1 Corinthians 10.1-13, Luke 13.1-9
The Third Sunday of Lent, 24 March 2019
Austwick, Clapham, Keasden
I asked the children at school this week what questions they had for God. If they could ask God a question now, what would it be? We then shared together in a time of quiet reflection, where we let those questions gently float to the surface. Because we’re in Lent, trying to follow what Jesus did out there in the wilderness for forty days. He created space and time to let all the questions he had, float to the surface.
We may think children don’t have time for quietness and reflection, for waiting and listening. But they did, in the school assembly hall, whilst listening to Largo from Dvořák's New World Symphony. Notice that I didn’t ask the children if they had a question for God. Because I was sure that they would have. Because children are guileless enough to know that they don’t know everything, and curious to know all those things they’ve not found out yet. All I did was to prompt their curiosity.
This is a sermon against complacency - because St Paul said we should be against complacency, when he wrote, ‘If you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.’ It seems to me that being against complacency is what Lent is, it says something important about how we should spend Lent.
If someone asks you “What questions do you have?” the worst answer you can give is: “Sorry, none really. I know all I want to know now and I’ve made my mind up about everything, and I won’t be needing any more information on anything, thank you.” [1] That is the opposite of guileless. That is the antithesis of Lent.
Paul wrote, ‘If you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall.’ And last week, Australia’s most senior Roman Catholic, Cardinal George Pell, was sentenced to six years in prison for the sexual abuse of two choirboys in the 1990s. Cardinal Pell has denied the charges and appealed his conviction. The judge said that he should not be made a scapegoat for the Church’s failings, but he severely criticised Cardinal Pell’s behaviour, saying that he had acted with “callous indifference” and “staggering arrogance”. Morally culpable, the judge said, his brazenness demonstrated his sense of power. [2]
Lest we think that Pell is a long way away and of a different church than ours, let me read out a brief letter to the Church Times this week by Andrew Graystone of Manchester:
Sir, — Manchester City FC has set up a fund to provide support to victims of sexual abuse at the club. Meanwhile, the Church fights every victim tooth and nail to avoid taking responsibility and minimise reparations. The contrast is stark. It is a matter of shame that the House of Bishops has ceded moral leadership in this matter to a Premier League football club. [3]
Our church is not immune to complacency - and sometimes succumbs to hubris, the pride that goes before a fall.
Our church is part of a wider society of course, and these are troubled times in Brexit Britain. Would it be true to say that the mess we are in is partly due to our complacency about the whole process from the very start, and our hubris - our poorly-judged egotism about our nation’s place in the world? In a country afflicted by anxiety just now, what can we do to help heal the hurt?
Turn again to the scriptures, is one thing. Today’s readings will do. Turn again to St Paul who followed up his warning against complacency by saying, “God won’t test you beyond your strength… God will provide you with a way out so that you can endure it.” Turn again to Jesus who urged an errant, arrogant people to repent or face judgement, but then told them a parable about a gardener and a fig tree which made it clear that he’s all about giving second chances.
God does give second chances, even to the most complacent and hubristic people, when they wake up to address their situation. As the writer of Proverbs puts it, ‘Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall…. Those who are attentive to a matter will prosper, and happy are those who trust in the Lord.’ [4]
“Even if you are on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just sit there,” said the actor Will Rogers. But praying regularly will set us against complacency and the pride that goes before a fall. And reflecting on the scriptures will reassure us of those often-repeated words of Jesus, “Do not be afraid”, cast your anxieties onto me and you will find peace. [5]
The one-time Archbishop of York John Habgood died last week. This greatly-respected spiritual leader was also a scientist, who ‘remained wedded to his conviction that nothing was certain and the church’s job is to preach honesty. He said, “I think the honest search for a truth that transcends us, an honest exploration of mystery; these are what I find most attractive; and an approach which somehow brings a wholeness to life. … At its best,” he said, “the Church of England, by its very diversity, should expose people to the idea that we learn by being part of a continuing conversation, with God and with each other.” [6]
In the face of our Brexit conflicts and concerns the Archbishops of Canterbury and York are this week encouraging us to make a Prayer for the Nation, ‘believing that our future can be entrusted to God; therefore there is hope’. They are inviting us all to ‘begin the slow, patient and careful work of listening - and creating the conditions for people to listen to one another’.
During Lent, the impasse, the anxiety, over Brexit have intensified. But Lent is our resource and our inspiration; during Lent, the prayer and goodwill of un-complacent people can contribute towards ‘building a more just society which is at peace with itself and committed to a better future for the next generations’. Let us pray the prayer which the Archbishops have composed:
God of hope, in these times of change,
unite our nation and guide our leaders with your wisdom.
Give us courage to overcome our fears,
and help us to build a future in which all may prosper and share;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. [7]
Notes
[1] Adrian Chiles, We need a return to curiosity – right now, people just want to tell you how wrong you are. Guardian, 21 March 2019.
[2] Muriel Porter, Pell sentenced to six years, Church Times, 15 March 2019.
[3] Andrew Graystone, ’Fund for abuse victims’, Letters to the Editor, Church Times, 22 March 2019.
[5] David Hutton, ‘The Second Sunday of Lent’ Liverpool Cathedral 1998. From Peter Kennerley (ed), ‘The Sermons of David Hutton: Light and Darkness, Weal and Woe’ (out of print). Quoted in an email from Robert Gallagher.
[6] The Right Rev Lord Habgood obituary. The Times, 8 March 2019. Thanks to Anne Read for this quote.
[7] ‘A Prayer for the Nation’ in Church of England, Resources for Prayer Together.
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