Today
many people, particularly in New
South Wales, are remembering the anniversary of the
landing of the First Fleet in 1788. Some people this day as a day for the whole
nation to celebrate the good things our country has achieved, the freedoms we
enjoy and 226 years of white settlement. Other people are not so enthusiastic
and they might remember the day as the European invasion of the land. Some
might think of the destruction of the indigenous people and their way of life
while others look at the darker side of our history and the damage done to the
rivers, soil and seas, the plants and animals over the last two centuries. And
there are some people who use the day to shout slogans, to behave badly and to
drink too much without any real insight into the significance of the day.
Whichever
view you take, January 26th, 1788 changed the course of Australian
history for ever.
Today
we are also commemorating two other events which changed the course of history,
particularly the history of the Christian church. The first event is the
conversion of Paul which is described twice in the bible, once by St Luke and
once by Paul himself, standing on trial in front of King Agrippa. We know the
story. Paul was on his way to Damascus,
breathing threats and murder against the Christians. His aim was to stamp out the
followers of Jesus of Nazareth, who, in his mind, were blaspheming against God
and the Jewish faith. He had full authority from the chief priests to do this
because they saw this movement as a threat to their authority, their religion
and the political stability of Jerusalem.
The misguided followers of Jesus had to be silenced, either by death or by
renouncing their faith. However, Paul had a vision, a blinding light from
heaven, and he heard a voice which convinced him to proclaim the Jesus as Lord
and Messiah, the salvation of Jews and Gentiles alike. It was under his
influence that the followers of Jesus came to be called Christians, first in Antioch and then in other
places. Even King Agrippa knew the term and said to Paul, “You’ve almost
persuaded me to become a Christian!”
For
twenty centuries the church has seen Paul’s conversion as a most positive
event. Paul might have been able to kill off Christianity. Without Paul’s
missionary journeys the churches in Rome, Galatia, Macedonia,
Syria and Lebanon might
not have been founded. Without Paul’s letters we would not have insights into
the life of the early church. We would not have Paul’s deep understanding and
reflection on the person and work of Christ, and, as the collect today put it,
his holy teaching.
However,
in the past 200 years, scholars and theologians, devout Christian women and
men, have wondered if Paul’s conversion was not a mixed blessing. Was it a good
thing that a Jewish Pharisee should be the greatest exponent of Jesus, the way,
the truth and the life? Has Paul been too ready to lay down the law and to give
specific instructions about things which are now not seen as important? And
have some people been too ready to make Paul’s pastoral letters into a new
religious law? For example, is it important for women to wear hats in church?
Are women to keep silence in church? Are Paul’s letters answers to pastoral
concerns of the first century or are they rules to be obeyed for all time?
These
questions bring us to our third world and church shaking event. Seventy years
ago the world was in the grip of the Second World War. The Japanese occupation
of Hong Kong and of parts of China
had made it impossible for Anglican priests to get to neutral Macau, where there were a
number of refugee Anglicans with no priest. Li Tim-Oi
had already been made a deaconess in Macau by
Bishop Ronald Hall and had been authorised by him to take the sacraments to the
Anglicans in these difficult times. In January 1944, Li travelled through
Japanese-occupied territory to meet with Hall in the small town of Xing Xing, as yet
unoccupied by the Japanese, where he ordained her as a priest. From the Bishop’s point of view and Li
Tim-Oi’s point of view the ordination was necessary to preserve the life of the
church and to support Christians in distress. William Temple, the Archbishop of
Canterbury understood the need, but he was not able to give his official
support. Li Tim-Oi served the church faithfully as a priest until the end of
the war when she resigned her licence. She was still an ordained priest in the church of God,
but she did not take a licence again until 1971, when two other women were
ordained in Hong Kong.
When
Li Tim-Oi was first ordained there were many people who rejoiced. The Anglicans
who had fled to Macau for example, and Bishop
Ronald Hall, who was always a fighter for social justice. There were men and
women, in the church and outside who felt that this was the right thing to do.
Other women who had felt God’s call to ordained ministry but whose call had
been denied by the church, felt that there was some hope ahead.
Of
course there were those who were not pleased. Some felt it was a betrayal of
1900 years of tradition in the church; some felt it was disobedience to the
plain words of scripture, while others, without much reflection, simply felt
that it was wrong.
Since
Paul’s conversion on the road to Damascus,
the church has seen and dealt with many changes. It is learning how to deal
with differences of opinion and faith. It is learning how to deal with child
abuse and exploitation. It is learning to be compassionate and inclusive, loving
and accepting. I believe that the church is learning to trust God. We have
learned that Jewish Pharisees can be Christian; we are learning that women can
be priests and there are some places where openly gay people are trusted
ministers of the gospel.
I
finish with the words of Rabbi Gamaliel the Elder, Paul’s instructor in the
Jewish faith. In the book of Acts he is recorded as saying, “if this plan or
this undertaking is of human origin, it will fail; but if it is of God, you
will not be able to overthrow them — in that case you may even be found
fighting against God!”
We
may have our misgivings about the future of the church and how our ideas of
church may be challenged, but Gamaliel reminds us that if it is God’s church,
then God will care for it, and, as Jesus said last week, the gates of Hell will
not prevail against it.
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