Loving one another
The sermon preached by the Reverend Robert Hill on his final Sunday as Assistant Priest in the parish.
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves and has fulfilled the law.
Well it’s certainly been an interesting and challenging week for me. Monday was, of course, the first day of my new posting within the diocese and it was very odd to walk into to the Diocesan Offices at Bouverie Court in Northampton and to see my name now on the board with the little in /out slider that the officers and senior staff based there have. It all seemed rather odd.
I was warmly welcomed and shown to the desk that will be my base from now onwards. Having been told how to open various sections of the computer network that I will use, and the codes to access the telephone’s various systems, I was left to get on with the job. More formal welcomes and induction programmes were to follow later in the week, but there I sat at my new desk, with little more than the computer, the phone, a telephone directory and one paperclip and the incoming post to be opened. So I got on with the opening of the post.
The first item was a pledge form from a small village parish somewhere in Rutland, I think, that has now pledged to only serve Fairtrade tea and coffee etc, at its church. I think that’s now over 60 parish churches that have made such a pledge. It’s, I suppose, a practical statement of love from their community to the overseas farming communities that produce these goods. It shows that these people do indeed care about others. And I know that this church has signed up already – quite some time ago, showing its love and care in such matters.
The second envelope contained a letter from one of the three County Councils covered at least in part by the diocese, regarding the sighting of a new waste management plant within the bounds of a small village parish. I was being asked to comment on such a development and also comment on the principals that they were using to define the needs of such places and the criteria for such waste management plants in general. I must admit that my first thoughts on being asked such a question was – How on earth should I know what is right in such matters. Then I remembered that I head a team of Officers and Advisors whose role it is to look at the details of such things. So, I decided to talk to our Environmental Officer to see what he thinks of it all. ... especially as the proposed site was over a natural under-ground water system. Pollution issues raced through my mind.
In our Environmental Officer, we have someone whose care and love for the planet means that he gives freely of his time, talents and learning for the church – to give of himself because he is a Christian – and he does this through his love. Not just a love of the planet but a love of all who are on the planet: for to disregard the needs of the planet is to disregard the needs of everyone on it.
The third envelope contained an invitation to attend an open day being organised by an Evangelical organisation based in this region who are hoping to extend their links and contacts in the broader church. They themselves are independent of any particular church denomination but do considerable work in various countries spreading the Good News of Christ as well as spreading basic education and health care as they go. They do all this because they feel the real need to respond to the love that they have received from Christ and so to love others in return or, in another way, in response to Christ. This is their way of practically showing out what it is to love one another.
The next envelope contained another example of such love in action. It was information about the Torch Trust – a Christian charity that works with the blind and partially sighted in the community. They are starting up regular meetings in the Church of the Epiphany in Corby; drawing together those who are disadvantaged in a world where sight is deemed as the norm, bringing, and I quote from their website banner headline: Christian literature, fellowship and personal support for blind and partially sighted people. It’s a world-wide organisation, so I’ve found, based here in the UK. People showing out their love for others – especially in this case, people who have a particular need.
In just those four envelopes I had examples of the breadth of my ministry for the next few years: Fair Trade, the Environment, Ecumenical matters, and the Disabled. These go along with other port folios such as Church Urban Fund, Rural Issues, Ethnic minorities, Inter-faith dialogue, Emergency Planning (that means, getting ready for disasters), the Deaf Community, new housing developments, homelessness, our links with the Kenyan diocese of Bungoma and the list could go on.
But what I also had in those four envelopes were examples of where people were living out what Jesus gave us as a summing up of the whole Law: To love God and to love our neighbour as ourselves. Paul has picked this up in his letter to the Romans as we heard earlier. He wrote:
Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for the one who loves and has fulfilled the law.
This love for one another is not just about loving those we like or those who agree with us. The story of the Good Samaritan tells us that! It is about love and care for all people. And our task is about finding where God is calling each of us ...as individuals, as a local Christian community, as a diocese.
We are called to love one another. We can do that in so many different ways. It is our responsibility as Christians to care for those around us. This is our Christian Social Responsibility.
As we come to this Holy Communion with Christ, we do so to be fed by him in a hasty meal that will nourish us with his body and his blood such that we can go out from here to be his hands, his feet, in the world of today.....To go out and to love others as he would love them - as he indeed loves us.
Robert Hill, 7th September, 2008
