Homily for 1 June 2014--The Spirit Guides the Leaders of the Church

Homily for 1 June 2014:  7^th Sunday of Pascha (Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council)

(Acts 20:16-18, 27-36)                    (John 17:1-13)

 

Every year, on this sixth Sunday after Pascha—the Sunday between the feast of the Ascension of the Lord and the feast of Pentecost, the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples—the Church honors the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council.  That Council, called by the Emperor Constantine in the year 325, brought together all the bishops of the Christian Church in the world.  That’s why it was called “ecumenical”—it involved the whole oecumene—the whole world.

Those bishops had the job of agreeing on a statement of Christian belief in order to settle the fights among Christians that were disturbing the peace of the Roman Empire—which stretched from Britain to Germany to Northern Africa and almost to India.  To do this, the bishops prayed for the guidance of the Holy Spirit, studied the Holy Bible, and considered the teachings of philosophers and earlier Christian theologians.

With much discussion and argument, they composed the Creed, which we still recite as he statement of essential Christian belief.  They made sure not to put any words in the Creed that were not in the Bible. So if anyone tells you the Creed is just a man-made statement, you can point out that it is completely based on the Bible.

All of this information is interesting, but that First Ecumenical Council happened 1689 years ago.  Why should we still have a Sunday remembering it?  Isn’t this one way in which the Church is kind of stuck in the past and not really connected with the modern world?

As the readings for this Sunday show, remembering the Holy Fathers of that ancient council teaches us lessons that remain extremely important and valuable today.  Today’s readings from the Acts of the Apostles and the Gospel of John lay out some basic duties of bishops as the leaders of the Church, and, by extension, duties of priests as leaders of the local churches, and also essential truths for the People of God, who are the Church.

In John’s Gospel, we read the words that Jesus addresses to His Heavenly Father while He is still at supper with His disciples before His betrayal and Passion.  Because the disciples are listening, in a way these words are also addressed to them.  They will be the teachers and builders and leaders of the Christian community.

Jesus makes four main points:

1.  That His followers must know the One True God and Jesus the Christ whom God sent into the world.
2. That we belong to the Father and to Jesus.
3. That we must be one unified people, as Jesus and the Father are one.
4. That we must be joyful in Jesus our Lord.
   In the Acts of the Apostles, we read that St Paul is meeting with the leaders of the Church in Ephesus, on the coast south of Byzantium in what is now Turkey.  He gives them advice on how to continue the work of the Lord.
   St Paul makes five main points:

1.  They must keep watch over themselves and all the flock, because the Holy Spirit has appointed them as overseers.
2. They must be alert and guard against people inside the church who will distort the truth to get people to follow them.
3. They must preach and teach the message of God’s grace that builds up the community and leads to salvation.
4. They must not seek to get rich off the community.
5. They must work to support the weak.
   We can see that these words of Jesus and St Paul provide sure guidance for the whole Church—bishops, priests, and people.  Jesus sets forth the spiritual truths; Paul gives practical methods for achieving them.  The leaders of the Church in 2014, like the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council in 325, have to live by these words, teach them to the people, and so build up the Body of Christ.
   The decision of Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew, at their recent meeting in Jerusalem, to meet in 2025 on the 1700^th anniversary of that first Council, shows that the Holy Spirit is still at work, guiding our leaders towards Christian unity.  We don’t know what form that meeting will take, or who will be involved, or even if the Pope and the Patriarch will be alive then, but we rejoice at this sign that Christians are once again trying to overcome their differences, and we give thanks and praise and glory to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, One God, now and ever and unto ages of ages.  Amen.