03.10.2012
Annual New Law Term Service at St Michan’s Church
The Annual New Law Term Service took place in St Michan’s Church, Church Street, Dublin this morning, Monday October 1, at 10.15 am. The Archbishop of Dublin, the Most Revd Dr Michael Jackson officiated and with him was the Archdeacon of Dublin, the Ven David Pierpoint.
The congregation included visiting judges from Northern Ireland, Scotland and England and Wales, as well as political leaders, members of the Irish judiciary, An Garda Síochána, the Defence Forces and the Diplomatic Corps.
The address was given by The Reverend Canon Dr Heather Morris, President Elect of the Methodist Church in Ireland and Director of Ministry, Edgehill Theological College, Belfast. Her sermon is reproduced in full below.
Sermon Preached by The Rev’d Canon Dr Heather Morris at the Annual New Law Term Service in St Michan’s Church on Monday October 1:
Psalm 62:1–8 and Mark 4:35–41
“Who then is this, that even the wind and sea obey him?”
Jesus speaks “Peace! Be still!” and peace comes, not “dropping slow”, the wind ceases, there is dead calm. In an act which is profoundly disturbing Jesus speaks “Peace” and the wind and waves still. “Who then is this, the disciples, (who had by this stage had left everything to follow, who knew Jesus well,) found Jesus words of “peace” so profoundly disturbing that even they ask “Who then is this that even the wind and waves obey him? And Mark leaves us with the disciples grappling with the identity of this disturbing, unsettling Jesus.
Who is this? Well this is Jesus. The same Jesus , whose words on how God loves all, and how the good news which he brought and embodied was for all, were so disturbing in his home town of Nazareth, that his own people, the people who had tousled his hair as a child, who had seen him as a youngster growing up, his friends with whom he had played, “were filled with rage. They got up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they might hurl him off the cliff” (Luke 4:28–29)
Jesus speaks and the storm stops. Jesus speaks of a God who loves all, even those who might have been seen as enemy. The words of Jesus undoubtedly then and now bring peace, comfort, strong hope; but the truth is that Jesus, the Son of God was and is a profoundly unsettling influence.
The question is what will we do with that? Do we acknowledge that politely on a day like today and then go on regardless? Do the words of Jesus get a place at the table of our thinking? Do they get a place at the table when we are grappling both with issues in our personal lives and in the public square with the issues of our time?
My academic discipline is Practical Theology. At this stage in my life I am well used to the reaction which that phrase gets at parties! The most common reaction is for people to smile wryly and say something like “practical…theology, isn’t that an oxymoron?” And for a while that reaction irked me, but actually I think now that it is an understandable reflection of the fact that we the Church have led folk to the conclusion that theology isn’t practical; we have fostered the illusion that theology belongs on dusty shelves and isn’t integrally related to the decisions demanded by our culture and generation.
What brought me to a theology which must be practical, which must relate to real life was personal experience. As a young couple with one son my husband and I experienced miscarriages. Longing for more children, I grappled with why this was happening; we know those questions; if God is loving and just, why suffering– I would guarantee that most of us have been through those times of personal spiritual struggle, the times when we are angry with God, when we struggle to understand, when we cannot get further than why. And if we are to have integrity we need to ask; is Jesus relevant to those situations? Do the words of Jesus impact our personal struggles, our questions, times of apparent abandonment– or do we just pretend they do– pay lip service but in our heart of hearts think and feel that this is empty, that God is distant and if God speaks a word at all it is impotent, patronising, formulaic.
What keeps me in a theology that is practical is our responsibility to respond to the issues of our time. From the perspective of Christian faith I contend that the issues of our day, the issues with which you will be dealing as this new year begins; health, education, child poverty, what it means to be hospitable to strangers, violence in homes and on our streets; all of these areas demand a reflection which is theological. In our grappling with these issues I want to make a plea that we allow our thinking to be informed by the living Word, the word of Jesus who is Lord.
In his address to politicians, diplomats and business leaders in Westminster Hall in September 2010 Pope Benedict said “religion… is not a problem for legislators to solve but a vital contribution to the national conversation” If that is true. If Jesus, the Son of God, the Living Word is relevant to our everyday public and private experience then we have to think hard about how we hear his voice, how Jesus influence is felt.
Faithful Christian living in whatever our sphere of work and influence demands that we address the hard questions, there are so many we could choose–
what do we do when our national character has become defined by aggressively defensive self interest? Faithful Christian living demands struggling, asking questions of a culture dominated by consumerism and asking the deeper questions of what has led to this? Demands that we listen to voices often disregarded and unheard. I remember very well listening to a young woman one evening as she courageously spoke in church about her life. She was a single Mum, living on benefits. And to good church people who from time to time asked “how can those Mums afford to give their kids those trainers, when I can’t”; she said “my kids do have designer trainers; we do have a Play Station and lots of games”, and then she talked about why. Because she said I want a stable life for my kids, I want them to have a Mum and Dad and a garden, but I can’t give them that, and I feel bad about that; but I can get then trainers– even if that means I have to move frequently to avoid debt collectors, and I will do whatever I have to in order to give them that. Commitment to the disturbing uncomfortable Son of God means prayerfully asking “What have we done which has built a society where self esteem is effected by the shoes we wear and the bags we carry?”
Allegiance to Jesus demands listening, demands holding back from the easy answer or the glib response that points a finger. Listening to Jesus may mean humbly being willing to name falleness, humbly naming where we have gone wrong. It demands a wholehearted commitment to Jesus who is the Lord in every sphere – for Jesus is not part of a collapsible morality that we can put into our pocket and pull out when we want it and ignore when we don’t. Remember Jesus is the Son of God, who simply speaks Peace and it comes to pass.
That quality of thinking, wrestling with the issues of our day, is it seems to me best done together. You may be in those networks already, but if not what about developing, inter disciplinary groups where different perspectives can be brought to bear on the contemporary questions– in order that action emerges which is rooted in deep thought– in reason and scripture and which takes account of complexity and diversity.
And I want to finish on a personal note. To those here in this church who have faithfully done this grappling, you know what it is to think and study and pray before you speak. You are the ones who with great courage have spoken; have spoken of a better way of doing things; have spoken, at personal cost about justice and mercy; have challenged about how we live and care for others; and you have done that faithfully and with integrity. And that is right and good. But those who have that depth of commitment and courage bear a cost.
In those moments when personally or publically we have struggled and prayed and thought and spoken and feel pulled apart; the Psalm we heard stands as a reminder that Word of God still speaks and we find in God refuge, strength, and actually not cosy defence but strength for the journey.
Barbara Brown Taylor is writing about preaching in this passage but I think that what she says applies across our disciplines and callings
“From the beginning of time the speaking of God’s word has been an act of great power. God said, “Let there be light” and there was light. John the Baptist cried “Prepare the way of the Lord” and the way was prepared…It is enough for us to proclaim the word and to believe that in doing so we change the world whether the world knows it or not…”
My plea and prayer for all of us is that we would commit to hearing God’s Word in Christ, that we would listen and wrestle and think and pray and then act, and humbly and in the power of the Spirit of God speak believing that God still loves the world and is still in the business of changing the world, whether the world knows it or not.