Trinity V, 20th July, by The Rev. Brendon Bedford, SCP

Amos 8:1-12
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42

On behalf of my wife, Ashley, and myself, I would like to thank Rev. Lucy, Fr. Jack, and all the people of St. Giles’ for the very kind and warm welcome we have received in this parish and in your country.

I bring you greetings from across the Atlantic from your sister-Church of the Anglican Church of Canada, and specifically from your siblings in Christ in the parish of Christ Church in the small, rural town of Meaford, Ontario, Canada.

Now, I am coming from a parish church whose building was built in 1876, which is considered rather old in Canada. So, the scale of history here at St. Giles’ – and in England more broadly – is deeply humbling, especially when I consider that the supervisor of the translation of the King James Bible, Lancelot Andrewes, was the rector here. No pressure for this preacher!

But it is that long history of faith that is precisely what connects us. I believe on Remembrance Sunday, last year, Rev. Lucy shared with you the story of our World War II Memorial Windows at Christ Church, Meaford. Six window panels comprised of hundreds of broken pieces of stained glass, from over a hundred cathedrals and churches across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, that were damaged or destroyed in the devastating bombing during the Second World War.

My predecessor as rector of Christ Church, the late Rev. Harold Appleyard, also served as a chaplain with the Canadian Army during World War II. And when his regiment was sent overseas to support the war effort, he went with them. Upon arriving in England, he was deeply moved and disturbed by the destruction he witnessed, wrought by Nazi bombs upon the churches and, more importantly, the people of this country. Seeing churchyards littered with thousands of shards of broken glass, within months of arriving, Appleyard conceived of the idea for memorial windows, made of these pieces, back in Meaford, Canada.

As he moved forward with this idea of a memorial, he was gifted with and collected pieces of broken glass, blown out of church windows, with the permission and support of the local clergy and laypeople from the largest places, like St. Paul’s Cathedral and Bath Abbey, to the smallest parish church.

The result was an astounding and moving memorial at Christ Church in Meaford, Ontario, which stands today in remembrance of the great sacrifices made by so many during that conflict – Canadians, Britons, and others. It was an example of new life coming forth from what was thought to only be death.

But why am I here telling you this? Well, included within the memorial in my church is a piece of glass which is, I understand, the only surviving piece of pre-WWII glass from here at St. Giles’ as a result of an attack suffered by your church in 1940. The piece in the memorial from this church is of two hands that are holding each other. Hands, I would like to think, of friendship…of compassion…of love. And it is due to this connection in ancient glass and an even more ancient connection in faith in Christ that I join you here today.

So, from our little country church in the country to all of you in this little country church in the city, we at Christ Church are so grateful to be included in your ongoing story and for you being a part of our ongoing story in Canada. And I think this is the great unifier for all of us gathered here today - our shared story. We share a story of broken glass, produced out of that which was intended to destroy, but which has been put together into that which conveys that much more grace and hope. But more than that, we are part of a shared story of faith that extends not just across the ocean, but throughout the world and across time and space.

We are part of a story of God’s working out salvation, starting with the dawn of creation.

We are part of a story that finds its centre in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came, and taught, and cared, and healed, and loved humanity. Who suffered, died and rose again, so that we might become children of God. We are part of a story of hope, of love, of justice, mercy and forgiveness…a story of such good news that for two thousand years the people who are incorporated into God’s story…into God’s church…have travelled and toiled to share this story in word and deed so that others might come to know the love God has for them and for this world. We are part of the Christian story. 

Now, I know that in our Western world we can sometimes feel like we are in the midst of Amos’s famine: a famine “not of bread, nor water … but of hearing the word of the Lord” (Amos 8:11).

We long for a word of compassion amid suffering, for the proclamation of light in our darkness, for the words that will draw us all towards reconciliation. But I want to affirm today that we need not despair – because today, here, God’s word is alive. God’s story is alive and it is alive in us. It is alive in water and bread and wine, in sacrament, and in living bodies.

We see it in the baptisms taking place today. We are going to be joined in the unfolding of God’s story…joined in God’s Church universal, today, by Molly and Charlotte, who are to be baptized. Baptized into the new life of Christ, dying to what was and being made alive to all that is and will be, seen and unseen. This is exactly the Christian story. Hope is alive. Life is renewed. Reconciliation is made possible in Christ Jesus. God is doing a new thing today.

But this doesn’t mean something new just for Molly and Charlotte. No, because if we hold to the understanding that the Church is the Body of Christ, as we heard St. Paul describe earlier, then we should also recognize that a body grows, a body changes, a body is dynamic and is made up of many members. The Body of Christ is growing and changing today, in a very good way.

In your baptisms, Molly and Charlotte, we are so happy that you are coming to participate in the unfolding of Christ’s mysterious and marvelous story and joining us as part of this Body of Christ…this imperfect, sometimes awkward, and let’s face it, this often weird body of varied members. But also this holy and good and caring and loving Body of Christ…this holy Church of God. You are going to be grafted in as part of that body, but you are going to bring all that is YOU…all your God given gifts, all your talents, all your aspirations, all your dreams. All that makes Molly truly Molly, and all that makes Charlotte truly Charlotte…who are beloved of God…you are going to add all that to what makes up this universal Body of Christ. You are going to help us to tell the fullness of the Christian story.

Like adding a piece of glass to a large window, however small or cracked we may believe the piece to be: YOUR piece will catch God’s light in its own way – and enrich the pattern of the whole to make something new. In fact, the window would not be what it is without your unique piece.

The new creation...our renewed story…God’s Church needs Molly and Charlotte…and indeed needs each one of us. Each one of us in needed and included in our mission – to seek God, to listen for God, to love as God loves, to recognize Jesus in every person, to follow in Jesus’s footsteps, and to keep telling the story.

Now, our story is told not only in words, but also in symbols – in water and bread and wine, and yes, even in glass. And so, as a sign of our unity in that shared story, I have brought with me today two items which I was asked to present to you, the people of St. Giles’, on behalf of the people of my parish of Christ Church, Meaford.

The first is a piece of the original glass from Christ Church. Clear glass taken from a placeholder window that was removed and replaced with the memorial windows in 1946. This glass was blessed last Sunday and sent with me by the people of my parish. We have a piece of your glass…a piece of you, so it seems only right for you to have a piece of us.

The second item is a chalice, which has also been blessed for this occasion and sent with me by your siblings at Christ Church, Meaford. Dedicated to the glory of God and engraved with the names of our two churches, it is offered as a reaffirmation of that which connects us in Christ – that we gather around one table, one bread, one body. That we have one Lord, one faith, one baptism.

These items…this glass and this chalice…are not just tokens of friendship, but signs of the deep truth that binds us: that in Christ, what was broken can be remade. That what was shattered by conflict and hurt can become a window of hope. That across continents and generations, we are still being drawn together into one story, with Jesus at the centre of it all. That our baptism in Christ knits us into one holy Body that stretches from London, to Essex, to Santiago de Compostela, to Canada, and beyond.

May God make each of us strong together – even in the midst of brokenness. May God make us hopeful together – even in the midst of famine. And may God help us, like stained glass lit from behind, to catch the light of Christ and shine it forth into God’s world – wherever we are sent.

Thanks be to God.