"Are We on God's Side."

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 35, Issue 7, 1 September 1944, Page 1

" Are We on God's Side."

Sermon preached by the Rt. Rev. G. F. Cranswick, Bishop of Tasmania, at his enthronement m St. David's Cathedral, Hobart, m May last. His Lordship was consecrated at Westminster Abbey on ' January 25th. Matt. 16-18.— "I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." Your new bishop succeeds one who was a Man of God, a faithful pastor and a true and dear friends not only to members of his own Church but to many outside it. I wish to pay a tribute on my own as well as on your behalf to one who never spared himself m the service of his Lord, the Church, and the flock committed to his charge. With grateful hearts we thank God for the long and faithful episcopate ' of. Robert Snowden Hay. Of him it may be said "he being dead, 'yet speaketh." I have no doubt that during this impressive service you, like . myself, have been conscious of the presence of a great cloud of witnesses who are now members of • the Church Triumphant , Among them is your late Bishop and 1 his beloved wife and with them many who have worshipped m this most lovely Cathedral Church. .• Among that company too, I doubt not, are my own father who served the Church in" Australia as a priest' for well nigh half a century, and mywife's godly parents, yes, and many others.

This day is an historic occasion for; the Church m Tasmania which has already kept its centenary.. But there is another sense m which the enthronement v of your eighth bishop has an even greater significance. ' Our Church' stretches right back across the centuries. Come with me m imagination to a scene on a lake m Palestine. A little group of men, all Jews, are sitting under the shade of a tree. They are m intimate and animated conversation. Suddenly the voice of their Leader is heard saying— "WHOM DO MEN SAY THAT I SON OF MAN AM?" Various answers are given. Some say "thoii art John the Baptist"; Some "Elias"; Others, "Jeremias, or one of the prophets." There is a pa&se. Then looking his friends straight m the eyes, 'the Leader puts to them the great .question— "BUT' WHOM SAY YE THAT I AM?" One of them, Peter by name, a rugged, bluff Fisherman speaks for them all. "Thou art the Christ the Son of ' the- living God." I see a smile and look of satisfaction on the face of the Leader, as He says* "Blessed art thou Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is m. heaven." And I say unto thee "Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church: and the gates of hell ■shall not prevail against it." As I have said, this service and the consecration of your Bishop m the ancient Abbey of Westminster go back to this and other incidents m

"the Gospel for we are part of that great Holy Catholic Church, of which the Son of God is the founder and Master-builder. No^t very long after the events we have recorded, the Lord was tried and crucified. Among the many charges that were laid against Him was the charge, of Blasphemy. That charge has become the Creed of Christendom. Sunday* by Sunday we say together— "l believe m God. the Father . Almighty, Maker of heaven arid earth; and m Jesus Christ his only/ son our Lord." On that rock, the Confession of St. Peter, the master builder has been building till to-day the Church is worldwide, and Christians are found not only m the Old World as we call it, but m the New World, m America, m Africa, India, China, Japan, and m Australasia. While we thank God -for the Great Achievements of His Church — and more relevant to the state of the world to-da; r than the average man has dreamed of— THE GREATEST DATS OF THE CHURCH LIE AHEAD. Many of us have lived to see the two most devastating wars m history; There has never been a greater upheaval, on so vast a scale, affecting so mariy millions of the human race ■, than the struggle m which we are now involved. We believe that m the goodness and mercy of God victory will be granted to the Allies on the field of battle.

Our statesmen are even now during the war making plans m cooperation with the leaders of the United Nations for establishment, of a better and saner world. But let us have no illusions about the immensity of that task, nor let us deceive ourselves into thinking that by our own unaided efforts, our ingenuity, or our well-devised schemes we shall be able to rebuild what we m our folly and stupidity have destroyed. The victory must be God's victory. The question we must ask ourselves as we continue the struggle with no abatement of effort is not — "is God on our side?" But "Are We on God's Side?" and when Peace is granted to us once again and we begin to apply our Atlantic Charters, our Beveridge Plans m everything that We do or attempt to do, we must continue to ask "In doing this is God on our side?" It is because of this that I bid you to re-affirm our Faith and consider seriously the meaning and revelance of our Creed. In the coming days the laity as well, as the clergy will have to bend their minds to the consideration of the faith that is m them. When the Fighting is over, 'my. f riehds,' the fight will still be on*. There will be, m my opinion, a struggle between dialectic materialism pn the one hand and Christianity on the other. God has always used men and women for the fulfilment of His Divine purposes. To each and 'every one of us Christians our Lord says as He did to St. Peter and the others, "Whom say., ye that I . am?" Let us to-day m the words of St. Peter, each m his own "heart reply, "Thou art the Christ" the son of the living God." Let us get that' right and we shall hear m our hearts his reply — I will build by Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The revelance of Church, and God's Purpose for the world through her then is the second re-affirmation. I bid you make — laity as well as clergy. Thus we shall face the great days ahead with a strong belief m (1) A CREED . . (2) A CHURCH both of which are Apostolic. There is one further word for us m this incident at Caesarea Phillipi and that is ... (3) A CROSS? Verse 24. Then Jesus said unto His disciples— "lf any man will come after Me let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me." . We who have endured the Cross of Suffering m order to make victory possible (and much more suf-

fering is coming to many of us before the end), will be called upon to take up Our Cross to Deny ourselves and to Follow Christ when the guns are silent. I pray that we Christians m greater fellowship and co-operation than we have ever experienced before, Anglicans and Non-Anglicans, will be ready for the tasks that God will commit into our hands.