The following sermon was preached at the neighbouring church of St Joseph the Worker Northolt, as they celebrated the feast of the Assumption
…………………….
What do you call a man with a spade in his head? …...Doug
What do you call a man without a spade in his head? …..Douglas
What do you call a woman with a pint of beer on her head? ….Beatrix
What do you call a woman with a pint of beer on her head playing snooker?...... Beatrix Potter
What do you call a man with a car license plate on his head? …..Reg
What do you call a woman with a crown on her head…
.. actually the last one is not a joke. What do you call a woman with a crown on her head? A queen!
In our reading from Revelation we just heard “A great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the Sun, with the moon under her feet, And on her head a crown of 12 stars.” And it goes birth to a son, a male child who is to rule all the nations” This is the mother of the messiah - whose name is… that’s right. Mary.
Now of course - this is picture language. When the Bible describes Jesus as the Lion of Judah, we are not meant to think of him as a literal lion with a mane and yellow fur. When the Bible describes Mary here as Queen of heaven clothed in the sun with the moon at her feet- we are not meant to think of her as literal member of the aristocracy - perhaps holding garden parties whilst wearing an 18th century wig. No - it’s about the honour that God gives the mother of his son.
Now some folks may say “But honouring Mary in that way takes away from the honour due her son”. You are totally free to believe that. It’s a free country. You can believe what you like. It’s just not what the bible thinks.
Later on in Revelation (22:8-9) John is so overwhelmed by an Angel that he tries to worship him. “Don’t do that” The angel replies. “I am a fellow servant with you and and your fellow prophets and all who keep the words of this scroll. Worship God!” The book of Revelation sees NO contradiction between honouring Mary as Queen of heaven and telling us to worship God alone. Reverence and Worship are not the same thing.
Of course Mary is not the only person to be given a royal role in the Kingdom of heaven. In Matthew’s Gospel the 12 apostles are told that at the end of time they will be placed on 12 thrones to rule over the nations.
Those of you who are familiar with the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, may remember the Scene at the end:
“Then in the great hall of Cair Paravell - the wonderful hall with the ivory roof and the west wall hung with peacock’s feathers and the eastern door which looks towards the sea, in the presence of all their friends, Aslan solemnly crowned them and led them to four thrones amid deafening shouts of “Long live King Peter! Long live Queen Susan! Long live King Edmund! Long live Queen Lucy!”
“Once a King or Queen of Narnia, always a King or Queen. Bear it well sons of Adam. Bear it well daughters of Eve!”said Aslan.
And through the eastern door which was wide open, came the voices of the mermen and the mermaids swimming close to the shore and singing in honour of their new Kings and Queens.” [1]
We all know that the Narnia chronicles are an analogy for the bible story. Aslan is Jesus the true ruler - yet he can have Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy crowned as Queens and Kings of Narnia. Just like the 12 Apostles being places on 12 thrones to rule over the nations, or Mary being pictured “clothed with the Sun, with the moon under her feet, And on her head a crown of 12 stars.”
If it is good enough for the bible, it is good enough for me.
I became a Christian at boarding school through a very low church Christian Union. In the school holidays I started going to my local church which was very anglo-catholic, very high church - it made St Jo’s {where I preached this sermon} look low in comparison.
I will always be grateful to the Christian Union. They introduced me to Jesus. They taught me to read the bible. I really owe them a lot.
But overtime I would hear them saying that some of the things we did in my high church home church were “unbiblical”. I have to admit that my anglo-Catholic church was pretty bad at explaining things (we catholics aren’t very good at that, are we?) So if I couldn’t get any outside help, what could I do? I began to read the bible. And as I read it, I realised that the bible didn’t say what my low church mentors thought it said. The more I read the bible, the more convinced an Anglo-Catholic I became. If it is good enough for the bible, it is good enough for me.
Take today. Anglo-Catholics and Roman Catholics celebrate today as the Feast of The Assumption. The tradition that at the end of her life Mary was taken up bodily into heaven.
My low church friends would say “that’s unbiblical! Where in the bible does it say that” they would ask. Which is true. But they would have no problem talking about Paul being martyred by the Emperor Nero in Rome - where in the bible is that? Or about Peter being crucified by Nero upside down. Where in the bible is that?
There’s a reason for that. The bible ends at Acts Chapter 28. But the church goes on until today. Indeed some Christians have described today as “Acts chapter 29”- because God is still at work today.
