Church of  St. Thomas à Becket, Fairfield, Romney March, Kent, UK.

In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.     John 14:2-3.

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My Anglican (that is, Episcopalian) friend Richard takes delight in showing me wonderful locations near his home city of Eastbourne on the south coast of England. One day in 2014 he outdid himself. We drove to the middle of nowhere, turned a corner and I saw the sight pictured above, and took that picture. The village in which this tiny church was located vanished long ago, but the church still stands where it was built  perhaps 800 years ago. Today’s readings triggered that memory, a House of God still standing despite everything the world could throw at it. Although built at a time when the Pope was recognized as the leader of the church, it is now part of the Anglican Church, perhaps one of the “many dwelling places” in today’s gospel? Jesus had just mentioned to his friends that he would be shortly leaving them. One can try to imagine the pain that announcement must have had; here was the greatest man they would ever meet, and I’m sure they knew that, and yet he said he would shortly be leaving them, abandoning them as perhaps they felt. Just imagine the most grief-stricken moment you have ever endured, and it might have been something like that. The thought was simply unbearable. Yet Jesus told them that he would prepare a place for each of them where he was going, which one imagines was some consolation, but of course they had no clue as to what exactly that might mean. All but John, remember, were to be martyred for their faith in Jesus. But his assurance that he was “the way, the truth and the life” and was the sure foundation of the new life they were to live, and that gave them the strength to create what was to become our Christian way of life.

But that new way of life was soon to face its first challenge. This first style of living was, it seems, to have many things in common  including meals. That almost naturally led to complaints that “they” were getting more than “us”. There was apparently a social divide among those first converts from the Jewish communities, one local (getting more food it was claimed) than the other, the “Hellenists” or foreigners whose language was more Greek than Hebrew (getting less). Well, the apostles, the first leaders of the community or “Way”  (they were not to be called Christian for some time) were much more interested in spreading the Word of God, as today’s passage from the Acts of the Apostles puts it, than “serving at table”. So they asked for volunteers to handle the dispute so as to free themselves up. This was agreed to, and seven were chosen to run the early community peacefully and well. Interestingly, all seven are thought to have been Hellenist Jews. However, it seems to have solved the problem as “the proposal was acceptable to the whole community”. This event is considered to have been the creation of the first order of priesthood, the deaconate. The word διάκονος, diakonos, is an ancient Greek word meaning servant or waiter. Also, Stephen, one of those first seven deacons, was the first person to be martyred, or killed, because of his belief in Jesus as the Messiah. He was therefore our protomartyr. His feast is celebrated in December 26th. One further note. Everything being held in common, as described in the very early church, seems to have been a kind of voluntary communism. It did not last very long, but is still found today in the church. When I joined the Jesuits in 1973, for example, I surrendered all of my belongings quite voluntarily, and entered into community life, clearly a form of (Christian) communism – but one which works!

And then there is the second reading today. St. Peter calling Jesus Christ the cornerstone, the foundation of the entire Church. Upon this stone was to be built the Church of God, starting with the apostles who were called by Christ, the deacons who managed the daily running of the Church, and everyone else, all dependent on Christ himself supporting everyone with the strongest spirituality. And just like that ancient church pictured above, the Christian community has survived right down to this day, through endless ages and tumult. and now it is up to us to support it, nurture it and strengthen it for those generations who follow. And we do that through being perfect examples of Christian love, support and vision, as strong the stones in that small church above, which has been through all the centuries and survived!

And from one of the humblest of Christian churches (above) to one of the most magnificent, all beloved of the Lord:

Notre-Dame de la Belle-Verrière (Our Lady of the Beautiful Stained Glass) or the Blue Virgin, 12th Century, Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Chartres, France.

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Reflections on next Sunday’s Mass Readings will be posted on Wednesday.

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