by claiming the power, the power to absolve, and the power to consecrate —the power to free, and the power to make alive. Are we conscious of that claim? Are we convinced that the Church can make it? Dare we, in the face of the world, and on account of the world, make that claim in the name of God?"

"That is not enough. We dare not make that claim in the world, until and unless we admit its hold upon ourselves. Only a penitent • Church, a Church with the head bowed in confession, the knee bent in humility, dare bear this tremendous claim* in the world. To this the Liturgy compels us. It sends us to our knees. It makes our confession the condition of our coming to God. It demands penitence as the price of the Communion of Jesus Christ."

There was only one word with a meaning, and that was the Word of God. The Word of God gave meaning to all other words —the word of absolution; the word of consecration.

"Tomorrow," Mr. Webster concluded, "you will kneel here, your head bowed in confession, and the Church will speak the word of freedom; your knee bent at consecration,- and the Church will speak the word of life; your hands outstretched in communion, and the Church will give the Word of God into your keeping. The Church's part is done. Yours is begun. You bear the sacred humanity of Christ. Go out into the world and live it!"

There was a large congregation. The service was. conducted by Canon D. J. Davies and the Rev. Mr. de Candole (Palmerston North), and the lessons were read by the Rev. C. E. Willis (Seatoun) and the Rev. Mr. StoteBlandy (Hawera).