Sermon : Advent 3, 2012
It has been
a busy day for my radio voice.
Earlier in
the week I was phoned and asked to take part in the BBC Lancashire Drivetime
programme, talking about the government’s latest pronouncement on Equal
Marriage (which isn’t that equal at all, if you happen to be a member of the
Church of England). As I was busy when the programme went out, I was
interviewed a few hours ahead of time, and just as the news had been released –
so I had to think very quickly on my feet and come up with something which was
an appropriate comment for their programme; not something so dramatic that
people would be distracted from their driving home and drive into a ditch – but
interesting enough that they wouldn’t fall asleep at the wheel. It must have
been reasonably interesting as I was phoned up the following day, and invited
to go on national radio, Radio 2, no less, to be interviewed by Jeremy Vine , again
on the Equal Marriage legislation.
The point I
was trying to make in this interview, was that – in my view – a small number of
people with a very conservative theological position are keen to ensure that
women have a submissive role in the church and in society. In the case for the
ordination of women as bishops, they object to a woman having headship over
men; they believe that it is a woman’s role to submit to men in authority, so a
position of leadership is incompatible with their sex. On the ordination of
women as bishops, it is my view that it is the Church’s task to discern those
whom God is calling to serve as a bishop (as well as priest and deacon) in the
Church. And the Calling Spirit of God is not subject to any gender apartheid,
and can call men and women to any role be it exalted or be it humble.
In the
discussion on Equal Marriage, the conservative position (as recently
articulated by the Archbishop of Sydney) believes that in a marriage, the wife
should submit to her husband, for a marriage requires that essential
complementarity between a dominant male and a submissive female. I would argue
that marriage is an equal partnership made up of a loving couple who desire to
bring all that they are into a relationship of commitment and trust, faithfulness
and love. That is certainly what I teach when I prepare couples for weddings
here, and I have to say, I have never had criticism that I have omitted any
theology which suggests that the bride should submit to the groom in the
marriage ceremony. (In some cases, one would be forgiven from assuming that the
opposite dynamic were true!)
In the
second radio interview, I was pitted against another clergyman (he would hate
it if I called him a priest; despite it being in the Book of Common Prayer, it
is a term he hates) and – as is the way in such things, the producers wanted us
to be as adversarial as possible, and we were prompted to be as forthright as
we could be. But I do hate these media-staged jousting tournaments, where we
are supposed to keep attacking until someone falls off their horse (as it
were).
But there
are strong views which are held as a result of our theological convictions, and
our beliefs. And in different times in different places, they may all be right
– for despite our disagreements, we hold that the core essentials of our faith
which we share are more important than the issues which divide us. And this is
the fact which makes these discussions bearable – it would be a very rare and
extreme case when we would have to conclude that the person arguing against us
is not at all a Christian. For me to say that, they would have to deny the
existence of God, or the divinity of Christ, or the power of the Holy Spirit.
And it is
not new in Christian tradition to discover strongly differing views.
Disagreement and discord has been a constant throughout the two millennia of
the Christian era.
St Paul was
travelling the known world preaching (and defining!) the Gospel of Jesus Christ
shortly after the death of Jesus, and from his writing we are already aware of
divisions in the church. We know that in Philippi, there were arguments and
dissention, as well as a lot of external pressure for Christians to renounce
their faith. Paul himself had been imprisoned there. But for a church founded
by Paul himself to be riven by disagreement and division was a great sadness
for him. So in his letter to the Church in Philippi (we know it as the letter
to the Philippians) he seeks to build them up in faith, to inspire them to end
their divisions, and to focus on God. Indeed, in the two verses directly before
our reading today, he appeals directly to Euodia and Syntache to be reconciled
to each other.
So when we
hear this reading, in our own church, riven by its sad divisions, we have to
hear Paul’s words as addressed to ourselves. But even though Paul’s words are
written from prison, on his way to Rome and martyrdom, they are not tough,
uncompromising words – but they are gentle, calm and coaxing. “Do not worry
about anything!” (‘Be careful for nothing’ in the words which Purcell set in
the famous “Bell anthem” setting of these words.) “For the peace of God, which
surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ
Jesus”.
So he
commends the church to focus on God, to “rejoice in the Lord always” and to be
gentle in all things.
The “Rejoice
in the Lord always” theme of his writing has a very clear link to the Old
Testament reading from the prophet Zephaniah – another text we hear sung more
often than read: “Rejoice greatly” as set by Handel in “Messiah”. Here the
prophet is dispelling the fear of impending disaster by calling people to
repent and return to the pure worship of God, which had been diluted by the
wives and entourage of King Solomon. Hope that the fortunes of Israel will be
restored, and enemies vanquished brings great comfort to the hearers of this
prophecy.
And our
Gospel reading for today – which begins so unpromisingly “You brood of vipers!”
is a clear teaching of the great forerunner, John the Baptist, who is our focus
today, on the 3rd Sunday of Advent. He gives clear advice to
tax-collectors as well as to soldiers, as to how to live their lives in
faithfulness to God, whilst maintaining professions which were highly sought
for the power it gave to extort money from the people.
His call to
repentance was in preparation for the coming of the new Messiah – but his own
way of preparing for the Messiah was to confront power without fear – as in his
famous condemnation of King Herod – over a marriage.
The opinions
then and now about who can marry whom will continue to rage. Because they are
important.
But even
more important than these arguments is the faith that unites us, and the fact
that we disagree about some of these issues must never stop us from being a Church
and focussing on things of paramount importance to our faith. And even though I
have strong views on matters such as the ordination of women as bishops, and
equal marriage, and don’t hesitate to express those views – I will continue to
defend the right of people who have opposing views to express them too. For the
Inclusive Christian Community here is big enough to hold a diversity of views
on all manner of subjects.
But we must
be united in the First Order issues, such as:
How we seek
to worship God and live our lives in faithfulness
How we entrust
to God our hopes and fears in regular and constant prayer?
How we seek
to bring God’s joy and peace to the whole world?
How we can
be active in God’s name in our world today?
How we
respond in the name of the Church to the terrible acts of violence of which
humans are capable – or the oppression of a nation by a government or
oppressive regime?
I give the
last words to Paul from the Epistle:
“The Lord is
near. Do not worry about anything; and the peace of God, which surpasses all
understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus”.
