Here is my sermon from yesterday's Eucharist at St Stephen Walbrook, which focused on the events of Palm Sunday. An audio version of this sermon will shortly be found at the website of the London Internet Church.
At my first training weekend as a curate the first Bishop to address us, the then Bishop of Barking, David Hawkins, performed a handstand to demonstrate the way in which Jesus, through his life and teaching turns our understanding of life upside down. Jesus had a marvellous way of subverting people’s expectations. He did it when he called on the one without sin to cast the first stone. He did it when he, their Master, served the disciples by washing their feet. And he did it on the occasion of his entry into Jerusalem too.
Some people at the time expected him, if he really was Israel’s Messiah or King, to lead an armed rebellion against their Roman oppressors. As his ministry had gone on these people had begun pressing him to declare his hand and make it crystal clear whether he was the one to lead this armed rebellion or not. Jesus chose the moment of his entry into Jerusalem to declare his hand, but not in the way that those people expected. Instead of coming into Jerusalem as a warrior King on a war-horse leading an army he came unarmed and riding on a donkey.
In doing so, he was pointing all those who knew the Hebrew Scriptures well to a passage in Zechariah which says this: “Rejoice, rejoice, people of Zion! Shout for joy, you people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you! He comes triumphant and victorious, but humble and riding on a donkey – on a colt, the foal of a donkey. The Lord says, “I will remove the war-chariots from Israel and take the horses from Jerusalem; the bows used in battle will be destroyed. Your king will make peace among the nations; he will rule from sea to sea, from the River Euphrates to the ends of the earth.” (Zechariah 9: 9 & 10)
By entering Jerusalem in this way, Jesus made it crystal clear that he was the King - the Messiah - that was expected but also that he would not be the kind of King or Messiah that they was expected. He would not come as the warrior King who will destroy Israel’s enemies or oppressors. Under his rule the only things to be destroyed are weapons themselves – the war-chariots, war-horses and bows that the Zechariah passage spoke about. He came as the Prince of Peace, not as the Warrior King. He came as the King who humbled himself by riding on the lowest, poorest form of transport – a colt, the foal of a donkey – not as a King who exalted himself on the largest, fastest steed. Later on he would wash his disciples’ feet as a way of saying that peace comes through service. And he was preparing to sacrifice all, including his own life, in order to serve his enemies by saving them.
Sometime after Jesus’ death and resurrection the Apostle Paul explained in his letter to the Ephesians how Jesus had made peace among the nations. He said: “Christ himself has brought us peace by making Jews and Gentiles one people. With his own body he broke down the wall that separated them and kept them enemies. He abolished the Jewish Law with its commandments and rules, in order to create out of the two races one new people in union with himself, in this way making peace. By his death on the cross Christ destroyed their enmity; by means of the cross he united both races into one body and brought them back to God.” (Ephesians 2: 14-16)
Instead of destroying the enemies of Israel as some expected, Jesus came to love his enemies and unite them with his own people, making peace. Paul then goes further to say that there are no distinctions either between slaves and free, between men and women, or between those thought of as civilised and those thought of as barbarians, all are one in Christ. The implication is that there are no barriers or divisions that should separate, for all can be one in Christ.
As a result, we are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus by being peacemakers in our homes, communities and workplaces. Just as Jesus did the reverse of what people expected, by loving those who were thought of as the enemies of his people and sacrificing himself in order to bring those two groups together, so we need to do the same in relation to the divisions we experience in our own time and culture. Church needs to be a place and space in which we reverse people’s expectations by living and demonstrating Jesus’ embrace of all.
Now, we need to acknowledge that the Church hasn’t always had a great track record in doing this. The Crusades, the Inquisition, the Slave Trade, for example, all seem to have been the reverse of what Jesus did. We need to show real sorrow over that history and the effect that it still has in certain parts of the world today. But there have also been great examples from the Church, even in our own lifetimes, of people like Martin Luther King, Oscar Romero, Mother Teresa and Desmond Tutu who have tried to follow much more closely in Jesus’ footsteps.
We can learn from the example of such people so that we too become people who reveal Jesus in our world by following where he led in turning people’s expectations upside down and sacrificing ourselves in order to bring peace between all people regardless of any distinctions.
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Candace Bogan - Give Me Jesus.
Showing posts with label romero. Show all posts
Showing posts with label romero. Show all posts
Friday, 27 March 2015
Friday, 25 February 2011
Spiritual Life: Big Society
This is my Spiritual Life column about the Big Society which was published in yesterday's Ilford Recorder:
Recently I attended a conference on what the Big Society might mean for the Church, where I heard Jon Cruddas, MP for Dagenham and Rainham, state that he is a big fan of the Big Society. As the Big Society is viewed as David Cameron’s big idea this was a surprising statement for a Labour MP to make, so what were some of the factors that led to this position?
