Compassion, Conviction and Courage

One of the things we do really well in this country is our ceremony. We know and are well practiced at putting on a good show. We can rummage in the dressing up box and come up with robes and gold chains to add to the spectacle and drama of a civic occasion. We even had a guard of honour from the Heritage Festival re-enactors as we made our way into this incredible gem of a building this afternoon, which is a fabulous stage for such an occasion as this. And music, rehearsed and honed over so many hours, lifts the heart in praise and adds to the sense of dignity. Breathe in deeply and it is quite a heady mix. Breathe in too deeply and it can become toxic. It is good then, to have had five passages from the Bible to add a counter balance to save our souls – a Psalm sung to the Anglican chant, Old Testament and New Testament readings and two canticles taken from St Luke’s Gospel.

These passages all have some sharp things to say to us, words of challenge for compassion, conviction and courage. And it is under those three words – compassion, conviction and courage – that I want offer some reflections for civic leaders on this moment of dedication at the beginning of a new mayoral year, and by extension for the whole Council, for whom we pray here and in St John’s, the city Parish Church, regularly. You and your work are in our prayers because you need prayers and we know how great the responsibility is that has been given to you. And we also know how seriously you and your officers take that. What is more we know just how great the challenge is that you face with tight budgets that don’t really balance to meet the needs which are growing in inverse proportion to the money given to you. The first tranche draft budget for next year, released this week, reminds us that your funding from the central government has been cut by 80% over the last 7 years and each year I am amazed that you manage to keep going. It is important to ‘Stand up for Peterborough’ and that means that national party spin needs challenging too. Again I know that message is being taken to central government. It is important to stand up to your national parties too.

That may be leaping straight to ‘courage’, but let’s start with ‘compassion’. I know that you care deeply for the people of this city, for the life and well being of this city. I know this because I speak with you and you tell me this in all sorts of ways. A major issue is homelessness and it is a difficult one to crack. The causes are as complex as people are, and they are as varied as people are. Each homeless person has a story, which doesn’t fit neat boxes, though there are common themes of poverty, being unable to cope, mental illness, substance dependencies, loss of hope, desperation. The list goes on. From the outside it is easy to judge. Sitting alongside we become aware that there is so much more to it, to each person. Which is why I am delighted that our new Mayor has chosen the Light Project as one of his charities, of which I am a trustee – a project working on the street, running the Winter Night Shelter in partnership with local churches and working to provide the longer term mentoring and support that the recent report from the charity ‘Crisis’ highlighted as being so desperately needed. That work needs to find the funds to make a longer term provision a reality. And it is our compassion that will give us the drive to make this happen.

Second comes ‘conviction’. We need to be inspired by a higher ethic than just political survival or naked ambition. I know so many of you have sought office to make a difference. Our readings gave us a clear manifesto that puts justice and mercy at the centre of the stage (Micah 6:8). Justice means that all are honoured, given the dignity that they are due because they are beloved children of God, just like we are. The Psalm told us that it is a vain shadow to just try to heap up riches, that our hope needs to be in God, in that bigger ethic than passing glory, which neither lasts nor is of much value (Psalm 39:7-8). In case we hadn’t caught on yet, the New Testament reading rammed home the message with Jesus’ Nazareth manifesto. What’s he there for: to bring good news to those who don’t hear it much – the poor; to proclaim release to those who are locked up in all sorts of ways that oppress and imprison; to give sight to those who have lost it and set people free (Luke 4:18-19). And to keep this drilling into our brains, the choir sang the Song of Mary, the Magnificat, which turns the world’s priorities upside down from those of the rich and powerful to the poor and weak, those most easily overlooked (Luke 1:46-55). The reason for this again, came in the Nunc Dimittis – to bring light to lighten all peoples (Luke 2:29-32). Evensong seems a cute, gentle service, but it packs a punch.

