Sermon preached at St Mary's, Primrose Hill by The Reverend Mark Wakefield on Sunday 8 July 2007

Isaiah 66:10-14, Galatians 6:7-16, Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

As those of you who have read the latest church magazine will know, I work for the BBC and have spent most of my life in broadcasting in one way or another. If there's one thing just at the moment that's guaranteed to generate a heated debate amongst media types, it's the question of whether television in general and the BBC in particular has, to use the current, rather ugly phrase "dumbed down."

People I meet at parties and social gatherings often take me to task about this. Where are the improving documentaries they say, the challenging dramas, the comedies that actually make you laugh? They've all gone and been replaced by mindless so called "reality" TV shows, tired sitcoms and series about either maverick policemen or frantic doctors in A&E departments. And one kind of programme that generates particular ire - while also getting good audiences - is the Top 10 list show, loved by channel controllers because they're dirt cheap to make and can apply to almost any subject.

So far, to my knowledge, we've had the Top 10 sitcoms, the Top 10 soap operas, the Top 10 pop songs, the Top 10 TV villains and - my personal favourite - the Top 10 TV bitches. I have to say that, in defence of that one, any show that features both Miss Piggy and Joan Collins has got a lot going for it in my view.

Now, at the risk of dumbing down before I've even started my life as your new Curate, I'd like to propose my own Top 10 list show this morning - and that's the Top 10 books that have changed the world. I realise that this doesn't sound nearly as much fun as the Top 10 TV bitches but I hope you'll stay with me all the same.

In at Number 1 - and I suppose saying this goes with the dog collar doesn't it? - the bible. It's been with us 2000 years, has shaped western civilisation and is adhered to by probably around a third of the world's population. Perhaps controversially in the eyes of some, I'd say the Koran would be a candidate for this position as well. Islam accounts for around a fifth of the world's population and is clearly having a major influence today. And let's not forget that the modern world is to a significant extent built on foundations laid by Islamic scholars in the fields of mathematics, science and philosophy during what we call the middle ages.

From there onwards it all becomes more difficult. Charles Darwin's "Origins of the Species" is definitely a candidate for 3rd spot, as there can't be any doubt that his theory that man is descended from the apes has transformed the whole way we look at ourselves and our world. But whatever Richard Dawkins and other militant atheists say, it's almost certainly too early to judge what its long term impact will be. After all, just 30 years ago, when I was at university studying politics, many would have thought that Karl Marx, the father of communism, should have top spot with Das Kapital but he's way down the rankings now. By contrast I'd strongly argue that another book that no one would have given the time of day to when I was a student has now shot up the rankings. And that book is Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, published in 1776.

Some of you may have heard of it, some not but I think it's important because it exposed - and justified - the thinking behind the way we do business and generate wealth, at least here in the rich west. In a famous passage Adam Smith said this:

"It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, or the baker that we expect our dinner but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities but of their advantages."

So, there we have it, self-interest and self-love is what motivates us and there's an end to it. But why, you may ask am I telling you this? Well, you may recall that this morning's reading from Isaiah features the very same phrase that is the title of Smith's book. Referring to Jerusalem, is says this:

"For thus says that Lord:
I will extend prosperity to her like a river
And the wealth of the nations like an everflowing stream;
And you shall nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees,
As a mother comforts her child,
So will I comfort you."

The contrast could not be stronger, could it? Here the wealth of nations is not something to be selfishly grabbed at or something that comes by way of greed and self interest. Quite the opposite - it is a sign of God's benevolence, a sign of his care. In Smith's version man is at the centre of things, selfishly going about his business, enriching himself. In Isaiah we are reminded that we're not the centre of the universe but instead are dependent on God's grace for every breath we take.

Adam Smith's book marked a real turning point in the way we viewed the business of making money. Up until then it was always taken for granted that money-making should be guided by humane values and that theology had something important to say on the matter. Whether it was affirming the right to private property whilst stressing the duty to provide for those in need, or the idea of a fair price for goods that balanced the needs of the seller with those of the buyer, the church played a leading role in thinking on these matters.

Things are rather different today. Adam Smith's appeal to human egotism has proved so brilliantly successful that all too often any demand for social justice - whether it comes from the church or elsewhere - is seen as inevitably secondary to the business of enrichment.

I must stress here that Adam Smith was not an immoral or bad man. It's just that he had a rather rosy view of things. He believed that if you just let people get on with pursuing their own self-interest then what he called "the unseen hand" would ensure that the wealth they created would inevitably work for the common good. On that, of course, he proved to be spectacularly wrong. You only have to think of the terrible living and working conditions endured by the masses in the Victorian era to understand that.

And while that kind of deprivation has been largely eradicated in this country, the great money god still extracts his due. For those in work, however well off we may be, it's all too often a story of long hours, stress and insecurity. And in this globalised world of ours, we're only too conscious of the fact that the cheap but high quality food and goods that we love to buy are often purchased at the expense of the world's poor.

However much we may dislike this we are absolutely bound up in it. After all, there's body and soul to be kept together, the mortgage or rent to pay and the children to be fed and clothed. But it can often seem like we are living a double life, particularly those of us in full time jobs. There are the values that we want to live by and we know we should live by - the Sunday values if you like. And then there are the values that we all we actually live by, the values of the workaday world.

But you know, much as it would be lovely to retreat from the world and disengage from all its difficulties, that option is just not open to us. And you only have to look at today's gospel to see why. Jesus didn't say to his followers: "form a nice commune far removed from the big, bad world and live forever in peace and harmony". On the contrary, he sent them out into it - "like lambs into the midst of wolves" as he put it - charging them with making their mark on the world, which they triumphantly did.

This church is famous for making its mark on the world. It was born of a keen sense of social justice and that commitment is now evident in the great work that the youth team are doing. But the work of building what Jesus called the kingdom of God properly belongs to all of us. And if we are to do it, if we are to make the values of truth, justice and peace a reality in this broken world of ours, then we'll not do it by sheer effort of will or by behaving in ways that we think are properly "holy", whatever they may be.

Rather, we'll do it by living authentic lives, lives that are truly touched by the love and forgiveness of which Jesus spoke and which in turn speak to others in often countless small ways - whether it be in our work place, in our homes or in our neighbourhoods - of something altogether bigger and more worthy than mean self-interest.

Living by the values we hold most dear can sound an impossible task. But it's nothing less than what is asked of us, as it was of those first Christians who, against all the odds, rose to the challenge. And as your new Curate, it's my great privilege to join you here at St. Mary's in trying to meet it. AMEN