Our two scripture readings
set for this morning's Eastertide eucharist are about building and travelling
which are metaphors of both Christianity and of life in general.
‘Let yourselves be built into a spiritual house’ says St Peter to those new in faith in what was probably like this morning a sermon at a baptismal eucharist.
‘In my Father’s house are many dwelling-places – [literally staging posts]’ Jesus says in the Gospel of St John Chapter 14. ‘I go and prepare a place for you...I am the way, and the truth and the life’.
We need in life both a sense of belonging and purpose. These come for Edward and the twins from mum and dad but, most importantly, from where mum and dad place themselves and from the journey they're on.
For the record Claire and David are literally placed very accessibly in Rose Cottage on the Green. Sandy and Lisa are down at Medhurst farm which is more of a hidden treasure. I need to watch my way in and out of the main road!
Both sets of parents see themselves as part of that vast family extending in space across the world and in time down 20 centuries which is God's forever family, the 'one, holy, catholic and apostolic church'.
Talking of crossing the
world we welcome visitors from Australia to support the Bartletts and Claire’s
dad from New York. What an eventful year Claire and David have had with a move
from London coupled to discovering she was pregnant then discovering there’d be
twins! Claire speaks of Annabelle and Jack as a double blessing as she, with
David enjoys the privilege and task of parenthood. For Lisa and Sandy there is
a also deep gratitude for the gift of Edward for whom they’ve been waiting many
years.
Both sets of parents are enjoying
a new sense of belonging in our village which this morning extends into the
church family here at St Giles. ‘Let yourselves be built into a spiritual house’
says St Peter. It is our prayer that they will find here a house of prayer that
will kindle a sense of spiritual belonging which goes beyond the material order
of things.
Three of the four parents
are very involved in one material – oil!
David as a ship broker is involved in moving oil. Sandy is company director of
an oil company and Lisa finance director for a firm specialising in oil and
gas. Claire’s work is in policy at the Department of Education.
Our readings speak of
belonging and they speak of purpose. The Christian religion is supremely
purposeful, it speaks of the universal purpose of all things and the best way
of ordering them. It is as concerned with corporate finance and the best use of
oil as it is with families, with encouraging the best use of our strengths in
the workplace as well as the charity that begins and ends at home.
As I welcome relatives of
the baptism candidates from the Roman Catholic tradition I am mindful of a key
agency of that Church across the world, namely the Society of St Vincent de
Paul which does a noble work among disadvantaged people. Its founder, the early
19th century French scholar and journalist Frederick Ozanam had a
passion both to engage with ideas dismissive of the Church and to help lead a
fuller consecration of Christians in service. In his writings on how Christian
civilisation transformed the barbarians he countered Edward Gibbons’ claim that
the Church has done more to enslave than to elevate the human mind. Rather like
Karl Marx Ozanam saw that understanding the world was no less important than
changing it to where it should be, and the foundation of the caring agency SVP,
the Society of St Vincent de Paul is his legacy. This is my favourite quote
from Frederick Ozanam: ‘The question
which divides men today is whether Society will be merely an immense
exploitation for the benefit of the strongest or a consecration of everyone for
the service of all’.
The sense of belonging and
purpose we’re baptising Edward, Annabelle and Jack into this morning is allied
with that vision which I know, from talking to them, that their parents own, a
sense of life lent not possessed, lent ideally for work in God’s praise and
service. Without that sense of service families, churches, nations and corporates
fall short through exploitation. ‘From each according to his ability to each
according to their need’ is another aspiration from a French source popularised
by Marx which draws, as Ozanam does, on the sharing of goods that occurred in
the early Church, and on and off ever since in Christian circles. I think of
the gifts that arrive in the porch for Chichester Diocesan Family Support Work.
Today St Giles stands with
Sandy and Lisa, David and Claire as they commit their children to the
purposeful belonging which is Christianity. Their own gifts are already being
employed to make a difference across the world and today will see a
reconsecration of their strengths as they commit themselves to God on behalf of
their children.
For these children we can
have little idea of the work that lies ahead for them in 20 years time. At last week’s School Governors we were
looking carefully at the New Curriculum from September this year. It has
computer programming from the start of school life, something my son is doing at
university!
At the start of my own
scientific career Oxford University had one computer which was a whole house on
the Banbury Road programmed by uniquely qualified technicians. I remember the
wonder of getting it to print President Kennedy and Diana Dors out of noughts
and crosses! Or getting a print out of the weather forecast! Now those unique
computer programmers in a designated computer house have given way to every child a computer programmer and
everyone a computer carrier (show
iPhone)
Times change but values
don’t inasmuch as they’re anchored in the age old truth of the God who loves us
and calls us to his praise and service. At the heart of the baptism service is
an affirmation of this truth which has such an impact on we who’ve woken up to
it. Claire, David, Lisa and Sandy are here with their children out of gratitude
to a loving God who’s privileged them to be parents. Our service affirms God’s
love in Jesus Christ to be the way, the
truth and the life. It affirms the best start in life for Annabelle, Jack
and Edward. Even the prohibitions their parents will have to serve on them will
be coloured by this sense of surrounding love. When scripture says ‘you shall
not covet or steal or bear false witness’ its emphasis is on you rather than not.
Because you are loved and precious
to me…whatever: that phone doesn’t go under your pillow when you’re 12! Because
you are loved you belong with people who worship: Sunday Club is fun because
church is fun. Because you are loved by God he has given you ethical boundaries
so that your relationships will be flourishing and not destroying. Etc, etc
Today is a new day in so
many senses – new every morning is the
love our waking and uprising prove – a new day opening up new possibilities
in new lives and renewed possibilities in we more seasoned operators. Come,
Holy Spirit, bless these children and all of us who stand by them!
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