When we want to know what the first purpose of government is, the Bible is quite clear – it is to ensure justice for everyone. Any talk of defence being the first duty is actually talking about means to achieve an end. The end is justice; the means are multiple. It is all the ways that people feel and see that they are honoured, that access is enabled, that the priorities of the integration agenda being championed are taken forward. Again another example of how I see your compassion being expressed in convictions and policy.

This leads to my third ‘c’, ‘courage’. Not everyone agrees with us all the time. We know that here. We get stick when we show hospitality to people others think we should keep at a distance. We get stick if we speak out on an issue. Anyone who raises their head above the parapet is likely to be on the receiving end of critical comment, sometimes direct abuse. It takes courage to not just say what is popular or do what plays to the gallery. But if what we do is driven by the compassion of justice and mercy, honouring and that bigger perspective, which this beautiful place represents, then it stands on some firm convictions and we need the courage of those.

There is a valid place for lively, questioning debate and alternative policies are rightly put forward. People do and need to have the courage to speak as they see it. That is democracy and it is a treasure to be protected and enlivened. And we all need that humility that will be open to someone else spotting the flaws in our reasoning when they come. After all, the Psalm also reminded us that our days are numbered, we are not permanent, and need the humility that this should bring. Our first reading advised that we walk humbly with God – the God of justice and mercy.

As we begin a new mayoral year, may God bless you all with a spirit of compassion, conviction and courage for the serious and weighty responsibilities we the electorate have given to you on our behalf, on behalf and for the good of all the people of this wonderful and diverse city.

Sermon preached at Peterborough Cathedral for Mayor’s Installation, Sunday 17th June 2018

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A Pilgrim’s Prayer

I have been working on the new souvenir guidebook for Peterborough Cathedral – writing copy and ensuring that there is a common voice for the whole text. It is a truly collaborative effort and I think we have produced an excellent book to mark the 900th anniversary year. It has been important to balance the need for history with conveying that it is a living Christian church.

To bring all the themes together, and round off a final section on it being ‘A Sacred Space for All’, I have written this prayer, ‘A Pilgrim’s Prayer’. It reflects work by Dee Dyas and the Centre for the Study of Christianity and Culture at the University of York on how the boundary between visitors, tourists and pilgrims is both thin and permeable. Visitors can find themselves surprised to leave as pilgrims. And so the guide book ends with a prayer for them to use, either in the building or when they read the book at home.

The prayer recognises the vast array of reasons people come and the concerns they bring. It also draws on the cathedral being a sign of the Kingdom of God – its grandeur designed to draw hearts to the glory of God.

As we pray for all who come, so we invite them to pray for us.

 

A Pilgrim’s Prayer

God of life and love

as we journey through our days

on roads smooth and rugged

fill us with the hope of Jesus Christ

that the beauty of this place

may be for us a sign of your Kingdom

of justice and peace

and inspire us with your Holy Spirit

to be people of praise and thanksgiving.

Amen.

© Ian Black 2018

A big house for a big family – Welcoming all as Christ.

On Friday we welcomed members of the Muslim community, representatives of other faiths and civic dignitaries to an Iftar meal, the breaking of the Muslim fast during Ramadan. The event took place outside the west end of the cathedral on the green. As predicted it has drawn a bit of fire from some who are either angry or upset about this. Some thought we had lost our minds in allowing this and the Muslims were being insensitive, though they were there at our invitation and welcomed by the Dean. For some it presses buttons around inclusion and integration. Would Muslims welcome us to celebrate Easter outside their mosque? It is not quite the same thing. The party was a community event for all, though clearly with the Ramadan celebration it carries a narrative around their prophet Muhammad that is not ours. So there are legitimate cautions around this, but there are also bridges and hands of hospitality which proclaim love and friendship. One of the Imams quoted Bishop Michael Curry from his high energy Royal Wedding sermon when he spoke about the transforming power of love. What’s not to like?

