Recent Sermons
A sermon preached in Salisbury Cathedral by Canon Mark Bonney, Treasurer on Wednesday 25 March 2009
"THE ANNUNCIATION OF OUR LORD TO THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY"
“Mary said, ‘Here I am the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’”
The great feast days of the Blessed Virgin Mary are extra special for us here, because of the dedication of this Cathedral to the Blessed Virgin Mary. We of course pat ourselves on the back – or perhaps some do – for removing the perceived abuses of the medieval period – but along with the bath water of medieval excess went not exactly the baby, but certainly a fine statue of Our Lady from a screen that would have graced the high altar behind me – later generations finished the job off and removed the screen completely but devotion to Our Lady remains fervent in the hearts of many.
A devotion that can be saccharine – but should not be – rather it’s a devotion that contains within in it the call and challenge that Mary symbolises for all Christian people – and that is to hear the word – to be obedient to the word –to nurture the word and to bring that word to life for others.
“Here I am”. Words that echo those of Isaiah when the Lord asks whom shall he send -and Isaiah says send me. I remember as a curate having to address a somewhat larger than expected ecumenical gathering and began by saying that I thought my vicar had had the received the invitation and said “Lord here I am – send the curate”. “Here I am” – just as I am – through our baptism we say “here I am” – through our baptism, like Mary the word is sown in our hearts, and hopefully during this Lent as well as at other times we nurture that word and reflect upon it.
“Let it be with me according to your word.” The danger of course is that this is deeply submissive stuff – trample over me, misuse me – but that of course is not what these words are about. Many of us have been enjoying hearing Fr Timothy Radcliffe speak over the past few weeks as part of a programme that the diocese is running entitled ‘Fully Alive” – as you will have heard said many times already probably, this comes from a phrase of the third century theologian St Irenaeus who said that the glory of God was a human being “Fully Alive”.
Discerning the word - nurturing the word – being in tune with the word and thus being in tune with God is to be fully alive. Mary’s saying ‘let it be with me according to your word’ – is saying yes – I want to be fully alive with you. What she discovers is that to be fully alive isn’t always a smooth ride – because it’s about loving – and loving is at times painful as well as joyous. Fr Timothy quoted one of his fellow Dominicans Herbert McCabe who said “If you love you will be crucified – and if you don’t love you’re dead already”. There’s nothing saccharine about that kind of devotion.
Rather than being saccharine it is a process and a journey - a journey of unfolding and discovery of ourselves, of others and of God.
The great Anglican priest and founding father of Methodism, John Wesley composed a prayer which is really hard to say – but in a way develops Mary’s theme – it’s one of those prayers that I want to be able to pray, but really find hard – it’s used by the Methodists in their New Year Covenant service and has been taken on in some of our own new year services – when I can properly pray this I know I will be Fully Alive – which is what I believe Our Lady was – and so I pray this prayer to finish:
'I am no longer my own but yours.
Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing,
put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you,
or laid aside for you,
exalted for you,
or brought low for you;
let me be full,
let me be empty,
let me have all things,
let me have nothing:
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours.'
Amen.
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The great feast days of the Blessed Virgin Mary are extra special for us here, because of the dedication of this Cathedral to the Blessed Virgin Mary. We of course pat ourselves on the back – or perhaps some do – for removing the perceived abuses of the medieval period – but along with the bath water of medieval excess went not exactly the baby, but certainly a fine statue of Our Lady from a screen that would have graced the high altar behind me – later generations finished the job off and removed the screen completely but devotion to Our Lady remains fervent in the hearts of many.
A devotion that can be saccharine – but should not be – rather it’s a devotion that contains within in it the call and challenge that Mary symbolises for all Christian people – and that is to hear the word – to be obedient to the word –to nurture the word and to bring that word to life for others.
“Here I am”. Words that echo those of Isaiah when the Lord asks whom shall he send -and Isaiah says send me. I remember as a curate having to address a somewhat larger than expected ecumenical gathering and began by saying that I thought my vicar had had the received the invitation and said “Lord here I am – send the curate”. “Here I am” – just as I am – through our baptism we say “here I am” – through our baptism, like Mary the word is sown in our hearts, and hopefully during this Lent as well as at other times we nurture that word and reflect upon it.
“Let it be with me according to your word.” The danger of course is that this is deeply submissive stuff – trample over me, misuse me – but that of course is not what these words are about. Many of us have been enjoying hearing Fr Timothy Radcliffe speak over the past few weeks as part of a programme that the diocese is running entitled ‘Fully Alive” – as you will have heard said many times already probably, this comes from a phrase of the third century theologian St Irenaeus who said that the glory of God was a human being “Fully Alive”.
Discerning the word - nurturing the word – being in tune with the word and thus being in tune with God is to be fully alive. Mary’s saying ‘let it be with me according to your word’ – is saying yes – I want to be fully alive with you. What she discovers is that to be fully alive isn’t always a smooth ride – because it’s about loving – and loving is at times painful as well as joyous. Fr Timothy quoted one of his fellow Dominicans Herbert McCabe who said “If you love you will be crucified – and if you don’t love you’re dead already”. There’s nothing saccharine about that kind of devotion.
Rather than being saccharine it is a process and a journey - a journey of unfolding and discovery of ourselves, of others and of God.
The great Anglican priest and founding father of Methodism, John Wesley composed a prayer which is really hard to say – but in a way develops Mary’s theme – it’s one of those prayers that I want to be able to pray, but really find hard – it’s used by the Methodists in their New Year Covenant service and has been taken on in some of our own new year services – when I can properly pray this I know I will be Fully Alive – which is what I believe Our Lady was – and so I pray this prayer to finish:
'I am no longer my own but yours.
Put me to what you will,
rank me with whom you will;
put me to doing,
put me to suffering;
let me be employed for you,
or laid aside for you,
exalted for you,
or brought low for you;
let me be full,
let me be empty,
let me have all things,
let me have nothing:
I freely and wholeheartedly yield all things
to your pleasure and disposal.
And now, glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son and Holy Spirit,
you are mine and I am yours.'
Amen.