He began with his Irish Catholic, working class, Labour background, which gave him a communitarian disposition. Communitarianism is about balancing individual rights with the interests of the community as a whole and it developed, in the twentieth century, from the Catholic Workers Movement. As a result, the Big Society is not new and has a significant Catholic heritage on which we can draw.
Next, was the example that the Church has provided in his constituency during a period of considerable change. There, the Church has played a central role by holding the line in the tensions of change; tensions which saw far-right councillors elected and then defeated in subsequent local elections. The Church in this situation acted as a just institution enabling the release of virtue and supporting human flourishing.
These thoughts about the Big Society provide a viable alternative to the selfishness inherent in our market-led consumerism and the over-heavy control of the ‘nanny’ state. They suggest that there is a different way of living and being socially; that life is more than earning and spending.
That certainly doesn’t mean that all is well now. Where the axe of cuts is currently falling makes the Big Society less likely. People in our community are struggling because of the withdrawal of 'safety nets'; the least well off are paying the price for the recession.
It doesn’t have to be like that, however. Successful community campaigns in this borough show that people of all faiths and none care deeply about what happens to this borough and the likely effects of cuts in Council services. Jon Cruddas quoted Oscar Romero who said, "Aspire not to have more but to be more." Maybe if we all thought like that, the Big Society could become the cornerstone of a new politics and the new centre ground.
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Eddie and the Hot Rods - Do Anything You Wanna Do.
Recently I attended a conference on what the Big Society might mean for the Church, where I heard Jon Cruddas, MP for Dagenham and Rainham, state that he is a big fan of the Big Society. As the Big Society is viewed as David Cameron’s big idea this was a surprising statement for a Labour MP to make, so what were some of the factors that led to this position?
He began with his Irish Catholic, working class, Labour background, which gave him a communitarian disposition. Communitarianism is about balancing individual rights with the interests of the community as a whole and it developed, in the twentieth century, from the Catholic Workers Movement. As a result, the Big Society is not new and has a significant Catholic heritage on which we can draw.
Next, was the example that the Church has provided in his constituency during a period of considerable change. There, the Church has played a central role by holding the line in the tensions of change; tensions which saw far-right councillors elected and then defeated in subsequent local elections. The Church in this situation acted as a just institution enabling the release of virtue and supporting human flourishing.
These thoughts about the Big Society provide a viable alternative to the selfishness inherent in our market-led consumerism and the over-heavy control of the ‘nanny’ state. They suggest that there is a different way of living and being socially; that life is more than earning and spending.
That certainly doesn’t mean that all is well now. Where the axe of cuts is currently falling makes the Big Society less likely. People in our community are struggling because of the withdrawal of 'safety nets'; the least well off are paying the price for the recession.
It doesn’t have to be like that, however. Successful community campaigns in this borough show that people of all faiths and none care deeply about what happens to this borough and the likely effects of cuts in Council services. Jon Cruddas quoted Oscar Romero who said, "Aspire not to have more but to be more." Maybe if we all thought like that, the Big Society could become the cornerstone of a new politics and the new centre ground.
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Eddie and the Hot Rods - Do Anything You Wanna Do.
Sunday, 30 January 2011
The Big Society
Last week Paul Trathen and I were at the Big Society – what does it mean for the Church? conference on 'The Big Society' organised by the London Churches Group, Mission in London’s Economy and the Diocese of Southwark Public Policy Group.
We began with some excellent input and debate from Andrew Stunnell, Jon Cruddas and Debra Allcock Tyler. Jon Cruddas was, as is usually the case, particularly good value. He supported several initiatives with which I was involved in Barking & Dagenham, including the launch of the Faith Forum. More recently, of course, was the General Election campaign in the borough and in his remarks he paid tribute to the involvement of the churches in the Hope not Hate campaign which contributed to the defeat of the BNP.
These are some highlights from what he said:
We began with some excellent input and debate from Andrew Stunnell, Jon Cruddas and Debra Allcock Tyler. Jon Cruddas was, as is usually the case, particularly good value. He supported several initiatives with which I was involved in Barking & Dagenham, including the launch of the Faith Forum. More recently, of course, was the General Election campaign in the borough and in his remarks he paid tribute to the involvement of the churches in the Hope not Hate campaign which contributed to the defeat of the BNP.
