RCL Proper 29B
18 October 2015
Saint Faith’s Anglican Church
Vancouver BC
Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached at the 10.00 Eucharist on Sunday the 18th of October.
Click here to listen to the Sermon as preached at the 10.00 Eucharist on Sunday the 18th of October.
10.41 Now when the other ten
disciples heard about this, they became angry with James and John. 42 Jesus called them over and
said, “You know that the ones who are considered the rulers by Gentiles show
off their authority over them and their high-ranking officials order them
about. 43 But [that is] not
the way it will be with you. Whoever
wants to be great among you will be your servant. 44 Whoever wants to be first among
you will be the slave of all, 45 for the [Son of Man did not] come
to be served but rather to serve and to give his life to liberate many people.”
[i]
By Tuesday morning the federal election campaign will have
come to a conclusion and we will know who will form the next government of our
country. Already more than 3.5 million
Canadians have cast their ballots in advanced polls and I pray that this bodes
well for tomorrow. Recently, when
someone said to me, ‘I hope people vote; it’s our right,’ I responded, ‘I hope
people vote; it’s our obligation, both as Canadians and as Christians.’ You know that I have, on several occasions,
urged you to vote and to encourage others to vote. I hope that my exhortation has not fallen on
indifferent ears.
So it seems to me fitting that, on this Sunday before election day, the
lectionary has us hear this familiar passage from the Gospel according to
Mark. At the beginning of the sermon I
read the conclusion from a recent contemporary English translation, the
so-called Common English Bible. I
thought its more contemporary English style highlights for us what is the basic
criteria for leadership in the Christian community: 43b Whoever wants to be great
among you will be your servant. 44
Whoever wants to be first among you will be the slave of all, 45 for
the [Son of Man did not] come to be served but rather to serve and to give his
life to liberate many people.
At the heart of our way of governing is the notion of
‘public service’. Yet, in recent years,
the notion of ‘service’ has suffered significantly. How often have we heard an economic report
declare an increase in employment and then, in a side comment, state, ‘but most
were in the service industry’, economic code for low-paying, part-time jobs. But ‘service’, especially ‘public service’,
is crucial to the well-being of society.
On Thursday evening I said ‘thank you’ to the woman who picked up my
tray in the food court at Oakridge. From
the expression on her face you would have thought that I had left a $10
tip. But more importantly, I think that
she was surprised that I noticed her.
For Christian citizens the primary ballot question is not
whether I am being served but whether the common good of all is being served,
regardless of any of the usual criteria we use to distinguish between ‘us’ and
‘them’. Now I have been around the
electoral carousel enough times to know that partisan politics always plays to
a party’s ‘base’. But our job as followers
of Jesus is to discern which party’s base is broad enough to serve the needs of all
Canadians. We are a people who sing
‘draw the circle wide’ and then sing ‘draw it wider still’. Any political leader who seeks our vote must
be one who ‘draws the circle wide’.
Why is this so important?
It’s important because we are followers of a Jewish rabbi in whom we come face
to face with the living God. That rabbi
gave his life to liberate many people.
In this country and beyond, there are people who are in bondage to
hunger, to violence and to oppressive governments. We, the Christian people, exist to liberate
them and we need political leaders who will be our allies in this mission. In this country and beyond, there are people
who are in bondage to homeless and endemic poverty. We, the Christian people, exist to liberate
them and we need political action rather than political slogans. In this country and beyond, there are young
people who are in bondage to hopelessness as they search for meaningful
work. We, the Christian people, exist to
liberate them and we need governments who reach for the future rather than
secure their own interests.
It is also fitting that we hear this gospel passage today as
Saint Faith’s begins its fall financial campaign. Even before we try to discern the best
political leadership for our country, you and I must discern how we will
participate in Christ’s liberating mission by the use of God’s gifts to us of
time, of talent and of treasure. Unlike
municipal, provincial and federal elections which come every four or five
years, each year every member of this Parish and our neighbouring parishes ask
themselves the question, ‘How shall I serve and use my resources so that many
people may be liberated?’
It may sound like a dramatic question, but I assure you it
is not. When you review the narrative
budget of this Parish, you will see how our resources reach well beyond our
boundaries. With the growing awareness
of the plight of refugees throughout the world, some of you have approached the
Church Committee and me to ask the question, ‘How can we be agents of
liberation to those who are fleeing their homes?’ Others want to know how we can strengthen the
work of the Community Pastoral Resource Centre.
All of these questions and others I have not mentioned are signs of our
commitment to be servants of Jesus who gather for worship, prayer and study not
for our sakes alone, but for the common good of all.
So my friends, soon all the ballots will be cast and
counted. A new mandate will begin and
our country will wrestle with the issues of our common life as Canadians and as
residents of our planet. That campaign
will have come to an end. But our annual
campaign, our annual wrestling with how we will use the gifts God has given us,
will continue for a few more weeks. I am
confident that this second campaign will bring us closer together as a
community of faith and will provide the leaders of this Parish with a vision of
how we shall continues as agents of God’s liberating love and compassion.
42 Jesus called them over and said, “You know that the
ones who are considered the rulers by Gentiles show off their authority over
them and their high-ranking officials order them about. 43 But [that is] not the way it
will be with you. Whoever wants to be
great among you will be your servant. 44
Whoever wants to be first among you will be the slave of all, 45 for
the [Son of Man did not] come to be served but rather to serve and to give his
life to liberate many people. [ii]
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