Sermon for the 7th Sunday after Trinity

Sunday 30th July 2006

Preached by Rev Paul Hewittwitt

Last Sunday Newspapers had on its front page a headline (among other atrocious headlines, which we are still reading about) there was this one: ‘It’s a sin to fly, says church’. The timing couldn’t have been better; we had practically just stepped off the second of two flights home, both of which had been delayed, we were exhausted, and then the Bishop of London tells us that we shouldn’t have flown in the first place!

The article was all about doing our small bit to halt climate change; what are we, something like three degrees from disaster? Of course, you know that thirty years ago the same scientists were not warning us about Global warming, but actually they were warning us about a new ice age! So you wonder what they know! Yet the truth is that the environment is the single biggest issue facing Christians today. The continued gradual destruction of the environment means there will be less arable land to grow food, and the poor of our world will get poorer and more hungry. It’s all inter-connected and what we, as small individuals, can do about it is the real challenge.

Do you know the cartoon that depicts a huge mass of people? The crowd stretches as far as the eye can see. Over each person is one of those bubbles that cartoonists use. In this cartoon, each person in the gigantic crowd is saying, “What can one person do?”

What is very clear is that Christians are called to act as their individual conscience dictates. We’re not waiting for any government guidelines, thank goodness. Water usage is paramount at the moment, and if I’m not mistaken, was the government actually asking mothers to bath their babies less often, when, I heard that the water wasted in Westminster would fill 45 million baby baths! So, thankfully, we are not answerable to any Government Department, but we are answerable to a scripture that constantly reminds us to look after our planet because we are just tenants, passer-bys, in God’s creation. The scariest thing of all is what problems are we passing on to our children and grandchildren? What environmental problems will Annabel Rose have to face when she is older? The truth is that as Christians we are called to make a difference.

The efforts of the individual may seem small compared to what industry and governments can do. However, what we can or should be doing is not really the subject of this chat. Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London clearly outlines his proposals: “Making selfish choices such as flying on holiday”, he says, “are a symptom of sin”! So, anybody who’s just come from holiday, or about to go somewhere, I hope that makes you feel good!! (I wonder where he went on holiday.). His statements come in the context of a booklet he has produced entitled ‘Treasures on Earth’, about the environment, to be sent to every diocese in England. He chairs the bishops’ panel on the environment.

I only raise the issue of the environment to emphasise the importance of individual actions. Yes we do have a moral obligation for Christians to lead eco-friendly lifestyles, as the Bishop of London says, and if I ever get my hands on his booklet when it comes out, perhaps I can get back to you!

I love the story about Nobel Prize Winner, Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He was once asked in South Africa, “How on earth did he ever end up an Anglican. After all, the questioner continued, “in this country most black people are either Baptist or Methodist”. And in quite a moving story he explained why he had become an Anglican Priest.

In the days of apartheid, when a black person met a white person on the sidewalk, the black person was expected to step off the pavement into the gutter to allow the white person to pass, giving the white person this gesture of respect. “One day,” the bishop said, “when I was just a little boy, my mother and I were walking down the street when a tall white man, dressed in a black suit, came toward us. Before my mother and I could step off the sidewalk, as was expected of us, this man stepped off the sidewalk and, as my mother and I passed, he tipped his hat in a gesture of respect to her!”

The Bishop continued, “I was more than surprised at what had happened and I asked my mother, ‘Why did that white man do that?’ My mother explained, ‘He’s an Anglican priest. He’s a man of God, that’s why he did it.’

“When she told me he was an Anglican priest”, said Bishop Tutu, “I decided there and then that I wanted to be an Anglican priest too. And what is more, I wanted to be a man of God.”

Now, we have all heard of Archbishop Tutu, but we haven’t all heard of that Anglican priest. Perhaps to this day, if he is still around, he may be even unaware of what consequences his small action had that day on the sidewalk.

It is often the little small deed or act of kindness, the soft word, which actually has far greater effect and consequence than, say, preaching from some pulpit! Five small barley loaves and two small fish, what are they among so many? Yet, with so little, Jesus can do great things. That is how the Kingdom of God works. Whenever the people wanted to know what the Kingdom of God was like, Jesus would answer, “Well, it’s like a mustard seed or a pearl of great price, or treasure found in a field, it’s like yeast mixed into dough”.

We may sometimes think that what we do or say is of little consequence when taken in the whole scheme of things, but the fact of the matter is that it is the small things, the small good deed or kind word (or even simply a smile), which can be used mightily by God in the bringing in of his Kingdom, because that is the way the Kingdom works.

In an age when we are supposed to assert ourselves and shout louder than anyone else to get our point across, I find it a very salutary lesson to know that Jesus came as one who (as Isaiah tells us) “will not shout or raise his voice or make loud speeches in the streets”, because that is not the way the Kingdom of God works.