Isaiah begins with a cry for help and the removal of the
yoke that oppresses (Isaiah 58:9-14). Pointing fingers and speaking evil are put
away, the hungry are fed and the needs of the afflicted satisfied. It is only then that the Sabbath is mentioned,
that we are entreated not to trample on it or pursue our own interests in
it. There is no place for
self-indulgence, no place to retreat from life.
In the gospel reading a woman troubled with a physical ailment
for 18 years is healed by Jesus (Luke 13:10-17). The leader of the synagogue points out
irritatedly that there are six days for these matters; the most positive
interpretation is a reminder that he needs a break to remember the Sabbath and
have space for prayer and renewal. Well
this cathedral is a busy place and people come here constantly. It can be hard to carve out space for
prayer. Jesus needed to withdraw at
times to find time to pray and a bank holiday weekend is a reminder that
everyone needs time for R&R. Rest
and filling up the spiritual tank matters because it ensures we have the energy
– spiritual and physical – to cope with the demands that press on us. So I have a certain amount of sympathy with
the synagogue leader’s comment. There
are times when people come with their needs at 7.30 in the morning and a voice
inside me cries out: ‘give me a break, let me wake up first, can we not just
say our prayers first’. Because Jesus
took himself off at times, he would understand that, and because of the manner
of the synagogue leader’s words it is clear that he has something else is in
his sights than ‘sometimes we need a break’.
The challenge which Jesus gives to the synagogue leader is
to remember what spirituality is about. When
we find time and space to pray we pray about life and call on the living God to
join up the dots between the faith that inspires us and the life we live. Like Isaiah, we call upon the Lord, and long
for him to say ‘Here I am’. Prayer is
not a cry of ‘stop the world because I want to get off’ even if that is
actually your prayer, and it’s certainly mine at times. That prayer is a shout of how much life can
hurt, how difficult it can be, but the call is for God to hold us through it.
Whatever the difficulties that we face, and they can be
crippling - be they emotional, physical threats or difficulties, financial
pressures we can’t cope with - joining up the dots between faith and life,
between God and living, reminds us that God shines light into darkness and there
is no darkness that will ultimately have the final word because Christ has
conquered even death. The spiritual is
the hope that shapes us and drives us.
It is the way we are held in the most difficult moments of our lives
because we know that the world is God’s and this Eucharist is our frequent
reminder of that. This is the Christian
faith at its most real. As we break
bread and share wine we proclaim Christ’s victory over death and renew our
confidence in his ultimate hold on all things, in his salvation.
When we make space to be still before God, and we need to do
this, it is in this stillness that we can enter more deeply into whatever
situation is troubling us. We can allow
the noise to be stilled and thereby hear the angels singing behind. It’s the Christmas carol, ‘Oh hush your
noise, ye men of strife and hear the angels sing’. It doesn’t mean forget about it, ignore it,
or pretend it’s not there for a moment, it means quieten it and yourself with
it. This is spirituality in the thick of
it, not escaping from it. The wonderful
places of spiritual renewal today are often places that were once at the centre
of the hustle and bustle. Lindisfarne on
the North East coast, which today seems a tranquil island off-shore, is on the
coast because boat was the safest way to travel. It is close to the once royal palace of
Bamburgh, so by no means away from the centre of power and struggle. It is a
holy place because it was where the struggle took place and next to it. The same goes for Old Sarum in Salisbury, the
monastery next to the royal court. The
same goes today for St John’s Church in the city centre here and this
cathedral. We are in the thick of it and
spirituality here has to be a faith that engages with life and the struggles
and pressures of today. We are often the
place where people call out of hours because nowhere else is open, so some of
those pressures come literally to our doors.
Jesus healing the woman reminds us that this struggle is always with us
and when we pray we bring it with us into our prayers and should not shut it
out.
The synagogue leader probably knew all of this. He did after all say that there were six days
for healing. His reply is more of a curt
response to being upstaged. Jesus had
started to disrupt things with his actions and those of us who have the control
of liturgy and manage services don’t really like the spontaneous because who
knows where it will lead! We have to
hold the finely tuned, precarious balances of the different tastes and
interests and can do without these being disturbed thank you very much! Jesus is always hard on those of us who lead
because he knows that we can very easily lose the plot if we are not careful
and remain focused on what really matters.
He calls the leader of the synagogue a hypocrite. The Kingdom of God doesn’t respect neat
boundaries of liturgy and custom. If
ever we are tempted to try to make worship a protected space, free from the
pressures and the challenges of life, the Kingdom of God will batter its way
through and flatten us if we get in the way.
As we struggle with fracking and environmental challenges,
we should not be surprised if these enter our prayers. The more I hear about fracking the more
questionable I find it. Without some
major development in the green generation of power we are going to have to cut
down our consumption or watch the fens flood as global warming raises the sea
levels. This is not a part of the
country that can be unconcerned about that.
After all we don’t have any hills to head for. The more we hear about chemical weapons in
Syria and the disturbing images of the atrocious attacks on children, difficult
questions about the politics of an unstable region must come before us. We can’t pray for peace and not wonder about
justice.
So Jesus, in healing the woman on the Sabbath and responding
to the leader’s concern, challenges us with how we understand the spiritual. It takes us more deeply into the thick of
things. Even when we find still spaces,
to hush the noise and hear the angels sing, the unresolved breaks in with the
cry for the yoke of oppression to be removed.
The spiritual is not cosy and it’s not useless either. It is the place where we allow God’s call to
meet our lives and change us so that we can embrace his kingdom of justice and
peace.
Sermon preached in Peterborough Cathedral, Sunday 25th August 2013
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