Later today we will welcome 900 fairies outside the cathedral. Life here is varied to say the least. This is an attempt to beat the world record for the number of people dressed as fairies in one place and of course 900 is the iconic number this year as we celebrate our Christian heritage here. Fairies do not appear in the Bible, but we are again offering hospitality to a cause that aims to promote compassion, generosity and wishing the best for people. Anna’s Hope, the charity, was set up in memory of a 3-year-old girl who died tragically of a brain tumour. She loved to dress up as a fairy, as many small girls do, and so this carries her childlike delight in a magical world where all is possible and good triumphs over evil. The good fairy godmother of pantomime and Disney cartoons is there to protect and promote wellbeing. It is a dream of things being better in the transforming power of love. What’s not to like?

Celebrating 900 years here takes us back to our roots and those are set firmly in the Benedictine Rule that the monks here followed. One of the guiding principles of this was and continues to be hospitality to all who come. As the Rule of St Benedict says, ‘Let all who come be received as though they were Christ’ (Chapter 53). We are to greet them with love, honour and blessing in the name of Christ and we do that to all. Every event begins with a prayer, which one of us leads. And the Dean on Friday used my 900^th anniversary prayer to welcome the Muslim community and others who had come to be together as they broke their fast, to delight in the transforming power of love. It is a prayer that talks of awe and wonder, new life, love and care for all.

There are differences in how we celebrate and the story we tell, and these matter. We don’t try to pretend that we are not really Christian and our Muslim brothers and sisters would not want us to do that. In fact I find contact with them reminds me to be confident in my faith as they are confident in theirs. It is when we are confident that we are better able to greet with hospitality and love and welcome. Confidence and commitment breeds hospitality and enables us to be generous because it is not threatened by the others existing. So to receive those who come as though they were Christ is to be firmly rooted in the heritage of our faith, the gospel of love, new life and transformation which this ancient holy place sings at the top of its voice – at the top of our voices. So be under no illusions we do not forget who we are and with George Pace’s enormous gilded crucifix hanging in the centre of the nave here, with its Latin tag that the cross is the still place while the world turns, we’d have to screw up our eyes pretty tightly to try to do that. The transforming power of God’s self-giving, hospitable and sacrificial love shines out to all who come here.

Our gospel reading had its critics and those who were concerned that Jesus had lost his mind (Mark 3:20-end). This follows on from last week’s reading where Jesus breaks the Sabbath restrictions on preparing food by helping himself and his disciples to a snack while walking through a cornfield. A strict interpretation of the Hebrew religious law would not prepare food during the Sabbath rest. And Jesus responds to his critics by breaking this law further in healing the man with a withered hand. Again that could be construed to have been work and the surgery should have been shut. This man Jesus doesn’t seem to know when to stop! He clearly must have a demon – which may seem quite a leap in logic to us, but it shows how off-beam they thought he was being. Jesus restores rationality by pointing out that Satan can’t destroy Satan otherwise he destroys himself! It’s a nonsense claim that they are making. In effect he replies that they need to get a grip, or the more diplomatic among us might suggest they get this into perspective, restore balance. (But in my head I prefer ‘get a grip’.)

And Jesus goes on to reflect on what it means to be part of his family. Sometimes I think he puts things in a deliberately provocative manner to get the attention and make us think. So he is not being insulting to his mother and siblings, but using a Rabbinic shock tactic to say ‘listen up’. He says something which makes them say ‘what?’. And then goes on, ‘Now you are paying attention here comes the real point’. ‘If you do the will of God you are not merely disciples or followers, but my closest relations – even my mother, and my brothers and my sisters.’ And ‘sisters’ is in the Greek, so the embracing goes further than just a band of brothers – everyone is included here, which is a quiet radical inclusion, more transforming power of love. In years past welcoming Roman Catholics to celebrate a Mass here would have been radical, and we did that the other day too. We too just don’t seem to know when to stop because the radical love we see in Jesus doesn’t either.

