Sermon. How Creation Groans! How We Groan!

Sermon. St Michael and All Angels, Little Ilford. 19.07.20.

First Sunday with a real-life congregation since lockdown.

Trinity 6 (Year A)

Romans 8.12-25

We spent some time with Paul last week. Let us see what happens if we stick with him.

He tells us: “We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves… groan inwardly.”

We can relate.

I feel we can relate in many ways.

We sense that all is not well with ourselves, 
or within creation itself.

We don’t have to be an “eco-warrior” to sense this.

Bluntly, it’s long been part of the modern urban experience.

The noises and smells and sights of our life 
are often overwhelmingly human-made, 
and not infrequently harm us.

And we are aware that all is not well with our climate, 
the world’s climate. 
We do pay serious attention to, in this parish, 
and we need to do more.

And, then, yes, of course, there is the virus, 
Coronavirus, Covid-19, which has had such an impact on us,

kept us apart,

kept us (with a couple of exceptions) away from the sacraments,

kept us away from our coffee and toast and chat and ordinary human interaction, through which we care for each other,

still keeps us apart in so many ways.

Is the virus a sign that all is not well within creation itself?

Difficult one.

From the virus’s point of view, all is well, of course.

But from our human perspective, and remembering our duty of care to creation and to one another, especially our vulnerable brothers and sisters,we can only see the virus as another sign of the disorder which is embedded in creation.

Some people on the extreme wing of the politics of this have seen the virus as nature fighting back, clearing out excess human lives to restore balance.

This is a nonsense and that needs saying.

Nature as such does not have a controlling mind, 
does not have a plan, is not playing a strategic game.

Gd, we believe, is a 
mind ultimately in charge, with a plan, over time.

But it’s evident – has always been evident - that Gd gives over some real powers to the natural order, to grow and develop, as, well… as comes naturally.

So we should not say that nature intended Covid-19,

and we are not obliged to say that Gd intended Covid-19.

Really, my point here is that when Paul says all creation is groaning, we feel it.

We get it.

Today of all days.  

*

“We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labour pains until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves… groan inwardly.”

How we have groaned! How we groan!

We have spoken of a time of exile. And we have felt it.

We have spoken of our time in the desert, confined to our own personal cell (the cell that will teach us everything). And we have felt it.

We have spoken of being overwhelmed by our almost total ignorance about what’s really ahead. And we have felt it.

We have spoken of some frustrations with the powers-that-be, in government and Church. I mean: even when we have agreed with their decision-making, we know we have been at the mercy of others’ best guesses. And we have felt it.

We have spoken of our enormous sadness, 

as people we have known have suffered, and even died,

and as we have come to see ourselves - our own little, Little Ilford, as, for a time, the epicentre of the epicentre of the epicentre.

The sorrow - we have felt it.

We have sought to support each other, through emails and phone calls and parcels left. We (I mean: you) have done well in all that (no question about it), and yet we still feel we offer something meagre, weak, and failing.

Inadequacy - we have felt it.  

How we have groaned! How we groan!

“[N]ot only the creation, but we ourselves… groan inwardly while we wait…”

Yes, present tense. Yes, we are still waiting.

Has there ever been such a bittersweet gathering for us than this one?

It can only be - and we can only feel it to be - a partial gathering.

Some will have no access to this service, either physically or virtually.

We want to invite those livestreaming to participate fully, but there remain all manner of barriers (most obviously to the sacrament itself).

For those who are here in person, we cannot touch.

No tactile peace (not a handshake, let alone the kisses than some of you steal at that point in the service – oh yes, you were always seen!).

No touch at communion, or at the blessing at communion.

And no reassuring hand on the shoulder when difficult - or delightful - news is shared.

For most of us, not even a chance simply to lean over to the person in the next seat just to check what verse we are on in the hymn.

No hymns at all, no song.  

How we groan! We groan while we wait, for we are waiting still!

*

We groan, only we may not groan too loudly.

We are not permitted to project our voices as we’d like to. The ban on singing is the hardest part of this, I know, but it is only part of it. We are to use moderate pitch only, to speak softly and quietly. Again, for our own life-saving safety, and the life-saving safety of others.

It happens that there are religious and spiritual precedents for this. Jewish prayer is often said in a soft, hushed voice. For some Jewish prayer, you should hear what you are saying, but your neighbour should not hear you. And of course in normal circumstances, that means the person immediately to the side of you. The idea may be that this is the best way to concentrate on the words themselves, to attend to the prayer, to intend the content of the prayer. Is that right? Well, now we can test it. We can treat this, then, as an opportunity to pray differently.

