Priscilla, Chester Cathedral, 24 Oct 2021
by Graham Kings
Date added: 10/11/2021
(The sermon may be viewed on YouTube here, starting 30 minutes in)
Introduction
I love the story of a young girl whose father was a vicar.
One day she asked her mother, ‘Mummy why does Daddy pray before he preaches?’
Her mother replied, ‘Well, he asks God to help him preach.’
Then, after a few seconds, the little girl replied, ‘Mummy, why doesn't God help him preach?’ It is still good to pray before sermons…
It's a delight to be with you all today and many thanks to the Dean, Tim Stratford, for your kind invitation to preach and also to take part in yesterday's evenings event with Silvia Dimitrova.
Silvia is the painter of the seven ‘Women in the Bible’ iconic paintings which have been part of your wonderful exhibition, ‘Global Images of Christ’, and which my wife, Alison, and I commissioned.
It is a joy that Silvia and her family are also with us this morning and if, after the service, you'd like to see the paintings they are behind us here, in the Lady Chapel.
I've known Dean Tim for nearly 40 years. Tim lived with Ali and me for a year in 1982, before he trained for ordination, when I was a curate at St Mark's Church, Harlesden, in multicultural northwest London. We were also later on the Liturgical Commission together and he stayed with us in Islington.
Today is Bible Sunday and we are considering the story of Priscilla in Acts chapter 18.
Have a look on the screen at Silvia's painting of Priscilla.
What do you see?
Questions Raised by the Painting
There are various questions arising from the painting, as we look at it, and from the passage.
I'm reading from a poem I’ve written, expounding the passage and the painting. For each of the seven paintings I've written a poem and this one begins like this:
Who is this woman,
Pure eyes, profoundly rounded,
Beautiful face, honourably tilted,
Open hands releasing dove?
Who is this man,
Noble head, bearded attractive,
Working hands, intently attentive.
Inclined together, touching love?
Who are these men,
Weighing a letter, ponderingly,
Carrying a scroll, inscrutably,
Trees and windows hovering above?
Four converge on Ephesus,
Silver shrine of Artemis,
Expound the word of God
And form a church at home in love.
Exposition of the Story
Now, the wonderful concept at the heart of the paintings is that you can have different time zones in the same painting.
So, Paul, on the far left is the great preacher and he met Priscilla and Aquila in Corinth. Priscilla is centre left and Aquila centre right.
Priscilla and Aquila were originally in Rome and they were thrown out of Rome with the other Jews by the Emperor Claudius (Acts 18:1-2).
They meet in Corinth and these three become friends, because all three were tent makers. On the right you can see what look like scrolls but they're actually rolls of canvas. Also, at the bottom of the painting, you can see the canvas. They become great friends and Priscilla and Aquila come to faith in Jesus Christ. Then, they move from Corinth to Ephesus, across the sea, and form a church in their home.
Paul then leaves Ephesus to travel to Jerusalem with a collection from the Gentile Christians in Greece to take to the poor Christian Jews in Jerusalem.
Meanwhile, Apollos (on the top right) arrives in Ephesus. He is a wonderfully eloquent Jew, well-versed in the Scriptures, from Alexandria. He teaches accurately about Jesus, but only knows the baptism of John (Acts 18:24-25). He doesn't know about the Holy Spirit and that's why Priscilla is holding a dove. She and Aquila teach Apollos (Luke, the writer of Acts says) ‘more accurately the way of God’ (Acts 18: 26).
That word ‘accurately’ is a typical Lukan word. He uses it in his introduction to his Gospel (Luke 1:1-4).
Apollos then goes over to Corinth in Greece, with letters of recommendation from Ephesus. The extraordinary thing is that he is so eloquent that some people in Corinth say, ‘Wow! He's a wonderful preacher. He's actually better than Paul, isn't he?’ Some others say, ‘No. I think Paul's better. After all, Paul founded us.’ And other people at Corinth say, ‘Well, Peter was actually with Jesus those three years so I'm following Peter.’
So, there was difficulty at Corinth. What Paul has in his hand, in the painting, is a scroll. He's writing 1 Corinthians to solve the problem that Apollos is about to make!
In 1 Corinthians, Paul tilts at the concept of eloquence and wisdom. He is tilting slightly against Apollos. He writes, ‘I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.’ (1 Cor 3:6)
He writes that if we just rely on wisdom, eloquence and rhetoric (and ironically his writing at this point is beautifully rhetorical) then this empties the cross of its own significance (1 Cor 1:17).
Priscilla and Aquila are also mentioned at the end of 1 Corinthians. Paul writes that 'the churches in the province of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Priscilla greet you warmly in the Lord, so does the church that meets in their house' (2 Cor 16:19).
They're also mentioned in Romans 16: 3-4. Paul is writing to the Christians in Rome and by that time Priscilla and Aquila are back in Rome. He writes, ‘Greet Prisca and Aquila [note that Prisca comes first], who work with me in Christ Jesus and who risked their necks for my life, to whom not only I give thanks but also all the churches of the gentiles.’
People in the Painting
So, let us return to the poem:
Priscilla and Aquila,
Refugees from Roman Emperor,
Host to Paul at Corinth and Ephesus,
Fellow workers in Christ and canvas,
More accurately explain the Way
To the Jew of Alexandria.
Apollos, eloquent and scriptural,
Burning and enthusing,
Knowing now the Holy Spirit,
Crosses over to Corinth
And causes chaos. Perhaps
Composes letter to Hebrews?
Paul writes to church at Corinth,
Settling contending leaders.
Paul sows, Apollos waters,
God gives the growth.
Ironically, rhetorically,
Cross empties eloquence.
Priscilla and Aquila return to Rome,
Hosting the body of Christ in their home.
Now, as well as the biblical text, the painting and the poem there is also a fourth mode, which is an anthem. Tristram Latchford, a young Cambridge composer, has written seven anthems on the seven poems, on the seven paintings, on the seven biblical texts of ‘Women in the Bible’. This is the final painting in the series and his anthem deliberately returns to the home key on the very word ‘home’, in this final line:
‘hosting the body of Christ in their home.’
The double meaning in the word ‘hosting’ is deliberate, as also the phrase ‘body of Christ’ has a double meaning - the people of God and the eucharistic host.
Conclusion
I conclude with a Bible Sunday Rap. It's not really a rap, but I wrote it during a conference on the Bible at Canterbury in 1993. The first verse is about the Old Testament, the second the New Testament and the third about translations of the Bible.
In the beginning was the Word.
God spoke his word through
Abraham and Moses,
Deborah and Hannah,
Samuel and David,
Isaiah, Zechariah.
It is written - it is written.
And the Word became flesh.
God spoke his word through
Mary and Elizabeth,
Simeon and Anna,
Peter and Paul,
Matthew and Johanna.
It is written - it is written.
God speaks his word in
Urdu and Tamil,
Xhosa and Hausa,
Spanish and English,
Mandarin and Maori.
It is read - it is read.
In the beginning was the Word,
And the Word became flesh.
It is written, it is read;
It is old, it is new;
It is God’s, it is true.
