'Mission'

'And we humbly beseech thee, O heavenly Father, so to assist us with thy grace, that we may continue in that holy fellowship, and do all such good works as thou hast prepared for us to walk in.' As we approach a new season in the calendar year, a season of renewal and change, we are often reminded of the priorities of life, the people and pursuits that really matter to us. Recently I had the great honour of participating in a local outreach ministry to children and families in need, the Summer Blast, which was for the second year in a row based at Community United Methodist Church in Casselberry. To my delight I was able to witness firsthand how financial and personal contributions from parishioners of Saint Alban's Cathedral went directly to the aid of people in serious crisis and need. Our efforts in this regard truly make a difference in people's lives. Our prayers matter. Our gifts matter. Our mission matters. We should never be tempted to believe falsely that our parish, although comparatively small in comparison to other churches of other traditions, does not make a difference or does not in some powerful way touch and transform lives for good. Rest assured, our parish makes all the difference, and has the capacity to transform and sanctify lives in ways we have not yet begun to imagine. All we have to do is freely unleash the supernatural gifts we have freely received. In the hot July sun, surrounded by hundreds of people of many races and languages, hungry for the Gospel, needful of the basics of life's necessities, gathered to receive the corporal alms of the community, Saint Alban's was present and made a difference. In the midst of a swirl of human energy and activity, our parish was duly represented, humbly but perceptibly, a sign of the Kingdom of God in the midst of a world unknowingly craving its Creator and Redeemer. Interestingly, that day's event proffered the opportunity for many guest speakers and musicians to present their several messages and visions of faith... centre stage. We were the only Christians of the Catholic and Apostolic Tradition present - we enjoyed the singular privilege of representing orthodox, sacramental and liturgical Christianity in a setting where the Great Tradition of the Holy Catholic Church has likely never before been seen or heard. There were many evangelical preachers gesticulating, many charismatic singers crooning, and many contemporary styles of both for all to absorb. I doubt that many of the listeners were accustomed to hearing an introduction to the Anglican and Catholic Faith from a man in clerical collar, a talk which referenced the Bible and the Creeds, and receiving a blessing in the Name of the Holy Trinity with the Sign of the Cross! I found doing that impishly fun!

I offer the recollection of this experience to you simply to reiterate what we all already know in our hearts and souls, that orthodox Christianity is the Life of the Holy Spirit, the genuine article, the real thing, and it belongs 'out there,' amongst the people who so desperately need it and perhaps do not even know they so need. Catholic Faith and Apostolic Order has the inherent power to transform society - in times past it transformed the ancient world, the Europe of the Middle Ages, and the Americas of new discovery and promise; it certainly has the power to convert in our own backyards and neighbourhoods. But it must convert us first, to a radical life of self-giving Gospel obedience and service, before we in turn can be used to change our surroundings. Traditional Anglicanism has been 'America's best kept secret' for far too long and it is high time to reverse that posture in our own personal lives of Christian commitment and in the life of our beloved parish as a whole. The more seriously we take our profession of Faith, the more effectively God will use us for His glory. May our heavenly Father grant us new opportunities in future for missionary outreach and greater graces to launch into the deep to make His Son known, loved and adored by all, in our own community and round the world. God desires us to be the unique instrument by which He reunites heaven and earth and restores communion between God and man. We are the Body of Christ. God has blessed our parish and has placed us where we are as we are for a time such as this.

Our Faith, the Faith once delivered unto the Saints, should continually remind us that Our Blessed Lord has not merely given a mission to the Church, but rather, God has constituted His Church a Mission in herself - a mission to transfigure the whole of creation and of mankind in love by the proclamation of Jesus Christ and the fullness of His Gospel to ends of the earth. Mission is of the nature of God Himself: mission is God's very essence, His very character. The Father in love sends or missions His Son and His Holy Ghost to us - God is the primeval missionary, the One Who gives and is given. God is Lover, Beloved and the Love shared. The Church is nothing else but the very Body and Bride of Christ, the totus Christus, the Head and Body of Christ united together as one corporate personality, Christ Himself in action, Christ in mission. Our mission is the Great Commission of Jesus Christ, which sacred charge and task is not an option but a commandment (Saint Matthew 28.18-20). As faithful disciples of Our Lord and Saviour, we seek to fulfil the commission in our place and circumstances according to that Providence which has placed us here today. Ultimately, as we devoutly and earnestly practise our Catholic Religion, which is nourished by Word and Sacrament, by Scripture and prayer and Eucharist, filled with the Holy Ghost, we are challenged to recall that mission, the high calling which is ours in Christ Jesus, is not about a mission's financial solvency or fundraising, not about worldly standards of success or failure, and not even about church growth: mission is about God Himself, for He is the One who has called us to mission and has promised to strengthen us by His life and power to accomplish that which He has commanded and desired. Christian mission is about proclaiming the Thrice-Holy God we love and know to others and manifesting His reconciling grace and salvific glory in the world and the age in which we live. There can be no authentic Christianity, no New Life in Christ, without mission. 'As the Father hath sent me, even so send I you.' The Lord Jesus Christ is the Divine Apostle of the Father, the One whom the Father sent into the world to save, sanctify and glorify it. In turn this Heavenly High Priest and Apostle calls every adopted son of God, every baptised and confirmed Christian, literally to go out; we are to be 'Godsends,' men and women of Apostolic calling and zeal who carry Christ to others, thus inaugurating in Christ the New Creation, a world redeemed and divinised by grace. Jesus reproduces His life and love, His mission in us. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.

So the next time we hear someone utter the word 'mission' let us be mindful of all that that little word means and implies. That little word is our charter and the course to our glorious destiny in Christ. God bless you.