Press Releases06 Jul 04

Bishop Jackson's sermon at a service of dedication and thanksgiving at Rockcorry Parish

Sermon preached by

the Right Reverend Michael Jackson, Bishop of Clogher

at a service of Thanksgiving and Dedication

of work completed in the Parish Church of St James, Rockcorry

in the Diocese of Clogher

Sunday July 4th 2004

Readings: Genesis 28.10-22; 1 Corinthians 3.9-21, Psalm 122

The psalm, the Old Testament Reading and the New Testament Reading this afternoon give us a wide-ranging picture of the part which the House of God plays in the life of the follower of Almighty God. The rudiments, the origins of the church as we know it come to light in the Scriptures which we read today. Their reading gives new light and life to our search for the authentic enactment of the church of God in the world of today. And this is surely right as we gather to mark the completion of two phases of work to this Church of St James and also to dedicate gifts for use in the life of the same church.

In Genesis Jacob, setting out for Beersheba, stopped at a certain local shrine for the night. He met the God of past, present and future there. And God said to him: I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. The land on which you arelying I shall give to your descendants. (Genesis 28.13) From a simple stone, which itself formed a makeshift pillow, Jacob built a House of God. In an uncomplicated and yet dignified way he did the correct ritual things and, as the Bible tells us, he did them very deliberately: he set it up as a sacred pillar, he poured oil over it and he named the place House of God. There was something there already, of course, but its name and its place in history both changed radically because of Jacob?s being there and because of God?s being there. From this we learn that the active presence of God is what makes the church to be the church. However this God is not someone whom we can over-define, this God is not someone who is a projection of our prejudices and our hopes. This God is free to be, to act, to love and to save. He makes a local shrine into his House ? a scandal into a sanctuary. He turns Jacob, a runaway, into the bedrock of his people. This is a God whose House has open, bright windows and not closed, locked doors. This is a church which in looking out looks up, in looking to its future looks to others as well as to itself.

In psalm 122 we join the pilgrim on his way to Jerusalem, catching sight of the great city on the road and pausing for breath, for energy, for the final push. He is drawing all the while inspiration from the city of Jerusalem which is soon, very soon now, to be his city for the duration of his pilgrimage. Again we have a good sense of where this pilgrim is going. He already sees himself standing within the gates. As a lone person with faith and imagination he is able to weave himself into the magnificence of this place, he is able to tie together his hopes with what makes the tribes of the Lord, who like him go up to Jerusalem, give thanks. But Jerusalem also stands for something else, something which we continue to need in our society and in our selves ? justice. In Jerusalem there are the thrones of justice, the thrones of the House of David. And as we move further with the psalm we see that there is more work for this place called Jerusalem, there is more that has been spotted by this pilgrim and it is this: peace and justice need one another, they work together, they make sense together. They challenge and empower one another.

A veneer of justice without the hard grind of peace is worthless. A façade of peace without the scrupulous fairness of justice is just as worthless. We all know of the agonies of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. We know of calls there have been for something similar in Northern Ireland. We are also aware that our own Archbishop Eames has urged caution in bringing over a model from elsewhere into a context which is very specific to itself. We know equally that the grip which paramilitarism has on the society north of the political border now is something which those whose individual interests are very well served by it are not going to give up readily or willingly.

But we know that any sustained reconciliation needs accommodation, forgiveness and repentance within the freedom of God and the love of neighbour. The divisions in society have worn us down, we have lost international sympathy six years after The Agreement. Our inability to resolve human problems and dilemmas in the name of Christ Jesus loses us such sympathy daily because to so many people it beggars belief and defies comprehension. Inertia is a poor dividend for a people committed to peace with justice, for with God and God?s children the two have to go together. The political and social future of the northern part of our country remain quite uncertain. Enhanced and entrenched extremism will contribute nothing towards the fabric of a society which really wants and needs to tear down the Berlin Wall of its soul.

