| AD CLERUM - May 2007 |
Dear Friends
So many of you commented on my sermon at the Renewal of Vows service on Maundy Thursday and asked for a copy of my sermon text or, when I said that I did not have one, asked for the quotes I used in the sermon, I have used this meditation as a reflection on what I was trying to say in that sermon.
Our clergy conference in January which was led by Rosalind Brown wrestled with the question, 'What is the role of the clergy in world today?' It is not a new question; the need for a radical reappraisal and renewal of our theology of the church can be traced back a long way at lies at the heart of Vatican II. But even before that Thomas Merton was posing the question:
'What is the function of the priest in the world? To teach others? To advise them? To console them? To pray for them? These things enter into his life, but they can be done by anyone ..... These actions require no special priesthood, other than our baptismal participation in the priesthood of Christ, and they can be exercised even without this.'
At much the same time, Austin Farrer, in our own tradition, was asking the same question:
'There is nothing to stop a layperson from being a more learned and a more penetrating theologian than the priest of the parish; nothing, certainly, to prevent a layperson from being a much more understanding helper of people in any sort of trouble and distress. What distinctive place (then) does the priest hold in the mighty purpose of God?'
While the question is a complex one and not one that allows for glib answers, I nevertheless suggested in my sermon that many of us might find St Bernard's concept of the priest as being the 'keeper of the mysteries'.
[ In doing so I made the comment that St Bernard was scathing about those who were simply content to be theological investigators whom he called 'raiders on Majesty.' One can only approach God, he said, with awe and wonder, 'as one marvelling, not investigating.' One of you phoned me afterwards to disagree with what St Bernard had said and to say that that is the reason the Eastern Church has always been so far behind the West in theology. I am not sure that I would agree with his comment which I think only highlights a fundamental difference of approach in the theology of east and west. Bernard is, I think, saying very much what St Augustine also said; that to pray is do theology, and to do theology is to pray. Theology distanced from, and often devoid of faith is no longer theology, but humanistic arrogance. ]
If we want to understand what Bernard was saying about clergy and religious as 'keepers of the mysteries', it is important to remember that the Greek word 'mysterium' and its western translation 'sacramentum' have very different meanings. Although it is changing, in the west the word 'sacrament' came to be understood in a very narrow and limited sense, describing a prescribed number of fixed channels through which grace is dispensed. This has effectively limited the ways in which God communicates with us and allows us control of the means of grace. The word 'mystery' is the west is largely used only to describe the incomprehensibility of God in a theoretical sense. In the eastern tradition, however, 'mystery' has retained a much broader and more dynamic meaning; it refers to the mysterious outworking of God's purposes in all their fullness and vitality. The sacraments make present the ongoing mystery of God in every aspect of our lives and disclose the mystery of our life with God in Jesus Christ.
Thus, for Bernard, the role of the clergy and religious as 'keepers of the mystery' is not so much about participating in sacraments as a channel of grace, but of anticipating, participating and making visible the reality of what God is doing in our lives and in our world. Because Christ is always present in our church, liturgy makes visible, in a powerful way, Christ's presence - in the priest, in the sacrament, in the word, in the prayers and songs. The 'mystery' of Ordination, then, lies not in terms of 'power' to dispense sacraments, but is, as George Guyver says, in itself a distinct 'making-present' the mystery of the incarnation. It is a making-visible of that which is not visible to the naked eye, but which is far more real and powerful than that which is merely visible to the eye. 'Ordination,' Guyver says, 'places the ordained person in a sacramental and ministerial relationship with the whole people of God and it is in the animation of this relationship that the mystery of God is disclosed and explored.'
As 'keepers of the mystery' we disclose that mystery in the sacramental relationship we have with those entrusted to our care. The mystery of God at work in us, the sacredness of encounter in the relationships we build with others, the presence of Christ in the liturgy - all become liminal space which 'makes-present' the mystery of God in Christ in all our lives. In each encounter God's kingdom reclaims us and renews us; in the mystery of God we are made new - signs of God's transforming power at work in us and in our world.
And now, as in my sermon, I end with some words of Walter Brueggeman to a group of clergy:
'If we will not let the gospel use us to create a new world, then all we can do is service the old.'
As 'keepers of the mystery' may you make God's new world present and visible.
+ Brian