Paul writes – I don’t often link to sermons, but the effect on me of this particular sermon enlivening and really quite exciting. It surprised me. The sermon, by Rev. Canon Joseph Cassidy, was the opening address of the Affirming Catholicism Conference (held in September 2006 at St. Chad’s College, Durham). The background to the sermon was undoubtedly the particular challenges that have been facing the Anglican Communion for some time now.
The context for this excerpt is and Jesus’ encounter with the Syro-Phoenician woman who asked Jesus to heal her daughter (Matthew 15:21-28).
“…Many of you will know that this text can be used to argue for radical ‘inclusivity' or radical ‘inclusiveness' in the Church. The argument goes that Jesus had to learn that our inherited ways of figuring out who's in and who's out must be challenged: indeed, these attitudes can be so ingrained, so habitual, so natural a part of being human, that even Jesus had to have his mind changed by this woman…
… [If] Jesus heard his Father through this persistent woman, if Jesus could have got such important things wrong, couldn't we, couldn't we the Church, have got other things, other very important things, similarly wrong? If Jesus was persuaded by this stranger, shouldn't we all be open to being persuaded by one another? I’m going to change gears; for this text has an important jewel hidden in it. The jewel is the realisation that we must sometimes change our minds on ethical issues because the good keeps changing on us. I know that sounds horrible. I appreciate that it sounds as though I'm going to champion a form of relativism that seems to draw everyone's ire these days. But I'm afraid the good really does change, and I'm also afraid that those who cling to what used to be good may end up inadvertently hurting themselves and others.
Even though Luke tells us that Jesus grew in wisdom and in favour with God (Lk 2.52), the tradition tells us that he remained sinless. But how could Jesus get away with calling someone a dog -- I mean that's got to be a baby sin or a venial sin at least! If you're not sure, try excluding someone from something by calling someone a dog, or even just a little dog, and see what reaction you get. But there's a way through this: there's an important insight that allows us to hang on to Jesus' sinlessness while allowing him to use at least such exclusive if not such offensive language. And the insight is the hidden jewel I mentioned before. The insight is realising that the moral good is not set in stone. The moral good, what I really and truly ought to do -- this changes in time, across cultures, within religions, even within a communion of autonomous local churches, and not necessarily at the same rate or in the same way everywhere…”
You can read the whole sermon, including his great little closing prayer, here, or alternatively, for ease, I’ve formatted it as a PDF and added a “bio” on Cassidy. This is attached below.
Also, this sermon (not sure if it’s an edited version) will be in the forthcoming publication arising from the conference this sermon was delivered at. The title of the book is Living the Magnificat: Affirming Catholicism in a Broken World.
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