The Chaplain’s Lent talks

During Lent this year Rev Corin Child, the School Chaplain, gave a series of three talks each with a passage, a story and a point to consider. They are brought together in this article.

 

Part 1: Prayer

Pray continually. (1 Thessalonians 5:17)
 

During some of our Friday assemblies this term I want to talk about three of the key components of life and faith that have continued across the centuries in this cathedral. To make it easier to remember, the three things I’ll be talking about all begin with the letter P. The first of these, the topic for this morning, is Prayer.

As you’ve just heard, the Bible is uncomplicated about prayer. ‘Just get on with it’ is the advice – or, in the words of 1 Thessalonians, ‘pray continually’.

Clear and straightforward as that is, it might leave us with all sorts of questions, for instance: How do I know that God is listening when I pray? Does prayer work? Is there a right or wrong way to pray? How do I account for the times when I’ve prayed for something and it hasn’t happened? If God already knows everything that’s going to happen, what’s the point of praying anyway? There are places in Scripture that give hints and clues about these questions, but there is no systematic explanation of what exactly prayer is or how it works. Rather the message is: give it a go and see what happens.

William Temple, Archbishop of Canterbury during the Second World War, once gave some advice about prayer. In a time when lots of people wondered if their prayers would be heard, he had no easy answers to give about prayer, because the Bible didn’t give him any. But he could say, from his own experience: “When I pray, coincidences happen. When I don’t, they don’t.”

 

 

Part 2: Purpose

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things…

Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3)
 

A cathedral like this is a place where you can come back and remember what’s important – whatever stage of life you’re at, whatever job you are doing, whatever confusion may be going on. This is a place where we put aside our temporary preoccupations and look for our permanent purpose.

Once there was once a family who were getting ready for a birthday party in their house. They had most things ready – the gifts, the balloons, the food and of course the cake.

At the last minute they realised they didn’t have any candles. The youngest member of the family, the daughter, volunteered to go into town and buy some.

A short bus ride later the daughter headed for a shop she knew sold candles for birthday cakes. On her way she noticed some fairground stalls that had been set up in the middle of town, and her eye was drawn to a coconut shy where the prize was a giant teddy bear. She decided to have a go. The first four balls she threw missed the coconut, but her fifth ball (in a way that never happens in real life) knocked the coconut clean off the stand, and she found herself the proud and sudden owner of a giant teddy.

Just then a group of her schoolfriends spotted her. They congratulated her on the prize, and invited her to come with them to get some ice cream. As they reached the ice-cream shop, they passed a workman who was putting a 5-foot plastic model of an ice-cream into a skip. When the girls asked about it, he replied, “We’re redecorating. I’ve been told to throw this away. You can have it if you want.” The girls couldn’t resist. After they had bought their real ice-creams, though, no-one wanted to keep the plastic one, and the daughter was left with it.

On her way back to the bus, the daughter passed a market stall that was selling fancy dress. Remembering that she had a costume party to go to in a few weeks, she noticed an inflatable banana outfit which was on sale at a good price, too good to ignore. But, because of everything else she had with her, the only way she could carry the banana costume was to wear it.

Noticing she was getting some strange looks in the bus queue, the daughter realised what she must look like: a person-sized banana holding a person-sized bear under one arm and a person-sized ice-cream under the other. Being a modern teenager, her first thought was that this needed posting online. So, with a little difficulty, she took a selfie and uploaded it together with the message ‘Having fun in town!’

Within a matter of seconds there was a reply to her post. It was from her mother; and it said simply, “Don’t forget the candles.”

 

Many of you here will already have a sense of purpose, an idea of how you want to live and where you want to get to. Most of you will also understand the reality of life – that we can get distracted from our original purposes, with the result that people often realise – hours, days or even years later – that they’ve lost track of the healthy intentions they started out with. Sometimes we need a reminder of what we set out to do.

The early Christians, whose correspondence we have in letter form at the end of the Bible, felt strongly that their lives had an underlying purpose which they had to keep sight of. “Whatever you do,” wrote one of them, “whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” In other words, keep coming back to the purpose you have committed yourself to; keep getting back on track.

Whenever you come into this cathedral, why not use it as a chance to put distractions to one side, and to remind yourself of the purposeful path you need to keep following. You can do that whether you’re here for assembly, or whether you’re just visiting in ten years’ time.

 

 

Part 3: Penitence

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-9)
 

Elton John famously wrote a song called ‘Sorry seems to be the hardest word’. There’s a fair point in that title; we often don’t find it easy to say sorry. It’s a word that can make us feel vulnerable or ashamed when we say it. But the thought I want to put before you this morning is that being sorry can change you and the world around you.

Let me give you one further striking example of penitence. When King Charles is crowned later this year, he will have his wife – Camilla, the Queen Consort – by his side.

Their marriage of 18 years is seen today as healthy and positive, and the title of Queen Consort was proposed by the late Queen Elizabeth.

Back in 2005, however, when Charles and Camilla married, the mood of the country was very different. It is difficult for a royal to have secrets. Everyone knew that Charles’ relationship with Camilla involved unfaithfulness to his previous wife, Diana, whom the country had mourned when she died in a tragic car crash. Charles was unpopular; Camilla was unwelcome. But they decided to do something remarkable – they submitted themselves to a service of penitence.

A news story from the time reported it like this:

Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles are to address criticism of their relationship tomorrow by paying penitence for previous "sins and wickedness." The confessional prayer, written by King Henry VIII's Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Cranmer, is considered to be the strongest act of penitence in the Church of England. The Prince and the new Duchess of Cornwall will join in, saying: "We acknowledge and bewail our manifold sins and wickedness, Which we, from time to time, most grievously have committed, by thought, word and deed, Against thy Divine Majesty, Provoking most justly thy wrath and indignation against us. We do earnestly repent, And are heartily sorry for these our misdoings."

 

I remember the TV pictures from the time, with the future King kneeling and saying he was sorry for the mistakes he had made. I thought then, and I still think now, that it was a remarkably powerful thing to watch.

I think the person who is now our King may have had his own experience of how penitence changed him and the world around him. Lent is a time for all of us to consider how penitence might be a beneficial experience for us as well.