These are some highlights from what he said:
- Big fan of the Big Society which could become the cornerstone of a new politics; the new centre ground? But a somewhat elusive concept.
- Irish Catholic, working class, Labour background -communitarian disposition. Therefore, Big Society not new.
- Change in Dagenham. Church has been central - held the line in tensions of change.
- Big Society - sphere between ineffective markets and over-heavy state. Notion of 'good' society fundamental critique of market-led economy. More than earning and money.
- Big Society - critique of statism. Labour has become statist and secular as opposed to being, in Dylan Thomas' phrase, "parochial and magical".
- Aristotle spoke about the release of virtue - just institutions that allow human flourishing.
- People in the community are currently struggling because of the withdrawal of 'safety nets'. the least well off are paying the price for the recession. Where the axe is falling is making the Big Society less likely.
- This is a radical Government, although I disagree with their decisions. It could be a vehicle for ther unfinished business of the Thatcher era. An exercise in economic and cultural disenfranchisement.
- "Aspire not to have more but to be more." - Oscar Romero.
Staple Singers - Reach Out, Touch A Hand, Make A Friend.
Sunday, 5 April 2009
Palm Sunday procession & sermon
Jesus had a marvellous way of subverting people’s expectations. He did it when he called on the one without sin to cast the first stone. He did it when he their Master served the disciples by washing their feet. And he did it in this story too. He turned the expectations of the people around him upside down.
Some people at the time expected him, if he really was Israel’s Messiah or King, to lead an armed rebellion against their Roman oppressors. As his ministry had gone on these people had begun pressing him to declare his hand and make it crystal clear whether he was the one to lead this armed rebellion or not.
Jesus chose this moment – the one that we heard about in our Gospel reading today - to declare his hand but not in the way that those people expected. Instead of coming into Jerusalem as a warrior King on a war-horse leading an army he came unarmed and riding on a donkey.
In doing so, he was pointing all those who knew the Hebrew scriptures well to a passage in Zechariah which says this:
“Rejoice, rejoice, people of Zion!
Shout for joy, you people of Jerusalem!
Look, your king is coming to you!
He comes triumphant and victorious,
but humble and riding on a donkey –
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
The Lord says,
“I will remove the war-chariots from Israel
and take the horses from Jerusalem;
the bows used in battle will be destroyed.
Your king will make peace among the nations;
he will rule from sea to sea,
from the River Euphrates to the ends of the earth.”
(Zechariah 9: 9 & 10)
By entering Jerusalem in this way, Jesus is making it crystal clear that he is the King, the Messiah, that the people were expecting but also that he will not be the kind of King or Messiah that they were expecting.
He does not come as the warrior King who will destroy Israel’s enemies or oppressors. Under his rule the only things to be destroyed are weapons themselves – the war-chariots, war-horses and bows that this passage speaks about.
Instead, he turns the expectations of him on their head. He comes as the King of Peace not as the Warrior King. He comes as the King who humbles himself by riding on the lowest, poorest form of transport – a colt, the foal of a donkey – not as the King who exalts himself on the largest, fastest steed. Later on he was to wash his disciples’ feet as a way of saying that peace comes through service. And he was prepared to sacrifice all, including his own life, in order to serve his enemies by saving them.
Some time after Jesus’ death and resurrection the Apostle Paul explained in his letter to the Ephesians how Jesus had made peace among the nations. He said: “Christ himself has brought us peace by making Jews and Gentiles one people. With his own body he broke down the wall that separated them and kept them enemies. He abolished the Jewish Law with its commandments and rules, in order to create out of the two races one new people in union with himself, in this way making peace. By his death on the cross Christ destroyed their enmity; by means of the cross he united both races into one body and brought them back to God.” (Ephesians 2: 14-16)
Instead of destroying the enemies of Israel as some expected, Jesus came to love his enemies and unite them with his own people, making peace. Paul then goes further to say that there are no distinctions either between slaves and free, between men and women, or between those thought of as civilised and those thought of as barbarians, all are one in Christ. The implication is that there are no barriers, no divisions, that should separate, for all can be one in Christ.
We are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus by being peacemakers in our homes, communities and workplaces. Just as Jesus did the reverse of what people expected, by loving those who were thought of as the enemies of his people and sacrificing himself in order to bring those two groups together, so we need to do the same in relation to the divisions we experience in our time. Church needs to be a place and space in which we reverse people’s expectations by living and demonstrating Jesus’ embrace of all.
