The Gray Monk

Sung Eucharist

+ God be in my head
and in my understanding;
God be in my eyes,
And in my looking;
God be in my mouth,
And in my speaking.
Amen.
This mornings Epistle can be described as St Paul having a bad day. Obviously, a very bad day. You could describe it as a really thorough rant at the Corinthians, but it also reminds us that there is no easy passage through our faith. Paul’s account of all the hardships he has suffered for the Gospel is almost enough to put anyone with a lesser determination off completely, and it also reminds us that we too have to make a journey.

Many years ago, as a Sunday School teacher, I was given a book to work from and for one of the Sundays, a story about St Peter fleeing Rome and his impending death was the set lesson. You may be familiar with it; it is often referred to as the “Quo vadis” legend. In essence it describes how Peter, fleeing his imminent seizure and crucifixion at the hands of the authorities, meets Jesus on the Appian way. Peter asks Jesus the question; “quo vadis?”; "where are you going?" Jesus replies; "to Rome; to take your place."

I am told that there is a church built on the spot where this meeting is said to have occurred. The rest of the story is straightforward. Shamed by his Lord’s willingness to take his place, Peter returned to face the authorities and was crucified upside down at his own request – arguing that he was not worthy to be placed on the cross in the same manner as his God and Saviour.

For all Christians the question Peter asked of Christ that night, is a valid one we should all ask ourselves. Where are we going? Life does not stand still, it is constantly moving forward, as the great funeral hymn says “Time like an ever rolling stream bears all it’s sons away”. Life is a journey, and any journey must have a direction, a destination and a purpose. Therefore we need, from time to time, to ask the question, “Where are we going?”

St Paul’s rant to the Corinthians is as much about this question as it is about some of the issues he raises with such vehemence. Yet again, he is faced with a congregation that has backslid, it has been “got at” by a host of new teachers, some of them perhaps even disciples of other Apostles, who are trying to impose a different set of values to those Paul has taught. It is about the direction that this congregation will take in future; It is about the spiritual growth that must occur in order for the faith to take root firmly and for the journey for each individual to continue.

Having sown the seed, Paul is seeking to ensure that as many as possible stay in the fertile ground of the living word. Others, it seems, had a vision of holding things back, perhaps clinging to familiar patterns – one issue was admission to the church and the requirement for circumcision. Paul, Peter and several others held that it was not necessary, baptism was sufficient, but others felt and argued strenuously that it was essential. Echoes of this debate can be found in many of the other letters as well – see Colossians, see Ephesians and see the letters of Peter and Jude, and you get some idea of just how difficult some of these questions were and remain.

Today’s parable from our Gospel reading also makes plain that we cannot stand still. To bear fruit, the seed must germinate, must develop, must itself produce seed, and that in turn must bring the next cycle. Failing to germinate, produces nothing, failing to take root effectively may produce something, but not enough. Only the seed which falls in the fertile ground is fully productive and produces the seed which will carry the Gospel to the next generation.

We are a week and a half away from Lent, the preparation period for the greatest event in the Christian year, Our Lord’s Passion and the resurrection which brings life and hope to us all. We are all of us called to prepare ourselves to welcome Him and to celebrate our journey in Him and with Him at Easter. It behoves us to consider our progress on our journey and it is certainly essential that we ask ourselves “where are we going?” during the weeks of preparation.

Paul’s congregation at Corinth was bedeviled by arguments about how to organize the church, how to worship, what the proper rites of the church should be, the form of worship and the route to faith – the traditional Jewish way or another newer way becoming the practice favoured by the majority of the Apostles. In all of this the purpose of the journey was being submerged; put simply they had become so caught up in their arguments, that they had forgotten the message. Paul’s rebuke is a salutary one to them and the parable of the sower reminds us too that the journey is one we must make in faith, we cannot turn back, we must go forward to whatever Our Lord and Saviour has prepared for us.

In our preparations this Lent, let us therefore ask ourselves the question St Peter asked of Jesus on the Appian Way. Where are we going? Are we going to let the seed of the gospel lie fallow and unproductive within us, or are we going to nurture it and bring forth the fruit of the spirit so that we may take others with us on our journey through this life and into the next?

“Quo vadis?”