Doing the will God being a mother or brother or sister has echoes or hints and is extended in other passages and themes in the Bible. St Paul had to struggle with how to be hospitable and accept hospitality. A question he wrestled with in his first letter to the Corinthians (chapter 8) was whether or not to eat food sacrificed under other religious practices. Halal wasn’t around then, but it is relevant. He argued that it was important to remember who you are and not pretend that what is important to you is not important. So if you are asked to affirm something that goes against the Gospel of Jesus Christ, or denies him, then gently decline. But food is food, so don’t over worry. Hospitality is good and to be delighted in. And on Friday the hospitality was the overriding presence. Later in Mark’s gospel (9:38-41) Jesus talks about those who are with us being not against us. When we are building bridges, strengthening bonds and looking to proclaim light and hope in a world of darkness and hatred, then welcome all friends wherever you can find them. Everyone who works for good is not against you! When we welcome and share hospitality and fellowship, we have an opportunity to relate, to engage, to grow in understanding. There is an opportunity to testify to the hope within us. If we erect barriers and refuse to meet, then there is no discussion or opportunity to grow.

Crucial here is the remembering who we are and not denying the light and hope of Jesus Christ. And have confidence in God who came among us in Jesus Christ. So anyone who shines light and hope is connecting at a deep level with the love of God let loose in the world. For as we remind ourselves at every wedding, “God is love and those who live in love live in God and God lives in them” (1 John 4:16). So there is a deep point at which we connect and share a common currency as fellow, beloved creatures, bearing the image of our creator. This is hardwired into creation and it comes from God. So we can join with others. But, and there is a ‘but’, don’t fall into the trap of thinking everyone thinks the same really because narratives matter and they carry all sorts of implications and allusions. And that is where dialogue becomes real when we tease out together just what that means. Sometimes, though, it takes someone who comes at things from a different faith tradition to remind us of aspects of our faith we have forgotten – in this case fasting to delight in goodness, to experience what it is to be hungry to truly empathise with the poor, the importance of simple and humble living, and also of being thankful. Such dialogue won’t happen though unless barriers come down, hospitality is shared and the hands of friendship extended.

So we welcome lots of different people into this place, just as has happened through the west doors for 900 years – and on this site for much longer. They have been and are a diverse group with different backgrounds, outlooks and identities. Some agree, some don’t agree. But all of us are welcomed by the true host, who is enthroned in gold, suspended on the cross from the ceiling, showing just how much love matters and costs. At the heart of this service is the sharing of a meal, in bread and wine, as we break fast together and celebrate the foretaste of the heavenly banquet prepared for all people. When we affirm this love, this transforming power of God’s love in Jesus Christ extending to everyone, we become Christ’s mother and brother and sister. It’s a big house here, for a big family.

Sermon preached in Peterborough Cathedral, Sunday 10th June 2018

Stories, Sabbath and Integration

Stories matter and the story we share particularly so for bringing people and communities together. Having a common story that tells how we got to here, mapping out the centuries past, is an important part of a community’s identity. And it is important to ensure that each generation knows that story and therefore understands what makes this people who they are, why they see what they see and understand what they understand. I often find I understand people so much better when I know their story and it improves how we relate. We need to know who we are talking to; we are not just talking to some kind of biological robot. To be human is to have been shaped by a story, a journey, and some of that is our personal one and some of it is the bigger story of the people where we are. Each person brings something different into that mix and so the story evolves.

