Archive for the ‘Lent’ Category

Cuthbert Tunstall on Palm Sunday: let us follow in the way of the Lord

Sunday, March 28th, 2010
An image of Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall (1474-1559)

Cuthbert Tunstall (1474-1559), Bishop of Durham

IN 1539, Bishop Cuthbert Tunstall of Durham (1474-1559) gave a Sermon on Palm Sunday – which falls today – before King Henry VIII.

In it, he spoke of the need to follow in the way of the Lord, by faith, and by those good works which are the fruit of a lively faith.

FOR God looketh whether those words come from the heart being contrite, which if they did, amendment of the evil life should ensue, & good works should spring out, where the evil did grow before, which new spring of good works is the fruit of penance.

We must also go forward in the way of our Lord, and not stand still, for else we can not come to our journeys end. David saith in the Cxviii. psalm, The immaculate and unspotted men be blessed, that do go forward in the way of our Lord.

He that saith, that he dwelleth in Christ, must walk after Christ in his way, which is his commandments, as he him self did. As Saint John saith in the ii. chapter of his first epistle, and therefore we may not stand still, but go on in doing good, to our journeys end, as he did.

Saint Paul saith to the Galatians in the vi. chapter, See that that ye err not, God can not be mocked, such as a man doth sow, such shall he reap: he that soweth in the flesh, shall reap thereof corruption: and he that soweth in the spirit, shall of the spirit reap life everlasting.

Let us not cease in good doing, for we shall reap it, not failing, when the time cometh. Therefore whiles we have time, let us do good to all men, and chiefly to the domestics of our faith.

A Sermon Of Cuthbert Tunstall, Preached On Palm Sunday 1539

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Thomas Ken on Daniel and the Lenten fast

Monday, March 15th, 2010
An image of Bishop Thomas Ken (1637-1711)

Bishop Thomas Ken (1637-1711)

IN a Sermon preached at King James II’s chapel in Whitehall, Bishop Thomas Ken (1637-1711) offered some remarks on Lent and on the discipline of fasting.

His subject was the prophet Daniel, who made appeal to God over the Exile of the Jews under Babylonian rule (597 -539 BC) by “prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes” (Dan 9:3), and who “ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine into his mouth” (see Dan 10:2).

In keeping with the Reformers, Ken recommended that those who fast in Lent should not cherry-pick things to “go without”, but should adopt a general simplicity of fare – always in keeping with our health and situation, and without becoming legalistic about it.

NOTHING is more plain than this, that Daniel did not think the bare abstaining from flesh to be fasting, when in the mean time we indulge ourselves in all the most palatable wines, all the delicacies of fish, and all the luxury of banquets. This is a licentious notion, which rose by the decay of christian piety. When he fasted, his diet was afflicting, and such as became a mourner; not to humour, but to chastise nature; not to pamper his appetite, but merely to appease it.

The ancient Christians knew no such distinction between fish and flesh; their lenten-fare was bread and water and salt; and their first meal on fasting days, was not till the evening.

I mention this example, to show you what the ancients thought fasting, and how they kept Lent; I do not exhort you to follow them any further, than either our climate, and our constitutions will bear; but we may easily follow Daniel, in abstaining from wine, and from the more pleasurable meats, and such an abstinence as this, with such a mourning for our own sins, and the sins of others, is the proper exercise of a primitive spirit, during all the weeks of Lent.

Prose Works Of Thomas Ken. A Sermon Preached At The King’s Chapel In Whitehall, 1685.

More by Thomas Ken here. He also wrote many prayers, and a preparation for Holy Communion.

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Mark Frank on winning the crown of glory

Sunday, March 14th, 2010
An image of The Revd Mark Frank (1613-1664)

The Revd Mark Frank (1613-1664)

FOR his Sermon on the Fourth Sunday in Lent (which falls today), Mark Frank (1613-1664) drew on a sporting metaphor.

