Archbishop of Mexico\'s sermon

A. Greetings

B. The Anglican Church of Mexico

1. History

2. Born as a part of the struggle for human rights in Mexico (we still fight for that).

Ex. the AIDS crisis

3. We are an open, inclusive and welcoming church, where everyone is accepted, valued and respected.

4. We are a church where diversity is celebrated, not repressed.

5. We truly are \"a house of prayer for all people¨.

6. We are a church composed of a few Pharisees, but mostly of tax collectors who recognise that , in different ways, we are all sinners in need of forgiveness --broken people, very much in need of healing grace.

C. Sermon

And now, we are talking about Pharisees and tax collectors. It is difficult for us to imagine Jesus as being abusive towards anyone, but even so, some of the language he uses on the Pharisees is anything but gentle.

I believe that the reason for this is what today\'s Gospel calls being \"self-righteous, self justified\". It refers to those who presume to define their own worth - those who believe that they can make themselves valuable and good, literally, those who try to save themselves by what they accomplish. In Holy Scripture, the \"self-righteous\" is the person who really has no need for the help of others , and, ultimately, not even of God.

It is not hard to understand why Jesus condemns that attitude. it is claiming to be able to do for oneself what only God can do for any of us: justify us, give us value, and give purpose to what we are and what we do. It is, in a way, the Original Sin all over again, human beings claiming for themselves the role of God. That is a deadly thing to do.

The story of the Pharisee and the tax collector is so well known to us that we risk missing its full force. It is an example of divine reversal: two men are contrasted not only by their behaviour but by the way each understands and describes himself. The judgement that is passed is based on self-assessment, not on the evaluation of another.

There is no question about which of the two men has lived a righteous life and which has not. The men have described themselves correctly: however, Jesus\' evaluation turns the story upside down. The Pharisee\'s self-estimation is really a self-eulogy. While he may be living an upright life, he takes credit for his virtue and he claims superiority over others who may not be as compliant as he is. His idea of prayer is to offer God a list of all the things he\'s against: extortion, injustice and adultery. He seems to be against everything and in favour of nothing.

The tax collector, on the other hand, acknowledges that justification comes from God. He is ashamed of what he has done, but he also knows what God is able to do in the face of his sinfulness and he asks for mercy. The tax collector asked God for mercy, and he was granted his request. On the other hand, the Pharisee asked for nothing of God, and so he received nothing. The saying at the end is the final judgement. The men\'s lives may have been the reverse of each other, but the judgement of Jesus exposes the real reversal.

According to Him, it was the tax collector, not the Pharisee, who went home justified. And why should this be so surprising? Throughout the long and sordid history of God\'s people, divine mercy was always reserved for those who were ready to admit their true situation in the sight of God. Throughout the pages of Holy Scripture, God promises to hear the prayers of those who are honest enough to acknowledge their unworthiness, their insignificance before God.

A sad and shameful reality for the church is that many of her members have come to believe that being Christian means being against other people, or, to use the words of today\'s Gospel, trusting in their own righteousness and despising others. They measure the world and those around them by their own standards rather than those of our loving and merciful God.

It is very easy for religious people to fall into kind of self-righteousness. Our very enthusiasm and practice can plant the seeds of religious arrogance. We discover what commitment demands of us, we experience relative success in our endeavours to be faithful, we distance ourselves from what we think might threaten our resolve, and then we pass judgement on those who do not share our values or experience life as we do. The growth of this kind of arrogance is often imperceptible, because there is enough truth in every step along the way that it is difficult to recognise when one is veering off the track.

It is so easy for a tax collector to become one of the Pharisees, and to forget that, one day, we claimed and received God\'s mercy. That same mercy we now deny others.

I believe that this is what\'s behind our current problems in the Anglican Communion: many of the tax collectors of yesterday have become the Pharisees of today. They want today\'s tax collectors excluded from the family of God and from the Lord\'s table. They now deny others the same mercy and grace that was so freely given to them yesterday.

The faithful are being required not to associate with openly immoral church members (whatever that means), and I am afraid that the same is being required of Jesus; who, according to the Gospels, did exactly that; not one or seven times but seventy times seven. And recently, one province of our Communion has been brought to trial for trying to practice justice and inclusion for all; with actions, not words.

With all this in mind, it is now so easy for us to fall into despair, to lose hope and to conclude that there is no longer a future for the Anglican Communion or, at least, for us as members of it.

But that is a temptation that we can easily overcome by remembering the promise of our Lord Jesus Christ: \"I will be with you always\". Or the words of Julian of Norwich: \"God did not say: you will not be tested, you will not labour hard, you will not be troubled. But God did say: you will not be overcome\".

And finally, I would like to join my voice to that of Archbishop Terence Finlay of Canada, when reflecting on our current situation he wrote the following: \"For a while the Anglican Communion will shudder like a great ship struggling through rough waters, but over time the Communion will find healing and reconciliation. We have been through rough waters before in the great controversies throughout our history. And although we¡¦ll be a bit bruised and sore, I believe we will make it\".

Brothers and sisters, this is my prayer and my hope for our beloved Anglican Communion.

Let us pray:

Lord God, even though we may be assailed, tossed about and disquieted, we shall not be overcome. Help us to love you, to delight in you and to trust you completely in the knowledge that all will be well.

Amen

Carlos Touche-Porter, Archbishop of Mexico, Patron of Inclusive Church

Delivered 26th February 2007, Westminster Abbey, at a Eucharist attended by members of Affirming Catholicism and Inclusive Church