Sunday 16 September 2019
TRINITY 13
Having just got back from holiday
in Italy, I’ve been able to consume 3 good books in the last week and a half
(as well as twice my body weight in pasta, cheese and good wine!) I commend all three books to you,
although you’d be right in spotting that they could be seen as something of a
busman’s holiday selection: The
Western Wind by Samantha Harvey, The Road to Grantchester by James
Runcie, and Fergus Butler-Gallie’s wonderful Field Guide to the English
Clergy.
The Western Wind is a beautifully
written medieval whodunnit, the plot of which unfolds through the confessions
of various members of the village community to their parish priest, John
Reve. Don’t worry, there are no spoilers
in this sermon! The Road to Grantchester is
the prequel to the Sidney Chambers Mysteries which have been adapted as the
popular Grantchester series on ITV.
As you might expect, the book is to Grantchester what Endeavour
is to Inspector Morse – giving insight into the main character’s
experience of the second world war, and poignantly observes a growing vocation
to priesthood. The Field Guide to the English
Clergy is a hilarious but true biographical compendium of eccentric clergy
through the ages – there are far too many to mention, but include the Cornish
Vicar who used to dress as a mermaid, and the former Archbishop of Canterbury
Michael Ramsey “whop would start each day by bashing his head on his desk three
times and repeating the mantra ‘I hate the Church of England’ before he could
bear to open his correspondence.”
I’ll come back to my reading in a
moment. But other than being the busman’s
choice, they have in common a vision of the church (and its clergy) as being
deeply ingrained in the fabric of everyday life. Today’s gospel gives us parts one
and two of a well loved trilogy – the parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin
and the Lost Son. And although they do belong
together as a trio there is some sense in the first two being thought of together.
Together they form a kind of prologue to the fuller and more complex parable of
the Lost Son. So these first two share an
identical structure. There is loss. There is finding. There is rejoicing. And as is quite typical of Luke there is a
complimentary inclusivity in placing the two parables side by side. The male imagery of the shepherd
guarding his sheep and seeking out the lost, carrying it home on his shoulders
and rejoicing with his friends and neighbours is perfectly complimented
by the female imagery of the woman who loses a coin and sweeps the house
frantically until she finds it, gathering together her women friends and
neighbours to celebrate. For Luke, as he arranges his
material, by telling these parables together it is clear that everyone is
meant to be able to place themselves in the stories – and in so doing everyone
is meant to hear their challenge.
The key to understanding what
Jesus (and latterly Luke) is trying to convey is in the opening verses of
chapter 15. “Now all the tax
collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were
grumbling and saying ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them’. So he
told them this parable….” So whatever else we might profitably
focus on in any of these 3 parables – and of course there’s a wealth of preachers’
material there, no least with the third and most enigmatic tale – we cannot
lose sight of the clear original purpose. And that was simply to demonstrate
(quite pointedly) why Jesus was welcoming sinners and eating with
them; why Jesus was crossing
the boundary of ritual cleanliness and associating with the untouchable. And his choice of imagery is simple, powerful
and damning.
Of
course a shepherd worth his sort would seek out the strays and bring
them into the fold. Why wouldn’t he?
And of course a responsible woman would turn the place upside-down
to recover that which is valuable. Why
wouldn’t she? And of course there
would be much rejoicing and celebration and joy, says Jesus – throwing his
words right in the faces of the joyless Pharisees and the sour scribes.
[I need to resist the urge to
talk more about the Lost Son and I mustn’t – but its worth nothing the
brilliance of the way this is put together.
These two parables set up the pattern of losing, finding and rejoicing, but the parable of the Lost Son not
only picks up the same pattern, but in addition to those themes of losing,
finding and rejoicing, the Elder Brother adds the powerful and critical theme
of ‘resenting’. But that’s another sermon!]
Let me return, if I may, to my
holiday reading. A vision of the church –
whether in the 15th century, or in the wake of the second world war,
or through the bonkers antics of the clergy – but a vision of the church and
its ministry being part of the warp and weft of communal life, in all its ordinariness
and eccentricity. I guess that my busman’s choice
of holiday meant that when I read today’s gospel, the thing that struck me most
was that Jesus was addressing those for whom ‘belonging’ was a given. It was defined. And boldly Jesus makes his case as to why
they are wrong.
William Temple was Archbishop of
Canterbury for just two years, but as one of the most scholarly Archbishop’s of
modern times, is particularly remembered for his summary of the church as "…. the only society that exists for the benefit of
those who are not its members." It’s a statement that has its
roots deeply in the words and actions of Jesus today’s gospel. But the irony of history is that since Temple
said those words, the Church has become more and more concerned with itself. Eaten up by its own
wrangling. Preoccupied with its own concerns. Seeing to its own needs. In fact that’s probably what caused Temple’s
successor to bang his head three times on his desk every morning and recite his
mantra ‘I hate the Church of England.’
“The Church is the only society
that exists for the benefit of those who are not its members." So too, St Saviour’s should exist for the
benefit of those who are not its members. Jesus challenges us to serve
those who aren’t here Sunday by Sunday.
To cultivate a mindset and a vision of the church that isn't defined by
those we see and know, but by those we are sent out to serve.
Of course that is in a large part
what next Sunday’s Festival Day is about.
Taking something that we would usually do ‘for ourselves’ and turning it
into something for others to more easily take part in and enjoy. So if you haven’t yet signed up please do –
its fundamental to what we are about as a community of faith. But its not just about the next
event – whatever that might be. More and
more it needs to become our way of thinking, our reason for being, and fundamental
to our DNA as a church community.
Of course a shepherd
worth his sort would seek out the strays and bring them into the fold. Why wouldn’t he? And of course
a responsible woman would turn the place upside-down to recover that which is
valuable. Why wouldn’t she? And of course, says Jesus, that’s
exactly what I’m sending you out to do.
Today. Why wouldn’t we?