The
readings on
which this
sermon is
based can be
found at:
http://frsparky.net/a/r111.htm
s111g15
Seventh Sunday
of
Easter
17/5/2015
‘so that they
may be one, as
we are
one’
John 17:11
The prayer is
that we be one
with others,
not that
everyone else
will become
straight,
baptised,
confirmed,
communicant,
tithing
Anglicans of
my particular
flavour!
The prayer
that we be one
is not that
others will
repent and
become like
me, a paragon
of
christianity,
but that I as
a disciple
become one
with
others.
The prayer is
an invitation
to
incarnation,
following
Jesus, not a
challenge to
those outside
to pick up
their socks,
acknowledge
their
wretchedness
and realise
that MY way is
their only
salvation.
Indeed seen in
these terms
‘the world’ is
defined by
that which
insists on
their own way,
that which
bullies or
manipulates
others into
being someone
other than who
they
are.
I have
sometimes
reflected that
in some
‘christian’
circles, the
word:
‘challenge’
has by and
large usurped
the word
‘love’.
The only use
of the word
‘challenge’ in
the
translation of
the bible I
use (the New
Revised
Standard
Version) is:
‘You set a
snare for
yourself and
you were
caught, O
Babylon, but
you did not
know it; you
were
discovered and
seized,
because you
challenged the
LORD.’
(1)
It is clear
that this is
not the
morally
neutral use of
the word, such
as the
challenge to
climb a
mountain.
It is quite
definitely
adversarial,
the antithesis
of love.
This gospel
reading is
Jesus parting
prayer; no
longer is the
Lord going to
be present to
lead, guide
and arbitrate,
these things
are now up to
us.
It is we who
have to move,
the Spirit
leads us to
other people.
It is, again,
another
expression of
that early
perception:
‘It is not
good that
anyone should
be
alone’.
(2)
We are
invited,
impelled,
commanded into
relationship,
and if this is
true on a
personal
level, it is
surely as true
on a corporate
level.
It is not good
that the
Anglican
Church is
alone.
It is not good
that
christianity
is alone.
And I point to
the level of
angst and
downright
hostility some
parts of the
church have to
this sort of
openness.
The exclusion
of gay and
lesbian
persons is but
a symbol of
their desire
to have as
little
relationship
with others
and with the
world as
possible.
Any
relationship
with others
has to be on
their own
(church)
terms, no
quarter will
be
given.
As we attended
a lovely
retreat last
weekend, we
sat across
from a poster
with a turtle
and the
caption:
‘Watch the
turtle. He
only moves
forward by
sticking his
neck
out.’
(3)
And I thought
that this is
true of the
church.
We have got to
poke our noses
out of our
holy huddles
to even be the
church.
One of the
specific tasks
of the bishop
is to be a
focus of the
unity of the
church, but if
this is
interpreted as
it’s the
bishop’s job
to get
everyone else
to become
straight,
baptised,
confirmed,
communicant,
tithing
Anglicans of
my particular
flavour, that
is indeed a
fool’s errand
and a wild
goose
chase!
Jesus never
bothered to
try to
reconcile the
Pharisees and
the
Sadducees.
If the Church
does not have
the desire for
incarnation
into the world
as her central
raison d’être,
every effort
to reconcile
competing
theologies is
ever doomed to
failure.
It seems that
the Archbishop
of
Canterbury’s
recent comment
that we have
to acknowledge
that people
don’t share
the same
theology as
stating the
bleeding
obvious, but
clearly it is
not obvious to
some! (4)
Again I was
recently
listening to a
radio program
‘The Why
Factor’ on
jargon and
convoluted
language.
(5) What
is intended as
an exercise in
communication
- like
agreeing to
the terms of
use of
software is
actually
alienating and
excluding.
And I thought
of parts of
the church’s
use of jargon
to similarly
define any
conversation
is her terms,
in some
deluded
imitation of
love.
But following
on from my
reflections on
the medical
profession
being the
paradigm of
collaborative
creativity, I
have been
thinking about
modern
music.
Today, young
people, having
for so long
been relegated
to obscurity
and told they
should be seen
and not heard,
have found
their place
and their
voice.
I wonder if
popular
magazines have
an age limit
for
celebrities?
I vividly
recall one
Friday morning
when I was
doing my
‘priest-on-duty’
duty at the
Transitional
Cathedral and
a group of
American
Christian
teenagers came
to
visit.
They were on
the trip of a
lifetime, and
naturally
high-spirited.
One of the
elderly
volunteers
reminded them
in no
uncertain
terms that
they were in
church where
everyone is
quiet.
They
immediately
left.
And it is not
just all
narcissistic,
we are
concerned
about those in
Vanuatu and
Nepal.
We agonise
over the
plight of the
Syrians.
We mourn those
drowned in the
Mediterranean
and lobby for
those in
Australian
detention
centres.
We fear
climate change
and what the
cancer of
humanity is
doing to the
ecology.
The voice that
young people
have found has
brought to
society an
egalitarian
spirit.
We are all
human, and all
deserve an
equal
opportunity to
food, shelter,
dignity and
access to
services.
This seems to
me to be a
direct result
of that spirit
within parts
of the church
who have
privileged the
poor and the
outcast and
turned away
from all
elitism and
privilege.
This promises
a healthy
oneness for
all.
I discover
that it was
Otto von
Bismarck who
first said:
‘Politics is
the art of the
possible’.
(6)
I suspect that
the ideal of
converting
each and every
person to
become
straight,
baptised,
confirmed,
communicant,
tithing
Anglicans of
my particular
flavour is
rather less
possible than
achieving a
society which
turns away
from all
elitism and
privilege,
promising a
healthy
oneness for
all.
And this if
for no other
reason that
there are
actually many
more prepared
to embrace the
later and work
for
it.
Amen.
1.
Jeremiah 50:24
2.
Genesis 2:18
3. Louis
V. Gerstner,
Jr.
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/l/louisvger221687.htm
4.
http://anglicantaonga.org.nz/News/The-Communion/ABC-Let-s-stop-pretending-we-agree
5.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02pw68l
6.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Otto_von_Bismarck