Fifth Sunday after Trinity

Almighty and everlasting God,
by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church
is governed and sanctified:
hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people,
that in their vocation and ministry
they may serve you in holiness and truth
to the glory of your name;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

I think this Collect for the Fifth Sunday after Trinity is a prayer for the Church, for who it is and what it does. So it's a prayer for all of us gathered as the Body of Christ, for a our good and for our work as Christ in the world today.

The first couple of sentences of the prayer say something about what we believe about the Church. And this is the whole Church of God not just one small part of it. But having said that, even a small part of the whole world wide Church is in essence and in everything the Church. Like a drop of water is the whole thing, it's all water. It's not the whole of the water on the planet but it's exactly the same. So we here at St. Andrew's are the Church in every way, just as the whole Church throughout the world is the Church. Another way of saying it is that we here don't just represent the Church, we are the Church. When people join St. Andrew's, it's not simply St. Andrew's that they are joining, they are joining the Church. There are lots of ways we could put this I'm sure.

However we see the Church, the important thing to note is that it is constituted through the Holy Spirit and takes it's life from the Holy Spirit. Our Collect says that the Church is 'governed and sanctified' by the Holy Spirit. Without the Holy Spirit we would be just a gathering of people. We'd be a body; a club; a corporation; even an institution. But we wouldn't be the Church. It's the Holy Spirit and the Spirit's presence, that is, Christ's presence, God's presence that makes us the Church. 'Where two or three are gathered together in my name', says the Lord, 'there will I be also'. And we can only meet in the Lord's name through the Holy Spirit.

And it's this that makes the Church different, wholly different to any other body in the world. And it's this difference that people really ought to recognise, or at the very least sense when they encounter the Church. It does mean too that we should expect the Church to be different, to have different structures, constituted differently and have different ways of working than human organisations. For, as Metropolitan Hierotheos puts it 'the Church isn't a human organisation, it's a divine/human organism'. God says in Isaiah, 'my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways'. And that's why we should always asking ourselves many times over before making changes so that we feel releant to the life outside the Church, 'is this really God's way of doing things, or merely human ways revered by human self interest?' Another way of looking at it is that the Church manifests or makes real in the world, the Kingdom of God. That's my understanding of things anyway. And the Church is a force for good as it manifests God's Kingdom; His peace, His justice, His mercy; which don't necessarily show up in the same way the world shows these things.

And so it's in this context, in this Church formed and sustained through and in the Holy Spirit of God that each of us is called to live and work for God, in the name of Jesus Christ and through the Holy Spirit. Each and every one of us has a vocation, a calling. That term isn't just reserved for those who find themselves in ordained ministry. Every single Christian, by virtue of his or her baptism has a vocation, a calling; first of all to live according to God's commandments, according to His Word that we read in scripture and see lived out in Jesus Christ himself. Every single day we are called to commit ourselves anew to that life in Christ.

And then what comes out of that calling, what grows out of it through the gifts and talents that God has given each and every one of us, is our ministry. So just as each of us has a vocation, each of us has a ministry. And that ministry can take one of many many forms, some of which we read about in the Bible and others which although not named there are equally vital to the life of the Church and so vital to the life of the world itself. Never underestimate the value and sacredness of the ministry you are called to offer day by day for the good of humankind, whether it be administering the sacraments, or giving a glass of cold water to a hot and thirsty soul. You do it in and through the Holy Spirit if it's done in the name of Christ.

And this is service 'in holiness and truth' as our Collect says today. To live true to what God has made us is holiness in itself. To live out and to offer all that we are and can be, to the good of humankind is service 'in holiness and truth.' It's nothing very complicated, but at the same time it's not at all easy; because there is always that in the world which would divert us or snatch us away from this ministry in the Lord's name. The siren call of the world will lure us away from the still, small calling of the voice of God. So that's why today we ask God especially to hear the prayer we make for one another so that we might always, day by day, hear God's call and be faithful to Him and to one another as His Church.