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An Easter storm
Dear Friends,
Even if the Archbishop of Canterbury hadn't set out to create an Easter
storm he couldn't have done better if he had tried. His sermon in Canterbury
Cathedral on Easter Day in which he censured the government's policy of
sending asylum seekers to Rwanda, predictably triggered the wrath of
politicians stung by his comments. However, it was quite clear that
the former minister wheeled out on television to criticise the Archbishop
for not majoring on the Resurrection and for not mentioning Ukraine,
clearly hadn't read what the Archbishop had actually said. Again, one
letter to a daily newspaper also objected to the Archbishop on the grounds
that in a democracy we leave politics and government to elected politicians,
the implication being that others should not stick their noses into something
which is not their business.
I believe both views are wrong, and owe much, I believe, to the insistence that
religion should be relegated to the sphere of personal belief and piety, and
thus conveniently excluded from the public square. But the Bible will not
allow this. As the Reverend Richard Coles said last week, "People who question
the Archbishop of Canterbury's right to criticise government policy need to
acquaint themselves with the most basic rudiments of Christianity." So what
are they?
Jesus, who had himself been homeless and a refugee, took Isaiah as his
manifesto at beginning of his ministry:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the
captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free.
Luke 4.18
This, let alone whole chunks of scripture, notably Deuteronomy, Amos, Isaiah,
and Jesus' parables, are concerned with social justice. Social justice is a
fundamental biblical principle, and its imperative, as the Archbishop
rightly pointed out, is a fundamental consequence of Jesus' Resurrection.
It is also a principle, he added, which is part of our sense of responsibility
as a nation formed by Christian values. Principles are important. Principles
should determine action. That is their function. However, we can all too
easily fall prey to the temptation to do what is expedient rather than
what is right in principle.
Of course, while there may be some who feel that the Archbishop might have
expressed himself in a different tone, he was surely right to speak out as
he did. Nevertheless, as the Church, we should, in all humility, first apply
the message to ourselves. We should remember Archbishop William Temple words,
"The Church is the only society on earth that exists for the benefit of non-members."
Holy Week and Easter at St Paul's was wonderful with glorious liturgy and music.
We rightly take a proper pride in the work of worship. But, St Pau''s also has
a Iong tradition of outreach into our community, helping the rootless, homeless
and refugee. So, shortly before Easter, I was thrilled by the latest developments
in our engagement with our local community, and especially that at least two of
our congregation are opening their homes to Ukrainian refugees.
Worship and social justice go together. The two are inextricably linked.
Or they should be. Any attempt to separate them is a denial of the Gospel. For
we cannot allow ourselves the luxury of retreating into a cosy, self-indulgent
liturgical bubble within a beautiful medieval building while ignoring the
needs of others. Neither can we be so consumed by social action that we forget
the wellspring of our serving which is always to be found in God through Christ,
whom we encounter in and through worship, especially at the offering of the
Eucharist. Towards which of these two: worship and social justice do you and
I invariably lean? And what might you and I do to redress the balance?
With my prayers for a continuing, joyful Eastertide,
Fr Kevin.
Archbishops Easter Sermon - Canterbury Cathedral Sung Eucharist
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Fr
Kevin writes...
