01 Jul Sermon on the Feast of St. Peter and St. Paul
The Community here at Mucknell is, as with any group, made up of diverse individuals with varying opinions on just about everything! As such, sermons posted on our website represent the ideas of the preachers who wrote and delivered them, not necessarily those of the entire Community.he Community here at Mucknell is, as with any group, made up of diverse individuals with varying opinions on just about everything! As such, sermons posted on our website represent the ideas of the preachers who wrote and delivered them, not necessarily those of the entire Community.
Monday 29th June, 2026
From the prophecy of Zechariah [Zech. 4: 12-14]:
‘Then I said to him, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?” He said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” Then he said, “These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”
This passage of prophecy has been chosen to celebrate the joint Feast of Saints Peter and Paul – which is not appointed in the Book of Common Prayer, because that calendar keeps today in memory of St Peter alone, St Paul being commemorated on the Feast of his Conversion, in January. But, we say, nowadays we commemorate them together as the founders of the Church.
That opens a can of worms – very nice, Christian worms, but still wriggling. Some will say that Christ alone is the foundation of the Church; others that Peter alone is the foundation, according to Jesus’ reported words in today’s Gospel reading; and others yet will cite the account of the first Pentecost and say that moment was the foundation of the Church, because right then the Holy Spirit came down on the apostles as they prayed. Nevertheless, the nascent Church owed a huge amount to the tenacity, the example and the preaching of these two apostles, not to mention the letters they wrote. Yes, they fell out and argued, but sometimes that is the only way to arrive at the truth, or a programme all can support. Initially Peter went to the Jews and Paul to the Gentiles, although the Jewish diaspora meant that many Jews lived among Gentiles – even in Rome where both of these great apostles ended their ministry and died for their faith.
The prophet Zechariah was preaching – or at least speaking God’s word to his generation – at the time of the post-exilic restoration of Judah: some devolved government, but most importantly a rebuilt Temple and daily pattern of worship of the God of Israel. Almost certainly, in his context, the two olive trees – the two anointed ones – refer to the two contemporary leaders of the returned People: the Davidic claimant to the throne of Judah, and the Jerusalem High Priest. But God’s word always invites reflection, and has several layers of meaning, even if we stay with political and religious interactions.
If we jump forward from Peter and Paul to the early Fourth Century, the Church, however exactly it was founded, experienced an amazing transformation: the Emperor Constantine, after his great victory at the Milvian Bridge, offered not just toleration but favour to the Church, and the following year, by the Edict of Milan, Christianity became legal, proper, even celebrated across the whole empire. The Church rejoiced, and grew suddenly in numbers, wealth and importance.
Cue for another falling out and argument. Was the Church losing its edge? Was it now too comfortable, even complacent, in its respectability? Were new converts joining the Church because it gave a social advantage, and were some Christians choosing priesthood as a career path?
Enter monastic life. The first monastics were those who rejected the worldliness of the Church: with no more risk of “red” martyrdom – and the shedding of their blood – these rigourists chose what they called “white” martyrdom, by giving up comforts, practicing an ascetic life, or even renouncing human society altogether, and going out to live as solitaries in the desert.
As you probably know, the Desert Fathers – and Mothers – have left us some wonderful pithy sayings about the spiritual life, which inspire even as they challenge us today. They have also left to posterity some of their more practical comments, such as: “flee from women, and bishops”. In the first place, here, they were warning against lust, in the second against careerism and pride.
If that was monasticism’s swipe at the Church hierarchy, the bishops hit back around the ninth and tenth centuries. The issue by then was that monks – also called by God to a particular, publicly recognised role within the Church – constituted a large, articulate and tiresome influence within that Church, so they had to be brought to heel; and the bishops decided this could be achieved by ordaining as many monks as possible and thereby requiring them to take oaths of canonical obedience to the bishop.
The consequence of these animosities was that neither of the apparent answers worked! The monks – especially certain members of the Cluniac and Cistercian Orders – became hugely powerful and wealthy, being deeply involved in Church politics, and exerting influence over kings as well as popes. And the majority of ordained monks observed their liturgical and pastoral duties but their Communities kept petitioning Rome to be granted exemption from the authority of bishops.
I wonder if Jesus is telling us something about this sort of infighting when he says: “all who take up the sword will perish by the sword”. [Matt. 26: 52]
Now the Church of England has not always been the exemplar of Christian wisdom and peace, but I am struck by the number of Anglican Religious Communities which were founded at the invitation of bishops or secular clergy, to promote the life of prayer and do pastoral, missionary or social work in their localities, and others which, once founded, looked to their bishops for support and ministerial authority. Yes, there were suspicions, arguments, some resignations and some departures, but many Communities grew and thrived, and many bishops – seeing the results – invited Religious to work alongside their diocesan clergy.
As Br Michaël’s ordination yesterday demonstrated afresh, I rejoice that in this diocese, and in our own day, the relations between the two Religious Communities in Worcestershire and the diocesan personnel are warm and mutually welcoming, the Communities offering their prayers, their counter-cultural voice, and places of retreat for local ministers of all stripes, and the diocese offering encouragement, support, and training and guidance where appropriate. And today particularly I would like to thank our former bishop, John, and Bishop Martin of Dudley for authorising and setting up the Auxiliary Pathway course which our Br Michaël was able to join for his ordination training. I would also like to thank publicly John Fitzmaurice and Doug Chaplin for running that course in such a way that Br Michaël was fully included, despite his atypical context and his particular call to priesthood within the monastic life.
There are many callings within the Body of Christ – some to be apostles, some prophets, some teachers, some who have gifts of healing, and so on. But if we look back to the witness of today’s great saints, I suggest we are seeing in Br Michaël something of the tenacity, the example and – increasingly – the preaching of a well-formed monastic. It is my prayer today – and I invite you all to join with me – that, as a monastic priest, he will broaden his service, will continue to grow in the spirit of St Benedict and, from his new understanding and his gratitude, will contribute to the good relations between this Community and the Diocese of Worcester. Both face challenges and changes but, by the grace of God, we can press forward in hope, witnessing to the love of God and the good news of Jesus Christ, in our distinctive and complementary ways, in the years ahead.
Together with all Christians I pray that God’s will be done, on earth – in this place – as in heaven.
Amen.
Abbot Thomas
Reni, Guido, 1575-1642. Peter and Paul, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=46554 [retrieved July 1, 2026]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Guido_Reni_044.jpg.