I was at the Cohesion and Diversity Forum meeting for the city the other week and our subject was looking at Integration. There is a Government green paper, the ‘Integrated Communities Strategy’, which has been produced and is out for consultation. The key message of it is that Britain is on the whole a well-integrated society but in too many parts of our country communities are divided, so people don’t mix. This not mixing leads to mistrust, misunderstandings and it prevents the most isolated from taking advantage of the opportunities which belonging and participating in society brings. And the green paper identifies what it sees as being a number of drivers of this poor integration. These are the pace of immigration – where people have arrived at a greater speed than can be assimilated (and we might add the failures to be welcoming and enable joining in), school segregation where children do not meet and so grow up without meeting, the low levels in some communities of being able to speak English at an adequate level, segregated communities where people of different backgrounds just don’t interrelate, employment levels in these places, some cultural attitudes and how much social mixing there is. It is quite a wide range, but related collection of issues. There is an agenda aimed at tackling each of these areas, which in Peterborough looks at language, young people, tackling segregation, increasing economic opportunity and looking at some cultural blockers. Interestingly the budget for addressing the growing homelessness problem in the city is coming out of this agenda, not least a Migration Limitation Fund!

An important factor in Integration will be how we tell stories about who we are. And in the discussions the Heritage Festival came up. How do we use, as a city, this opportunity to tell the story of this city and not just battles? This is a city where people have arrived over many centuries, but where is the story of those who have come here in the last 50 years? How do we help one another understand the story of this place and also the story of the people who are now here, which has to come together? Some of these stories will intersect, and not always well. Those who have ancestors who were slaves mean we all have to come to terms with Britain’s past involvement in the trade and its abolition. Those who come from former Empire lands and places of British rule and misrule, will require a coming to terms with this. Heritage is a mixed legacy. I find in each place I live, I don’t really inhabit it until I have a sense of its story – the good, the bad and the ugly. And sometimes I need to know just what darkness, untold stories lurk beneath the surface, but are still working on the corporate psyche.

The importance of story featured strongly in our readings this morning. The book of Deuteronomy (5:12-15) reminded its readers that they were once slaves in Egypt. Their common story has slavery, oppression, liberation and the forming of that people as they journeyed through the wilderness. The Sabbath, then, so fundamental as a weekly day of religious observance, is a day to remember who they are, their story. God has chosen them and shaped them. God has defined who they are. That story is important for them to remember.

But Jesus was not limited by it and neither should we be by our stories. Walking through a corn field when he and his disciples were hungry, no story should interrupt them from preparing food – just like King David raided the larder when his men were hungry. A man with a withered hand was healed, despite the expectation that the surgery would be closed (Mark 2:23-3:6). The point he was making was that while the story of the Sabbath is important, it was made to assist who we are not us made to serve it. Remember and live, be set free, which is what Sabbath connects with, and being free from hunger and a crippling disease are dramatic ways of demonstrating that.

Stories also set out the direction of travel. They shape how we see the world. So the Christian story is rooted in God the creator, the redeemer and the sustainer of our life. It proclaims the love of God in Jesus Christ and calls on us to live that love in everything we do and are, and to draw others to join in, to follow Jesus Christ too. That is the story that this church sits here to proclaim and stand as a witness to. It is not just an old building that has been around for a while. The Sabbath is to remind us of the heritage of faith which has brought us to this point and which we live today.

And at the heart of this service is God’s presence in word and sacrament. The bible readings have an honoured place, rightly so, in all our worship. They are the story of our faith and it is a living story to inspire and give the hope that means while we might get ‘perplexed, we do not fall into despair’, ‘afflicted we are not crushed’, and however we are ‘struck down, we are not destroyed’ (2 Corinthians 4:5-12). We also remember through bread and wine, as we share together in a meal that has the primary intention of keeping the story of Jesus in front of us: his life, teaching, dying and rising.

So stories matter. They remind us who we are and they change over time as new people bring their stories to join in. Integration requires stories to be known and shared, to be learnt along with the language, and to be celebrated. When they bring different outlooks these need to be brought into the open so that there can be mutual understanding. There is no dialogue if that does not happen and just like we need to know what is important to others, they need to know what is important to us. And significant festivals are part of making that known, to others and to ourselves.

“Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy… Remember that you were a slave… and the Lord brought you out.” (Deuteronomy 5:12,15) In doing this we are not just observing laws, but allowing the story to shape us, the story of God’s love revealed in Jesus Christ.