Unthinkingly “doing your disciplines” in training of itself produces only workaday professionals who rarely win anything. Frank’s sermon is an appeal both for effort and for intelligence during Lent and Passiontide.

In Frank’s words, “all pains and labour, every ‘running’, will not serve; it must be ούτως, so and so after a certain way, rightly ordered so as to ‘obtain’; such as is fit and proportionable to the end we aim at”.

AY, but how may we obtain to run so? Why, do as the runners in races do: (1.) Diet our bodies; (2.) Exercise ourselves before; (3.) Consider, and contrive how we had best to run; and (4.) strip ourselves of all incumbrances that may hinder us in our speed; and, indeed, these may well go into the ούτως, belong at least to the “so running” as has annexed to it the obtaining.

In other words, fasting, daily prayer, thoughtful reflection, and a life uncluttered by distractions: but only when allied to running the Christian race according to the rules of that particular athletic event.

THIS “so to run,” is … lawfully, according to the laws and rules of the race we are to run; “we are not crowned else,” says our Apostle 2 Tim. ii 5. Now, the laws of the Christian race are God’s commandments, according to which we are diligently to direct our steps; yet three laws there are more particular and proper to it—the law of faith, the law of hope, and the law of charity.

This is a wonderful metaphor for today: a context in which people of all ages understand and respect the rules of the game, and the need for self-discipline and doing “boring” things at unsociable hours. We accept these things because they are worth it in the end, for the title, the crown of glory.

LOOK we carefully to our feet, apply we ourselves diligently to our course, to run the ways of righteousness and peace, of holiness and salvation. Let us often look up to heaven, and the “crown of glory laid up” there, to add wings and spirit to us; and look we also down sometimes to the dangers by the way, and fear ourselves, and mark our steps, lest we chance to stumble, and fall, to grow faint or weary; but that we may run lawfully, carefully, speedily, cheerfully, stoutly, patiently, and constantly to the end; that, so running, we may obtain the end of our hopes, the crown of our joy, the salvation of our souls, and the redemption of our bodies, everlasting life, and eternal glory.

Sermon For the Christian Year. Sermon For The Fourth Sunday In Lent

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Peter Gunning on the Lenten fast and the Bridegroom

Thursday, February 18th, 2010
An image of Peter Gunning (1614-1685), Bishop of Ely

Peter Gunning (1614-1684), Bishop of Ely

THE idea of fasting in Lent can be understood in terms of the spiritual marriage of Christ and his Church.

AND they said unto him, Why do the disciples of John fast often, and make prayers, and likewise the disciples of the Pharisees; but thine eat and drink? And he said unto them, Can ye make the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days. (Lk 5:33-35)

Peter Gunning (1614-1684), Bishop of Ely, wrote a dense sermon to show that the Lenten fast has full Apostolic authority, and appealed to this text as part of his argument.

In the course of his sermon, Gunning gives us a picture of how Christ the Bridegroom redeems his bride.

MEANTIME as upon the espousals He became chargeable with His spouse’s debts, and hath discharged them on His cross, and after that discharge was taken from prison and from judgment, and hath washed her in His own blood, and hath given her the pledge of His Holy Spirit, and clothed her with the double garments of His righteousness; so also is she called by a new name which the mouth of the Lord did name; from His name, Christ, she is called Christian first at Antioch.

The Pascal Or Lent Fast.

The idea is that the marriage of Christ and his Church produces a community of property and a legal identity, such that Christ’s merits supply our debts, and we are called by Christ’s name rather than by the name of sinners.

Gunning held that we may fairly choose to fast at times of the Church year when we particularly recall our Bridegroom being taken from us in the crucifixion, and also at times in our public or private lives when we feel that he is distant, and we would like to feel him present again. It is essentially an act of love, a wife identifying with her husband’s unconditional love and feeling deeply every moment they are apart.

This makes abstract-sounding phrases like “substitutionary atonement” come alive. When we think of it in terms of a loving husband who pays his wife’s crushing debts from a store of his own, a store for which he himself had first voluntarily paid with his life, it has much more impact.

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