Are you a protestant or a catholic?
Matthew 14
22 Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. 23 After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone, 24 and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.
25 Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. 26 When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.
27 But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”
28 “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.”
29 “Come,” he said.
Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”
31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”
32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Are you a Protestant or a Catholic?
For some people this will be a question for which they have a clear and strong answer which really matters to them, for other people it will not matter so much but they will have an answer, and some actually may not know or even care what their answer to this question might be.
To be Protestant or Catholic is a matter of both individual and collective religious identity; it can also be a question of political, cultural and national identity. Protestantism is an identity that has significantly formed the life of our nation and the history of many other nations. People across the globe and through history have been willing to live, die and even kill for their identity as either Protestant or Catholic. Describing the history and ideology of all this in a sermon would be more than a little ambitious so I am going to narrow things down and concentrate on a more Anglican perspective. If there is anyone here who has experienced the conflicts that can arise out of these religious identities I recognise that your experience may be very different to mine and as such it would be my place to listen to you rather than presume to speak. I can only speak with any authority from my own experience and understanding as an Englishman and Minister in the Anglican church.
Let’s start with Catholicism as that came first. In fact the claim that Catholicism came first is a significant one to Catholics, the Roman Catholic Church claims a direct descent back to Saint Peter who is understood as being the first Pope, and so the Roman Catholic Church can be seen as the true and authentic Church from which other denominations have deviated and split. Roman Catholics sometimes say they are sailing in St Peter’s boat; the Church is God’s ship of salvation sailing through time, the first captain appointed by Christ was St Peter, and the present Pope, so the argument goes, is his successor. So if you want to be saved you need to get aboard St Peter’s boat, and if you want to get aboard St Peter’s boat then the only place to embark is Rome.
Protestants may also claim an authenticity going back to the earliest times, even though the Protestant Reformation is in terms of Christian history a relatively recent event. Reformation Protestants argued that the Roman Catholic church had not remained faithful to the teachings of the bible and of the early Church and so was in need of reform, this protest really picked up momentum in the 1500s. When attempts at reform were rebuffed and even rejected as heretical by Rome churches that did not accept the authority of the Pope were set up, these churches argued that they were truer to the teachings of the bible and the early Church and in that sense practiced authentic Christianity. For example, Martin Luther sought the reform of the Catholic church with his protests, and only set up a new church according to Protestant principles when the Pope not only rejected his criticisms but ejected him from the church.
To continue the sailing metaphor, for saying the Church was heading towards the rocks Luther was forced to walk the plank and so had to build his own boat, a boat that he claimed sailed according to Christ’s maps and charts as given in the bible. The argument was not that the Protestantism was a new fangled version of Christianity but rather a return to first principles, so for example, the Book of Common Prayer, the founding document of the Church of England, states,
THE Romish Doctrine concerning Purgatory, Pardons, Worshipping, and Adoration, as well of Images as of Reliques, and also invocation of Saints, is a fond thing vainly invented, and grounded upon no warranty of Scripture, but rather repugnant to the Word of God.
In other words, Protestants argued that the Roman Catholic church had dreamt up doctrines and practices that had no basis in the bible and that the Reformation reaffirmed the long neglected authority of the bible. The writers of the Book of Common prayer understood the Church of England as a return to the ways of the ‘primitive’ or early Church and thus as a reaffirmation of true Christianity, for example the Book of Common Prayer also states,
IT is a thing plainly repugnant to the Word of God, and the custom of the Primitive Church, to have publick Prayer in the Church, or to minister the Sacraments in a tongue not understanded of the people
So the justification given for rejecting the then Roman Catholic practice of holding services in Latin was that it was contrary to scripture and the practice of the early Church, thus presenting the Church of England as a true representative of authentic Christianity.
It seems to me that the key characteristic of the Roman Catholic church is the claim to an unbroken historical line back to Christ and the authority he gave to Peter, whereas Protestant churches claim to authority comes from a particular understanding of the bible and the teachings of the early Church. The Roman Catholics describe a history of Christian continuity through time whereas Protestants describes a Christian history of original integrity lost over time and then rediscovered and reasserted.
So which are you, Protestant or Catholic?
I am often asked by confirmation candidates why it says in the creed that we believe in ‘one holy catholic and apostolic church.’
Aren’t Anglicans a Protestant church?
The word ‘catholic’ in the creed means universal or inclusive. Words may have more than one meaning, so someone who has catholic tastes in music may be understood to like a wide variety of music, from Bob Dylan to Mozart, from Motor Head to Dolly Parton, when we say someone has a catholic taste in music we are not necessarily saying that they like listening to the Pope singing. You have to work out the meaning from the context and in the context of the creed spoken in an Anglican church the word ‘catholic’ means all Christian people. We believe that all people who hold Jesus as Lord are part of the universal Church. The ship of salvation is broader than just Anglicans and also includes Christians in the Catholic church, as well as Christians in any other Christian denomination, so Baptists, Methodists, Pentecostalists, they are all part of the ‘one holy catholic and apostolic Church.’ Remember, as a church born of the Protestant Reformation we believe authority comes from scripture and the early Church, the teaching of the Apostles is the teaching of the early Church, and any church that is formed by the teaching of the Apostles is understood by the Anglican church to be a part of the universal or catholic Church.
I did not grow up an Anglican, so when God called me to the Anglican church I was delighted to find that Anglicans understand themselves as Christians first and Anglicans second, we recognise that the Church is broader than our own denomination.
So we are all catholics ( and don’t let the Romans tell you otherwise ).
There is another sense in which Anglicans are catholic, the word catholic has another twist, not only does it refer to the Church based in Rome and also to the idea of a universal Church, it also refers to the catholic tradition, that is the ancient beliefs and practices that certain churches hold in common. So for instance, like the Roman Catholics we have Bishops, Priests and Deacons, many other Protestant churches reject Bishops as unscriptural, like the Roman Catholic church Communion is at the heart of Anglican worship, for many other Protestant churches communion is not as important, indeed the Salvation Army and the Quakers do not celebrate communion at all, like the Roman Catholic church we are parochially based, and both Anglicans and Roman Catholic churches value written liturgy as a part of worship, Anglican and Roman Catholic churches have stained glass windows, crosses, candles and other ecclesiastical ornaments, sometimes Anglicanism and Roman Catholicism look and sound very similar as both are a part of the ‘catholic tradition’.
It is said that since the Reformation the Anglican church has chosen the middle way, neither the path that leads to Rome nor the path that leads to Wittenberg, but instead a peculiarly English way of doing Christianity that values moderation and rejects extremes. Protestants say we are insufficiently Protestant and Roman Catholics say we are insufficiently Catholic, in the middle of the road we get knocked down by traffic heading in both directions. But I don’t see why we should chose, Christianity should not be used to divide people, we are all in the same boat together, God’s great ship of salvation, the universal Church, as it says in our gospel reading,
... Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. 30 But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!”31 Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?”32 And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. 33 Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”
Are we Catholic or Protestant?
We are all disciples of Jesus Christ.
We are all Disciples of Christ who are only aboard the ship of God’s salvation by virtue of his strong arm; our response should be to unite in worship of our saviour, the ‘the Son of God.’
Amen.
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