For our pilgrim all of this wealth of association with justice, with peace, with the Tribes of his Nation, with the strength and solidity of Jerusalem itself is powerful in giving him that final push to go forward, that piece of confidence which will enable him to enter something much bigger than himself and to feel that when he is there, Jerusalem is his for the duration. Again this being part of something bigger than ourselves is something which we need to feel, to learn and to know about the church. It is bigger than we are but it is ourselves nevertheless. A life of prayer and action, study and reflection, involvement at every level will help us to feel at home in something and with people who are different from us yet just as committed and sincere in their own way as we are. They too have the potential to give us more than we can ever take and in taking we learn to give in return. There is no knowing how much it meant to this country pilgrim that he and Jerusalem came together for a time. It did him good and also it was good for Jerusalem too.

One of the very predictable criticisms laid at the door of the church today and those who serve the church in the ordained ministry is this: Sure no reasonable person could possibly be expected to understand them! The language of the Epistle is, you have to agree, far from complicated and could hardly be easier to grasp. Who is there who lives in the countryside who doesn?t know something about a bit of a garden or about a bit of building? Self-sufficiency in these things is still the prevailing ethic in the countryside. You have to do it for yourself otherwise you do without or find the money to pay someone else for it. But I have to ask you: What does Paul do with these two pictures ? the garden and the building? He says quite clearly that the proof of their quality is in the excellence of their fruit and their function. He also says that anyone who contributes to the development of that excellence is one who helps God along the way.

That person needs to be very careful not to set himself up over against the rest. That person needs to curb his pride, prune his self-righteousness, stamp on his self-indulgent hatred - otherwise he is bringing into this process of love, nurture and growth the choking tares, the badly mixed cement of his own wisdom. Too easy is it for us to read words like these fully convinced that already we are in God?s pocket because we have God in our pocket. But beware! God is not mocked in this way. The church has a vital function in our time of inviting people to meet God. And there are more and more people for whom this invitation is urgent. The church has a vital function in our time of being gracious and leaving to God the pain of judgement. If we are God?s temple, then it is abundantly clear that whatever we do to erode and break that temple as found also in other children of God is wrong, it is evil, it is hypocritical and it comes from the inflation and delusion of our own wisdom.

Paul?s language of the temple holds together, then, the careful holiness of Jacob ? a runaway who built God a house in the open country ? and the excited holiness of the un-named pilgrim of the psalm ? someone who shares with us his child-like delight at finally getting to the Holy City Jerusalem itself. It challenges us from the experience of the early church with a working picture, a moving picture of growth and collaboration and an awareness that in all things we - good, bad or indifferent though we be ? are dependent on God for our very being.

And so it is with pleasure that we turn our attention ? in the light of the Scriptures ? to the church in which we now worship the God of yesterday, today and tomorrow ? the God of what we have done, the God of what we do and the God of what as yet we know nothing about. As a parish St James?s Rockcorry was formed out of Ematris Parish in 1855, the Earl of Dartrey being patron. By 1904 it was already grouped with Ematris and the first recorded population of the said Group appears in print in the Diocesan Report of 1907 as 580 souls. Many of us here today have played an integral part in the work of restoration which has been carried out in two phases on this church. The First Phase concentrated on the outside of the church resulting in significant work on the roof and in consequence the ceiling. There was also a complete re-pointing of the church with new chimney and repair of the boiler house. Completion of the First Phase in November 2002 enabled the Second Phase to begin in October 2003 and to reach completion in June 2004. This included the removal of old plaster, re-plastering the interior of the church, the vestry and the porch; taking out seats at the back of the church, putting in new flooring; installation of a new heating system together with a complete re-wiring and the installation of a fire alarm. The interior of the church was entirely re-painted, the seats and floor were varnished, the chancel tiles cleaned up and new carpet fitted. This is a significant achievement for a current Electoral Roll of 80 souls including Ematris.

Even to outline in brief this work points us not only to an understanding of its individual parts but also to an appreciation of the overall concept, the underpinning of the built heritage of this Church of St James, Rockcorry for use by today?s parishioners and for its use in the future, however that will be defined. There is much concern - and indeed it is well founded ? in the contemporary Church of Ireland about the future shape of the ordained ministry not least as it seems now to be increasingly difficult ? some would say impossible - to attract clergy to work in the parts of Ireland know to and loved by you and me, the country parts. It is with good reason, therefore, that I remind all present that this work has been carried out and seen to its fruition by committed, hard-working parishioners working together and in the genuine but regrettable absence of an incumbent.