Sermon preached at Peterborough Parish Church, Trinity 1 – Sunday 3rd June 2018

Looking up – seeing images of the Trinity in Antony Gormley’s figures

The skyline around the church has changed. Three sculptured figures have been placed on top of buildings and we were privileged to host the celebration of their installation on Friday. The works belong to the city and are by the contemporary British artist Antony Gormley. They are made of sheet lead on fiberglass shells and depict casts of the artist’s own body. They were bought by the city in the early 1980s and, although previously displayed, have been in storage for a long time. It is good that they now have a more permanent siting, where they can be seen by everyone coming into the city centre and I expect will be an additional attraction for visitors to come here, and therefore provide a boost to the city centre economy. And we are right in the middle of them.

The sculptures go under the name of ‘Places to Be’ and are a reflection on the human form occupying a space, what it means to be a place in a space and looking beyond that space to the vastness around us. So, that title, ‘Places to Be’, can refer to both location, where we are, and also what it means to be a place of being in ourselves, who we are. There are three poses for these statues – which are not static figures, unlike military generals and other notables in so much civic statuary around the country. One has his arms outstretch embracing the sky. It is embracing the vast and fathomless space of all that there is, the cosmos and who knows what else beyond. One is looking out to see what can be seen and in wonder. It is looking at all that is approaching and what might be on the horizon, the extent of our gaze. The third is walking, on a journey towards a destination undefined but looking purposeful.

What I liked about the way Antony Gormley spoke about these sculptures at the reception in the church on Friday lunchtime was his openness to possibilities and interpretations. He did not close them down or narrow their field; in fact quite the opposite. He expanded how we might see them and let them draw us to expand our vision. The strapline (and hashtag) from Vivacity for the installation is #LookUp, encouraging us to raise our gaze both literally and figuratively; to raise our gaze from our phones and the immediate. Look up and see what more there is to see. Look up and have our perspective expanded to new hopes and possibilities.

Embracing, looking and walking. Modes of being and places to be. The horizons of our perspective, these being expanded as we ‘Look Up’ and a journey in purpose. These are interesting themes through which to approach Trinity Sunday, which is the day we think about who God is and where God is.

Embracing the vastness brings us to touch transcendence, the origin and vastness of God which is far beyond anything we can hold. Arms outstretched in wonder and adoration is the beginning of faith and religious, spiritual stirrings. God, whom we call Father, is the source and goal of all that there is and can be. This wonder fills hearts with a sense of purpose and being in a place where to be is to exist where there is something rather than nothing. Some aspects, many aspects, may puzzle, even perplex us – and there are great questions with which we struggle at times – but they do not remove or silence the wonder and deep sense that our being exists within this vastness and it is not empty.

Arms outstretched embracing also carries the echo of Christ’s arms outstretched on the cross. And the vastness, the transcendent comes close. The created order is embraced with the love of the God who so loved the world that he sent, that he came among us in Jesus Christ (John 3:16). And that crucial and self-defining phrase, ‘God so loved the world’, was part of our gospel reading this morning. This is God’s answer to the perplexing questions, not least of suffering and mortality, where transcendence shows up and shows that the struggle is held and nothing can separate us from that love.

Looking and gazing also bring us to the one who comes close to us. We ‘look from afar and lo we see the power of God coming’, and he brings healing in his wings. Biblical writers have long yearned for the fulfillment of their hopes and we affirm these in Jesus Christ. We see in him all that we can see of God, of what God is like. Nicodemus, in our gospel reading (John 3:1-17), went to see Jesus at night and the night is dark when there are no streetlights. So he goes, even as a teacher, in spiritual darkness. But he looks and he sees. And seeing leads to an opening of hope and new life. The story of Jesus Christ has to be told and opened so that the narrative can shape and work within us.

