Readings:
Sermon:
‘When you hear of wars and insurrections, do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end will not follow immediately.’ Then he said to them, ‘Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; there will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and plagues; and there will be dreadful portents and great signs from heaven.
There was a lovely photograph do in the rounds on the internet a while ago of a sign in a bookshop saying the post-apocalyptic fiction section had been moved to current affairs. It captured some of the extraordinary events in which we live. The environmental emergency seems clearer than ever before not least as we experience flooding of significant proportions in our own country, but this not on an occasional basis but now on a near annual basis. In recent years raging wildfires in both the Amazon and parts of the United States as well as those in Australia are a terrifying reminder of the power of nature out of control. Scientists predict with near certainty that parts of the plant will become uninhabitable in as little as 10 years opening up the possibility of environmental migration. It is already difficult to get home insurance is certain areas of our own country and indeed there may be some coastal areas that need to be abandoned in due course.
Alongside this is the political crisis in which this country finds itself - a country now more divided that it has been for many years over Brexit and with no signs of that division lessening. Associated with this is a discrediting of the political classes again not seen for many generations, a discrediting that threatens our very democratic processes. The rise of popularism and indeed the far-right in this country and in Europe bring back haunting memories for those whose memories are long enough. Economically, both here and elsewhere, the rich seem to be getting richer and the poor, poorer.
So we live at a time of multiple overwhelmings, of multiple crisis. So what should the church’s response be to such overwhelmings? Well of course there will be a variety of responses, but there may be some guiding principles for them. Firstly I would suggest that we should take Corporal Jones’ advice in Dad’s Army not to panic. Tempting as it might be at times, panicking does not enable us to respond wisely, and indeed part of the calling the People of God in such circumstances is to be a non-anxious presence. That’s not to say that we should be naïve or underplay the seriousness of the situation in which we find ourselves, but rather that we should respond thoughtfully, wisely, discerningly, and in the light of faith, which calls us to a responsibility for both the creation and indeed our common life.
The other perhaps more significant response I suggest that the church should make is simply to model the fact that there is an alternative way. At times like this we are called to be a community of resistance, modelling a life lived by different values, preserving the virtuous, moral, and intellectual life on behalf of the wider society until it is ready to take back control of it. This was the function of the celtic monastics during the Dark Ages who preserved the life of civility, morality and the intellect during those difficult times and gradually reintroduced it to Europe through the missionary work of such saints as Columba and Aidan.
So how does the church do this, how does the church act as a community of resilience, as an alternative narrative in difficult and dark times? Well firstly it needs to root itself in its own story, its own history. We need to engage deeply with scripture and indeed the history and tradition of the church, not because the answers are all cast in stone in it, but rather because both scripture and the tradition contain within them the trajectory from which we can extrapolate how we should be the people of God within a very different future. So first of all we need to know and be deeply rooted in our narrative…and what this does is to form us into a community. We are a community because we are formed by the same story – despite all diversity of the church we are a community because what we share is our response to the common call of God, and I think it is fair to say that there is nothing else that could provide the momentum to hold together such a disparate group of people who often have little else in common. So adherence to the shared story and tradition is key, as is the realisation that we are a community that journeys together, wherein we are all responsible for each other and for the overall health and wellbeing of the community. How is this to be maintained? Well there is one more ingredient for the Church to witness to the alternative values of the Kingdom and this is the maintenance of what we might call the ‘practices of faith’, by which I mean firstly prayer in all its forms; secondly, study and lifelong growth in our understanding of our faith, and third and finally active service in compassion and justice for the poor and marginalised. It is these practices which are out-workings of what we say we believe in the creeds, that help embody our faith in us.
It is in difficult times that the distinctiveness of what the church has to offer comes into sharp focus. As someone whose job it is to encourage others to think seriously about a vocation to some form of Christian ministry, I’m often challenged as to why I should be doing so, and I always end up with the same answer that Christian Faith, properly lived (and that’s an important qualifier) may be the best hope the world has to pull through our current difficulties and to come out the other side as a humane society.
So we do face major challenges as a society, and a nation, and a global community sharing this fragile planet together, but I believe that the Christian tradition holds a wisdom and a truth that is vitally needed in such times. However our responsibility is to be faithful stewards to that wisdom, for as Jesus says:
“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled underfoot.
Heavenly Father, whose blessed Son was revealed to destroy the works of the devil and to make us the children of God and heirs of eternal life: grant that we, having this hope, may purify ourselves even as he is pure; that when he shall appear in power and great glory we may be made like him in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Questions:
- Which of the current ‘overwhelmings’ do you feel most personally?
- How can you and your church community try to be a non-anxious presence in a turbulent world?
- What can you do to more deeply immerse yourself in the story and practices of our faith?