We stand at an important junction in national life so let’s take
guidance from the word of God as we prepare to play our part in the events of
the coming week.
Today’s scripture was in place before they set Election Day five
years ago for 7th May. What do the lectionary readings have to say
to us?
The first reading from Acts has significance for a nation that’s
had Christianity in its fabric as long as any other. A court official of
Candace, queen of Ethiopia is on a journey that takes him onto another one at
the hand of St Philip. Through the operation of the Holy Spirit he enters the
journey of faith and is first to take the good news of God’s love revealed in
Jesus Christ to Africa where it can still be found today.
How Queen Candace’s Chancellor of the Exchequer fared on his
return to Ethiopia we’re not told but he’s a timely reminder of how much the
good of any nation rests on the goodness of its rulers and whether they have
the Holy Spirit. In my election leader in May’s parish magazine I quote T.S. Eliot who wrote
of the futility of dreaming of systems so
perfect that no one will need to be good. Politics stands or
falls on personnel as much as policy. I went on to salute stalwart village
Councillors standing down this month, Rory Clarke after 45 years and Jim
Brimfield after 25 years, whose contributions we have greatly valued. On
Thursday we have opportunity to elect new councillors, some of the candidates
being church members entering the fray with
determination to serve the good of our village. We want the best folk to
serve, those who know the ground and, hopefully, those gifted with a strong
moral compass who’ll be their own men and women.
All I can tell you to do
from the pulpit is vote! How you vote is a matter of conscience,
but informed conscience of course and sermons are meant to be about the
education of conscience, which is why I outlined in the magazine three vital
moral considerations at this time, starting with the need to counter discrimination
against ‘second class citizens’ of the UK and the world especially those who
live in hunger.
Our second reading touches on this with its reminder that
practical action to serve our neighbour, not least the million Britons now
having to queue at food banks, is proof of faith in a loving God. Please read
with me the last two sentences of the second lesson this morning from the first
letter of St John Chapter 4 verses 20 and 21: Those who say, ‘I
love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not
love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they
have not seen. The commandment we have from him is this: those who love
God must love their brothers and sisters also.
This morning we’ll be singing at the offertory G.K.Chesterton’s hymn
O God of earth and altar, number 481
in our hymnbook with its lovely Vaughan Williams harmonisation. Gilbert
Chesterton was one of the brightest Christian minds of the last century. I like
this story about him. When a newspaper asked several writers to answer the
question “What is wrong with the world?” Chesterton answered: Dear Sirs, I
am. Sincerely yours, G. K. Chesterton
That underlines the point made earlier about right government
coming best from right people, or people as right as they can be given the
sinfulness of the human condition. The moments in the election campaign that
have had most impact on me have been those rare ones where there’s been
humility exhibited, something very difficult with the power and pride of 24-7
mass media.
Chesterton’s
1906 hymn starts with the sentiment of human frailty:
O God of earth and altar, bow down and hear our cry, our
earthly rulers falter, our people drift and die; the walls of gold entomb us,
the swords of scorn divide, take not thy thunder from us, but take away our
pride.
His reference to entombing walls of gold link to my mind with the
second moral consideration I voiced in the magazine on how our national debt entombs
us souring relations between generations and how it’s important to vote in a
government with a sound strategy for decreasing it. Chesterton’s hymn reference
to entombing walls of gold also voices
the materialism of our age, much heightened I guess a century on from his, so
that day by day we’re suffering a bribe campaign vis a vis where our bank balances might head after Thursday.
The major
challenge in our society has been described as the transformation of consumers
into citizens. People resist the call to public service through a self interest
unconcerned about the common good beyond making sure they have the consumables
they want and the neighbourhood watch functions in case others want to take
these from them. The lack of readiness among people to take responsibility for
civic life and the common good is alarming. So many of us live in the mini
world of our household and the mega world of social media Facebook, Twitter etc
leaving out the midi world of the local community including the parish church .
We salute those prepared to be candidates for election to Horsted Keynes parish
council. As retiring chairman Jim Brimfield writes in the magazine: The new council will have the difficult task
of completing the Neighbourhood Plan. I wish them well. This matter
can be divisive. I very much hope that any differences
which arise, will be overcome by calm discussion and compromise, so
that no long term ill feelings will result.
There is a lot at
stake locally, nationally and internationally from our visits to the Village
Hall on Thursday! Those visits and votes are our taking responsibility for our
village, county and nation as the citizens we are.
Let’s move on to
the last reading from the holy Gospel, St John Chapter 15. It is an
agricultural image of connectedness. I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine-grower. He removes
every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he
prunes to make it bear more fruit
I can’t resist using it to illustrate my third moral consideration
for you this Sunday before the election which is the Green agenda, namely
looking to voting in a government with evident
determination to address the crisis impacting the world through abuse of the
environment. Climate change is linked to
human abuse of the environment. It’s good we have grapes now growing in our
parish but further south there are deserts growing, unfriendly to human
habitation, which will do nothing to arrest the northward flow of migrants.
Tackling those migrants is a vast, complicated issue for any government balancing
our capacity to be hospitable against the capacity of each national
infrastructure.
Linking the environmental issue to Our
Lord’s teaching on Christian solidarity is poetic licence though. The right
explanation of the gospel is elsewhere of course in its call to intimate union
with Jesus Christ. Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the
branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can
you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. John 15:4-5a
In this eucharist we take the fruit of the vine and the work of
human hands to become our spiritual food and drink. Though many we’re made one by
that Food as we abide in Christ and he in us. Together we stand like branches
coming forth from Jesus Christ the true vine and our aspirations for the world at
election-tide can’t be separated from that vision for unity. Our scripture
readings this morning remind us of how the Holy Spirit can raise world leaders,
build justice for the poor, create wealth and a better stewardship of the
environment. To find the Holy Spirit, as a rule, though, we need to find Jesus,
and to find Jesus and to dwell in him we need his body and blood, his word and
the fellowship of his Church which is the vanguard of God’s kingdom.
May the kingdom of this world advance a little towards becoming
the kingdom of God through this
eucharist, through our prayer, through our voting on Thursday and through a new
wave of the Holy Spirit pouring his love upon our village, county, nation and
world. Amen.
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