St Nicholas Church - Sunday June 19th
2016 - 9.30am
May I speak in the name of the
Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen.
I know I’m supposed to start a
sermon off with a joke. But I just don’t have one. Just the fact
that Dennis in his wisdom asked me to preach my first sermon at a 9.30 service,
on the Sunday before the European Referendum is frankly, hilarious enough.
And then, just when I thought
the focus of this morning was going to be the EU referendum, the shootings in
Orlando happened last weekend.
And then, just as I thought I
had a plan for this morning…...the MP Jo Cox was shot and killed.
So I hope you’ll forgive me for
the lack of jokes. I’m just not finding things very funny right now.
My original focus was going to
be Europe. So let’s start there. I’m not going to tell you how to
vote and will try my hardest to remain impartial. If you are seeking
theological argument and opinion on how to vote you can find it elsewhere, but
as a helpful guide, the former Archbishop of Canterbury George Carey says
Leave…..the present Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby says Remain. As
does our own Bishop here in St Albans. And while I don’t intend on
telling you how I think you should vote, what I can talk about this morning is
what I believe our reading from Galatians might be saying to us. But I
will come to that later.
So while we are probably all
becoming quite weary of the In/Out debate….while economics, law and sovereignty
are being bandied about as reasons to vote one way or the other, and while the
issue of immigration was merrily being thrown around for our benefit, a man
went into a nightclub in Orlando last weekend and shot people because of who
they are. Not because of what they believe or any opinions they hold, not
because of any life decision they had made, but because of who they fall in
love with, and the person they were created as.
Many have spoken out in
solidarity with the lesbian, gay, bi and transgender community. Myself
included. Many also raised concerns about the gun laws in America.
Over there. In America.
But then on Thursday one of our
own MP’s was shot. We don’t really know all the facts, but it seems that
the man who killed Jo Cox disagreed with her opinions. Opinions which
supported each person, regardless of who they are or where they are from.
Suddenly, shootings are not just
“over there”. They are here. The stretch of water between us makes
no difference. They have guns. We have guns. People on both
sides of the Atlantic are being shot simply for who they are. Let’s be honest,
we know these things don’t just happen in Britain and the United States.
It’s just that those are the incidents we hear about. People are being
killed and victimised for who they are and loving people for who they
are. Different countries. Different continents. Same
planet. Same space. It isn’t them and us. It is us.
Who are we to decide who owns
which bits of land anyway? It’s all one world. Is that too
simplistic? Too idealistic? To just suggest that we are one world,
regardless of our differences? No, I don’t think it is. I don’t
think that it can be.
Many of you will know that I
spent some time in Palestine after Easter this year with the Amos Trust.
I visited many of the holy sites, ran a half marathon in Bethlehem - as you do
- that may be the closest you do get to a joke this morning….but I also visited
refugee camps and spoke to Palestinian Christians and Muslims about how they
were developing what they describe as Beautiful Resistance. A way to
peacefully protest at the occupation of their land. This is not the time
or the place to discuss the Israeli Occupation, but one of the phrases which
stuck with me was during a meeting with Zoughbi Zoughbi of the Wi’am
Palestinian Conflict Reconciliation Centre. He simply said....
“God is not racist”.
There are many complex arguments
about the Occupied Territories - Palestine - but this one sentence really
stuck, and cuts through all the politics. God is not racist.
Wi’am is situated by one of the
main checkpoints in Bethlehem, under the shadow of the wall, accompanied by a
couple of Banksy murals outside. When I say in the shadow - that’s
exactly what I mean. They wanted a place children could go and play, a
place with a garden. And they put it by the checkpoint as a point of
peaceful resistance…..just like the motivation of the communion services - like
ours today’s - in the fields of the Cremison Valley. Peaceful
resistance. The centre gets tear-gassed. The garden furniture is
burnt out. The children’s play stuff damaged. The garden is
decorated with empty tear gas canisters which have been thrown over from the
other side of the wall.
Zoughbi says this, “dwelling in
victimhood is suicidal, enhancing the guilt will paralyse others, blaming is
toxic...so a collective responsibility is the most important thing…..and the
challenge is how to transform the garbage of anger, the garbage of hate, and to
flower in the tree of compassion.” “We are committed to the
non-violent struggle, against the occupation through the popular struggle,
because we would like to deprive the Israeli government from an enemy”
I have so much more I could tell
you about how the people I met strive peacefully towards the goal of peace for
all. But now is not the time. Just remember their statement - God
is not racist.
Which brings me so neatly to
this morning’s reading from Galatians. In a week where the world seems -
in my opinion and that of many others I know - to be a dark and scary
place….Paul reminds us in our lectionary reading today that God sees no
division. However we see others, however we vote, whatever our
differences are…..to God they are invisible. There is no East nor West,
no Jew nor Greek, no man no woman….and in the light of the shootings in Orlando
- no gay nor straight. We are all the same.
This building we worship in is
old. It has a great history, lovely stained glass, and a beautiful
font. And yet it divides us. It separates us out into those with
small children in the back corner. Children who attend Sunday Club at the
front. The choir in their stalls, the clergy and assistants at the front,
with everyone else occupying their usual seat everywhere else. We are
divided. Some can see, other are stuck behind a pillar. We are in
our place. If I had the courage this morning I would ask you all to stand
up and swap seats. For the choir to sit down the side, the toddlers to
move to the front, the children can come and sit here and the rest of you find
a different view. Mix. Be as one. Don’t separate.
When writing this, the words of
a song by U2 were stuck in my head. The song is called Walk On and was
written for Aung San Suu Kyi while she was under house arrest in Burma.
And love is not the easy thing
The only baggage you can bring
Is all that you can't leave behind
Bono, U2’s singer, said it was
based on a passage from Corinthians about a house which suffers a fire.
Like us on judgement day, what will be left after all the material things are
removed? If we take away law, money and sovereignty? What is left?
The only thing you cannot leave behind. Love.
So however we chose to vote this
week, think on today’s reading. We have a choice to make on Thursday, but
we also have daily choices to make. We can choose anger and hate and
aggression. Or we can choose and grab hold of love. We can choose
love as a peaceful resistance to the problems in our lives.
The only thing which is left at
the end of the day is love….love for each other and God’s love.
Jo Cox MP said "We are far more united and have far more in
common than that which divides us."
St Paul in his letter to the Galatians said,
“But now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a
disciplinarian, for in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through
faith. As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed
yourselves with Christ. There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer
slave or free, there is no longer male or female; for all of you are one in
Christ Jesus.”
We are all the same. To quote Bono again. We are
one. Choose wisely, choose love.