We are moving into the third statue and like the Trinity these figures interweave and connect. We do not stay static, just in wonder or looking, as spectators and armchair consumers. That is one of the flipsides of all our seeming connectivity and technology; we live in a society of consumers and observers. We are called by Jesus Christ to follow him. To move, to go on a journey that will lead into unknown territory for us. And the God of the beyond, even of the present and presence, also moves. The Holy Spirit is the wind that blows and causes movement. The Holy Spirit compels us to move and sends us to be agents of God’s kingdom of justice and peace. We walk with purpose and hope.

The Trinity, which we celebrate today, is how we see God in these three persons of God as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. They affirm the great mystery of who God is, who we can see God to be, and how we experience God distant, close and compelling; embracing, the one whom we look for and who makes the journey for us to walk. God is the place where we can be and are, makes us a place for him to be, for his Spirit to dwell in our hearts so that we call him Father (Romans 8:15). Look up and see and be. Look up and see the vastness of God, the presence of God and the sending of God in purpose and hope. Look up and see images that can remind us of God the Holy Trinity.

Sermon preached at Peterborough Parish Church, Trinity Sunday, 27th May 2018

Places to Be

It was a privilege this afternoon to welcome Antony Gormley to St John’s Church in the heart of the city centre in Peterborough for a celebration of the installation of his three sculptures ‘Places to Be’. These have been placed on top of buildings around the church and the invitation to everyone is to #LookUp. They are casts of his own body, made of sheet lead on a fibreglass shell. They explore what it means to be, to be in a space and to be a space of dwelling – not least around the church, to be a place where the Spirit of God dwells, inspires and fills with grace.

There are three poses – one embracing the sky, even the cosmos. One looking out to see what can be seen and wonder. One on the move, walking to a destination, but on a journey. Three ways of being – embracing, looking, moving.

We are each a place to be a person – created, loved and redeemed by God. Far more than just a thing, we are places where the image of God dwells.

The tagline #LookUp is both practical, you need to look up to see them on the skyline, and also metaphorical. They raise our sights and thoughts are we have to look from where we are to where they are and beyond them, even through them. We have to look up from our phones and take notice.

As is our custom in the church the celebration was begun with a prayer and this is the prayer I wrote this morning to reflect on ‘Places to Be’, being created in the image of God, looking up and God’s Spirit inspiring. It is my reflective response to these wonderful works of art in the city centre.

God of wonder,

as we lift our gaze

so may we find our hearts raised

to delight in the beauty of your creation,

the hope in Jesus Christ

and become a place to be

where your Spirit dwells;

to honour your image in one another;

to the glory of the Father. Amen.

© Ian Black 2018

 

Power of Love shown at Pentecost

I don’t know if you have been using the ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ material over the last ten days, from Ascension to today. This has been encouraging us to pray, to open our hearts to the life and love of God in Jesus Christ, to seek his kingdom above and in all things, to be longing for the life of the Holy Spirit, which we celebrate today. It has been a period of encouragement to share this hope and longing in all our meetings and relating, to long for others to come and share in this life of hope. Some aspects of the material have been deep and profound, beautifully worded and perceptive of how life can be and feel.

On Thursday the theme was ‘adore’, and adoration and praise is the response our hearts make to the love of God that gives our lives meaning and hope. The reflection that accompanied this, if you were using that resource, popped into my email inbox. And it started so well, reflecting on the lure of celebrity and fame, the illusion of adoration which can mask a deep-seated insecurity and actually feelings which struggle to accept that we are adored and adorable. My disappointment grew, though, when I read words which talked of us not ‘deserving’ this love of God and knowing for ourselves “that we’re not really that adorable”. Oh dear, I thought, that subtle comment goes against so much of what I believe to be true at a profound and fundamental level. It also undermines the message it was trying to convey – an unfortunate slip, but one that may well display more than is realised. Let me explain.

