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Parish of Christ Church Saint Laurence Patronal Festival 10 August 2017 Readings: Tobit 4:5-11; Psalm 17; 2 Corinthians 9:6-10; Matthew 6:19-24 Thank you, Fr Daniel, for your gracious invitation to preach at this evening’s Solemn High Mass in honour of Saint Laurence, the patron saint of this fine parish. It is a great pleasure to be here once again, and to celebrate this festival with you. And yet so little is known about Laurence - a 4th century Roman deacon who served under Pope Sixtus II, with responsibility both for the material goods of the church and for the distribution of alms to the poor. Laurence was caught up in a persecution prosecuted by the Emperor Valerian in the course of which Pope Sixtus, himself, was beheaded in accordance with a Roman edict regarding the execution of bishops, priests, and deacons. So how did the tradition arise that Laurence, a deacon, met his death on a gridiron placed over hot coals? According to the 19th century Knight of Malta, Pio Franchi de Cavalieri, it arose because of a mistaken transcription. The customary way of announcing the death of a martyr was passus est – ‘he suffered.’ But Pio Franchi thought the ‘p’ must have been accidentally omitted. The declaration of Laurence’s death, therefore, read not passus est, but assus est – which means, of course, ‘he was roasted.’ Well, whether it’s passus or assus, the death of Saint Laurence - coming just four days after the execution of Pope Sixtus – made such a deep impression upon the early church, that today our celebration of him ranks as a solemn feast.
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For as little as we know about Laurence, we do know the most important thing about him. And that is that Saint Laurence died for Christ. Laurence’s holiness was marked by a total response to Christ – a response that was neither deflected nor diminished by hostility, persecution, or death. It was, rather, a holiness marked by selflessness and generosity. And these are the very qualities of Christian life and character to which our scripture readings direct us this evening. “Revere the Lord all your days, and refuse to sin or to transgress his commandments,” Tobit urges his son, Tobias. Punished for burying an executed Jew, Tobit was a godfearing citizen of Nineveh who persists with his charitable acts even when he is visited with blindness and poverty as a result. Even in times of hardship or persecution, he tells Tobias, do not ignore the plight of the poor; and remember the importance of almsgiving. “Indeed, almsgiving, for all who practice it,” he reminds Tobias, “is an excellent offering in the presence of the Most High.” It’s a point picked up directly by the Apostle Paul, who tells the Christians in Corinth that generosity, and cheerful generosity at that, is the very mark of the Christian life. “For God loves a cheerful giver,” declares the Apostle, in what is quite possibly one of the most frequently quoted verses in the New Testament. The monetary collection that St Paul is so concerned about is intended for the relief of the poor in Jerusalem. And in order to stimulate giving from the Corinthian Christians, Paul provokes some friendly rivalry with the churches in Macedonia, and emphasizes the important part that generosity plays in the Christian life.
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Ah yes: give generously! Isn’t the church is always asking for money? There’s always a roof, or a spire, or an organ that needs fixing – so, cough up cheerfully, please! But note that Paul does not say the Corinthian Christians have to give money because those poor people in Jerusalem had none – although they probably did have very little. We are not to be generous simply because others are in need. There will always be people in need – as a stroll through Martin Place any day this week reminds us. And it’s something Jesus himself acknowledged in the Gospels. No: we don’t give because people need our money. Rather, our generous giving is to be an expression of faith in God – the same God who, through his grace, provides us with the means of attaining righteousness. In other words, we Christians are to give as an expression of gratitude, as an expression of blessing – and not out of a fear that if we don’t give, then God will somehow get us one way or another. We are to give – we are to be generous - because of grace; and we are to give in order to praise God. For as one writer has put it, “Giving to others is simply what trusting in God’s promises looks like in a different dress.” Remember: the most important thing we know about Saint Laurence is that he died for Christ. He offered his life – much as we are to offer our wealth and our gifts of service – as an expression of praise for God’s abundant grace showered upon us. Grace, and grace alone, must be the basis of giving, since our giving is an expression of thanks to God who has already given all things to us. “Giving,” says one theologian, “is an act of faith in response to God’s grace” - which, as an act in itself, makes manifest the glory of God” (Hafemann).
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In other words: we do not give to or for the church. We give because we are church, and so we give with the spirit of generosity. Living a life marked by generosity is an act of witness to the fact that you and I are church. We live – and give – generously, not because we are hopeful of some kind of return or reward. We give generously because our God has given generously to us. Of course, what it actually means to say that we are generous because we are church is somewhat provocative these days. For one thing, it is not a popular thing to say at a time when the Christian church is widely under attack for its beliefs, and faces accusations of – amongst other things - patriarchy, sexism, racism, homophobia – and any number of other phobias. Returns from the 2016 Census indicate that only 52% of Australians now identify as Christians – down from Y61% in 2011. And those identifying as Anglicans declined from 17% to 13% over the same period. Census returns such as those have also fueled a renewed determination to push Christianity and talk of Jesus out of public debate – and, in Queensland, even out of the primary school playground. Being Church has never been easy. And today, as Christians, we are under renewed attack for daring to live by the tenets of our faith, and to proclaim the Godly life set for us in scripture. It is not easy to live selflessly in a self-obsessed society; nor to live generously in an age of narcissism in which the assertion of rights trumps the obligations of duty. The tares of the age will always threaten the Church.
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But as Father Michael Giffin has noted, in an important essay recently published in Quadrant magazine, “While the Church is deeply enmeshed within the world, it must stand apart from the world, and not identify with the world more than is necessary or good.” More than is necessary or good. That requires some very critical weighing and discerning – and is not easy. Fr Michael goes on to state clearly what you and I already know: “People outside the Church don’t get the standingapart business and can’t see why the Church doesn’t just adopt the world’s progressive agenda.” And yet this is the pattern of life the scriptures set for us this evening: to stand apart – not aloof, mind you – but apart: living lives marked by generosity in the face of greed, and living lives of thanksgiving in an age of self-obsessed preoccupation. It is not easy – which is why Christians through the ages have set the examples of the saints before them. And it is why Christians have continually honoured the life, example, and witness of Laurence since his martyrdom in the 4th century. So which is to be? Where are you and I to store up our treasure? On earth, “where rust and moth doth corrupt, and thieves break through and steal?” Or in heaven, “where neither rust nor moth doth corrupt, and thieves do not break through and steal?” And by treasure, I don’t just mean money. “Treasure” refers, if you like, to that which commands our attention and our allegiance. According to legend, when Laurence knew he was to be arrested, he distributed the church’s material goods among the poor – even selling the altar vessels to increase the sum.
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When the Roman prefect summoned Laurence, demanding that he present all the precious treasures of the church, Laurence agreed that the church was, indeed, very rich. After three days, Laurence brought before the prefect the blind, the lame, the orphaned, and the widowed, and declared to the prefect, “These are the treasures of the Church.” You and I have a choice to make about treasure: a choice between two treasures of the heart; and between two eyes of the heart – the good eye and the bad eye; and between two masters of the heart – God and money. Jesus is quite clear about the importance of the decision we are to make: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” And this is not just about what we do with our money. The pursuit of one form of treasure will lead, almost inevitably, to restlessness, dissatisfaction, and anxiety. But the Good News that comes to us this Laurence-tide is that pursuit of the other treasure will free us to live in peace, and in gratitude to God for what God has done – and is doing – for us. In other words: we can either look to our own efforts, and depend upon them to try and control the world around us. Or we can place our trust in God. We can be loyal to one master or to the other. As we cannot serve both, we have to choose.
The Reverend Peter Kurti 10 August 2017