What is in Kelvin's Head?

  • Homily – Music Sunday Orchestral Megasong

    Here’s what I said to wrap up our West End Festival events on Sunday evening:

    As most of you will know, it is my habit to announce what we are doing at St Mary’s on the internet.

    Most people who come through the doors of this church these days for the first time have already encountered us online first.

    Our webpage and my blog attract people to this place who are seeking something. No doubt they also put off some others, and that’s OK too. Why waste people’s time if this is not what they are looking for.

    I was a little puzzled as to how to describe this service tonight.

    It is certainly choral evensong, but that didn’t seem to be enough. There is a touch of the festive about it, but even Festival Evensong does not seem to be a big enough description.

    I then looked to see how others were referring to it and found that someone who is singing tonight had referred to it as (more…)

3 responses to “Power needs to be baptised by love”

  1. Robin Avatar
    Robin

    A very good and thought-provoking sermon. I’ve always thought of the Ethiopian eunuch as a man of great power and authority, and of great learning and devotion too, which points me to your third interpretation. But what startles me about the story – partly because of my thinking of the eunuch as someone of great power and authority compared to Philip, and partly because of a tendency on my part to be dogma-bound – is the sheer simplicity of how Philip welcomes him into the Church.

    There is no complicated initiation process. There are no doctrinal tests. The eunuch sees water, and asks Philip in a businesslike way if there’s any reason why he shouldn’t be baptised. Philip’s answer couldn’t be more direct and straightforward: “If you believe with all your heart, you may be baptised.” And the eunuch’s response couldn’t be more direct and straightforward either: no lengthy creed, no question and answer interrogation, but simply, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

    No doubt the eunuch continued his studies after his baptism, being that sort of man. But in a complicated world and (sometimes) a complicated Church I often turn to this passage for reassurance that it needn’t always be so.

    Reply
    1. Father Ron Smith Avatar
      Father Ron Smith

      Thank you, Father Kelvin. What a lovely and refreshing new insight into the identity and provenance of the ethiopian Eunuch! Philip’s acceptance and Baptism of the Eunuch reflects the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 19:122, where he speaks of 3 types of eunuch; made so by others (the Ethiopian, castrati); those who become so for the sake of the Kingdom (monks, nuns, celibate clergy);
      and then, of course; those so ‘from their mother’s womb’ (intrinsic Gays).

      Reply
  2. Aleks Avatar
    Aleks

    Really profound. You’ve given me a lot to think about.

    Reply

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