We
are living in days of crisis. I don’t mean to be alarmist, but to be of sober
judgement. We are in a painful process of re-imagining and renegotiating our
relationship with our European neighbours, and, indeed, the rest of the world.
And we are, simultaneously, in a painful process of identity-crisis: what on
earth does it mean to be England? And, related to that, what does it mean and
what should it look like to be the Church of England?
On
a much more local scale, what does it mean and what should it look like to be
the Church of England in Sunderland, to be Wearmouth Deanery [in the Diocese of
Durham], to be the parish of Bishopwearmouth St Nicholas?
One
of Jesus’ disciples was moved by the grandeur of the temple, as, indeed, we are
impressed by the grandeur of our churches. The collection of Leonard Evetts
stained glass in the building is equally remarkable. It is not simply a matter
of stones and buildings, but of the certainty they suggest, and the familiarity
of religious identity grounded in them. But Jesus can foresee the
fast-approaching day when the Romans will lay siege to Jerusalem and destroy
the temple. You can see the stones they threw down to this day. And they are,
indeed, very large. All of this, Jesus says, is birth pangs, of the new thing
being born in the midst of the old thing.
Here
and elsewhere, Jesus is describing an impending moment of crisis in Jewish
religion and identity, in which some of the Jews will find themselves outside
of the kingdom, weeping and gnashing their teeth; and others will find
themselves vindicated. Where, to borrow the language of Daniel, some will be
raised from the dust thrown up by those falling stones to new life, and some to
shame. The temple system, with all its privilege, will be brought to an inglorious
end; and the suffering church, in all its vulnerability, will be vindicated.
This
week the Bishop gathered all the clergy of the diocese together for our annual
study day. We were challenged, by our key-note guest speaker, to be faithful
not only to the past, to what God has done in Jesus, but also to God’s
preferred future. To discern, together, what God’s preferred future is for this
city, and to live our communal life in faithfulness to that future. In
round-table conversation, we were reminded that [God is, and therefore] we are
in the businesses of palliative care and midwifery — of enabling what has been
to have a good death, to die with dignity; and to bring to birth what will be.
Palliative care and midwifery are, of course, two different skills. But bearing
witness to our communal deaths and births are both and equally holy moments.
What
has been at St Nicholas’ is not what will be. But what will be will be just as
beautiful in its time as what was beautiful was beautiful in its time.
How,
then, might we navigate this crisis of our time? Our reading from the Letter to the Hebrews gives us three
key insights: let us approach; let us hold fast; and let us consider how.
Let
us approach Jesus, who waits for us not in the past but in the future breaking
into the present. Let us approach, in assurance that we can trust him to go
before us into the unknown, to protect and to purify.
Alongside
this, let us hold fast to the confession of our hope, made in the past, in
communion with those who have gone before us, and on the grounds of God’s
faithfulness in the past, over all the years of our life through the
generations. We can trust God for the future because, together, we have always
found that we could trust God for the future.
And
let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, discerned
and performed together. For God’s preferred future, whatever it may be, will be
brought into being by love and good deeds, or not at all. Let us find in each
other the courage we need when we are afraid of the dark, as the future dawn
fast approaches.
In
this spirit, this Advent I’d like to extend the invitation to take part in a discipleship
group, held here at St Nicholas’ for the congregations of St Nicholas’ and
Sunderland Minster together. Over five Tuesday evenings, we will explore what
it might mean to journey in hope
[27/11], to be found ready and watching
[4/12], to witness to him [Jesus]
[11/12], to be renewed in Christ’s image
[18/12], and (in early new year) to live lives of overflowing gladness and praise [8/1/19]. Talk to me for further
details, or sign-up through your Church Wardens. Together may we be built into
something beautiful, to the glory of God. Amen.
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