| Easy Does It |
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Sermon preached by Mark Wakefield on 16 September, 2007 The BBC has been much in the news of late for all sorts of reasons, most notably for the controversy surrounding the documentary about the Queen. Some of you – in spite of this – will still love the BBC and think we’d be lost without it; others will take a different view. My Dad, for instance - now sadly long departed - was quite convinced that it was a big left wing conspiracy. But love it or loathe it, no one can deny that it plays a central role in our national life. The expectations of the BBC are so high and the pressure to get things right so correspondingly great that it spends a great deal of time and effort reviewing what it does. Some time ago I was involved in one of these reviews into a key aspect of the BBC’s activities which a very eminent person with some relevant expertise was invited to lead. The issue he was asked to look at was very challenging and contentious, so it took him some time to produce his report. But finally the day came and we all gathered with eager anticipation to hear what he had to say. He began by reminding us what a big task he’d been set, the many issues and problems he’d encountered along the way and the huge amount of work he and his colleagues had undertaken. Then came the moment we’d been waiting for. “In reviewing the evidence” he said, “I have come to the conclusion that” – and then he paused for dramatic effect before going on to say with a shake of the head, “ I have come to the conclusion that, as with so many important and weighty issues, this is all really very difficult.” Well, his feigned bafflement got the laugh that he’d clearly intended and he proceeded - of course - to then unpack the problem with wonderful clarity and to make some very helpful recommendations to general relief all round. Modern life is, by its nature, so complex that we are increasingly reliant on experts. Just think of the way the stockmarket’s been behaving recently and the impact that can have on our lives, whether it be the value of our pensions or whether we have a job or not. And yet does anyone outside the world of finance have a clue as to why it’s been behaving as it has, other than that it’s to do with something called a “subprime loan” in the USA? And just look at the amazing advances that are being made in genetic science that are set to transform medicine in unimagineable ways. I’ve just read a book about this that was intended for the layman but I confess to only understanding about 30% of it. It is, as our eminent report writer said, “all very difficult”. But of course this very complexity is also a source of great and understandable pride. For the fact that our world is so complex compared to that of previous generations is largely the result of some truly extraordinary advances in knowledge and understanding. And although I may not understand even the rudiments of genetic science or the workings of the financial markets or the theory of relativity it is truly wonderful that there are people who do. But while we may marvel at the complexity of the world and take pride in our growing human ability to master it, we can all too easily forget that God’s way is different from our own and that his way is that of simplicity, as today’s Old Testament reading shows us. Naaman was a great commander, a mighty warrior, victorious in many a battle and consequently much in favour with his king, the King of Aram which was the land we now know as Syria. But Naaman had a terrible problem – he had leprosy. In fact it was probably something more like psoriasis but never mind – it was disabling, ugly and, apparently, incurable. Things were so bad that the King of Aram sent him off to Israel as he’d heard there was a prophet there with healing powers. Now bear in mind here that Israel played the role of underdog to its much more powerful neighbour, so you can imagine how humiliating it was for Naaman to go and seek help there. Even so, he turns up at Elisha’s house with his full entourage in tow only to find that Elisha doesn’t even bother to come out and see him but simply sends the message that all he’s got to do is go and wash in the Jordan River to be cured. Well, for a proud man like Naaman, this really is too much. He flies into an almighty rage. “I thought that at least he’d come out and see me” he bellows “and call on the name of his God and wave his hand over me.” And then, in a wonderfully chauvinistic afterthought he complains that, with the rivers of Damascus being so superior to the puny waters of Israel, if there was any bathing to be done it should surely be done back home. It takes a courageous servant to humbly point out to him that had Elisha asked something complicated of him he’d surely have done it, in which case why not simply do as he asks – that is wash and be clean? And of course he does, and as a result we are told that “his flesh was restored like the flesh of a young boy and he was clean.” It’s a wonderful image isn’t it? I know the bible doesn’t say it but I imagine the great man uttering great, gulping sobs of joy and relief at this point. The whole story reminds us of how our pride can so easily get in the way of God’s grace by making us deaf to his call. More than that, it’s a reminder that that we are united – rich and poor, the powerful and the powerless, the greatest and the least in the land – in our common human need of wholeness and forgiveness, without which we are surely lost. In just a few minutes we will be reminded of the radical equality we all share as children of God when Robert baptises Ted and we welcome him into the life of the church. At the heart of the service of baptism is that same, simple call that Naaman heard: wash and be clean. And while our thoughts will be focused here with Ted and his family it’s a marvellous and rather humbling thought that similar services will be happening the world over today, uniting different people across the globe in a bond of baptism that is the foundation of our church. But as we welcome Ted we must ask ourselves a question. And that is whether we are, like Elisha speaking to others of God’s grace and his promise of wholeness in ways that are simple and compelling or whether we are making things unnecessarily complicated and are – frankly – getting in God’s way. There’s nothing new about this question for you see it posed right through the bible. It’s the question that was constantly on the lips of prophets like Amos and Hosea who saw how religious practice had become hidebound and formulaic. Jesus’s whole ministry was a highly subversive challenge to the religious authorities who had, in modern parlance, lost the plot. The simple, sobering truth is that religion can all too easily become the enemy of the word of God. And just at the moment, looking at the worldwide Anglican communion, it’s difficult not to conclude that we have to a real extent, collectively lost the plot as we debate, in often the most sulphurous terms, issues of doctrine about human sexuality and gender as if this was what the gospel was all about. What kind of message is this sending to the world? To say it lacks the simplicity and grace of Elisha’s call to Naaman is a serious understatement. Sadly, this conflict will not be easily resolved but rather than look on helplessly we can at least try to make sure that we are part of the solution and not part of the continuing problem. Now, I know this risks saying the blindingly obvious but if we are to do that, then we are going to have to follow the example of Christ himself. He didn’t make things difficult for people by focusing on complicated questions of doctrine, still less on the finer details of how they practised their religion. Rather, he engaged people at their point of need. Above all he taught people how they should behave towards one another by practical example, serving his fellow men and women with such compassion and selflessness that his disciples concluded that in Him they had encountered God himself – the God who of love whose yoke is easy and burden light. Like all good modern, go-ahead organisations St Mary’s has a mission statement. It’s this: “to make Jesus Christ known”. It’s a great and noble mission statement. But if we are to take it seriously we must remember that much of what we hold most dear – this building, this liturgy, our liberal outlook, our distinctive St Mary’s ways of doing things - are of entirely secondary importance and are only of any use if they help us make Jesus Christ a living reality to the people we are here to serve. It really is as simple - and as profoundly challenging - as that. AMEN |