The Church hasn’t always had a great track record of doing this. The Crusades, the Inquisition, the Slave Trade, for example, all seem to have been the reverse of what Jesus did. We need to show real sorrow over that history and the effect that it still has in certain parts of the world today. But there have also been great examples from the Church, even in our own lifetimes, of people like Martin Luther King, Oscar Romero, Mother Teresa and Desmond Tutu who have tried to follow much more closely in Jesus’ footsteps.
We need to learn from the example of these people so that we can become a people who reveal Jesus in our world by following where he led in turning people’s expectations upside down and sacrificing ourselves in order to bring peace between all people regardless of any distinctions. Jesus is the great peacemaker and we follow him by being peacemakers in our homes, communities and workplaces and by creating Church as a place where people of all races and backgrounds and situations can meet as one.
Some people at the time expected him, if he really was Israel’s Messiah or King, to lead an armed rebellion against their Roman oppressors. As his ministry had gone on these people had begun pressing him to declare his hand and make it crystal clear whether he was the one to lead this armed rebellion or not.
Jesus chose this moment – the one that we heard about in our Gospel reading today - to declare his hand but not in the way that those people expected. Instead of coming into Jerusalem as a warrior King on a war-horse leading an army he came unarmed and riding on a donkey.
In doing so, he was pointing all those who knew the Hebrew scriptures well to a passage in Zechariah which says this:
“Rejoice, rejoice, people of Zion!
Shout for joy, you people of Jerusalem!
Look, your king is coming to you!
He comes triumphant and victorious,
but humble and riding on a donkey –
on a colt, the foal of a donkey.
The Lord says,
“I will remove the war-chariots from Israel
and take the horses from Jerusalem;
the bows used in battle will be destroyed.
Your king will make peace among the nations;
he will rule from sea to sea,
from the River Euphrates to the ends of the earth.”
(Zechariah 9: 9 & 10)
By entering Jerusalem in this way, Jesus is making it crystal clear that he is the King, the Messiah, that the people were expecting but also that he will not be the kind of King or Messiah that they were expecting.
He does not come as the warrior King who will destroy Israel’s enemies or oppressors. Under his rule the only things to be destroyed are weapons themselves – the war-chariots, war-horses and bows that this passage speaks about.
Instead, he turns the expectations of him on their head. He comes as the King of Peace not as the Warrior King. He comes as the King who humbles himself by riding on the lowest, poorest form of transport – a colt, the foal of a donkey – not as the King who exalts himself on the largest, fastest steed. Later on he was to wash his disciples’ feet as a way of saying that peace comes through service. And he was prepared to sacrifice all, including his own life, in order to serve his enemies by saving them.
Some time after Jesus’ death and resurrection the Apostle Paul explained in his letter to the Ephesians how Jesus had made peace among the nations. He said: “Christ himself has brought us peace by making Jews and Gentiles one people. With his own body he broke down the wall that separated them and kept them enemies. He abolished the Jewish Law with its commandments and rules, in order to create out of the two races one new people in union with himself, in this way making peace. By his death on the cross Christ destroyed their enmity; by means of the cross he united both races into one body and brought them back to God.” (Ephesians 2: 14-16)
Instead of destroying the enemies of Israel as some expected, Jesus came to love his enemies and unite them with his own people, making peace. Paul then goes further to say that there are no distinctions either between slaves and free, between men and women, or between those thought of as civilised and those thought of as barbarians, all are one in Christ. The implication is that there are no barriers, no divisions, that should separate, for all can be one in Christ.
We are called to follow in the footsteps of Jesus by being peacemakers in our homes, communities and workplaces. Just as Jesus did the reverse of what people expected, by loving those who were thought of as the enemies of his people and sacrificing himself in order to bring those two groups together, so we need to do the same in relation to the divisions we experience in our time. Church needs to be a place and space in which we reverse people’s expectations by living and demonstrating Jesus’ embrace of all.
The Church hasn’t always had a great track record of doing this. The Crusades, the Inquisition, the Slave Trade, for example, all seem to have been the reverse of what Jesus did. We need to show real sorrow over that history and the effect that it still has in certain parts of the world today. But there have also been great examples from the Church, even in our own lifetimes, of people like Martin Luther King, Oscar Romero, Mother Teresa and Desmond Tutu who have tried to follow much more closely in Jesus’ footsteps.
We need to learn from the example of these people so that we can become a people who reveal Jesus in our world by following where he led in turning people’s expectations upside down and sacrificing ourselves in order to bring peace between all people regardless of any distinctions. Jesus is the great peacemaker and we follow him by being peacemakers in our homes, communities and workplaces and by creating Church as a place where people of all races and backgrounds and situations can meet as one.
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The Staple Singers - I'll Take You There.
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