Sermon: Celebrating the Queen's Birthday; Celebrating Pluralism

Sermon. St Michael and All Angels, Little Ilford. 12 June 2016

Trinity 3 (Year C)

2 Samuel 11:26-12:10, 13-15

Luke 7:36-8:3

How are you? Have you been celebrating, partying? I am looking for bleary eyes... Hmm... about average, I'd say! But, if we – we as the British people - have been celebrating, what have we been celebrating?... Well, we Britons might have been celebrating at least four things things this weekend.

We might just perhaps have been celebrating the sport? After all, Wales wins at football, and even England manages not to lose.

More to the point, our Muslim fellow-citizens are celebrating the early days of the holy month of Ramadan. It is true that Ramadan is a time of strict fasting. But it's not really like our Lent, if (big 'if') by that we think of a focus on our sins. In Ramadan, you fast during daylight hours, but at nightfall, you feast. You invite those who are poor, but also your friends. Communal feasting is encouraged. Ramadan is understood not as a season for penitence, but as a spiritually joyful time when Gd is especially close. As a household in Sixth Avenue proudly displays in its window: 'The Gates of Paradise are open'. So, indeed, a cause of celebration.

Again, differently, our Jewish fellow-citizens are today celebrating the first day of Jewish Pentecost, or Feast of Weeks or Shavuot in Hebrew. In the Old Testament, Weeks/Shavuot is simply a harvest festival. But in later Jewish tradition it came to mark as well 'Matan Torah', the Giving of the Law, of Gd's own Guidance and Pattern for living, as given through Moses at Sinai. With this, two practices developed over time. First, the studying of this Torah, this Guidance given via Moses, throughout the night. And second, and no less importantly, indulging in sweet dairy products (cheesecake is particularly popular; expected). There are various theories as to why Jews do this. But one obvious one is to remind us of milk and honey – good, nourishing delicacies. To insist that following the Guidance of Sinai makes for a sweet and good life. So, indeed, once again, a cause of celebration.

All of that said, of course most of us are likely to have been celebrating the official 90^th Birthday of our Sovereign Queen, Elizabeth II. And why not? Even people who are not ardent - or any kind of - monarchists can see much that is impressive in our current Queen, and her dedication and faithfulness to her vocation. And, even if one disagrees with that (and you can be a loyal Anglican and disagree), it can be and is good to mark a long life, as a reminder of the value of life itself. Many, many causes of celebration here.

What this shows is that in today's United Kingdom, there truly is diversity. Pluralism. This causes unease and turbulence along the way, of course. But it is something we do not intrinsically have to fear. It gives us more chances to celebrate than we ever had before. The breaking of the daily fast of Ramadan is known as the iftar. And more and more Muslim communities are offering 'interfaith iftars', inviting people of other faiths to join them for the feasting. (If you're interested in one – let's talk.)

And, again, in one major synagogue in Central London, I know that Jews, Christians and Muslims marked the Jewish Festival of Shavuot by coming together to learn from their Scriptures, in one of those all-night study sessions I mentioned. So we can celebrate our diversity, our pluralism, because our pluralism gives us new and fascinating things to celebrate. Baruch Ha Shem! Al Hamdu li Lah! Alleluia!

What is striking about this is that one of the people who has most effectively reflected on this new situation - and on how we Christians might relate to it - is the Queen herself. Her Majesty's Christmas message has become one of the few remaining places - let's be honest - where people who never go to church hear some serious reference to the birth of Jesus Christ at Christmas! And, crucially, the Queen does not present that story as an exclusive possession for an closed-in sect. Rather, she relates it to our common life, our national life. Consider this, from the Christmas Day address of 2014:

Queen Elizabeth: 'For me, the life of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace, whose birth we celebrate today, is an inspiration and an anchor in my life. A role model of reconciliation and forgiveness, he stretched out his hands in love, acceptance and healing. Christ's example has taught me to seek to respect and value all people, of whatever faith or none.'

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWUho9WDIgw]

Given this, it is not too surprising that Her Majesty takes solemnly seriously her role as Supreme Governor or our little Church. Here she is addressing our General Synod in November 2015:

'St. Paul reminds us that all Christians, as ambassadors for Christ, are entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation. Spreading God's word[,] and the onerous but rewarding task of peace-making and conflict resolution[,] are important parts of that ministry. So too is the Church of England's particular vocation to work in partnership with those of other faiths and none, to serve the common good in this land.'

[https://www.churchofengland.org/media-centre/news/2015/11/the-queen's-speech-at-the-inauguration-of-the-tenth-general-synod-of-the-church-of-england.aspx]

Did you hear it? 'The Church of England's particular vocation [is] to work in partnership with those of other faiths and none, to serve the common good in this land.' Yes! We can be rightly proud that this resonates with our own vision for this church and the Froud Centre too. Maybe we weren't invited to the thanksgiving service at St Paul's Cathedral. Nevertheless, Her Majesty and we truly are singing from the same hymn-sheet!

It's true that the theme of celebration does not dominate in today's First Reading, nor the Gospel. But I'd say it is still there. For both readings are about sincere repentance. King David, and the unnamed woman who wipes Jesus feet with her hair - with her tears - both come to a place of self-awareness, knowing that they have sinned, and turning to Gd for forgiveness. And, with self-knowledge, and with that willingness to express remorse and seek forgiveness, there comes real relief. The hard work of deluding self and others can stop. And with that relief on earth, there is, we are told, joy in heaven. Here, then, is another way in which we can see that celebration can take the most diverse of forms: it can mean exuberance (with cheesecake upon cheesecake); it can mean quiet calm - and all things in between.

And I leave you with this. It turns out that Her Majesty is not only a good popular theologian of the Anglican way; she is also a good pastor, who cares for those in her care. On Desert Island Discs, the surgeon David Nott told the story of returning to the UK after seeing indescribable horrors, working in hospitals around some war zone. He was honoured by an invitation to formal dinner with the Queen. When he was there, he realised that he was still too traumatised to make small talk. To speak. The Queen said: 'Can I help?' The traumatised surgeon had no idea what she could mean, what she could do. But she called for... the corgis. And she asked a courtier to open the cupboard in the corner – wherein lay... the dog biscuits! So Her Majesty and the surgeon spent the rest of the meal just playing with the dogs, stroking, feeding, and throwing biscuits for the corgis... And, yes, David Nott was clear: that human touch – that canine touch – really did help.

Not to labour the point, in this act of thoughtful kindness, going beyond mere duty, we have a model to emulate, yes, but also yet another cause, among so many causes, for celebration. Alleluia. Amen.