RCL Easter 4A [i]
26 April 2026
Saint Helen’s Anglican Church
Vancouver BC
When preaching becomes meddling
Once upon a time, back in the late 1960’s, a newly ordained priest was sent to a small parish in the midst of tobacco-growing country in southern Ontario. The late 1960’s, as some of us here today know all too well, were years of social, cultural and political upheaval. The Anglican Church was not immune, and today we might well consider some of the issues alive in those years as ‘majoring in minors’ as the Bishop who ordained me was fond of saying.
On his first Sunday, the young priest preached on the role of women in the Church. He mentioned that the first person to whom the risen Christ appeared was a woman, and it was this woman who bore witness to the disheartened apostles that Christ had indeed been raised from the dead. Maybe, the young priest said, we should involve women in more roles. After the service the wardens came up to him and congratulated him on a fine and meaningful sermon.
Encouraged by this feedback, on the next Sunday the young priest preached about welcoming divorced and remarried Christians into the congregation. These were the days when the remarriage of divorced Christians was still a ‘hot’ topic, but the young priest knew that there were a number of divorced and remarried people in town who had once been members of the congregation. Once again, after the service the wardens came up to him and congratulated him on an even finer and more meaningful sermon.
Emboldened by the successes of his first two Sundays, the young priest decided on his third Sunday to tackle another touchy subject: how God wanted us to live healthy lives and the dangers of harmful behaviours such as smoking and drinking. Once again, after the service the wardens approached their priest during coffee hour. They informed him that they be calling the bishop in the morning to complain about their new priest. When he reminded them that they had been pleased with his preaching, they said, ‘Well, on the first two Sundays you were preaching, but today you started meddling in our affairs!’
Being faithful to the Gospel occasionally requires meddling.
Desmond Tutu is reported to have said, ‘When people say that politics and religion don’t mix, I wonder which Bible they’re reading.’ I like to remind folks of the difference between being political and being partisan. Being political means being committed to the common good and flourishing of the whole creation by doing justice, loving kindness and walking humbly with God. Being partisan means being committed to a particular agenda and means of achieving that common good. Being political risks being accused of meddling in affairs ‘outside of our lane’. Being partisan risks becoming so blinkered as to be unable to work with those who do not share our particular partisan views.
So, today I confess that I am probably steering into the ‘meddling lane’ of preaching. I cannot help but do so given the recent comments made by elected and appointed officials holding power in our neighbour to the south. I cannot help but do so given the continuation of military interventions that flout international law and threaten the common good of millions if not billions of human beings. I cannot help but do so because on this ‘Good Shepherd Sunday’, the Scriptures compel me to speak what I believe to be God’s truth.
Who are the true shepherds and who are the thieves.
When political leaders misuse the Scripture and portray themselves as saviours, then all Christians, whether lay or ordained, must speak as prophetically as the prophet Ezekiel.
Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: As I live, says the Lord God, because my sheep have become a prey and my sheep have become food for all the wild animals, since there was no shepherd, and because my shepherds have not searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves and have not fed my sheep, therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of the Lord: Thus says the Lord God: I am against the shepherds, and I will hold them accountable for my sheep and put a stop to their feeding the sheep; no longer shall the shepherds feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, so that they may not be food for them. [ii]
When officials speak carelessly and boastfully about destroying a civilization and treating the use of military force as if it were a video game being played out in real time and in real space, then all Christians, whether lay or ordained, must call these people out for whom they really are rather than who they think that they are.
So again Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. [iii]
Speaking these words to the powerful is not partisanship; it is claiming the rightful place of religious faith in the conversation about how we act. It is living out our prayer that God will “(keep) us firm in the hope you have set before us, so that we and all your children shall be free, and the whole earth live to praise your name”. [iv]
Persevering in resisting evil
For almost forty years I have been involved in our church’s on-going work of liturgical revision and renewal. One of more contentious conversations has been about the three-fold renunciation of Satan, evil and sinful desires that occurs at the beginning of the baptismal liturgy. [v] In particular, people have expressed honest and differing views on what we understand these renunciations to mean. Without dragging you into the debate, I will only share what I believe.
I believe that there is evil at work in our world – not just now but throughout human history. This evil is not random nor the result of ignorance.
· Evil consciously pursues of self-interest at the expense of the well-being of everyone and everything else.
· Evil has agents who believe that they have power while in reality they are enslaved by the evil they are serving.
· Evil has only one purpose: the corruption and destruction of God’s beloved creation. [vi]
But evil only thrives until people of faith remember another of Desmond Tutu’s sayings: “Goodness is stronger than evil; love is stronger than hate; light is stronger than darkness; life is stronger than death.” [vii] If the resurrection of Jesus means anything in a world such as ours, it means this: God, working in us through the Holy Spirit, can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. [viii]
So, my friends, go ahead and meddle. Be political but cautious in partisanship. And above all be patient and remain hopeful. As the writer of Psalm 30 says, “Sing praises to the Lord, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment; his favour is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” [ix] And I do believe that I can see the dawn.
[i] Ezekiel 34.7-15; Psalm 100; Acts 2.42-47; John 10.1-10 (alternative Hebrew Scripture reading and Psalm).
[ii] Ezekiel 34.7-10 (NRSVue).
[iii] John 10.7-10 (NRSVue).
[iv] The Book of Alternative Services (1985), 215.
[v] The Book of Alternative Services (1985), 154.
[vi] Paraphrased from Mac Loftin, “Political Demons” in The Christian Century on 5 February 2025 and accessed at https://www.christiancentury.org/features/political-demons on 25 April 2026.
[vii] “Goodness Is Stronger than Evil” in Evangelical Lutheran Worship (2006), Hymn #721.
[viii] See Ephesians 4.20-21.
[ix] Psalm 30.4-5 (NRSVue).
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