Anglicans Acquire New Hope at 1400th Anniversary of the Diocese of London

22nd May was the 1400th anniversary of the re-organisation of the Diocese of London by Bishop St Mellitus. Three thousand people from the diocesan family from all over London gathered together under the great dome of St Paul's Cathedral to celebrate the feast lead by the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Richard Chartres.

Revd Chartres preached a sermon on Acts 15:16-17, “After this I will return and rebuild David's fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild and I will restore it, that the remnant of the men may seek the Lord, and all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things”

He shared the complicated story of Christian beginnings in England by telling how the great church of London was built up. In 314, Diocese of London, Bishop Restitutus along with the bishops of York, Lincoln and Caerleon joined discussions of the current spiritual and administration problems of the church. After that the church became brighter and more respectable. The situation overturned as the legions arrived at London. Bishops in London had lived in a tiny hut in the middle of vast ruins, ministering to a few villagers.

Revd Chartres commented the history of the Church of London is the history of the Church of God, which is never a straight line of comfortable development with a smooth plot.

Revd Chartres acknowledged the perplexity of Anglicans nowadays coming from the mixed messages they received, “great growth and confidence, new initiatives, here and elsewhere; and also the fears of confusion and division, a bewilderment about where to look for true unity” By applying the history, he encouraged the Anglican congregation to press on the promise of God no matter what kind of circumstances they are facing, “Humanly it is a story of failure or sin and recovery, of the utter unpredictability of events; God does not promise that we shall be protected from events, that we shall be in control, he only tells us that his own presence and promise are never touched or changed by events. And we have to learn this day by day and century by century.”

He referred to the cross of the Jesus Christ, who bears all the darkness of failure and sin. Wherever Christ's cross is planted, no darkness can extinguish the light from it. He said, “When we have put our own history, whether as individuals or as a church, into the context of God's action in the cross and the resurrection... that means the church is always losing and recovering.”

“God's love is always new, new every morning as the prophet tells us; so the Church is always new,” he continued to explain the hope the church needs to acquire in times of chaos.

“So when our church flourishes, praise God for his good gifts; when our church struggles and flounders, praise God for his faithfulness to us in our failure.”

At the end of the sermon, he concluded that the Anglican congregation should keep in their minds on God's fidelity which has shown in the history they celebrated today, remembering a God who replaces, restores, rebuilds and renews because he never abandons. On this feast day, the Anglicans all looked forward to the work of God with the hope of bringing fresh air to their church.