Institution of George Bush |
Welcome to George Bush. I am going to eschew any cheap and obvious jests. I remember going to see George in his rooms at St John's College Cambridge before he came to beloved St Anne's Hoxton. But although he is well known and well esteemed in the Diocese of London, his appointment is no late flowering of the old boy network. The process has been rigorous. The candidates for this fascinating parish were able and you worked very hard to produce an excellent profile and your representatives gave quality time and reflection to the selection process.
It is a fascinating parish as the congregation this evening attests. Below us is of course the seat of the Court of the Arches and we have the supreme judge in the Church of England here tonight. St Mary le Bow was of course with St Martin le Grand now defunct, one of the great sanctuaries of the mediaeval City where debtors and felons could take refuge from their pursuers.
Then the presence of the Australian High Commissioners reminds us of the link between this church and the Commonwealth of Australia. The Pearly Kings remind us of the tradition of Bow Bells a claim hotly disputed by the church of St Mary Bow in the East End. There are many other associations on which to build as the presence of distinguished City figures, notably the Master Grocer and the Alderman of the Ward makes clear.
In recent years however St Mary's has been a place of encounter and dialogue with the world well beyond the locality. It is the hope of us all that this engagement with the wider world should continue in the partnership which begins this evening.
But dialogue is difficult if we do not start with a point of view ourselves. There seems to be some confusion about the where the Church of England finds itself at present. People are passionate about this issue and that but what are the foundations?
We are given a plan of those foundations in this service in words which were agreed after long effort and Synodical process and which every Anglican ought to know by heart.
" The Church of England is part of the one holy catholic and apostolic church. " This is one of the reasons why I am loyal to the Church of England. We do not deny the name of Christian to other parts of the church, fragmented not by the will of Jesus Christ its founder but by human pride and sin.
We are not complacent about this fragmentation but look and work for the coming great church which Christ intended, which will be one, holy, catholic and apostolic, united, a hot bed of holy charity, universal, acknowledging no barriers of race or nation and presenting in word and action the teaching which we have received from the apostles the first friends of Jesus Christ.
At the same time when we make decisions in our church we should be at pains to keep in step as far as possible with common traditions and be very cautious when it comes to introducing new occasions for discord.
Then we are members of a church " worshipping the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. " This has always been a cardinal point for us. The characteristic invitation of the Church of England is not " here is a list of theological propositions can you sign at the bottom? " Rather the Church says, " here is a book of worship can you worship with us in this way? " That is why we are not called Cranmerians unlike continental protestants who take their names from some theologian and are Lutherans or Calvinists.
The God whom we worship with all Christians is not the abstract result of human philosophising but a living God who has communicated his life to us in his human face Jesus Christ and through his Holy Spirit.
The Church professes the faith uniquely revealed in the Holy Scriptures and set forth in the Catholic Creeds, which faith the Church is called upon to proclaim afresh in each generation.
God's self communication is recorded in the Bible. Not in little bits and pieces, notes and phrases, taken out of context but in the symphony made by the whole of Holy Scripture, which includes counter point and development of themes. It is important therefore not just to return again and again to our favourite bits. Anglicans have many aids to help them immerse themselves in Scripture. Every renewal of energy in the Church's life, if it is genuine, is marked by a return to the sources, a new engagement with the Bible which I find more exciting now than I did when I first set out as a priest.
But interpretation of this symphony takes great art and experience. The distilled reflections on Scripture which are preserved in the catholic creeds are an authoritative guide to the programme of the symphony.
This is not dead music fit only for antiquarian musicologists. The Spirit abides in the Church helping us to express Christian faith in fresh ways appropriate to the times in which we have been called. The dialogue tradition of this church is one way to explore the implications of Christian faith in contemporary circumstances.
We are not as fossil church but neither are we a chameleon church. Development and fresh interpretation of the symphony are the hall marks not wild improvisation.
We are not traditionalists, obstinate in our adherence to the customs of the day before yesterday. Read the essay first attached to the Prayer Book of 1549, " Of Ceremonies, why some be abolished and some retained. " But we do live in a tradition which is the spirit filled continuing life of the mystical body of our Lord Jesus Christ. Led by the Holy Spirit, the Church has borne witness to Christian truth in its historic formularies.
The question for George this evening is will you affirm your loyalty to this inheritance of faith. I am confident in his answer. It is good however that you should hear his public affirmation and that you, if you count yourself a member of the Church of England, should have the opportunity to say amen as part of your endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace and to abide in the things that keep our church united to the mystical body of Jesus Christ. Christ himself is the foundation of spiritual credibility, to whom be the glory for ever and ever. Amen.
