Sermons

Sermon preached by The Reverend Paul Burrows

Preached by The Reverend Paul Burrows on Ascension Day (Saturday, March 20, 2004)

"I venerate together with the King and God the purple robe of his Body…
as called to be and have become unchangeably equal to God."

On the Divine Images: John of Damascus

In his first volley against the iconoclasts John of Damascus states a theology of the Ascension for us that makes my task here seem unnecessary. In becoming a man God has transformed human nature and more than that our humanity is now part of the Godhead. That raises some complicated issues for us in how we relate to each other.

Part of the Baptismal Covenant in the Book of Common Prayer is: “Will you strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being?” Justice and peace seem to have become mutually exclusive in modern society, since we are assured that we will have no peace unless we collude with injustice. That certainly seems to be the implication of the opposition to same sex marriage that is gripping the Church and the world at the moment.

Much of the opposition is at a visceral level and not in any way thought through. At a very fundamental level there has been an acceptance of what, upon examination, is clearly discrimination at best, and at worst a disdain for a whole segment of society. That this has been so readily accepted, not only by those opposed to same sex marriage, but by those who desire it, shows that this prejudice is very deep seated but that does not make it right. Slavery, the second-class status of women, restrictive class structures, all of these are part of deep seated feelings but we have worked to eliminate them in part because the Gospel compels us to do so. And this prejudice is one more that has to be examined in the light of the Gospel where I believe it will be shown to be wanting.

As people who embrace the raising of humanity into the Godhead we are called upon to witness to a much higher standard of acceptance and love. It is up to us to reclaim the name of our Lord that is being used to fight against the standard of the Gospel that he preached: to respect the dignity of every human being.