Building the Kingdom of God
Preached at St Michael's Church for the Deanery Festival of the Mothers' Union
Thank you for inviting me to join you for this service this evening. However, I have to make a confession. I have never been a member of the Mothers Union, and other than believing it to be an international Christian organisation, aligned to the Anglican Communion which promotes and supports marriage and family life, I know little about it. I felt a little like Daniel coming into the Lions’ den, so I thought I’d better do a little research.
I discovered that Mary Sumner gave birth to you, as it were, in 1876 when she became a grandmother, ‘for the support of women in the role as mothers’, aware as the mother of three herself of the burdens and responsibilities of motherhood, and the feelings of inadequacy that can swamp young mothers. Over the next 30 years, I discovered that this brainchild grew rapidly, not just within the UK but across much of what was then the British Empire. Its sphere of influence expanded, and the Mothers Union found itself involved in issues such as Royal Commission on Marriage and Divorce, campaigned to raise the minimum age for marriage of women to 16, gave evidence to the Government on abortion and petitioned the Board of Education on religious education. The growth in the Mothers Union sphere of influence has continued – development work overseas, raising awareness of the acute poverty in the developing world and our global responsibilities to address the inequalities within both developed and developing world societies and communities – I could go on – but while I was on a voyage of discovery, you all know this.
To some extent, the theme of relationships for our service this evening resonates with something of Mary Sumner’s original vision – that of supportive relationships – but while her starting point was young mothers, our focus today must be relationships that reflect our Lords inclusive approach. Society has changed in so many ways since 1876; the Church and by extension therefore the Mothers Union, face challenges that Mary Sumner could never have envisaged – challenges around what defines a family, challenges about sexuality and our understanding of loving relationships.
As a hospital chaplain, a large part of my time is spent within a secular organisation whose language and philosophy is largely very different from the church. And most of the people I meet day by day have little or no connection with the church and understand little of the language and imagery we take so much for granted. Yet among the incredible and diverse people it is my privilege to minister to, I see amazing examples of Christ’s love revealed in the relationships people experience and cherish – not just familial relationships, but relationships which really reflect our Lords teaching about what it is to be a neighbour. The people themselves wouldn’t see their experiences in those terms, and certainly wouldn’t use that language, but that is what it is. We are drawn back to that wonderful passage we heard earlier this evening from Ecclesiastes which reminds us of God’s presence in every experience and part of life – although to listen to some in our Communion at times, you might be forgiven for thinking this were not so.
Sadly, however, I meet an equal number of people who feel isolated and alienated from society and the Church; some who have been profoundly hurt by this body that is called to love, who see hypocrisy where professed faith is not reflected in the life lived; people who struggle to understand our purpose, language, customs, rituals; people who find themselves on the very edges of society struggling with addiction, homelessness, broken or severely damaged relationships – yet in spite of everything, many hold on to something of a trust in God and pray desperately for a change to their situation, for some kind of understanding.
Relationships are not neat and tidy – they reflect the joy of life, all that is good, and beautiful and true; but they also reflect the pain and messiness of life. Jesus offered us a new vision in a life marked by trust in God, compassion, integrity and social justice. Then, as now, these are the qualities that make for reconciliation and peace, qualities that can transform the lives of individuals, communities and ultimately the world. By virtue of our own baptism, we too are called to share in that work of transformation. Faith in God, revealed in our religious observance is worthless unless it reflects both in personal relationships and communities the love, compassion and justice which is of God - that is the challenge before us.
One Sunday morning earlier this year, I was coming out of the hospital chapel heading for the wards when I literally walked into Rita, a lady who has worked for many years in our catering department. She had been delivering breakfasts to the ward next to the Chapel. Rita asked what time our service started, hoping that she might be able to attend, but it fell right in the middle of lunch preparation for the patients, making it impossible for her to do so. She then went on to tell me how she was struggling at that time. In recent years her faith had become increasingly important to her resulting in her confirmation about five years ago. Last year, Rita retired from fulltime employment, but for a variety of reasons, found it necessary to return to work, albeit on a part-time basis. She was offered weekend work and gladly accepted it. However, some in the church community where Rita worshipped criticised her for working on a Sunday telling her it was wrong for a Christian to do so – no matter that there was a hospital full of patients and staff who cared for them, all of whom needed to be fed. Rita is feeling a sense of alienation that is painful and challenging to her faith. Time after time the Gospel writers provide us with Christ’s example of right relationships which are of God – relationships rooted in compassion, gentleness and a love which accepts the person as they are. The community of faith experienced by Rita, on the other hand, is one of self-righteous indignation.
While on retreat last Autumn, our guide, Jack Nicholls, Bishop of Sheffield, shared with us stories connected with a number of icons he has collected over the years, the people and his experiences he remembers through them. One of the icons of the Virgin Mary reminded him of the ‘that’ll do God’; the God who accepts people as they are with all their strivings and their imperfections. He told the story of the young mother who knocked on the vicarage door, her baby in her arms. The Vicar came to the door and invited her in. He asked what he could do to help and she stated that she wanted ‘me baby done’. He gently asked her why she wanted him ‘done’ and she said that she felt that it she didn’t have him done, then she’d never win at bingo. Bishop Jack said that this very wise priest simply said that well, we’d better get him done – reflecting the ‘it’ll do God’ – God who welcomes and cherishes the best that we can give. This young, single working class mum knew little about the Church, certainly knew nothing of its language and rituals, but something deep inside her was reaching out to connect her and her baby to that something beyond which we know as the Divine, God – perhaps she recalled her mother talking of having had her ‘done’ and so it become hugely important to follow that example, that tradition. The Priest recognised the courage it must have taken to come to the vicarage in the first place – and simply lovingly welcomed her, trusting that God alone would sort everything out and work through this young woman and her baby in his own way and to his glory alone. She had come, with all that she could offer – herself, her baby her courage and her trust. That’ll do. We were reminded of the challenge that posed to all our well intentioned baptism policies.
In concluding his book, Infinitely Beloved, Brian Thorne poses a challenge to the church and it is a challenge that applies equally, therefore, to all of us whether as individuals or as members of the Mothers Union. “For too long”, he says, “it has obscured the face of God through its power-mongering and guilt inducing doctrines and practices.......To the church in whose arms I have been held and by whose sacraments I have been nourished since childhood, I say:
· Reveal to humankind the God whose nature is infinite love
· Proclaim to men and women that they are infinitely beloved and show them that they have the capacity to love as God loves
· Cease any effort to occupy the moral high ground for there lies the terrain of the hypocrites and the accusers.
· Celebrate the gift of sexuality and let it permeate the offering of unconditional love in all its forms.
· Employ the consummate creativity of which human beings are capable so that through every form of art and liturgical beauty we may find ourselves repeatedly at the very gate of heaven.
· Become a school of love where laughter is heard and intelligence is honoured.
As we leave here tonight, we take with us the light of Christ’s love experienced in our worship, our prayer and our relationships with each other. But that blazing light of love is not ours to jealously guard. It is to be taken out of here and shared as widely as possible, and especially with those who know only too well the dark places of life’s experience, where relationships are fractured or broken as a result of abuse, addiction, homelessness or a sense of betrayal, people who long to know that peace and love which is the essence of God himself. Mary Sumner, I think, would like that. But much more importantly, that is what building the Kingdom of God is all about.
Canon Lesley McCormack, 18th June 2008
