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II Timothy 1.12: "I know Whom I have believed."

St. Paul is sending a letter. He sends it from jail in the city of Rome in the country of Italy. He writes to encourage his younger friend Timothy, to advise him about the job of bishop or overseer; Timothy, his convert and assistant and colleague. Paul says, "I know Whom I have believed."

We Christians speak as though Christianity were about us. And we speak like this because we think Christianity is about us. Me and my sin. Me and my faith. Me and my religious experiences. Me and my vocation. The parish in which I can show off. The parish in which I can dominate other people. The diocese in which I can shine. The diocese in which I can be ambitious. Our conferences, our synods, our constitutions, our archdeacons. Our church buildings. Our successes and failures. Our history. Our quarrels. But Christianity is about Christ.

The Lord Jesus is God the Son. He is His Father’s Beloved. All things were created by Him. All things hold together because of Him. All things are journeying to Jesus as their goal, Who is the final destination of’ everything. For us and our salvation He became man. For us He died and rose again and ascended to His Father. To us He sent His Spirit. Christianity is about Christ.

We are glad that members of the London Missionary Society came to these Islands. As it so happens, the LMS first evangelized my own country of Zimbabwe in Africa in 1857, and my home diocese of Matabeleland. But those men and women were not spreading LMS. They wanted the people of these Islands, and the people of Africa to say, "I know Whom I have believed. I know Jesus." Just as St Paul wanted, just as St Timothy wanted, the peoples of the ancient Roman Empire to say, "I know Whom I have believed."

Here we are at the start of a new adventure for the Anglican church in the Torres Straits. And we are in danger of thinking that this occasion is about us. But you and I are not the centre of all things. We are not even the centre of today. These two new bishops are not the focus of today’s happenings. Two bishops are consecrated here and now so that future generations of Islanders can say, "I know Whom I have believed." Christianity is about Christ.

When at last everything is exactly as the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit want everything to be, the angels and the whole company of heaven will not be gazing with love at church buildings, or at constitutions written on paper, or at the minutes of synods, or at the histories of our careers. Heaven will not even be gazing at bishops. Heaven will gaze on Jesus, for heaven itself is about Christ. So then, "Remember Jesus Christ " (II Timothy 2,8) "shown in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached among the nations, believed on in the world, received up into glory" (I Timothy 3,16). Remember Jesus Christ.

To Whom with His Father in the unity of Their Spirit be love for evermore.