In our Church calendar, today is identified as Sexagesima Sunday and, according to the secular affairs of the Province of Alberta, tomorrow is Family Day. This, as it happens, is a most fortunate conjunction for me, because I wish to speak briefly this morning about the Church as our spiritual family. The relationship that exists between God and His people in the whole Church is fundamentally a familial one. We Christians have all been made children of God through the Cross of Christ. Every congregation, priests and laity alike, is essentially a “family unit in God” who may say together “Our Father”.

This underlying theme is not out of line with the prayers, and the chosen readings from Sacred Scripture, that are appointed for today’s worship. In the Collect we have promised God not to put our trust in our own abilities, but rather we have begged Him to defend us in every adversity with His Almighty power. In the Epistle Saint Paul tells us most graphically of his own great suffering as an Apostle of Christ. He was scourged, and stoned to the point of death; he was imprisoned; he was almost drowned; he was frozen, and he hungered and thirsted. This physical agony and extreme mental exhaustion he gladly endured, entirely for the sake of God’s family, the Church! I find most moving of all, his reference to bearing on his shoulders the weight of the cares of the Church. All of this was done for the glory of God!

The parable of the Sower and the four soils, told in the eighth chapter of the gospel of Saint Luke, reveals to us precisely how mankind will respond to the Word of God. It is removed from the hearts of some immediately by sin and by the devil. In others it fails to take root and quickly withers away. Or, having at first taken root, it may be choked of life by the cares of the world, or by material riches or sensory pleasures! True hearers, however, will become patient, faithful, and obedient members of Christ’s family, and will themselves bring forth abundant fruit within the Church, for the ultimate benefit of the whole world.

All members of the Christ’s Church family are to be united in their belief in doctrines derived exclusively from Divine Revelation. They are to acknowledge, without reservation, the same authority as appointed by God Himself. Jesus Christ expects and demands this! The unvarying teaching and tradition of the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church has proclaimed it to be so for over two millennia! Furthermore, Holy Scripture authenticates this! This is made abundantly clear for us in the seventeenth chapter of the gospel according to Saint John. As homework I would charge each of you to re-read, and meditate upon, this chapter of scripture!

An overall unity of government is no less important for Christ’s Catholic Church. Remember that Jesus spoke of His “Church”, and not of His “Churches”. In the gospel according to Saint Matthew we read Jesus’ own words “Upon this rock I will build My Church”. The Church that Jesus established is intended to be one corporate body, and all of its members are to be united under one Head. Almighty God, Himself, is that unique mediator! Experience from the world around us serves to demonstrate that even a well-regulated earthly kingdom requires that there be only one King, one form of government, and one uniform body of laws.

The Church is God’s kingdom here on earth, and Our Lord Jesus Christ is its everlasting King. It was Jesus Christ himself who first brought His Church into being. It was He alone who chose the first Apostles, and who later clothed them with His own powers. These same Apostles, and their successors the Bishops, are God’s ambassadors, appointed by Him to vindicate His honour and to proclaim His glory. They have been individually called and equipped to represent the kingdom of heaven among the nations of the earth (St John 20: 21; and St Matthew 28: 19-20). Whereas the jurisdiction of earthly ambassadors is strictly limited by human international agreements, the authority of the Bishops of God extends over the whole earth. It is Jesus who has empowered His Bishops to teach, and to preach, and to rule within the Church. Furthermore, and as too few preachers appear to have the necessary courage to proclaim in our present age, He has also commanded their hearers to honour them - and to listen, and obey them: “and if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet as you leave that house or town. Truly, I say to you, it shall be more tolerable on the day of judgement for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town. (Matthew 10: 14-15)!

Our sovereign Lord called His Church by several other names. He likened it to a sheepfold containing one flock, and having only one shepherd. The flock clings together and it is impatient to reunite if its members become separated. The sheep all feed upon the same pastures, and they will fly away from strangers. He also likened the Church to a vine, to a human body, and He referred to her as His own divine bride. Each of these wonderful pictures clearly depicts the Church as the Holy place in which God’s wisdom, justice, mercy, sanctity and truth are ever present. The Church is that place where Jesus’ divine perfections are extolled, and where we are exhorted to imitate them, becoming “Christ-like” ourselves. It is only through the Church that we all can receive the grace to become “perfect, even as our heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).

The ordained priest is a partner with his Bishop in representing Christ in prayer, worship and service. He is to be a prudent co-operator with his Bishop, and he is his co-worker. He shares in the universal dimension of Christ’s mission on earth. He can only exercise his personal ministry, however, in dependence upon the Bishop and in communion with him. At his ordination the priest promises his absolute obedience to his Bishop. The familial relationship that must exist between the Diocesan Bishop, and the parish priest and the laity in his designated congregation, should express nothing less than that relationship existing between God Himself and His people.

What more can I say of the parish priest? Speaking to you today as your Rural Dean, in place of our Bishop, I feel that it is my duty to remind you of several important facts that can so easily be forgotten, by laity and priests alike. Your parish priest is above all else a divinely appointed ambassador representing your Sovereign Lord to you! His jurisdiction and authority are not to be exercised over unwilling subjects, but over the hearts and affections of God’s own people. Never forget, therefore, that despite having the privilege of paying him - he is not your employee! You are always your priest’s spiritual children and you should pay him not only the tribute of your money, but also with your love and respect, which mere loyalty can not exact. He is your shepherd, who alone can lead you into the delicious pastures of the Sacraments, and who will protect you from the many ravenous wolves that lie in wait for your souls. He is your Father, and it is he alone who can bring to you the bread of life from Christ. He is your judge, whose exclusive office and divine responsibility it is to pass on to self-accusing criminals the sentence of pardon. He is your spiritual physician, whom God has equipped to heal your souls from all of the loathsome sickness produced by sin! Your parish priest does so much more than merely officiate at your services, visit your sick, and administer the business affairs of the congregation.

The priest must build his own ministry firmly upon continued self-examination, seeking divine pardon for his own sins, before undertaking to hear the confessions of others. He should seek to be thoroughly informed, and soundly guided, by the Holy Spirit before daring to instruct or guide others in his care. Before undertaking to illuminate others he must, himself, be illuminated by the love of Jesus Christ. It is only through his overriding personal intimate relationship with his Lord Jesus that he is able to bring others into that same heavenly relationship. All of this is to say that the priest, himself, must be sanctified in order to be God’s agent of sanctification. In summary, I hope that I have made it clear to you that ultimately it is Jesus Christ alone who works to effect salvation in and through his family the Church.

What should our closing prayer be today - on this Sexagesima Sunday - the eve of Alberta’s family day? I think we can do no better than to join with St Paul, in his epistle to the Ephesians(3: 14-15).