Sermon on Fourth Sunday Before Lent - Racial Justice Sunday
In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
On Thursday the Bank of England dropped interest rates which will doubtless be welcomed by borrowers and deplored by savers but economically, they also cut the growth forecast as the country isn’t growing as it should be and inflation is going to increase as well. It would be very easy to despair about this.
Over the last few weeks, in the USA we have seen a barrage of assaults on programmes of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, referred to as DEI for short because that makes it sound more acceptable. It is not just about programmes, it is being said and done as if there were something fundamentally wrong with the whole concept of DEI, but it is never articulated how or why. I cannot help but wonder, which elements of diversity, equity, or inclusion are meant to be the problem. Today is Racial Justice Sunday, and it would be very easy to despair about these things.
In the Church of England, we have had almost a constant barrage of bad news recently – ostensibly about safeguarding issues although some of it is actually about what should be HR processes for dealing with misconduct rather than safeguarding. There are undoubtedly improvements to be made on both counts and the General Synod, which starts tomorrow, will be debating them all week to agree the new structures. Will they get it right? Again, it would be very easy to despair about all this.
The despair is real and understandable, but it would be a mistake to leave it at that. There are reasons for hope – sometimes it means looking harder at things and at other times, it is about reframing them and looking at them from different perspectives, but most of all what we need to do is to be open to learning and new understanding.
In essence, this is what both our readings this eveing were about. We heard first from the book of Wisdom. This is one of the books of the Apocrypha, the inter-testamental period between the Old and the New. It was probably written in the last half of the first century BC, not that long before Jesus was born. It is, therefore, effectively the last book of the Apocrypha but that is in no way to undermine it. It is clearly in line with other books of wisdom in the Old Testament like the book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes. What we heard was about Kings and Judges being given dominion from the Most High, and the importance of seeking wisdom, discerning wisdom, and the desire for learning about wisdom.
In the reading from Paul’s letter to the Colossians, we find the antidote to the despair that I was describing earlier, the meaninglessness and depression. Paul told the people of Colossae to ‘seek the things that are above’. They were to look upwards and outwards, not downwards and inwards. That is the sort of renewal which breaks down all barriers and even all distinctions. But just think for a moment about the immensity of what he was saying there – that in renewal in Christ, there was already now no distinction ‘between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave and free’. Those distinctions were all in the past.
A Scythian was a member of an ancient tribe. A barbarian to the Romans was any member of the tribal non-Romans with whom they were in contact, people such as the Berbers, the Germanics, the Celts, the Iberians. The term comes from the Greek – in their own tongue, it sounded to them like gibberish, bar bar. It is an onomatopoeic word and was used as a highly charged political jibe against opponents. Sadly, we have seen this sort of approach ourselves in our own political discourse, but it is one which targets the individual or group rather than an argument.
Paul didn’t leave it there with the statement that those distinctions are no longer important or meaningful and instead said: ‘Christ is all and in all’. That is what matters. In Christ, we are one, not without differences, because we are not all the same, but with our differences, we are still ‘one in Christ’.
The distinction here is important. We all have differing political views; it would be surprising if we didn’t and I very much hope we do have a range of views here. We may disagree on all sorts of important questions like immigration, how to bring up children, climate change, or on what should happen with the war in Ukraine, or with Gaza and in some ways, I hope we do differ. We can continue to discuss these things and agree or disagree but whatever we think or believe, it is far more important to remember that we are one in Christ, and we remain one in Christ, and that we have more in common than we have that divides us. It is too easy in all the self-righteous arguing, abetted by those who want to divide rather than unite, to lose sight of that fact. We have more in common than we have that divides us.
And that isn’t to be complacent about things which could be improved and where we do need to make progress. In terms of diversity, we need to remember that diversity is not simply about allowing a range of views or cultural approaches, but celebrating the breadth of our humanity, and that strength comes from that, as all God given. In a pluralistic world, a monocultural approach is a weakness, to the point of brittleness. One commentator suggested last week that the assault on DEI was the last resort of those trying to wind back the clock and it showed just how weak they were.
One of the lessons from our Bible readings today is that the important thing is not to focus on inwardly on ourselves, or all that is wrong with the world or our lives or even what is going on half way across the world, but rather to focus on wisdom, on how we can gain wisdom, and be more discerning ourselves. That necessarily includes focussing on the good that we see before us; in the words of St Paul, on clothing ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. We are advised to bear with one another and to forgive and to adopt an attitude of thankfulness.
I recall the old evangelical advice, when you wake up in the morning is your first thought, Good morning, Lord, or Good Lord, it’s morning? We need to reframe our thinking by being more thankful rather than more critical. Sometimes we could all do with help on that from others outside ourselves, but we can encourage one another without admonishing, without being naïve, without rancour.
We can be grateful for instance that we can see this day, that we have people around us about whom we care and who care for us, for the music with which we enjoy praising God. More widely, we can be thankful for those working hard in safeguarding departments in dioceses up and down the country – 108 of themsigned a letter about safeguarding in the Church of England last week before the General Synod debate this coming week. It is a really carefully thought through and intelligent letter – I would even dare to say it seemed to me to be filled with wisdom. There are signs of hope everywhere and we do not have to give in to the doom-mongers.
We can be thankful while still working for justice for those who experience injustice and wanting to change structures for the better. We can be thankful for those who continue to work on diversity issues and understanding, themselves forms of integration and education; for those who work on greater equity across the many divides so that all are clearly valued; for those who are involved in raising issues of inclusion and pointing out where some people are unfairly excluded or treated less generously, because without them we wouldn’t be aware of it because it doesn’t affect us.
It has been suggested that overwhelming people with the sheer quantity of new rules is designed deliberately to make people feel powerless, but we can be thankful that we are not in fact powerless, that we have the power ourselves to continue to treat people with justice and equity and even redouble our efforts to make sure everyone feels included. We rejoice that we have the independence not to dance to the tune of those who would stoke oppression but rather can make our own choices about these things regardless.
From philosophers like Hume or Kant, or economists like Adam Smith, we routinely accept that the specialisation of labour into different trades and skills brings advantages both economically and socially. But that also carries the implication that society is ever more, and necessarily more, interdependent. We cannot all be experts at everything; we have to trust that others may know more and better than we do on certain issues and will be better at it. That shouldn’t prevent us from asking questions, questions are good, but we are necessarily co-dependent and inter-dependent and that is okay, even good, and doesn’t just apply to the specialisation of labour, it applies more widely as well! We need each other and everyone has a part to play.
The point here is to worry less about the things we cannot change and to focus on the things we can change to paraphrase the famous prayer so beautifully adopted by Alcoholics Anonymous! For most of us, changing what we can will mean focussing on the things that are more local to us, - our local community; the various points at which we engage with others; and, of course, to ourselves, for how else are we going to seek, learn, or start practising wisdom, or bringing what we have to offer to the service of those with whom we share this community, unless we start with ourselves.
As Paul writes: ‘Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him’.
Amen