Sermon. Sunday 28 October 2018, The Last Sunday after Trinity (Year B)
St Mary's Great Ilford
Jeremiah 31.7-9
Mark 10.46-end
Someone once said that the one true doctrine of the Church of
England is “salvation by good taste alone”. They weren’t being wholly serious,
but they were still saying something that is true, is the case. If we are
Anglican, it is likely that we value what is beautiful, seemly, done according
to good order - and good taste. There is great merit in this (I speak as an
Anglican myself). But it doesn’t cover all that we need to cover. It won’t do
for all of the Christian life.
Today’s gospel is about a person of faith who showed no
good taste. Bartimaeus is blind, and is a beggar - but (to be clear) these
are ordinary human misfortunes or differences - what is “in bad taste” is the
way that, on hearing that Jesus is passing, he comes straight to his need, his
urgency, his desperation.
He shouts. When told to pipe down, he shouts louder. When
told Jesus is calling, he throws his coat away as a rag, to run to him. He wants his
sight.
He simply screams: HELP ME!
- This is a person with nothing to lose.
- This is a person with no reputation to worry about.
- This is one who comes to Jesus without any adornment or "piety" whatsoever.
He simply screams: HELP ME!
And as Anglicans, we may need to remind ourselves, that
Bartimaeus, the blind beggar, gets it right. His urgency to the point
of desperation, his unwillingness to disguise his need, is right. And is rewarded.
He gets
what he says he needs, his sight. And he also “gets” the consequence of
that. He becomes a follower of Jesus along the way.
Brothers and sisters, if ever we feel compelled by the difficulties
we face in life, simply to turn to Gd in Jesus and scream: HELP ME, frankly, we should do it. It
can be the right thing to do.
And this also follows: as a Church community, we need to be a
place which offers such reliable hospitality, that we are known to be a place where
people can be at home, if they in turn need to scream to the
Lord: HELP ME!
Gd forbid, that our churches or our patterns of worship are
always so “seemly” that we end up shutting out a godly beggar, like blind
Bartimaeus. Of course, this does not mean that we as people can actually meet
all the needs of those who turn to us in desperation. We cannot. But! But we
can be a place where their pleas, shouts and groans are heard, are taken
seriously.
Brothers and sisters, we know each other only after a
fashion. But may sense is that you know this, and you do it. I say these words,
that we might encourage one another.
*
Of course, none of this means that we should
seek to be a community which is known for being “shouty”. We do not need
to shout - either in desperation, or, for that matter, in praise - to make a
point. Gd forbid!
And I want to add: especially in our days: Gd forbid!
I add this point, because it is troubling (is it not?) just
how “shouty” so much of our culture is in our days. I don’t say this in the
first place because this church is effectively on the road where I live, and so
I know what Saturday nights can be like...
No, rather, I am thinking of our common life as a nation, and
indeed of international trends, international “shoutiness”.
There is a debate
happening right now – and don't we know it and doesn't it need to happen? – about whether our politics is
too noisy and too full of hostility. That instead of people saying, “I disagree
with you and here's why”, they now say, “you are my enemy”, or, even worse “you are the enemy
of the people, of the nation”.
We might associate this especially with the current regime in
the United States of America. Indeed, it would be beyond astonishing if we did
not make that connection.
I wrote those words before learning of the attack on
worshippers in the synagogue in Pittsburgh. It looks like this is a horrible
illustration of the point. But, in any event, it pains us, and we pray for that community, and: Peace
be upon Israel.
In all of this, we may not think that we are free from some
of these dangerous trends, here, in the UK.
Now, please be clear that I am passing no comment at all on
the rightness or wrongness of all the policies that get called “Brexit”, or how
we should relate to the EU. These are not matters for sermons.
But! But I am saying that there is robust evidence (not just
anecdotal) that, alongside all the proper political discussions, there was a
peak in hate crimes against people perceived to be foreign, around and after the Brexit referendum.[1] Further,
it can be argued that ever since then, racists have felt emboldened. As a
nation, we should surely worry that this is a real headline from Friday: “Woman
'punched in face for speaking Spanish' in 'racist attack' on Overground train”.[2]
As a Church, we must shout out against racism and hatred in
all its forms. But there is more we must do.
We must draw upon the reconciling love of Gd. Gd, remember, is able to reconcile us to Gdself, to our neighbour, and even (if we can believe it) to ourselves. And, as churches, we must be communities which model and celebrate reconciliation. Which are on the journey towards reconciliation. Which show some better ways to have the conversations we need to have among ourselves, and show courtesy and careful mutual attention, even in - precisely in - the disagreements we are bound to have.
We must draw upon the reconciling love of Gd. Gd, remember, is able to reconcile us to Gdself, to our neighbour, and even (if we can believe it) to ourselves. And, as churches, we must be communities which model and celebrate reconciliation. Which are on the journey towards reconciliation. Which show some better ways to have the conversations we need to have among ourselves, and show courtesy and careful mutual attention, even in - precisely in - the disagreements we are bound to have.
What I am saying is: let us not neglect our first reading, from the Hebrew Scriptures. The vision of Jeremiah (Jeremiah, who knew a thing or two about being at the receiving end of hostility himself). Jeremiah longs for - he trusts in - a time when Gd will gather
all together, “from the farthest parts of the earth, among them the blind and
the lame, those with child and those in labour, together; a great company, they
shall return. With weeping they shall come, and with consolations I will lead
them back, I will let them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which
they shall not stumble; for I have become [their] Father”.
Notice Jeremiah doesn’t actually say that people who are
blind will receive their sight. He just says, in this within this in-gathering, they will
play a full and right part within the community. As will - quite simply - everybody.
- Those with good taste; those with bad taste.
- Those who shout; those who whisper.
- Jews; gentiles.
- You; me.
- The people we love; and the people we can’t stand.
Gd
will gather us in. For Gd wills it. Amen.
[1] http://blogs.lse.ac.uk/brexit/2018/03/19/hate-crime-did-spike-after-the-referendum-even-allowing-for-other-factors/
[2] https://www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/woman-punched-in-face-for-speaking-spanish-in-suspected-racist-attack-on-overground-train-a3972386.html
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