The model for this way of praying is Hannah in the Old Testament [1 Sam 1.12ff]. You may remember she prayed in the temple at Shiloh in such a way as to make the priest – the judgemental priest – Eli think she was drunk. He could not make out the words she was mouthing, and so assumed the worst. But she – faithful, confident laywoman – told the priest off. 
She made it clear she was pouring out her deepest longings, her pain and her hope, her hope-against-hope, only in a whispered tone, knowing that a whispered prayer is not less a prayer than a shouted or a chanted prayer.

*

We groan. We speak sotto voce.

And what do we say? 
We too speak of our deepest longings, our pain and our hope, be it hope-against-hope.

And we do more. We may do more. 
We are free to do more.

We are free to place all our longings and pain and hope in a broader context, 
as tear-drops given a home in an ocean.

That ocean can be our confidence that

Gd has not abandoned us;

Gd does not abandon us;

Gd will not abandon us;

Gd is sharing with us in precisely this bittersweet experience.

What makes us have this confidence (or be drawn towards this confidence)?

It is not a philosophy, nor a set of rules, nor an idle tale.

The confidence can be said to rest on one claim.

This is the claim that Gd by Gd’s Spirit has raised Jesus from the dead,

and Jesus Christ remains with us for all time,

in Word and Sacrament and mystical encounter,

as sign and reality of the very presence of Gd.

I’m saying our old friend St Seraphim (who, as you know, greeted everyone, whenever he met them, with: “My joy! Christ is risen!") wasn’t really an eccentric in his core point. 
Every second, minute, hour, day – and most certainly every Sunday – is the Feast of Resurrection.  

So what is to be done?

We go on groaning, with all creation.

We go on all-but-whispering our words, like Hannah.

And (“and” not “but”) we may articulate a heart-felt  [signed] Alleluia.

Like many an alleluia sung in praise, this alleluia does not mean our lives our overflowing with success or comfort or triumph or the resolution of our problems. 
Of course not.

But neither was the first Easter a simple story 
of success or comfort or triumph or resolution 
(think about it).

So, sisters and brothers, let us, here and now, “easter”.

[Signed and then said]

Alleluia. Christ is risen!

He is risen indeed. Alleluia!

Amen.

Sermon. How Is There No Condemnation?

Sermon. St Michael and All Angels with St Mary, Little Ilford. 12.07.20

Trinity 5 (Year A)

Romans 8.1-11

(following on from Trinity 4: Romans 7.15-25a)

I am going to do something I have not done before. I am going to speak about a biblical text we have not heard today. And I am going to do something I’ve done only very rarely. I am going to preach on the Second Reading, the Letter, the Epistle of Paul to the Romans. And since this is Paul we are talking about, I won’t manage to be all that brief. I’ll pause for a moment while you all whoop for joy! (You’re doing it inwardly, I can tell.)

Paul is indeed someone it is easy and fashionable to dislike. He is often hard to understand. That’s an understatement. The greatest minds in the history of the Church have struggled to find him consistent. On top of that, he can come across as misogynist and homophobic. And behind that some (many) see in Paul a hatred of the body. As if for Paul the body is bad and to be put in its place (as small as possible) and the soul is good, and to be set free.

I ask you to trust me that the last point (at least) is a plausible but wrong reading of Paul. Most of the time, Paul speaks highly of the body. He it is, after all, who tells us that we are the Body of Christ [1 Cor 12.27]. And he clearly intends that as a great -the greatest - honour. The contrast he draws isn’t really between the body and the soul. It this. It’s between

·        ourselves as embodied human beings as Spirit-filled, and so in a lively relationship with Gd, and

·        ourselves as embodied human beings as seeking to have nothing to do with Gd and Gd’s Spirit.

If we are not in harmony with the Spirit, Paul tells us, then we are flesh. We are, we might say, barely living organic matter. It’s extreme language and an extreme contrast, for sure. But it’s not really to do with preferring the soul to the body.

And, you know, whether we understand Paul or not, whether we disagree with him on this or that (which we are free to), let us at least thank him for sharing so much of his inner life with us. Paul feels things deeply. There isn’t another biblical writer whose existential reflections, thoughts, feeling and inner wrestlings we’re let into like we are with Paul. We’d be the poorer without knowing of his struggles, even if, as I say, we don’t always get them.

So, let’s go back to last week’s message from Paul, from Romans. Paul tells us, as bluntly as you like:

“I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…

Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me…

Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?

Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

And that’s where we left things last week. And this week, we continue:

“There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Now, we cannot say that is unclear. It is as clear as it is uplifting.

