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At the risk of sounding flippant, I might sum up Jesus’ message to his disciples in today’s gospel as: “Now you see me, now you don’t.”  Indeed, this is not a bad way to describe how we experience the life of Christian discipleship.  At times, a divine light shines upon our path, confirming our faith that providence does guide our steps.  But for long stretches, we seem to be groping our way in the dark, experiencing what mystical writers have called “the dark night of the soul.”

As our epistle reminds us, we are indeed “strangers and pilgrims” (1 Peter 2:11) in this world, and we should not get too comfortable, lest we settle down and give up the journey.  Paul Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress is the classic dramatization of this fundamental Biblical image of life as pilgrimage.

Today’s collect and epistle both exhort us to the moral ideals which characterize the Christian way: “Grant us to forsake those things which are contrary to our profession;” “Let your conduct among the Gentiles be honourable” (1 Peter 2:12).  The early church continued the moral earnestness which characterized Judaism and set it apart from the immorality of the Roman Empire.

But these exhortations are short on specifics, and that makes some Anglicans uncomfortable.  There is a group in our church which calls itself “Anglican Essentials.”  Their object, we are told, is to direct the church back into its more “orthodox” roots and teachings.  Here at the Good Shepherd we use the Book of Common Prayer on a regular basis, but I cannot recall ever encountering the word “orthodox” in our worship.  This is scarcely surprising, since the word does not occur in scripture.  Its meaning, from the Greek, is “right opinion,” and there are always those in every religious tradition who are convinced that they know what are the right opinions and right manner of conduct for those in their community.

In the Anglican Church we have common prayer and common worship, but how we are to use these resources to enrich our spiritual lives—that is left up to the individual.  Queen Elizabeth I once famously declared that she had no wish to make windows into men’s souls.  Her religious policy seems to have been: you may believe whatever you want, as long as you use the Book of Common Prayer. 

Bishops may have to step in, from time to time, to preserve good order, but this happens quite infrequently.  Each of us is left to work out our own salvation, in fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12), under the guidance of the spirit which each of us has received in baptism (cf. 1 Corinthians 12:13). 

The lack of specific moral guidance in Anglicanism is paralleled in the gospel which we heard read today, the Gospel according to John.  Unlike the first three gospels, which have many moral injunctions, in the Fourth Gospel, there is really only one commandment: “That ye love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12).  Matthew’s gospel affirms, “By their fruits ye shall know them” (7:20), but for the Johannine community, the only thing that bears fruit is abiding in Jesus (John 15:5).

Before each service of Holy Communion we recite Jesus’ injunction to love the Lord our God and our neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:30-31).  Is this enough to go on?  St. Augustine’s summary was even briefer: “Love God and do what you want.”

May 7 , 2006

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