My hope and my prayer would be that the enhanced facilities of this church will further strengthen the life of this parish and that its members will continue to learn that there is something wonderful in collaboration, in working together ? and that this understanding might spread infectiously throughout the total Group which now comprises Ematris, Rockcorry, Drum, Aughnamullan and Aghabog, 215 souls in its entirety. I hope and pray equally that the prudence of members of this parish in securing the fabric of the church building will be an encouragement to others across the Diocese of Clogher to secure their fabric to the highest standards of maintenance and conservation.

We remember equally those who have done this work and those who have given so generously gifts which have made this work possible and also other gifts essential to enabling the church to take its full place and part in the life of the Church of Ireland. Prayer Books, Hymn Books and an organ along with lights, pew cushions, tiles for the porch, a table in the porch, paint and varnish along with collection plates to enable the life of this church to move forward in a way which is recognizable to all yet at the same time true to the picture of the church which we have seen already in our reading and hearing of the Scriptures. We see the careful work with raw materials of the Old Testament Jacob. We see the delight in service of God on the part of the tired yet well satisfied pilgrim to Jerusalem. We see the trust in the future of the apostle Paul. Neither Apollos nor Paul built or grew anything. Indeed not! It is not the gardeners with their planting and watering who count but God who makes it grow (1 Corinthians 3.7). The foundation of the building too is already laid. All of us who contribute to its structure, its worship, its refurbishment, its development do so on the existing foundation as Paul puts it: I mean Jesus Christ himself. (1 Corinthians 3.11).

And so it is with joyful and grateful hearts that we celebrate today the work of Christ Jesus within us. And we do so in the spirit of St James our Patron Saint here in Rockcorry. Our Patron James offers us some sobering thoughts. He was, let us remember, one of those fiery twins ? nicknamed Sons of Thunder ? with the rather pushy mother who wanted both of them to book places at the left and the right of the Risen Lord in the future Kingdom. We can at least credit her with an instinct for starting at the top! But the colour for St James?s Day, July 25 th, is red and red points us to two things: apostleship and martyrdom. Jesus hinted at as much in his reply to their mother Salome: baptism is wound up with suffering and the proper Christian ambition is not advancement but service. The Collect for St James?s Day which we shall all use later underwrites this for all of us. We remember James as someone who literally left his father Zebedee in the boat, gave it all up and followed Jesus even to death? Here is a pilgrimage written in large letters. Here is a service grounded in the self-giving of Jesus himself. Here is a stone which becomes a House of God honoured, remembered and glorified in the worship and work of this church, its parishioners, its friends in the rest of the diocese and in the wider community today and tomorrow. Here is a challenge to this Parish to sustain the growth, to open the doors and to let the light of Christ and of the world shine through the windows with joy and hope in believing.

1 Corinthians 3.8,9: Whether they plant or water, they work as a team?We are fellow-workers in God?s service; and you are God?s garden.

I leave you with a simple blessing which the ancient people of this land invoked on themselves as they awoke and began their day of work. It holds good today as yesterday as we call upon the Holy Trinity to keep building this House of God:

Circle me Lord
Keep protection near
And danger afar.

Circle me Lord
Keep hope within
Keep doubt without.

Circle me Lord
Keep light near
And darkness afar.

Circle me Lord
Keep peace within
Keep evil out.

Prayer of Dedication

Bless, Lord God, this parish and its people ? children and adults together.
Bless this Church of St James, dedicated to apostleship and martyrdom alike, and all who use it and enjoy it.
Bless all whose generosity, dedication and vision have re-furbished it along with those who have given gifts for use in the contemporary life of the parish.
We dedicate this work and these gifts:
in the power of God the Father who created us and renews us,
in the power of God the Son who redeems us and teaches us and
in the power of God the Spirit who sanctifies and inspires us tomorrow as today.