We can relate. In human lives, we are often “dysfunctional” (to use the modern word). We don’t do what we intend to do. We do do what we set out to avoid. That might be full-blown addiction (which is not rare). It might be those habits we have, (say) of finding someone irritating, who means nothing by it and really can’t help how they are. Or… variations are endless. Whatever it is, we are trapped in this behaviour and can feel desperate. But! But Paul tells us we can turn to Christ, who will free us of these traps, who will free and forgive us, and leave us without any condemnation. Of course we want to say: “Thanks be to God”.

God in Christ frees us from the hold of sin and guilt. It is a powerful message. It is a welcome message. I think we can say without contradiction that it is an orthodox message. There is only one problem with it. It’s this:

it is not what the text of Romans says.

No, I am afraid our lectionary-devisers have edited something out. Just one half-verse, admittedly. We know they often do miss bits out. We can’t pretend to be shocked by that. But here the missing bit… well, if I say it changes the meaning, I’m underplaying the point.

The text of Romans – you’re very welcome to check this now or later – does indeed say:

“Who will rescue me…?... Thanks be to Gd… There is now no condemnation”

But by putting back in the bit left out we get this flow of argument:

“Who will rescue me [from the hold of sin]? Thanks be to Gd through Jesus Christ…

“So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.

“There is now no condemnation”

I’ll pause to see if you get a sense of how different the message is, with the bit taken out put back in.

With the bit taken out put back in, Romans seems to be saying that even though with our flesh we are and remain a slave to the law of sin, nevertheless there is no condemnation.

With the bit taken out put back in, the idea is not so much that Christ takes away the big conundrum of our failing to do what we set out to do, as moral or caring people.

No. This way round, the message is that Christ knows that this conundrum is and remains our nature, and Christ loves and forgives us any way.

Two very different, indeed opposed meanings. What do we do with this?

Well, in the first place, if you want to treat this sermon as something like a “Public Service Announcement” - a reminder always to read the bits the lectionary itself misses out - then, well and good. Please do. To be candid, you will find other examples when the change in meaning is pretty much as dramatic by putting the bits left out back in. So I am calling for more Bible-reading outside of the liturgy. Yes.

Second, it’s only fair to say that our lectionary-devisers were not being capricious in cutting out the half-verse. Many commentators see them as words added later, by a scribe, not Paul. They were not, then, part of Paul’s original message. That’s certainly plausible. We have already how much easier Paul is to understand with the bit taken out left out: I sin. I don’t know how to stop sinning. Christ frees me. Thank God. I am no longer condemned. So, maybe that’s right; maybe that is Paul.

Except… Except this isn’t really an abstract point, or one for the experts, a detail only? We can look at our own experience as Christians to test out which meaning actually works.

• Is it the case that by being in Christ we are simply freed from those strange, unwelcome, even agonising pulls to do what is wrong and unkind?
• Is it the case that if we are not condemned, that is because we are freed from sin, are sinless (or virtually sinless)?
• Can it be that Paul, in all his complexity, really Paul meant to say it’s as simple as that?

I am going to say that even if the bit left out put back in was added later by a scribe, the scribe was inspired. The Christian - the devout Christian, the fervent Christian, the wise Christian - every bit as much as the non-Christian, lives life as one who does not do the good they want, but the bad they do not want to do is what they do.

This doesn’t mean there is no change. This doesn’t mean we do not grow as Christians. And indeed along the way (please Gd), we are freed from abiding sins and habits and attitudes that hold us back. But the strange thing is that the more we are freed from some weaknesses, the better we see others. So the dynamic (the conundrum, as I’ve called it) continues.

I intend this to be a hopeful message. It is a hopeful message. I am not saying we are simply stuck in our sins. It’s not a cycle we endlessly repeat, till we die. The image is not of a circle, a closed circle, but of a spiral, an open spiral. By Gd’s grace we are rising, rising to be fit for the glory and joy and communion of heaven. But the rising up is not a straight line, but, like a spiral, along the way we revisit old themes, among them sin, weakness, stuckness, loss of control, coldness of heart. But by Gd’s grace we revisit them from a new, a higher vantage point.

And if that makes little sense to you (as it might), let me tell you it can be a powerful message for, say, a prison chaplain. Sometimes prisoners can be people of real faith, worked-for faith, but can look at the wreckage in their lives and feel despair. They can feel hopelessly trapped. So that idea, that we do not simply cast off sin, but can still be on that spiral upwards, revisiting our sinfulness, from a healthier place, can really speak. To some, to many, and I think I will say, just perhaps, to all.   

Thanks be to Gd,

·        for Paul’s confused and confusing honesty, and, just perhaps,

·        for our lectionary-devisers, who force us sometimes to preach even on Romans!

Amen.