Sermon for Reformation Sunday
(25 October 1998).

"Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, - that is my gospel, for which I suffer hardship. Remind them of this, and warn them before God that they are to avoid wrangling over words, which does no good but only ruins those who are listening." 2 Timothy 2: 8-9, 14

The Advantages of the Reformation

The main advantages of the 16th Century Reformation were that the Bible and services were translated into English. The Latin mass underwent a complete reconstruction to remove the Doctrine of Transubstantiation. The notion of a sacrificial priesthood was abolished, along with devotion to the saints, purgatory, the sale of indulgences and those teachings concerning our Lord's Mother which were considered not to be in accordance with holy scripture. The clergy were also permitted to marry. The religious orders were abolished and the monks given state pensions. Church property was seized by the state and redistributed to supporters of the government.

The continental ideas for reform of the church spread to England where the Reformation also had an added political dimension namely a concern to reduce the power of the Pope, and Henry the eighth's personal conflict over his divorce and permission to remarry in church.

The essential aim of the English reformers was One National Church with moderate reform. This was represented by the Anglican Communion which saw itself as a middle way. Anglicans retained Catholic Order with Bishops, Priests and Deacons. They saw themselves as Apostolic Catholic and Reformed, as representing continuity with the past and not a new church.

Those however were dangerous times. It was difficult to disagree and keep your head. Today we remember the martyrs of the Reformation period - Bishops Latimer and Ridley and Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the architect of the Book of Common Prayer, who were burned at the stake by an intolerant catholic state just as Sir Thomas More and St.Oliver Plunkett met their ends at the hands of an intolerant protestant state. Later in our prayers we will remember those who died on both sides of this historic theological conflict.

The Roman Catholic Church today has no difficulty remembering the English martyrs. Neither should we have any difficulty celebrating Reformation Sunday or remembering the Protestant martyrs in England and France where hundreds of protestants died in later history as a result of the revocation of the Edict of Nantes.

The question is what do we make of our remembering? It should be to give thanks for the witness of the Christian martyrs, to celebrate our protestant heritage and what makes us distinctive in faith and practice. We must learn from the mistakes of the past, rather than to use the past just to reinforce sectarian attitudes or to promote anti-catholic feeling.

When the Church of Ireland was disestablished in 1870 it adopted in its preamble and declaration the following statement.

The Church of Ireland as a Reformed and Protestant Church, doth hereby re-affirm its constant witness against all those innovations in doctrine and worship, whereby the Primitive Faith hath been from time to time defaced or overlaid, and which at the Reformation this church did disown and reject.

This statement along with the 39 Articles of Religion sets out the historic context of what it means to be a protestant.

The Disadvantages of the Reformation

One of the weaknesses of the Reformation churches is the promotion of individualism and their perpetual tendency to divide at every opportunity, usually after some sort of theological row. Which led one person to say - "If you ever find the perfect church don't join it because you will only spoil it."

Another disadvantage is seen in the extreme views to be found at the edges of the church, among those who do not darken the door of any church, but whose claim to be protestant may have more to do with their politics and loyalty to King William III, rather than the worship of Almighty God.

The Reformation Today

The church should be semper reformandam - Always Reforming. In the past 30 years we have seen a convergence between the churches, represented by the reforms of Vatican II in the Roman Catholic church; the growth of ecumenism and the coming together of the churches as demonstrated in the ARCIC documents and the Ballymascanlan talks whose 25th anniversary we are currently celebrating.

There are still difficulties with official church statements. For example, the inability of the Roman Catholic Church to cope with dissent within it's own denomination, and recent attempts to reinforce a conservative view at the expense of the liberal wing of the church. The Pope's addition of two paragraphs to canon law in respect of the ordination of women priests and the teaching authority of liberal theologians, along with the exclusive statement on Intercommunion from the combined Roman Catholic Bishops of these islands are frankly unhelpful to ecumenism. Such efforts are designed to limit debate within that church and are out of step with the attitudes of many ordinary catholics who want to see change.

In Northern Ireland there has been an unhealthy mix of religion with party politics, where sectarianism and anti-catholic attitudes are fed by narrow mindedness, prejudice and bigotry. We have allowed religion to be used as a means of dividing people, of keeping people apart and for the social and economic exclusion of catholics within our society. These are defects which need to be remedied. In the process care must be taken to avoid the exclusion and alienation of protestants.

The policy of keeping ourselves to ourselves is a denial of the gospel. As one protestant said recently to his catholic neighbour "We will live with you, but we won't dance with you." Jesus calls us to step aside, to let one more into the divine circle, to join hands and to join with him in the eternal dance of his kingdom.

Our Presbyterian neighbours continue to thank God for their deliverance from Bishops in the Seventeenth century. Our Roman Catholic neighbours feel the need to continue to remind themselves of the hardships they suffered under the Penal Laws, which similarly applied to Presbyterians, even though such hardships were removed by 1829. Some members of the Church of Ireland may continue to lament the fact of Disestablishment in 1870 which brought the power of the Anglican Ascendancy to an end.

We have to try to learn from the past and while we may remember those things which make us distinctively what we are within our own denomination and confirm us in our own identity, - we should also seek to reach out to our neighbours by applying an equal or greater effort in the direction of ecumenism and to celebrate what we have in common, which is in fact 95% of our christian faith.

Drumcree

The topic of Drumcree is in the news again this week. It is in the absence of local agreement and the failure of the local lodges to accept the adjudication of the official agencies of the law that 160 clergy, including myself, have asked that the Orangemen should not be invited to Drumcree Church next year. Sometimes it is more christian to set aside your own rights so that someone else's equal rights will not be infringed. If you seek justice for your neighbour you will find it for yourself. The problem is not the service but the walk. Reach agreement on the route for the walk, or abolish the walk, and the service can proceed unhindered. There is an equal obligation on local residents groups to exercise tolerance and respect for diversity.

This weeks Church of Ireland Gazette proposes that the central church must act now on this issue. It makes four points.

Those who refuse to accept the conditions would not be excluded but would exclude themselves."

To this proposal I would add two further conditions - That the service at Drumcree be confined to the Portadown lodges only and that those attending must agree to disperse from church property within half an hour afterwards.

Protestants of course do not have a monopoly on narrow-mindedness, prejudice or bigotry. We should resolve to do those things, however small, which are within our own power to unlock our own prejudices and to create a tolerance of diversity within our country north and south. This can only happen if we are more aware of our own attitudes and if we try to unlearn some of those prejudices which are part of all our make-up.

The Church of Ireland needs to have an anti-sectarianism policy. We need to think about the language that we use in describing others and all of the subtleties with which we express our own identity, to ensure that we do not needlessly offend our neighbours. Minorities need to be cherished, recognised and valued by the majority, just as the majority needs to be recognised, valued and cherished by the minority. A simple gesture like inviting your Presbyterian neighbour for a cup of tea will not change the world but it might be a good place to start.