The only reason we know that Paul was beheaded by Nero is because early Christians passed down the story. The only reason we know that Peter was crucified upside down during the same persecution is because early Christians passed down the story. And in the same way, early Christians in Ephesus passed down the account that at the end of her life Mary was taken up bodily into heaven.
“Hang on” you protest - “But being taken up bodily into heaven, that’s a bit weird isn’t it?”
Well what does the bible say about people being taken up bodily into heaven at the end of their lives? In Genesis Enoch is described in that way. In 2 Kings there is a very detailed account of Elijah being taken up bodily into heaven.
If God can take Enoch and Elijah bodily up into heaven, - then what about the one whom the bible calls “most blessed among women”, the one of whom the bible says “all generations shall calle [her] blessed”. The one whom the bible pictures in heaven “clothed with the Sun, with the moon under her feet, And on her head a crown of 12 stars.”
It’s hardly unbiblical to believe that God takes special believers bodily up into heaven- in fact it is precisely what the bible says. And as Fr Denis Bradshaw [2] used to say “If Jesus’s mother isn’t in heaven, what hope is there for the rest of us?”
Which brings me to IKEA
Anyone here like putting Ikea furniture together? [when someone nervously puts there hand up:] You do? Then next time I have some furniture, can you help me?
At the beginning of the IKEA instructions you have lots of lovely pictures showing you what to do and what not to do. One of them is this one [a picture of one person trying to assemble IKEA crossed out, a picture of two people doing it together with a big tick ] [1]
Don’t try doing IKEA furniture on your own. You need somebody else to help you.
It’s the same with the Christian life. We are not meant to do it on our own. We don’t pray “My Father”, we pray “Our Father”. Christianity is about a personal relationship with God, but it is not about an individual relationship. People sometimes say that the saints distract us from our relationship with Jesus - if you want to believe that, that’s fine. It’s a free country. It’s not what the bible says but hey, it’s a free country….
Both Hebrews [11:4-12:1] and Ecclesiasticus [chapters 44-50] list Old Testament saints who are examples to us. Then Paul says “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). St Paul - whom some of his readers in Corinth will only know second hand through the stories others have told them - says “Be imitators of me as I am of Christ”. Mary and the saints are meant to be examples to us.
“Sure that’s just about OK,” say some Christians “But don’t ask the saints to pray for you. Why would you ask the saints to pray for you when you could go straight to Jesus?”
If you want to believe that, that’s fine. It’s a free country. It’s not what the bible says but hey, it’s a free country….
The bible repeatedly tells us to pray for each other and to ask our fellow Christians to pray for us. “Yes, but surely it is different if they are dead?” Well, again it’s fine to believe that if you want. But there isn’t a single bible verse to say that you should stop asking people to pray for you when they go to heaven. What the bible DOES say is that Abraham Isaac and Jacob are not dead, they are live in heaven, because “God is not God of the dead but of the living” (Mark 12:27)
There is not a single verse in the bible telling us that prayer is only limited to living people.
What we do have is the example of the earliest Christians. Tomb stones in the Roman Catacombs, some dating back to before Revelation was written. And carved on the dead Christian’s tomb, a request for the dead to “ora pro nobis” - pray for us.
I first started asking Mary to pay for me when I went to Walsingham in 2003. Before then I had been intellectually convinced that the low Church approach was misguided, but it hadn't made a difference to my life.
And then I went to the Anglican Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham. I discovered hoards of people who had come to a personal relationship with Jesus through going to that place. Like the coach driver who had driven a party there and rather than wait around with nothing to do, he had wandered into a service there…. and ended up giving his life to Jesus. I discovered hoards of miracles where God had healed people there. I met people whom God had healed there.
This is a Shrine dedicated to asking Mary to pray for us. If God hears her prayers in such a powerful way, there must be something in it.
Which brings us back to Ikea.
I have tried putting Ikea furniture together in my own and it usually ends up a mess. Something that appeared identical turned out to be the wrong way round. Or a nail is in the wrong place. And it is ruined.
Today we honour Mary, whom the bible describes as the queen of heaven, whom the early Christians tell us was taken up bodily into heaven. Ikea teaches us that when we put together our life as a Christian, it’s advisable not to do it on our own … and we don’t have to do it on our own. We have the support of the people sitting round us tonight. But we also have the support and prayers of Mary and all the Christians in heaven.
So lets finish by asking her to pray for us now…
Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with you. Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen
[1] The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, p.165
[2] A former vicar of St Joseph the Worker where this sermon was preached
[3] Ikea instruction picture http://www.viciousgrin.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/20140319-113403.jpg
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