Sermon for the 11th Sunday after Trinity

Sunday 22nd August 2004

Preached by Rev Paul Hewitt

One of the most gentle and lovely movies you could see is one which starred a very gentle and lovely English Country parson played by none other than Robert Donat. Do you remember him? I can’t remember the actual year it was made, but Robert Donat, an English actor won an Oscar for his role as Mr. Chips in the original version of ‘Goodbye Mr. Chips’ in 1939. So we’re talking about a few years ago, and long before my time! The film I’m thinking of is called ‘The Holly and the Ivy’. As a rural, happy & content English parson, trying to raise a family on practically nothing, he was asked to preach at a major event in a large nearby Public School. He didn’t know at the time, but they were strongly considering asking him to become chaplain to the school. A position, and an appointment, which would’ve set him up for life!

However, when he got up to preach to an institution which thrives on discipline, rules and regulations, he took as his theme that ‘religion does not consist in rules and regulations’. All to the complete disgust of the headmaster and the school, and not least his wife and family! He didn’t get the job! But the point was that he was true to his calling. He only spoke the truth. And the gospel reading this morning is a perfect example of this truth.

As you know this diocese has been going in a particular direction over the last number of years. I believe we are being led well and enthusiastically, but I worry at how dogmatic and legalistic we are becoming, as a Diocese,
in ways that our reading, and Robert Donat aren’t! It is sometimes quite frightening.

Dublin, and I mean particularly the Theological College in Dublin, is becoming more wary of an increasing, almost ‘lunatic’ fringe element, often emanating from this part of the world. Where legalism is the name of the game, and everybody, including most of the College, are considered already beyond the pale and already doomed! The real issue is that when we become legalistic in Church, we sometimes forget how to care for people. When you become legalistic in Church, it is easy to forget the individual. One of my pet hate words at the moment is ‘strategy’, or what about ‘Vision Statements’. As a Church, why can’t we just concentrate on looking after people? Isn’t life hard enough without being ‘condemned’ and ‘doomed’ right from the start by legalism?

I know the truth is that the more fundamentalist churches are the ones which are considered the more “successful” churches because everything there is black and white. The lines are drawn, everyone knows where they stand, and nobody has to think! So that’s easy enough, isn’t it?

No, I don’t think it is. Because life isn’t black and white. And isn’t that what the whole gospel is about?
When the commandment says that no work should be done on the Sabbath, everybody panicked and said, well, what’s work? How do you define what ‘work’ is? And so, as you know well, the Mishna and the Talmud came into being to explain what the law meant, right down to the last minutiae. And I think Jesus is saying in all these occasions where the Sabbath law seems to be contravened by him, “People, I think you’re missing the point here…Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath”.

In all our Church legalism, it’s easy to loose sight of what God is about! When laws are set down from on high in such a legalistic way, then the individual is sometimes lost. But the Gospel is actually all about the individual. People matter far more than systems and rules and regulations, don’t they?

I’m sure some of you are still enthralled by the Olympics; it’s been great viewing! But I have a story from the Special Olympics. I hope you know that Ireland was host to the Special Olympics just recently, and I think that that was the first time it was held outside the United States.

Anyway, this is a true story from a few years ago when the president of the Special Olympics was giving a talk to a large audience. During the question and answer time that followed, someone asked him to describe the best moment for him as president of that year’s Special Olympics. Without any hesitation he told them about the 100-metre run.
Six handicapped young people lined up for the final in a stadium filled with 50,000 people. They had all prepared for this event. They wanted to win.
The gun went off, and all six began to run. At about the 50-metre mark, one of the six fell down, face first onto the track. The other five runners took a couple more steps and then stopped. They looked back and saw the fallen runner. Then to the surprise of the whole crowd, they all went back, helped the fallen runner to his feet, joined hands, and continued the race – all of them crossing the finish line at the same moment. Each one received a gold medal.

I think that’s what the Church should be all about.

Life is hard enough without having rules and regulations just to trip you up. God isn’t there to trip you up, and I think that’s what Jesus was trying to get across. We are here to make sure that at the end of the day, we all get gold medals.


Postscript: Since preaching this sermon, I have been informed that Robert Donat wasn’t actually the star of ‘The Holly and the Ivy’, but rather it was Ralph Richardson. Apologies!