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My latest sermon from a few weeks ago.
All Saints 2003
Saints are pretty special people. We don’t just call anyone a saint. Indeed, these days in the Anglican Church we don’t actually make new saints like the Catholic church does. We remember people as martyrs, or teachers, or bishops, or the like, but not so much as saints. We tend to think of saints as a select bunch of people who were made saints before the reformation. Yet there are many more saints than the ones we recognise, who have saintly qualities and gifts. I think this day is for them.
A saint is a person who has a special relationship with God, a connection to the divine that inspires them to do courageous and enlightened things, to make a difference to the world in the name of the Kingdom of God. Saints are sometimes vilified by many people in their own society as they struggle to follow the inspiration from God that leads them to action.
William Wilberforce had many of the qualities of a saint. He helped to start the anti-slavery movement in England, and largely through his work in parliament slavery in the British Empire was abolished. Some of the forces against him were so-called Christians, who found in the Bible many, many texts which justified the practice of the practice of forcing another person into slavery. We would not think seriously about using these texts to justify such a disgusting practice these days. But back then, the idea that slavery was ordained by God was a valid and powerful argument.
A Rev. Alexander Campbell is quoted as saying:
“There is not one verse in the Bible inhibiting slavery, but many
regulating it. It is not then, we conclude, immoral.”
People like Wilberforce were up against some great and strong forces of so-called biblical orthodoxy. It should also be remembered that Wilberforce was not some raving lefty Looney, a commo Christian. He was an evangelical. He was a person who I think took seriously what Jesus said of Lazarus, to unbind him and set him free, and he worked to set people free. He had the makings of a saint. He was probably not perfect, he probably did things which were not very nice, but then what human doesn’t. There was a saying on the sign outside the Knightsbridge Baptist church a few months back that said “Every saint has a past, every sinner a future.” How very true.
We would all, I think, regard Mother Theresa as a saint. Yet when she was once asked by a journalist if she wanted to be made a saint one day she answered “We are all called to be saints.” This is a very important statement. We are all called to be saints. We are all called to saintly duty, to make a difference in the world in the name of the Kingdom, and sometimes to make a difference in the Church in the name of the Kingdom. I guess it’s in this context that I want to talk about what is happening in the Anglican Church.
There is a rift in the Anglican Church worldwide, a rift which will possibly develop into the greatest crisis the Anglican communion has faced for a long time. It is over sexuality, specifically, whether or not openly homosexual people can serve in ordained ministry, or be consecrated as Bishops, or in some places whether they can even be allowed into church. Those opposed to being inclusive are rattling out Biblical text after biblical text, talking about the natural order of things and what the Bible says God wants, all that sort of stuff. It is all very reminiscent of the slavery abolition campaign and the arguments against it. Fortunately, back then most of the general population was eventually enlightened enough for the abolition movement to succeed, for the secular advances in compassion to win over theological bigotry. I pray that the same happens with this current argument over sexuality and orthodoxy, before the church is split. I pray for saintly qualities in the members of the churches and our leaders, and for inspiration to make compassionate and inclusive decisions.
John Spong has been a champion of inclusivity in the Anglican communion. I heard him speak a couple of weeks ago at the College of Divinity. I have to say that he has saintly qualities, just as I think every Christian has saintly qualities. I don’t agree with everything he says and does. I happen to like the idea that Jesus did miracles. But then, I don’t agree completely with anyone, even with many of the “real” Saints, and in the end it’s not up to me to judge anyway, it’s up to God. What I see saintly in him is that he is living his inspired witness in the face of great opposition. He is inspired by what he believes and he will say and do what he thinks God is calling him to say and do. He is a person who has had his original fundamentalist perceptions challenged and has struggled through that. He is in many ways a prophet. Many people listen to him and are inspired by him, which is evidenced by the number of people this week who have commented favorably on the experience of hearing him speak at the cathedral last week. If my preaching had a similar effect I would feel that I had done my job. Even those who don’t agree with Spong at least have to stop and think about what he said, and wrestle with it and their own views. I think this is a very good thing.
Now I’m not here to argue the case for Saint John Spong. I don’t think it’s time to start canonizing people. I want to emphasise the fact that we are all called to be saints, and that people such as William Wilberforce, Mother Theresa and John Spong are people who I think have managed to live this in different ways in their lives. I’m sure I could name many others, in fact I think I could name some people in this parish. I think it’s important to remember all saintly people on All Saints day, when we remember all of the saints who don’t have a special feast day. I think it would be reasonable to include ourselves in this too. Why? I say again, because all of us Christians are called to be saints. We are all called to struggle with faith, with doubt, with bigotry and hatred, with poverty - basically to struggle with the human condition, make some sense of it and make it a little better. We are all called to bring some beauty and love into the world. We find much beauty and love in the Bible, arguably the greatest story ever told, the most influential book in all of human history. Yet amidst all of the beauty there is some pretty awful stuff. The Bible has been used to justify slavery, the slaughtering of millions of Jews in the second world war, and now the exclusion of people whose sexual orientation is different. We are called to be prophetic. We need, no, the world needs us to stand up for people who are getting the sharp end of the stick, because if we won’t, then it is highly likely no one else will. It is our task to unbind those whose lives are living death and set them free. It is our job to wipe away tears and comfort the mourning. We can’t make pain go away, but we can make sure there is a lot less of it in the world than there is at the moment. We are called to be an inclusive Christian community, accepting anyone and everyone, and not hindering anyone in their journey towards God. This is our role as saints. All of us.
Take up the challenge. Weep as Jesus wept. Wipe away the tears. Unbind people and set them free. Help them to have life as we know it, in Christ. How can we refuse this? We can all be saints. The church in its entirety could be All Saints. It’s what we are called to be. What a difference that would make in the world.
Amen.
Gidday all and welcome to my blog. I'm new to this and inclined to be a bit slack so don't expect new stuff to appear all that often. I might post sermons and other rantings when the mood takes me, and anything else that catches my fancy. So, have fun, win awards.