The point of Jesus Christ is that he shows us what God is like. And it is in the nature of God to love. We exist because of this love, and it is God’s gift and giving which is the source and goal of our life. We are held in that love or we are nothing. ‘Deserving’ is not in the equation at all. Worthiness is not in the equation, except so far as we perceive it. God reaches into our lives with a loving embrace. And that can be almost unbearable, and extremely difficult to accept, but that is our baggage and not God’s. “God so loved the world” that he came as Jesus among us. He didn’t come despite the world, despite our unworthiness. That is not part of the deal or even on the table. It is love offered, love given, love shared and poured out for us. And all because it is in the nature of God to do this. So no choosing beyond choosing to be who God is.

This tension between how we see it or feel it and how God is, is expressed beautifully and powerfully in George Herbert’s poem ‘Love bade me welcome’. You may know it from Vaughan Williams evocative musical setting in his ‘Five Mystical Songs’. The soul draws back because it knows it is ‘guilty of dust and sin’. But quick-eyed love observes this and invites the soul to be the guest, ‘worthy to be here’. It is too much for the soul who protests unworthiness. But for God this is not the criterion. God made him and love him. Love says that he should sit and eat. But the soul, accepting to join the meal, says he will do so as the server, only worthy in his own eyes to wait on tables. This is rejected. ‘No you won’t’, says love, ‘you are my guest’. The nature of God is to love and we thrive and flourish in that love. It is radical, transforming and changes people for the better.

Yesterday we saw the marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle; the Duke and Duchess of Sussex as they are now known. Love has transformed their lives; brought them joy and completion, which is a delight to see. Neither has had to earn that love; they gave it to one another because it is in their natures to love. It is in all our natures to love and in so doing we display the image of the one who made us and reaches out to us in loving embrace. In his sermon, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church in America, Michael Curry, quoted Martin Luther King.

“We must discover the power of love, the redemptive power of love. And when we discover that, we will be able to make of this old world a new world. Love is the only way.”

Love changes us. As Michael Curry went on to say:

“There’s power in love. Love can help and heal when nothing else can. Love can lift up and liberate for living when nothing else will.”

And this is true because God is love and all loving is hardwired into that nature of God.

So we come to our gospel reading (John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15). In these verses taken from John’s gospel, Jesus talks about the Spirit being sent and given, the Advocate, the Helper and Comforter, depending on your translation. ‘He will prove the world wrong about sin, righteousness and judgement.’ This is the anti-thesis of having to earn and deserve God’s gift and love. The world is wrong about sin precisely because it does not understand who Jesus is and what he represents. He represents the nature of God who loves and gives and blesses because that is who he is. It is wrong about what it means to be righteous because it does not depend on deserving, on anything we might do, but on God’s grace alone. We can do nothing to change or affect it. Jesus is going to the Father. That means he is who he is and that gives the authority for what he says. It is wrong about judgement because we have hope. The ruler of the world, the effect of sin, the power of evil and rebellion has been defeated in Christ’s cross and resurrection, in his ascension. God is God and so we bask in that loving embrace in Jesus Christ.

And that brings us to Pentecost, the gifting of the Holy Spirit. It is the gift of the fuel needed to fill us with the life and love of being adored. It is the counter to all the false searching in places where there can never be true fulfillment – be it fame, the latest experience of a high however induced: partying, drugs or alcohol, or hollow relating. The Holy Spirit is the grace and charism of God, and that is by its nature infused and overflowing with love.

So we do not come here as unworthy creatures, even if that is how we feel, even if that is how it might look if we measured ourselves up against the perfection of God, fallen as we are. We come as beloved, invited by the love. We come as guests of one whose nature is to give and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon us, and in us, is that love being made complete. For we are not left alone, comfortless, or abandoned by an absentee creator-owner. We are filled with the spirit of the divine which makes love the most powerful force in the world. It changes hearts, puts down weapons and bridges divides – not least oceans between peoples otherwise divided by a common language.

Sermon preached in Peterborough Parish Church, Pentecost, Sunday 20th May 2018